System and method for tagging images based on positional information

• US 7,822,746 B2
• Filed: 11/18/2005
• Issued: 10/26/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IP3 2017, Series 200 of Allied Security Trust I (Allied Security Trust)
• Original Assignee: Qurio Holdings Incorporated
• Inventors: Svendsen, Hugh
• Primary Examiner(s): Rones, Charles
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mahmood, Rezwanul
• Application Number:
  US11/282,556
• Publication Number:
  US 20070118508A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,803 Days
• Field of Search: 348/331.2, 348/331.5, 348/231.2, 348/231.3, 707/1, 707/102, 707/4, 707/3, 707/104.1, 707/10, 701/201
• US Class Current: 707/736
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/51 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• 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 1/21 Intermediate information storage H04N1/387, H04N1/41 take precedence ; for control between transmitter and receiver or between image input and image output device H04N1/32358; indexing, editing G11B27/00

Abstract

A system and method for suggesting keywords for tagging a digital image are provided. In general, a requesting node is communicatively coupled to a keyword service via a network. The requesting node sends a request to the keyword service requesting suggested keywords for a digital image. The request includes information relating to the digital image such as positional information. Based on the information, the keyword service generates a list of suggested keywords and provides the list of suggested keywords to the requesting node. At the requesting node, the list of suggested keywords is displayed to a user, and the user selects one or more of the suggested keywords for tagging the digital image.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for suggesting keywords for tagging digital media comprising:

receiving a request for suggested keywords for digital media from a requesting node at a keyword service via a network, the request including positional information defining a location where the digital media was captured;

generating a list of suggested keywords that are metadata at the keyword service based on the positional information defining the location where the digital media was captured and a location of a digital camera at a time of capturing the digital media such that the list of suggested keywords includes previous keywords used to describe other images captured proximate to the location where the digital media was captured, wherein generating the list of suggested keywords comprises at least two processes selected from the group consisting of;

a) searching a plurality of digital media previously captured by a plurality of owners to find previously captured digital media captured at the location or proximate to the location defined by the positional information, and identifying a first plurality of keywords used to tag the previously captured digital media;

b) searching a plurality of digital media previously captured by an owner of the digital media to find previously captured digital media captured at the location or proximate to the location defined by the positional information, and identifying a second plurality of keywords used to tag the previously captured digital media; and

c) providing the positional information to a location keyword registry service and receiving a third plurality of keywords associated with the location defined by the positional information from the location keyword registry service, wherein the location keyword registry service provides the third plurality of keywords based on a collaborative process with a plurality of users defining at least one keyword for each of a plurality of locations including the location of the digital camera; and

providing the list of suggested keywords to the requesting node via the network, wherein a user at the requesting node selects at least one of the list of suggested keywords to store in association with the digital media at the requesting node.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the positional information defines the location of the digital camera at the time of capturing the digital media.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the positional information regarding the digital media further comprises at least one of a date and time of capturing the digital media and searching the plurality of digital media further comprises searching the plurality of digital media based on the at least one of the date and time.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one keyword comprises at least one user preferred keyword previously defined by an owner of the digital media for the location defined by the positional information.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving feedback identifying the at least one of the list of suggested keywords selected by the user at the requesting node and adjusting a popularity of the at least one of the list of suggested keywords selected by the user at the location keyword registry service.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein generating the list of suggested keywords further comprises combining the first, second, and third plurality of keywords from the at least two processes to provide the list of suggested keywords.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving feedback identifying the at least one of the list of suggested keywords selected by the user at the requesting node and defining a number of keywords to be obtained from each of at least one keyword predictor service when generating a future list of suggested keywords for the user at the requesting node.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining a number of keywords to be in the list of suggested keywords based on user preferences for the user at the requesting node.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein generating the list of suggested keywords comprises obtaining a number of suggested keywords from each of at least one keyword predictor service, the method further comprising determining the number of suggested keywords to obtain from each of the at least one keyword predictor service based on user preferences for the user at the requesting node.

10. A server for suggesting keywords for tagging digital media comprising:

a) a communication interface coupling the server to a network; and

b) a control system configured to;

i) receive a request for suggested keywords for the digital media from a requesting node, the request including positional information defining a location where the digital media was captured;

ii) generate a list of suggested keywords, which are metadata, based on the positional information defining the location where the digital media was captured and a location of a digital camera at a time of capturing the digital media such that the list of suggested keywords includes previous keywords used to describe other images captured proximate to the location where the digital media was captured, wherein the control system is configured to generate the list of suggested keywords by being further configured to perform at least two of;

A) search a plurality of digital media previously captured by a plurality of owners to find previously captured digital media captured at the location or proximate to the location defined by the positional information, and identifying a first plurality of keywords used to tag the previously captured digital media;

B) search a plurality of digital media previously captured by an owner of the digital media to find previously captured digital media captured at the location or proximate to the location defined by the positional information, and identifying a second plurality of keywords used to tag the previously captured digital media; and

C) provide the positional information to a location keyword registry service and receive a third plurality of keywords associated with the location defined by the positional information from the location keyword registry service, wherein the location keyword registry service provides the third plurality of keywords based on a collaborative process with a plurality of users defining at least one keyword for each of a plurality of locations including the location of the digital camera; and

iii) provide the list of suggested keywords to the requesting node via the network, wherein a user at the requesting node selects at least one of the list of suggested keywords to store in association with the digital media at the requesting node.

11. The server of claim 10 wherein the positional information defines the location of the digital camera at the time of capturing the digital media.