AUTOMATIC CONTENT TAGGING, SUCH AS TAGGING DIGITAL IMAGES VIA A WIRELESS CELLULAR NETWORK USING METADATA AND FACIAL RECOGNITION

• US 20100277611A1
• Filed: 05/01/2009
• Published: 11/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Holt, Adam, Wang, Winston
• Granted Patent: US 8,392,957 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/231.2
• 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: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/854 Content authoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/765 Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/772 the recording apparatus and the television camera being placed in the same enclosure
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8205 involving the multiplexing of an additional signal and the colour video signal

Abstract

Described in detail herein are systems and methods for automatically generating tags for digital content, such as digital images from a digital camera or camcorder. Further, the system can automatically determine who or what may be in digital content. Further details and features are described herein.

Claims

1. A computer system, for use in a wireless telecommunications network, to associate metadata tags with digital photos taken by a digital camera, camera phone, or camcorder, the computer system comprising:

a server computer in communication with the wireless telecommunications network;

a database, coupled to the server computer, wherein the database includes a table that identifies locations of wireless devices within the wireless telecommunications network at certain points in time and user names associated with the wireless devices;

wherein the server computer is configured to;

receive a digital photo with associated metadata, wherein the metadata associated with the digital photo includes;

a geographic location associated with where the digital photo was taken,

a timestamp associated with when the digital photo was taken,

a direction associated with a direction toward or from the geographic location where the digital photo was taken, and,

a focal length setting of the digital camera, camera phone, or camcorder that took the digital photo;

determine a geographic focus field of view for the digital camera, camera phone, or camcorder that took the digital photo, wherein the server determines the geographic focus field of view based at least in part on the geographic location, timestamp, direction, and setting metadata;

identifies at least one wireless device within the geographic focus field of view based at least in part on a query of the database to identify that the one wireless device is at a geographic location that is within the geographic focus field of view at a point in time corresponding to the timestamp associated with the digital photo;

obtains a user name associated with the one wireless device from a query of the database; and

,

provides a displayable query to determine whether to add as a metadata tag the obtained name to the digital photo.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the displayable query is an electronic communication sent to an electronic address associated with the user name to request permission to add the user name to the digital photo.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the displayable query is web page or display screen of data for a user who submitted the digital photo to confirm with the user to add the metadata tag to the digital photo.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the database stores facial image data for users of the wireless devices, and wherein the server computer is further configured to perform facial recognition operations on the digital photo based in part on the stored facial image data.

5. A method of associating metadata tags with digital content captured by a digital content capture device, the method comprising:

receiving captured digital content with associated metadata, wherein the metadata associated with the captured digital content includes;

a geographic location associated with where the digital content was captured,

a timestamp associated with when the digital content was captured,

a direction associated with a direction toward or from the geographic location where the digital content was captured, and,

a setting of the digital content capture device;

automatically determining a geographic field of capture range for the digital content capture device based at least in part on the geographic location, timestamp, direction, and setting metadata;

automatically identifying at least one wireless device within the geographic field of capture range;

automatically obtaining a user name associated with the at least one wireless device from a query of a database for a digital identifier associated with the at least one wireless device, wherein the database stores at least a list of digital identifiers associated with respective user names; and

,

adding as a metadata tag the obtained name to the captured digital content.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the digital content capture device is a digital camera, wherein the digital content is a digital photo, and wherein the method further comprises providing a display to a user regarding whether to add the metadata tag of the obtained name to the captured digital content.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

automatically forwarding the digital content, or link to the digital content, to an electronic address associated with the user name and requesting permission to add as the metadata tag the obtained name to the captured digital content; and

,

only adding as the metadata tag the obtained name to the captured digital content if an electronic communication is received granting permission.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

automatically requesting permission to add as the metadata tag the obtained name to the captured digital content; and

,

only adding as the metadata tag the obtained name to the captured digital content if permission is obtained.

9. The method of claim 5 wherein the geographic location is a pair of latitude and longitude coordinates, the direction is a digital compass reading, and the setting is at least a focal length setting of an optical system.

10. The method of claim 5, further comprising synchronizing a clock in the digital content capture device based on a clock associated with a wireless telecommunications network.

11. The method of claim 5 wherein the digital content comprises an audio file.

12. The method of claim 5 wherein automatically identifying at least one wireless device within the geographic field of capture range includes querying a database that records the location of wireless devices over time, wherein the wireless devices move within a wireless telecommunications network.

13. The method of claim 5, further comprising receiving from multiple wireless devices an uploaded table of location coordinates over time, wherein the location coordinates provide periodic or sporadic location data for each of the multiple wireless devices.

14. An article of manufacture, wherein the article of manufacture comprises a computer-readable medium carrying instructions for use by a data processing device, wherein the instructions, when executed by the data processing device permit the device to perform a method, the method comprising:

automatically determining a geographic field of capture range for a received unit of digital content, wherein the determining is based at least in part on;

geographic location metadata associated with where the received unit of digital content was captured,

timestamp metadata associated with when the received unit of digital content was captured, and,

direction or depth of field metadata associated with capture of the received unit of digital content;

automatically obtaining or identifying a user name or location name within the geographic field of capture range; and

,

adding as a metadata tag the obtained user name or location name to the captured digital content.

15. The article of manufacture of claim 14, further comprising:

automatically identifying at least one wireless device or wireless transmitter within the geographic field of capture range; and

,

automatically obtaining or identifying a user name or location/object name associated with the at least one wireless device or wireless transmitter from a query of a database for an identifier associated with the at least one wireless device or wireless transmitter, wherein the database stores at least a list of identifiers associated with respective user names or location/object names.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 14, further comprising:

automatically requesting permission to add as the metadata tag the obtained name or location name to the captured digital content; and

,

only adding as the metadata tag the obtained name or location name to the captured digital content if permission is received.

17. An apparatus configured for processing digital content, the apparatus comprising:

means for capturing digital content, wherein the means for capturing digital content is further configured to provide data representing a digital content capture range associated with each item of captured digital content;

means for automatically determining location data for each item of captured digital content, wherein the location data includes geographic coordinate data and orientation data;

a clock for use in generating timestamps associated with each item of captured digital content;

memory for at least temporarily storing digital content;

communication means for transferring each item of captured digital content with its associated range data, determined location data, and associated timestamp, and

a processor coupled among the means for capturing digital content, the means for automatically determining location data, the clock, the memory, and the communication means.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising:

means for querying a user whether to associate metadata tags with the digital content; and

,

means for associating the tags with the digital content based on received user input.

19. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the means for automatically determining location data is configured to enter a standby state after the apparatus is switched-off to obtain accurate geographic coordinate data.

20. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the memory stores a table of periodic or sporadic location data, and wherein the communications means uploads the table of location data to a network server upon being connected with the network server.

21. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the clock is synchronized when the apparatus is connected with a network clock.

22. A method of processing still digital images, moving digital images, or both, the method comprising:

receiving digital images representing captured still or moving digital images;

receiving a timestamp associated with the captured still or moving digital images, and location data associated with the captured still or moving digital images;

based at least in part on the location data and timestamp, automatically determining that a third party wireless device is located near to where and when the still or moving digital images were captured;

automatically determining a data tag for associating with the captured still or moving digital images, wherein the tag relates to a person'"'"'s name;

automatically obtaining an electronic address associated with the person; and

automatically providing to the person, via the electronic address, a permission query regarding whether to logically associate the tag with the captured still or moving digital images.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the location data is GPS or GIS data, wherein receiving digital images comprises:

storing on a remote database the captured still or moving digital images, and

displaying a representation of the captured still or moving digital images on a user computer via a web page, and

wherein automatically providing the user query comprises;

providing a web page for display on the user computer, wherein the web page lists a least one tag and ask whether to associate the tag with the captured still or moving digital images.