METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR IMAGE AND VIDEO ANALYSIS, ENHANCEMENT AND DISPLAY FOR COMMUNICATION

• US 20080002892A1
• Filed: 06/06/2007
• Published: 01/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Moreideas Inc.
• Original Assignee: Peter Whaite, Rene Saint-Pierre, Thomas Jelonek
• Inventors: Jelonek, Thomas, Saint-Pierre, Rene, Whaite, Peter
• Granted Patent: US 8,208,694 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/58 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/7837 using objects detected or recognised in the video content
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/16 Human faces, e.g. facial parts, sketches or expressions
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00127 Connection or combination of a still picture apparatus with another apparatus, e.g. for storage, processing or transmission of still picture signals or of information associated with a still picture
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32128 attached to the image data, e.g. file header, transmitted message header, information on the same page or in the same computer file as the image for information embedded in the image H04N1/32144
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3225 of data relating to an image, a page or a document
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3274 Storage or retrieval of prestored additional information
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3278 Transmission

Abstract

There is described a system and a method for generating a metatag indicative of an attribute of a person represented in an image, the method comprising: performing a computer-based analysis of the image; identifying a feature related to the attribute of the person in the image using results from the computer-based analysis; generating the metatag based on the identified feature; and associating the metatag to the image, the metatag being thereby related to the attribute of the person.

Claims

1. A method for generating a metatag indicative of an attribute of a person represented in an image, said method comprising:

performing a computer-based analysis of the image;

identifying a feature related to the attribute of the person in the image using results from the computer-based analysis;

generating the metatag based on the identified feature; and

associating the metatag to the image, the metatag being thereby related to the attribute of the person.

2. The method as in claim 1, further comprising outputting the metatag on a communication network.

3. The method as in claim 1, further comprising displaying the metatag on a display of a user.

4. The method as in claim 1, wherein the image comprises at least one of a still image and a video image.

5. The method as in claim 1, further comprising generating targeted advertisement using the metatag and outputting the targeted advertisement to a user interface for display.

6. The method as in claim 1, wherein the step of identifying comprises at least one of:

using known structural information;

using a specific feature detector;

using appearance-based information; and

using statistical training and statistical models.

7. The method as in claim 1, further comprising creating a consumer profile using the metatag.

8. The method as in claim 7, further comprising modifying the image to generate modified images using at least one of:

the metatag, the consumer profile and a user input.

11. The method as in claim 1, wherein said identifying further comprises:

classifying the feature in a category;

associating a qualifier to the feature in the category, said generating comprising using the associated qualifier and said category.

12. The method as in claim 11, wherein the category comprises at least one of:

eye, nose, mouth, ear, hair, glasses, and jewelry.

13. The method as in claim 11, wherein the qualifier comprises at least one of:

a tone, an evenness, a color, a shape, an aspect, a type.

14. The method as in claim 11, wherein the metatag comprises at least one of:

an eye color, a shape of nose, a hair color, baldness, a hair style, a type of glasses, a type of jewelry, a make-up color, facial hair, wrinkles, blemishes, a skin color, a skin tone, a skin texture, a brand of an apparel, an emotion, a social value, an age group, and an ethnicity.

9. The method as in the 9, wherein the step of modifying the image comprises at least one of:

applying a template, applying an avatar, and morphing.

10. The method as in claim 9, further comprising ranking the modified images in an order determined by at least one of:

the consumer profile and the user input.

15. A system for generating a metatag indicative of an attribute of a person represented in an image, said system comprising:

an image analysis device for performing a computer-based analysis of the image;

a feature identifier for identifying the feature related to the attribute of the person in the image using results from the image analysis device;

a metatag generator for generating the metatag based on the identified feature; and

a metatag matcher for associating the metatag to the image, the metatag being thereby related to the attribute of the person.

16. The system as in claim 15, further comprising an output device for outputting the associated metatag on a communication network.

17. The system as in claim 15, further comprising a display unit for displaying the metatag to a user.

18. The system as in claim 15, wherein the image comprises at least one of a still image and a video image.

19. The system as in claim 15, further comprising an advertisement matcher for matching targeted advertisement to the matched metatag.

20. The system as in claim 19, further comprising a display unit for displaying the matched targeted advertisement to a user.

21. The system as in claim 15, wherein the feature identifier further comprises a feature identifier for identifying the feature in the image using at least one of:

known structural and appearance information about the feature, statistical training and pre-established statistical models of the feature.

22. The system as in claim 15, further comprising a profile generator for creating a consumer profile using the metatag.

23. The system as in claim 22, further comprising an image modification module for modifying the image according to at least one of:

the metatag, the consumer profile and a user input.

24. The system as in claim 23, further comprising an advertising matcher in communication with the metatag matcher for matching targeted advertisement to the image by comparing the consumer profile and the metatag with advertising and statistical data, the targeted advertisement being based on the user input.

25. A method for generating a metatag indicative of an attribute of a person represented in an image, said method comprising:

sending the image to a processing device over a communication network, the processing device for;

performing a computer-based analysis of the image;

identifying a feature related to the attribute of the person in the image using results from the computer-based analysis;

generating the metatag based on the identified feature; and

associating the metatag to the image, the metatag being thereby related to the attribute of the person, and

storing the metatag associated to the image in a database, the database being accessible over the communication network.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising accessing the database to retrieve the metatag and using the metatag to perform at least one of:

displaying the metatag on a display unit of a user, using the metatag to create a consumer profile, using the metatag to modify the image, and matching the metatag to a set of advertisements for display to the user.