METHOD FOR IMAGE ANIMATION USING IMAGE VALUE RULES

• US 20090094518A1
• Filed: 10/03/2007
• Published: 04/09/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/03/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kodak Alaris Inc (KPP (no. 2) Trustees Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
• Inventors: Thompson, Annette L., Mclntyre, Dale F., Loui, Alexander C., Cerosaletti, Cathleen D., Telek, Michael J., Lawther, Joel S., Fryer, Samuel M., Hibino, Stacie L., Das, Madirakshi, Covannon, Edward
• Granted Patent: US 8,122,356 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/716
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/4393 Multimedia presentations, e.g. slide shows, multimedia albums
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 13/80 2D [Two Dimensional] animation, e.g. using sprites

Abstract

A method for image presentation are provided, in which at least one theme for image presentation is obtained; at least one set of images is acquired for presentation in association with each theme; and a presentation area image is generated for presentation on a display with a plurality of separate presentation objects in the presentation area image; an image value for each of the acquired images is determined; an emphasis score is determined for each of the acquired images. The presentation area image is presented with one of the acquired images in each of the presentation objects; and the presentation objects are animated by moving the presentation objects relative to each other in a manner that attracts more attention to presentation objects that are used to present images having a higher emphasis score than presentation objects that are used to simultaneously present images having a lower emphasis score.

Claims

1. A method for image presentation comprising the steps of:

acquiring at least one set of images for presentation;

generating a presentation area image for presentation on a display having a plurality of separate presentation objects in the presentation area;

determining an image value for each of the acquired images by analyzing the images according to an image value metric;

presenting the presentation area image with one of the acquired images in each of the presentation objects with the presented images being selected such that there will be at least a range of different image values for the images presented at any one moment in time; and

animating the presentation objects within the presentation area image by moving the presentation objects relative to each other in a manner that attracts more attention to presentation objects that are used to present images having a higher image value than presentation objects that are used to simultaneously present images having a lower image value.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the presentation objects are animated to attract more attention by providing variations in at least one of the following:

a velocity of movement of the presentation objects, an acceleration of movement of the presentation objects, or a pattern of movement of the presentation objects.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a theme wherein the at least one set of images is acquired based upon the theme.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the image value for each of the acquired images is further determined by a degree of correspondence to the theme.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the presentation objects are further actively promoted to attract more attention relative to each other by providing variations in at least one of the following:

a size of displayable objects, a shape of the displayable objects, an arrangement of the displayable objects before animation, an arrangement of the displayable objects after animation, the appearance of a border portion of the displayable objects, or an extent of a translucency of the displayable objects.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the image associated with the highest image value comprises a motion video image having a source audio track or sequences of images associated with a source audio track, wherein a primary audio track is provided during presentation of the images, and wherein the primary audio track is based upon the source audio track.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein salient shapes are extracted from the images and the salient shapes are used as shapes to form the presentation objects for the presentation images used to present portions of the images from which the salient shapes are extracted.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the duration of presentation of a presentation object on the screen is based on the length of the video segment to enable entire playback of the video segment.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the manner of animation of two of presentation objects is calculated such that they appear to move relative to each other in a manner according to a relationship dictated by a logical or mathematical function.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the size of the displayable object is determined by its manner of animation whereby a larger object moves slower than a smaller object.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the animation occurs concurrently with a panning or translating motion of a background image to provide an illusion of a larger presentation space.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein a user interaction on a presentation object that represents a set of images launches the represented set into an animation sequence.

13. The method of claim 3, wherein the presentation objects have shapes that are related to the theme so as to visually suggest a context based upon the theme.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the manner of animation is logically determined from the shape of the presentation object to provide a clear context for the movement of the object.

15. The method of claim 3, wherein the manner of animation is related to the theme to provide an animation consistent with the theme.

16. The method of claim 3, wherein the presentation area image has a background image that is determined based upon the theme, the background image is automatically segmented at least into an animation segment and a non-animation segment said animation segment containing image information related to the theme and wherein and the presentation objects are animated only within the animation segment.

17. The method of claim 3, wherein a primary audio track is provided during presentation of the images, and wherein said primary audio track comprises music selected based upon the theme to provide contextual audio information.

18. The method of claim 3, where a theme is determined by analysis of the organization of a portion of a tree structure of a relational database used to store image content information for the images used for presentation wherein the theme incorporates a primary set of images and at least one companion set of images defined according to the tree structure.

19. The method of claim 3, where the theme represents a grouping of images associated with an event and the acquired sets of images for presentation are in association with the event theme;

further comprising image sets from the sub-events that make up the event.

20. The method of claim 3, wherein a theme of presentation comprises an acquired set of images organized with reference to one person and wherein additional acquired sets are organized according to persons that are known to be associates of the one person.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising acquired sets of images according to groups of individuals that reflect a social network associated with the primary person.

22. A method for concurrently presenting a plurality images, the method comprising the steps of:

determining a theme which governs strata visibility and image promotion;

selecting a stratification scheme for presenting, at one time, a plurality of presentation objects in a plurality of ordered layers within a presentation space said selection being made according to the determined theme with each of the ordered layers being associated with a manner of moving presentation objects associated with the respective layer in a manner that is calculated to attract a different level of a viewer'"'"'s attention than presentation objects that are presented in other ones of the ordered layers;

generating a presentation area image having an object with a plurality of separate presentation objects in the presentation area;

determining an image value for each of the acquired images by analyzing the images according to an image value metric and based upon a degree of correspondence to the theme;

dividing the plurality of images into groups of images having different image values; and

presenting images from each group for using presentation objects for images in ordered layers that attract higher levels of attention having relatively higher image values while presenting images from each group having lower image values using presentation objects in ordered layers that attract lower levels of attention.

23. A presentation system comprising:

a display;

a source of images;

a processor adapted to acquiring at least one set of images for presentation;

to generate a presentation area image having an object with a plurality of separate presentation objects in the presentation area image, to determine image value for each of the acquired images by analyzing the images according to an image value metric; and

to present the presentation area image with one of the acquired images in each of the presentation objects with the presented images being selected such that there will be at least a range of different image values for the images presented at any one moment in time,

wherein the processor animates the presentation objects by moving the presentation objects relative to each other in a manner that attracts more attention to presentation objects that are used to present images having a higher image value than presentation objects that are used to simultaneously present images having a lower image value.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein additional displays work in conjunction with the processor to present the same animation.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein additional displays work in conjunction with the processor to present different presentations.