GENERATING DIGITAL MEDIA PRESENTATION LAYOUTS DYNAMICALLY BASED ON IMAGE FEATURES

• US 20110234613A1
• Filed: 09/29/2010
• Published: 09/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Bachman, William Martin, Hanson, Eric, Fagans, Joshua David
• Granted Patent: US 8,988,456 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/589
• 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 16/587 using geographical or spatial information, e.g. location
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text

Abstract

Methods, apparatuses, and systems for generating digital media presentation layouts dynamically based on image features. Multiple digital images are received. Features are identified for one or more of the digital images based on metadata associated with and content included in the digital images. Significance measures are associated with the one or more digital images based on the features. A digital presentation of the one or more digital images is generated and the digital images are displayed according to the significance measures associated with the respective digital images.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method executing on a data processing apparatus, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of digital images;

identifying, by the data processing apparatus, a feature associated with one or more digital images of the plurality of digital images, the feature being associated with the digital image based either on metadata associated with the digital image or content included in the digital image or both;

associating, by the data processing apparatus, a significance measure with the one or more digital images based on the identified feature associated with the one or more digital images; and

generating, by the data processing apparatus, a digital presentation of the one or more digital images, wherein the digital images are displayed in the digital presentation according to the significance measure associated with respective digital images.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the digital presentation is represented as a digital book having a plurality of sequentially arranged digital sheets, one or more digital sheets of the plurality of digital sheets configured to display one or more bounded regions of variable sizes, wherein a digital image is displayed within a corresponding bounded region;

and

wherein generating the digital presentation includes automatically including the one or more digital images of the plurality of digital images in a corresponding bounded region and displaying the bounded region in a digital sheet.

3. The method of claim 2, the method further comprising:

analyzing the content included in a digital image;

determining that the analyzed digital image is important based on the analyzed content;

displaying only a bounded region in a digital sheet, a size of the bounded region substantially equal to a size of the digital sheet; and

displaying the analyzed digital image in the bounded region.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more digital images are received in a sequence, and wherein generating the digital presentation comprises arranging the one or more digital images in a plurality of sequentially arranged digital sheets in a sequence different from the sequence in which the one or more digital images are received.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein metadata associated with a digital image includes a time of capture of the digital image or a location of capture of the digital image or both.

6. The method of claim 1, the method further including:

associating a higher significance measure with a first digital image relative to a second digital image based on the feature associated with the first digital image and the feature associated with the second digital image; and

presenting the first digital image more prominently in the digital presentation relative to the second digital image.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein presenting the first digital image more prominently relative to the second digital image includes presenting the first digital image in a bounded region that is larger than a bounded region in which the second digital image is presented.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the feature includes a user rating associated with the digital image by a user viewing the digital image.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the feature includes a duration for which a user has viewed the digital image.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the feature includes a number of times a user has transmitted the digital image via electronic mail.

11. A computer-readable medium tangibly encoding computer software instructions executable by data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

receiving a plurality of digital images, one or more digital images of the plurality of digital images associated with a feature;

obtaining metadata about the one or more digital images either by analyzing the one or more digital images or by receiving metadata from a source separate from the one or more digital images or both;

analyzing either the obtained metadata or content included in the one or more digital images or both;

forming two or more groups of digital images from among the one or more digital images, digital images in a group related by a feature associated with each digital image in the group; and

automatically generating a digital presentation of the one or more digital images, wherein a group of digital images is displayed in a corresponding portion of the digital presentation separate from another group of digital images displayed in another corresponding portion of the digital presentation.

12. The medium of claim 11, wherein the obtained metadata associated with a digital image includes a time of capture of the digital image or a location of capture of the digital image or both.

13. The medium of claim 12, wherein analyzing the obtained metadata includes analyzing the location of capture of the one or more digital images;

wherein forming two or more groups of digital images comprises;

comparing locations of capture of the one or more digital images;

identifying two or more digital images having corresponding locations of capture that are substantially near each other;

including the identified two or more digital images in a formed group; and

associating the corresponding locations of capture with the formed group.

14. The medium of claim 13, wherein the two or more digital images in the formed group are displayed in the portion of the digital representation, the operations further comprising displaying a map in the portion, the map showing the corresponding locations.

15. The medium of claim 12, wherein analyzing the obtained metadata includes analyzing the time of capture of the one or more digital images;

wherein forming two or more groups of digital images comprises;

comparing times of capture of the one or more digital images;

identifying two or more digital images having corresponding times of capture that are substantially near each other; and

including the identified two or more digital images in a formed group.

16. The medium of claim 11, wherein the obtained metadata further comprises a geographic location of capture, the operations further comprising:

identifying one or more geographic locations of capture at which the digital images in the formed group of digital images were captured;

identifying a name of a location that collectively represents the one or more geographic locations; and

displaying the name of the location in the portion, adjacent to one or more digital images in the formed group of digital images.

17. A system comprising:

a data processing apparatus; and

a computer-readable medium tangibly encoding instructions executable by the data processing apparatus to perform operations including;

forming a plurality of groups of digital images from among a plurality of digital images, digital images in a group related by a feature associated with each digital image in the group;

for two or more groups of digital images of the plurality of groups, associating significance measures with the digital images in a group of digital images based on the metadata associated with the respective digital images or the content of the respective digital images or both; and

generating a digital presentation of the two or more groups of digital images, wherein the digital images in a group of digital images are displayed according to the significance measure associated with the respective digital images and wherein a group of digital images is displayed in a corresponding portion of the digital presentation separate from another group of digital images displayed in another corresponding portion of the digital representation.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the operations for forming the plurality of groups of digital images includes:

identifying a first digital image that includes a group of faces;

comparing each face in the group of faces to a face included in a second digital image in the plurality of digital images;

determining that the face is included in the group of faces based on the comparing; and

including the first digital image and the second digital image in a formed group based on the determining.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the operations for forming the plurality of groups of digital images includes:

identifying a first location of capture of a first digital image;

identifying a second location of capture of a second digital image, wherein the second location of capture is substantially near to the first location of capture; and

including the identified first digital image and the identified second digital image in a formed group.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the operations for forming the plurality of groups of digital images includes:

identifying a first time of capture of a first digital image;

identifying a second time of capture of a second digital image, wherein the second time of capture is substantially near to the first time of capture; and

including the identified first digital image and the identified second digital image in a formed group.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the digital images in the group of digital images have metadata, the metadata including ratings of the respective digital images, wherein the operations for associating the significance measures with the digital images in the group of digital images includes:

analyzing metadata associated with the digital images in the group of digital images to determine the ratings associated with the respective analyzed digital images; and

associating significance measures with the digital images, the significance measures being proportional to the ratings associated with the respective analyzed digital images.

22. The system of claim 21, the operations further comprising:

determining that a significance measure associated with a first digital image is greater than a significance measure associated with a second digital image; and

displaying the first digital image more prominently in the digital presentation relative to the second digital image.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein displaying the first digital image more prominently relative to the second digital image comprises:

displaying the first digital image in a first bounded region; and

displaying the second digital image in a second bounded region that is smaller than the first bounded region.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein the digital presentation includes a plurality of digital sheets, one or more digital sheets of the plurality of digital sheets configured to display a digital image in a bounded region,

wherein displaying the first digital image more prominently relative to the second digital image comprises:

displaying only the first digital image in a bounded region on a first digital sheet; and

displaying the second digital image in a bounded region adjacent to one or more other digital images on a second digital sheet.

25. The system of claim 17, wherein the operations for generating the digital presentation includes:

determining a theme for a group of images based on the feature that relates the digital images in the group and a history of themes;

applying the theme to a portion of the digital presentation in which the group of digital images are presented.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein applying a theme to the digital presentation includes:

detecting a prominent color included in the content of the group of digital images; and

displaying the group of digital images on a background color complimentary to the prominent color.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the history of themes is updated based on user input indicating changes to the applied theme.

28. The system of claim 17, wherein the feature that relates the digital images in the group is a geographic location at or adjacent to which the digital images in the group were captured, the operations for generating the digital presentation includes displaying a caption in the digital presentation in the portion of the digital presentation in which the group of digital images are presented, wherein the caption includes a name of the geographic location.