Automatic stacking based on time proximity and visual similarity

• US 20130125002A1
• Filed: 03/30/2006
• Published: 05/16/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Original Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Inventors: Slater, Michael, Spaeth, Radford
• Granted Patent: US 8,639,028 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/731
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence

Abstract

Automatic stacking based on time proximity and visual similarity is described, including a method, comprising analyzing a time proximity of a plurality of electronic images, performing a visual similarity analysis on the plurality of electronic images, and stacking the plurality of electronic images based on a result of the time proximity analysis and the visual similarity analysis.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a plurality of electronic images, wherein each one of the plurality of electronic images is a separate image file;

determining one or more groupings for the plurality of electronic images based on a time proximity for the plurality of electronic images and a visual similarity for the plurality of electronic images, wherein the time proximity indicates whether respective capture times for two or more of the plurality of electronic images are within a certain range of time;

creating one or more stacks for the plurality of electronic images based on the one or more groupings, wherein each one of the one or more stacks comprises a single representative image chosen to represent the stack, wherein a display of one of the one or more stacks comprises;

a display of the respective single representative image for the displayed one of the one or more stacks, and

a visual indication that the respective single representative image represents a stack of images; and

selecting at least one of the one or more stacks for printing, viewing, copying, or using in a slide show, wherein said selecting treats each of the at least one of the one or more stacks as if it were one image, such that said printing, said viewing, said copying, or said using in the slide show is performed on only the single respective representative image chosen to represent the stack, for each of the at least one of the one or more stacks.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the plurality of electronic images further comprises automatically selecting the plurality of electronic images.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein automatically selecting the plurality of electronic images further comprises automatically selecting a plurality of electronic images on display in a user interface.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the automatically selecting the plurality of electronic images is triggered by a download of electronic images from an image capturing device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising editing the one or more groupings for the plurality of electronic images upon receipt of an editing command.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the one or more groupings for the plurality of electronic images based on the time proximity and the visual similarity further comprises grouping the plurality of electronic images based on a time stamp being within a time proximity range and a visual similarity being greater than or equal to a first similarity threshold.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein determining the one or more groupings for the plurality of electronic images based on the time proximity and the visual similarity further comprises grouping the plurality of electronic images based on a time stamp being outside of the time proximity range and a visual similarity being greater than a second similarity threshold, the second similarity threshold being greater than the first similarity threshold.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the one or more groupings for the plurality of electronic images based on the time proximity and the visual similarity further comprises comparing the time proximity and the visual similarity between two of the plurality of electronic images.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the one or more groupings for the plurality of electronic images based on the time proximity and the visual similarity further comprises comparing the time proximity and the visual similarity between one of the plurality of electronic images and a grouping of the plurality of electronic images.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein creating one or more stacks for the plurality of electronic images further comprises, for each one of the one or more stacks, selecting one of a plurality of electronic images in the stack as the representative image for the one of the one or more stacks.

11. A method, comprising:

analyzing a time proximity of a plurality of electronic images, wherein each one of the plurality of electronic images is a separate image file, and wherein the time proximity indicates whether respective capture times for two or more of the plurality of electronic images are within a certain range of time;

performing a visual similarity analysis on the plurality of electronic images;

stacking the plurality of electronic images based on a result of the time proximity analysis and the visual similarity analysis, wherein said stacking comprises creating one or more stacks for the plurality of electronic images, wherein each one of the one or more stacks comprises a single representative image chosen to represent the stack, wherein a display of one of the one or more stacks comprises;

a display of the respective single representative image for the displayed one of the one or more stacks, and

a visual indication that the respective single representative image represents a stack of images; and

selecting at least one of the one or more stacks for printing, viewing, copying, or using in a slide show, wherein said selecting treats each of the at least one of the one or more stacks as if it were one image, such that said printing, said viewing, said copying, or said using in the slide show is performed on only the single respective representative image chosen to represent the stack, for each of the at least one of the one or more stacks.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein stacking the plurality of electronic images further comprises automatically sorting the plurality of electronic images into stacks having images with a time proximity within a time proximity range and a visual similarity greater than or equal to a first visual similarity threshold.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein stacking the plurality of electronic images further comprises automatically sorting the plurality of electronic images into stacks having electronic images with the time proximity outside the time proximity range and the visual similarity greater than a second visual similarity threshold, the second visual similarity threshold being greater than the first visual similarity threshold.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein analyzing the time proximity and performing the visual similarity analysis are triggered by a download of images from an image capturing device.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein stacking the plurality of electronic images further comprises, for each one of the one or more stacks, selecting one of a plurality of electronic images in the stack as the representative image for the one of the one or more stacks.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein selecting the representative image is based on image quality.

17. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory stores program instructions executable by the processor to implement;

a visual similarity engine configured to analyze a visual similarity of a plurality of digital images, wherein each one of the plurality of digital images is a separate digital image file;

a time analyzer configured to analyze a time proximity of the plurality of digital images, wherein the time proximity indicates whether respective capture times for two or more of the plurality of electronic images are within a certain range of time;

a grouping module configured to sort the plurality of digital images into one or more groups based on the visual similarity and the time proximity;

a stacking module configured to create one or more stacks for the plurality of digital images based on the one or more groups, wherein each one of the one or more stacks comprises a single representative image chosen to represent the stack;

a user interface configured to display the one or more stacks of digital images, wherein a display of one of the one or more stacks comprises;

a display of the respective single representative image for the displayed one of the one or more stacks, and

a visual indication that the respective single representative image represents a stack of images; and

selecting at least one of the one or more stacks for printing, viewing, copying, or using in a slide show, wherein said selecting treats each of the at least one of the one or more stacks as if it were one image, such that said printing, said viewing, said copying, or said using in the slide show is performed on only the single respective representative image chosen to represent the stack, for each of the at least one of the one or more stacks.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the grouping module is further configured to edit one of the one or more groups based on commands received from the user interface.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the grouping module is further configured to group two or more of the plurality of digital images that possess a time proximity within a time range and a visual similarity greater than or equal to a first visual similarity threshold.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the grouping module is further configured to group two or more of the plurality of digital images that possess a time proximity outside the time range and a visual similarity greater than or equal to a second visual similarity threshold, the second similarity threshold being higher than the first visual similarity threshold.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein the stacking module is further configured to select one of a plurality of digital images in a stack as the representative image for the stack, the selection based on digital image quality.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein the visual similarity engine and the time analyzer are further configured to perform the analyzing automatically upon a download of digital images from an image capturing device.

21. (canceled)

24. A computer program product embodied in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:

receiving a plurality of electronic images, wherein each one of the plurality of electronic images is a separate image file;

determining one or more groupings associated with the plurality of electronic images based on a time proximity for the plurality of electronic images and a visual similarity for the plurality of electronic images, wherein the time proximity indicates whether respective capture times for two or more of the plurality of electronic images are within a certain range of time;

creating one or more stacks for the plurality of electronic images based on the one or more groupings, wherein each one of the one or more stacks comprises a single representative image chosen to represent the stack, wherein a display of one of the one or more stacks comprises;

a display of the respective single representative image for the displayed one of the one or more stacks, and

a visual indication that the respective single representative image represents a stack of images; and

selecting at least one of the one or more stacks for printing, viewing, copying, or using in a slide show, wherein said selecting treats each of the at least one of the one or more stacks as if it were one image, such that said printing, said viewing, said copying, or said using in the slide show is performed on only the single respective representative image chosen to represent the stack, for each of the at least one of the one or more stacks.

25. A computer program product embodied in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:

analyzing a time proximity on a plurality of electronic images, wherein each one of the plurality of electronic images is a separate image file, and wherein the time proximity indicates whether respective capture times for two or more of the plurality of electronic images are within a certain range of time;

performing a visual similarity analysis on the plurality of electronic images;

stacking the plurality of electronic images based on a result of the time proximity analysis and the visual similarity analysis, wherein said stacking comprises creating one or more stacks for the plurality of electronic images, wherein each one of the one or more stacks comprises a single representative image chosen to represent the stack, wherein a display of one of the one or more stacks comprises;

a display of the respective single representative image for the displayed one of the one or more stacks, and

a visual indication that the respective single representative image represents a stack of images; and

selecting at least one of the one or more stacks for printing, viewing, copying, or using in a slide show, wherein said selecting treats each of the at least one of the one or more stacks as if it were one image, such that said printing, said viewing, said copying, or said using in the slide show is performed on only the single respective representative image chosen to represent the stack, for each of the at least one of the one or more stacks.

26. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein stacking the plurality of electronic images further comprises dividing the plurality of electronic images into stacks having images with a time proximity within a time proximity range and a visual similarity greater than or equal to a first visual similarity threshold.

27. The computer program product of claim 26, wherein stacking the plurality of electronic images further comprises dividing the plurality of electronic images into stacks having images with a time proximity outside a time proximity range and a visual similarity greater than or equal to a second visual similarity threshold, the second similarity threshold being stricter than the first similarity threshold.

28. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein analyzing the time proximity and performing the visual similarity analysis are triggered by a download of electronic images from an image capturing device.

29. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein stacking the plurality of electronic images further comprises, for each one of the one or more stacks, selecting one of a plurality of electronic images in the stack as the representative image for the one of the one or more stacks.

30. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein selecting the representative image is based on image quality.