Semi-automatic annotation of multimedia objects
First Claim
1. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing steps comprising:
- identifying, in response to a search query, first multimedia objects having an associated keyword that matches a keyword in the search query, and identifying second multimedia objects that have content features similar to those of the first multimedia objects, wherein the content features do not match the keyword in the search query;
presenting the first and second multimedia objects to a user;
monitoring feedback from the user as to which of the first and second multimedia objects are relevant to the search query;
maintaining associations between the associated and search query keywords and the first and second multimedia objects, the associations being weighted to indicate how relevant the keywords are to the multimedia objects;
adjusting the weights of the associations based on the users feedback, wherein the adjusting comprises increasing an initial weight of an association between the keyword and a particular multimedia object that is deemed relevant by the user or/and decreasing the initial weight of an association between the keyword and a particular multimedia object that is deemed irrelevant by the user; and
annotating one or more of the second multimedia objects, which are deemed relevant by the user, with the keyword, wherein results are made available for image retrieval.
2 Assignments
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Accused Products
Abstract
A multimedia object retrieval and annotation system integrates an annotation process with object retrieval and relevance feedback processes. The annotation process annotates multimedia objects, such as digital images, with semantically relevant keywords. The annotation process is performed in background, hidden from the user, as the user conducts normal searches. The annotation process is “semi-automatic” in that it utilizes both keyword-based information retrieval and content-based image retrieval techniques to automatically search for multimedia objects, and then encourages users to provide feedback on the retrieved objects. The user identifies objects as either relevant or irrelevant to the query keywords and based on this feedback, the system automatically annotates the objects with semantically relevant keywords and/or updates associations between the keywords and objects. As the retrieval-feedback-annotation cycle is repeated, the annotation coverage and accuracy of future searches continues to improve.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing steps comprising:
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identifying, in response to a search query, first multimedia objects having an associated keyword that matches a keyword in the search query, and identifying second multimedia objects that have content features similar to those of the first multimedia objects, wherein the content features do not match the keyword in the search query;
presenting the first and second multimedia objects to a user;monitoring feedback from the user as to which of the first and second multimedia objects are relevant to the search query; maintaining associations between the associated and search query keywords and the first and second multimedia objects, the associations being weighted to indicate how relevant the keywords are to the multimedia objects; adjusting the weights of the associations based on the users feedback, wherein the adjusting comprises increasing an initial weight of an association between the keyword and a particular multimedia object that is deemed relevant by the user or/and decreasing the initial weight of an association between the keyword and a particular multimedia object that is deemed irrelevant by the user; and annotating one or more of the second multimedia objects, which are deemed relevant by the user, with the keyword, wherein results are made available for image retrieval. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing steps comprising:
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identifying, in response to a search query, first multimedia objects having an associated keyword that matches a keyword in the search query, and identifying second multimedia objects that have content features similar to those of the first multimedia objects, wherein the content features do not match the keyword in the search query;
presenting the first and second multimedia objects to a user;monitoring feedback from the user as to which of the multimedia objects are relevant; annotating one or more of the multimedia objects based on the user'"'"'s feedback, with a keyword; in an event that a particular multimedia object is deemed relevant by the user and not yet annotated with the keyword, adding the keyword to the particular multimedia object; and in an event that the particular multimedia object is deemed relevant by the user and is already annotated with the keyword, strengthening an association between the keyword and the particular multimedia object, wherein results ate made available for image retrieval. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. An image retrieval system comprising:
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a means for retrieving multimedia objects from a database based on a search query first multimedia objects having an associated keyword that matches a keyword in the search query, and identifying second multimedia objects that have content features similar to those of the first multimedia objects wherein the content features do not match the keyword in the search query; a means for capturing a user'"'"'s feedback as to whether the multimedia objects are relevant to the search query; and a means for annotating, with the keyword, the second multimedia objects based on the user'"'"'s feedback, wherein the search query comprises a keyword-based search query having at least one keyword and in an event that a particular multimedia object is deemed relevant by the user and is already annotated with the keyword, the annotation unit strengthens an association between the keyword and the particular multimedia object, and/or in an event that a particular multimedia object is deemed irrelevant by the user and is already annotated with the keyword, removing the keyword from the particular multimedia object, and/or in an event that a particular multimedia object is deemed irrelevant by the user and is already annotated with the keyword, weakening an association between the keyword and the particular multimedia object, wherein results are made available for image retrieval. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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Specification