METHOD, APPARATUS AND SYSTEM FOR OUTPUTTING A GROUP OF IMAGES

• US 20120243750A1
• Filed: 03/25/2011
• Published: 09/27/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Europe BV (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Europe Limited (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: MARIVOET, Philip, DE VOS, Kurt, SCHELKENS, Vanessa, CLARKE, Daniel
• Granted Patent: US 9,373,021 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/118
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/23 Clustering techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/762 using clustering, e.g. of similar faces in social networks
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/30 in albums, collections or shared content, e.g. social network photos or video
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/16 Human faces, e.g. facial parts, sketches or expressions
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/173 face re-identification, e.g. recognising unknown faces across different face tracks
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/178 estimating age from face image; using age information for improving recognition

Abstract

There is described an apparatus for outputting a group of images for display, the group being taken from a plurality of images, each image in the plurality of images having a face located therein, the apparatus comprising a processor configured to: retrieve a set of images from a storage medium, the set of images containing at least the plurality of images from which the group of images to be displayed is selected; identify the face in each of the plurality of images; identify variable features on the face in each of the plurality of images; establish the group of images in accordance with a measure of the dissimilarity between the variable features in the plurality of images; and output the group of images for display.

Claims

1. A method of outputting a group of images for display, the group being taken from a plurality of images, each image in the plurality of images having a face located therein, the method comprising:

retrieving a set of images from a storage medium, the set of images containing at least the plurality of images from which the group of images to be displayed is selected;

identifying the face in each of the plurality of images;

identifying variable features on the face in each of the plurality of images;

establishing the group of images in accordance with a measure of the dissimilarity between the variable features in the plurality of images; and

outputting the group of images for display.

2. A method according to claim 1, comprising generating metadata associated with each of the plurality of images, the metadata uniquely identifying the image within the set of images.

3. A method according to claim 2, comprising generating a database identifying the face, and associating the unique identity of the image with the face.

4. A method according to claim 1, comprising determining a facial metric for a face in each of the plurality of images, the facial metric defining unique characteristic features of the face, and comparing the determined facial metric with other stored facial metrics and identifying the face in dependence on the results of said comparison.

5. A method according to claim 4, wherein the facial metric is based upon a ratio of distances between different facial features.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein the group of images are displayed on a timeline, and the position of each image on the timeline being determined in accordance with the time/date that the image was captured.

7. A method according to claim 6, comprising displaying on the timeline an event selected from a plurality of user defined events, wherein the selection of the event is based on the difference between the time/date of the event and the time/date that the image was captured.

8. A method according to claim 1, comprising cropping the image around the face and identifying the face from the cropped image.

9. A method according to claim 8, comprising displaying the cropped image in the group of images.

10. A method according to claim 1, comprising displaying the group of images as a mashup, a slideshow, a single file, a timeline or a collage.

11. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer readable instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out a method of outputting a group of images for display, the group being taken from a plurality of images, each image in the plurality of images having a face located therein, the method comprising:

retrieving a set of images from a storage medium, the set of images containing at least the plurality of images from which the group of images to be displayed is selected;

identifying the face in each of the plurality of images;

identifying variable features on the face in each of the plurality of images;

establishing the group of images in accordance with a measure of the dissimilarity between the variable features in the plurality of images; and

outputting the group of images for display.

19. An apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the processor is configured to crop the image around the face and identifying the face from the cropped image.

20. An apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the processor is configured to display the cropped image in the group of images.

21. An apparatus according to claim 20, wherein the processor is configured to display the group of images as a mashup, a slideshow, a single file, a timeline or a collage.

12. An apparatus for outputting a group of images for display, the group being taken from a plurality of images, each image in the plurality of images having a face located therein, the apparatus comprising a processor configured to:

retrieve a set of images from a storage medium, the set of images containing at least the plurality of images from which the group of images to be displayed is selected;

identify the face in each of the plurality of images;

identify variable features on the face in each of the plurality of images;

establish the group of images in accordance with a measure of the dissimilarity between the variable features in the plurality of images; and

output the group of images for display.

13. An apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to generate metadata associated with each of the plurality of images, the metadata uniquely identifying the image within the set of images.

14. An apparatus according to claim 13, comprising a database identifying the face, and the processor is configured to associate the unique identity of the image with the face.

15. An apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to determine a facial metric for a face in each of the plurality of images, the facial metric defining unique characteristic features of the face, and to compare the determined facial metric with other stored facial metrics and identifying the face in dependence on the results of said comparison.

16. An apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the facial metric is based upon a ratio of distances between different facial features.

17. An apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the group of images are displayed on a timeline, and the position of each image on the timeline being determined in accordance with the time/date that the image was captured.

18. An apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the processor is configured to display on the timeline an event selected from a plurality of user defined events, wherein the selection of the event is based on the difference between the time/date of the event and the time/date that the image was captured.