Systems and methods for automatically creating a photo-based project based on photo analysis and image metadata

• US 8,923,551 B1
• Filed: 07/16/2014
• Issued: 12/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/16/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Interactive Memories Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Interactive Memories Incorporated
• Inventors: Grosz, Aryk Erwin, Lai, Anthony Jan Fung, Schultz, Dan, Barushev, Denys, Astashov, Anton Vladimirovich
• Primary Examiner(s): SHAH, UTPAL D
• Application Number:
  US14/333,507
• Time in Patent Office: 167 Days
• Field of Search: 382/100, 382/118, 382/224, 382/305
• US Class Current: 382/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/583 using metadata automatically derived from the content
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/106 Display of layout of documents; Previewing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00145 from a remote location
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00161 Viewing or previewing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00167 Processing or editing H04N1/00196 - H04N1/00201 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00196 Creation of a photo-montage, e.g. photoalbum H04N1/0019 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00453 arranged in a two dimensional array
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00456 for layout preview, e.g. page layout
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00477 Indicating status, e.g. of a job for control or supervision between transmitter and receiver or between image input and image output device H04N2201/3219

Abstract

In some embodiments, a server, system, and method for automatically creating a photo-based project based on photo analysis and image metadata is disclosed. The method includes the steps of: receiving a plurality of images from a user-device, reading embedded metadata from the plurality of images, and storing said plurality of images in a data repository; performing photo analysis on the plurality of images in the data repository to determine a visual content and relevant metadata in the images; customizing the photo-based project automatically by performing one or more automatic customization actions based on the visual content in and the relevant metadata in the plurality of images; placing the plurality of images automatically in one or more particular page layouts of the photo-based project based on the customization performed; and generating a printed product comprising the plurality of images based on the customization performed.

Claims

1. A server, communicably coupled with a communications network, for automatically creating a photo-based project based on photo analysis and image metadata, the server comprising a processor, a data repository having multimedia content, and a non-transitory physical medium comprising executable instructions for:

establishing a client-server connection between the server and a user-device connected to the communication network;

receiving a plurality of images from the user-device, reading embedded metadata from the plurality of images, and storing said plurality of images in the data repository;

performing user analysis on an expected user of the photo-based project based on data from a social media platform;

performing photo analysis on the plurality of images in the data repository to determine a visual content and relevant metadata in the images based at least on the images and the user analysis;

customizing the photo-based project automatically by performing one or more automatic customization actions based on the visual content in and the relevant metadata in the plurality of images;

placing the plurality of images automatically in one or more particular page layouts of the photo based project based on the customization performed; and

generating a printed product comprising the plurality of images based on the customization performed.

2. The server of claim 1, wherein said physical medium further stores executable instructions for:

receiving a use case identifier identifying a use context for which the photo-based project would be utilized from the user-device.

3. The server of claim 2, wherein said physical medium further stores executable instructions for:

customizing the photo-based project automatically based on the use case identifier.

4. The server of claim 2, wherein the use case identifier is selected from the group consisting of a wedding, a night out, an event with friends, a baby, a year in review, a trip, a water-related event, a beach trip, a lake trip, a pool trip, a snow-related event, a ski trip, and a road trip.

5. The server of claim 2, wherein the use case identifier is a wedding, and wherein said photo analysis comprises one or more of:

identifying images that include a wedding cake, identifying images that include an altar, and identifying images that include a bride and a groom.

6. The server of claim 1, wherein said photo analysis further comprises one or more of:

identifying similar images, identifying faces in the images, identifying objects in the images, identifying dimensions of the images, identifying undesirable images, and identifying relevant portions of the images, identifying images with an incorrect orientation, identifying images with incorrect color, brightness or contrast, and identifying images with red-eye.

7. The server of claim 1, wherein the automatic customization actions comprise one or more of:

matching images automatically to a use case specific theme, grouping similar images, grouping images having identical faces, grouping images having identical objects, removing undesirable images, and cropping images to highlight relevant portions of said images.

8. The server of claim 1, wherein the automatic customization actions comprise applying correction function on the plurality of images, wherein the correction functions comprise one or more of:

orienting images to an appropriate orientation, adjusting images to correct color, brightness or contrast, and removing red-eye from images.

9. The server of claim 1, wherein said automatic customization actions comprise one or more of:

grouping images that include a wedding cake, grouping images that include an altar, and grouping images that include a bride and a groom.

10. The server of claim 1, wherein said physical medium further stores executable instructions for:

adding text to the particular page layouts based on a subset of said embedded metadata.

11. The server of claim 1, wherein said physical medium further stores executable instructions for:

organizing images based on the embedded metadata from the plurality of images.

12. The server of claim 1, wherein said physical medium further stores executable instructions for:

reading embedded location metadata from the plurality of images;

performing a lookup of additional location data based on the embedded location metadata; and

adding text boxes to the ordered project reflecting said additional location data.

13. The server of claim 1, wherein the printed product is selected from the group consisting of a photo-book, a photo-card, and a photo-calendar.

14. A non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions, which when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method for automatically creating a photo-based project based on photo analysis and image metadata over a communications network, the storage medium comprising executable instructions to:

establish a client-server connection between the server and a user-device connected to the communication network;

receive a plurality of images from the user-device, read embedded metadata from the plurality of images, and store said plurality of images in the data repository;

perform user analysis on an expected user of the photo-based project based on data from a social media platform;

perform photo analysis on the plurality of images in the data repository to determine a visual content and relevant metadata in the images based at least on the images and the user analysis;

customize the photo-based project automatically by performing one or more automatic customization actions based on the visual content in and the relevant metadata in the plurality of images;

place the plurality of images automatically in one or more particular page layouts of the photo-based project based on the customization performed; and

generate a printed product comprising the plurality of images based on the customization performed.

15. The storage medium of claim 14, wherein said storage medium further stores executable instructions for:

receiving a use case identifier identifying a use context for which the photo-based project would be utilized from the user-device.

16. The storage medium of claim 15, wherein said storage medium further stores executable instructions for:

customizing the photo-based project automatically based on the use case identifier.

17. The storage medium of claim 15, wherein the use-case context is selected from the group consisting of a wedding, a night out, an event with friends, a baby, a year in review, a trip, a water-related event, a beach trip, a lake trip, a pool trip, a snow-related event, a ski trip, and a road trip.

18. The storage medium of claim 14, wherein said photo analysis further comprises one or more of:

identifying similar images, identifying faces in the images, identifying objects in the images, identifying dimensions of the images, identifying undesirable images, and identifying relevant portions of the images, identifying images with an incorrect orientation, identifying images with incorrect color, brightness or contrast, and identifying images with red-eye.

19. The storage medium of claim 14, wherein the automatic customization actions comprise one or more of:

matching images automatically to a use case specific theme, grouping similar images, grouping images having identical faces, grouping images having identical objects, removing undesirable images, and cropping images to highlight relevant portions of said images.

20. The storage medium of claim 14, wherein the automatic customization actions comprise applying correction function on the plurality of images, wherein the correction functions comprise one or more of:

orienting images to an appropriate orientation, adjusting images to correct color, brightness or contrast, and removing red-eye from images.

21. The storage medium of claim 14, wherein said storage medium further stores executable instructions for:

adding text to the particular page layouts based on a subset of said embedded metadata.

22. A method for automatically creating a photo-based project based on photo analysis and image metadata, comprising:

establishing a client-server connection between the server and a user-device connected to the communication network;

receiving a plurality of images from the user-device, reading embedded metadata from the plurality of images, and storing said plurality of images in the data repository;

performing user analysis on an expected user of the photo-based project based on data from a social media platform;

performing photo analysis on the plurality of images in the data repository to determine a visual content and relevant metadata in the images based at least on the images and the user analysis;

customizing the photo-based project automatically by performing one or more automatic customization actions based on the visual content in and the relevant metadata in the plurality of images;

placing the plurality of images automatically in one or more particular page layouts of the photo-based project based on the customization performed; and

generating a printed product comprising the plurality of images based on the customization performed.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

receiving a use case identifier identifying a use case context for which the photo-based project would be utilized from the user-device.

24. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

adding text to the particular page layouts based on a subset of said embedded metadata.

25. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

customizing the photo-based project automatically based on the use case identifier.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein the use case identifier is selected from the group consisting of a wedding, a night out, an event with friends, a baby, a year in review, a trip, a water-related event, a beach trip, a lake trip, a pool trip, a snow-related event, a ski trip, and a road trip.

27. The method of claim 22, wherein said photo analysis further comprises one or more of:

identifying similar images, identifying faces in the images, identifying objects in the images, identifying dimensions of the images, identifying undesirable images, and identifying relevant portions of the images, identifying images with an incorrect orientation, identifying images with incorrect color, brightness or contrast, and identifying images with red-eye.

28. The method of claim 22, wherein the automatic customization actions comprise one or more of:

matching images automatically to a use case specific theme, grouping similar images, grouping images having identical faces, grouping images having identical objects, removing undesirable images, and cropping images to highlight relevant portions of said images.

29. The method of claim 22, wherein the automatic customization actions comprise applying correction function on the plurality of images, wherein the correction functions comprise one or more of:

orienting images to an appropriate orientation, adjusting images to correct color, brightness or contrast, and removing red-eye from images.

30. The method of claim 22, wherein the printed product is selected from the group consisting of a photo-book, a photo-card, and a photo-calendar.