Electronic album display system, an image grouping apparatus, an electronic album display method, an image grouping method, and a machine readable medium storing thereon a computer program

• US 20060056737A1
• Filed: 07/08/2005
• Published: 03/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fuji Photo Film Co Limited (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Shiota, Kazuo, Ohtsuka, Shuichi
• Granted Patent: US 7,477,805 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/305
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/54 Browsing; Visualisation therefor

Abstract

It is an object to improve convenience of browse and search of a plurality of images. an electronic album display system for displaying a plurality of images included in an electronic album is provided, wherein the system includes: an image storing unit in which the plurality of images are stored; a person recognizing unit for recognizing a plurality of persons included in each of the plurality of images; an image grouping unit for classifying the plurality of images into a plurality of groups by the kind of a combination of persons included in an image on the basis of the recognition result by the person recognizing unit; a representative image selecting unit for selecting a representative image from each of the plurality of groups; and an image display unit for displaying each of the selected representative images consecutively.

Claims

1. An electronic album display system for displaying a plurality of images included in an electronic album comprising:

an image storing unit in which the plurality of images are stored;

a person recognizing unit for recognizing a plurality of persons included in each of the plurality of images;

an image grouping unit for classifying the plurality of images into a plurality of groups by the kind of a combination of persons included in an image on the basis of the recognition result by said person recognizing unit;

a representative image selecting unit for selecting a representative image from each of the plurality of groups; and

an image display unit for displaying each of the selected representative images consecutively.

2. An electronic album display system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said representative image selecting unit selects more representative images from a group in comparison with another group including less images than the group.

3. An electronic album display system as claimed in claim 1, wherein, for each group, said representative image selecting unit selects no representative image in case the number of images of the group is less than a predetermined reference number.

4. An electronic album display system as claimed in claim 1, wherein a ratio of the number of representative images selected by said representative image selecting unit from a group to the number of all images included in the group is higher than that of another group including less images.

5. An electronic album display system as claimed in claim 1, wherein, for each group, said representative image selecting unit selects an image as a representative image of the group in case difference in at least one of image capturing date and time and image capturing place between the group and another representative image selected by said representative image selecting unit is larger than a predetermined reference value.

6. An electronic album display system as claimed in claim 1, wherein, in case the number of images in which a person is included as an object is smaller than a predetermined reference number, said image grouping unit classifies the plurality of images by combination of persons included in the plurality of images except the person.

7. An electronic album display system as claimed in claim 6, further comprising an image processing unit for performing blurring on a part of each representative image showing a person who is included in images of a number smaller than a predetermined reference number out of the plurality of images, wherein said image display unit displays the representative image on which blurring is performed.

8. An image grouping apparatus for classifying a plurality of images comprising:

an image storing unit in which the plurality of images are stored;

a person recognizing unit for recognizing a plurality of persons included in each of the plurality of images; and

an image grouping unit for classifying the plurality of images into a plurality of groups by the kind of a combination of persons included in an image on the basis of the recognition result by said person recognizing unit.

9. An electronic album display method for displaying a plurality of images included in an electronic album comprising:

a person recognizing step of recognizing a plurality of persons included in each of the plurality of images;

an image grouping step of classifying the plurality of images into a plurality of groups by the kind of a combination of persons included in an image on the basis of the recognition result in said person recognizing step;

a representative image selecting step of selecting a representative image from each of the plurality of groups; and

an image display step of displaying each of the selected representative images consecutively.

10. A machine readable medium storing thereon a computer program for making a computer display a plurality of images included in an electronic album, wherein the computer comprises:

an image storing unit in which the plurality of images are stored;

a person recognizing unit for recognizing a plurality of persons included in each of the plurality of images;

an image grouping unit for classifying the plurality of images into a plurality of groups by the kind of a combination of persons included in an image on the basis of the recognition result by said person recognizing unit;

a representative image selecting unit for selecting a representative image from each of the plurality of groups; and

an image display unit for displaying each of the selected representative images consecutively.

11. An image grouping method for grouping a plurality of images comprising:

a person recognizing step of recognizing a plurality of persons included in each of the plurality of images; and

an image grouping step of classifying the plurality of images into a plurality of groups by the kind of a combination of persons included in an image on the basis of the recognition result in said person recognizing step.

12. A machine readable medium storing thereon a computer program for making a computer classifies a plurality of images, wherein the computer comprises:

an image storing unit in which the plurality of images are stored;

a person recognizing unit for recognizing a plurality of persons included in each of the plurality of images; and

an image grouping unit for classifying the plurality of images into a plurality of groups by the kind of a combination of persons included in an image on the basis of the recognition result by said person recognizing unit.