IDENTIFYING PARTICULAR IMAGES FROM A COLLECTION

• US 20140074825A1
• Filed: 11/14/2013
• Published: 03/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kodak Alaris Inc (KPP (no. 2) Trustees Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Kodak Alaris Inc (KPP (no. 2) Trustees Ltd.)
• Inventors: LOUI, Alexander C., WOOD, Mark D.
• Granted Patent: US 9,037,569 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/722
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24573 using data annotations, e.g. user-defined metadata
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/50 of still image data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/53 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/583 using metadata automatically derived from the content
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/5866 using information manually generated, e.g. tags, keywords, comments, manually generated location and time information
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/60 of audio data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/70 of video data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/907 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results

Abstract

A method of identifying one or more particular images from an image collection, includes indexing the image collection to provide image descriptors for each image in the image collection such that each image is described by one or more of the image descriptors; receiving a query from a user specifying at least one keyword for an image search; and using the keyword(s) to search a second collection of tagged images to identify co-occurrence keywords. The method further includes using the identified co-occurrence keywords to provide an expanded list of keywords; using the expanded list of keywords to search the image descriptors to identify a set of candidate images satisfying the keywords; grouping the set of candidate images according to at least one of the image descriptors, and selecting one or more representative images from each grouping; and displaying the representative images to the user.

Claims

1. A method of identifying one or more particular images from an image collection, comprising using a data processing system for:

(a) indexing the image collection to provide image descriptors for each image in the image collection such that each image is described by one or more of the image descriptors;

(b) receiving a query from a user specifying at least one keyword for an image search;

(c) using the keyword(s) to search a second collection of tagged images to identify co-occurrence keywords;

(d) using the identified co-occurrence keywords to provide an expanded list of keywords;

(e) using the expanded list of keywords to search the image descriptors to identify a set of candidate images satisfying the keywords;

(f) grouping the set of candidate images according to at least one of the image descriptors, and selecting one or more representative images from each grouping; and

(g) displaying the representative images to the user.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein one or more of the image descriptors includes using geographic location information to identify place names and geographic feature types.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein one or more of the image descriptors includes using prominent colors represented in the image.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein one or more of the image descriptors includes using prominent scene types represented in the image.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein one or more of the image descriptors includes using prominent material or texture types represented in the image.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein one or more of the image descriptors includes using temporal information based on image capture date.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein one or more of the image descriptors includes using camera capture conditions.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein one or more of the image descriptors includes using classes of people represented in the image.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein one or more of the image descriptors includes using the type of event to which the image belongs.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the grouping in step (e) is determined by temporal information, geospatial information, people information, or visual similarity.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the expansion of a set of keywords in step (d) is determined in part by consideration of which indexers might generate each keyword.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the identification of co-occurrent keywords from a second collection of tagged images in step (c) selects which collection of tagged images to use from a set of candidate collections.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the collection selection is dependent upon a user characteristic such as language, age, or geographic region.

14. A method of identifying one or more particular images from an image collection, comprising using a data processing system for:

(a) indexing the image collection to provide image descriptors for each image in the image collection wherein each image is described by one or more of the image descriptors and wherein each image descriptor belongs to one or more categories;

(b) receiving a query from a user specifying at least one keyword for an image search;

(c) expanding each keyword to a set of related asset descriptors according to at least in part the expansion rules for the keyword'"'"'s associated category;

(d) using the expanded list of keywords to search the image descriptors to identify a set of candidate images satisfying the keywords;

(e) grouping the set of candidate images according to at least one of the image descriptors, and selecting one or more representative images from each grouping; and

(f) displaying the representative images to the user.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the mechanism for expanding a given category considers one or more keywords belonging to other categories.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the categories include geographic location or feature type, scenery or material type, color, activity, object, or people type.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the grouping in step (e) is determined by temporal information, geospatial information, people information, or visual similarity.

18. The method of claim 14 wherein the displaying of representative images in step (f) is responsive to the categories.