1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a computer-based technique for organizing media, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for organizing digital media based on face recognition.
2. Description of the Related Art
Digital cameras have gained popularity in recent in years, in part due to the flexibility offered by electronic image storage. By storing digital photos on a personal computer, laptop, a network accessible server, etc., users are able to organize, edit, and share their images. Also, as compared to film-based photography, the user of a digital camera can typically assess the quality of a photo immediately, without spending time and money on a set of prints containing at least some low quality images. In view of the widespread transition from analog to digital photos, service providers and vendors have introduced a variety of products, web-based services, and software tools, including processing software tools for editing digital photos and services for remotely ordering prints and other products (e.g., holiday cards) using the user's picture file(s). File browsing and media viewing software typically allows users to organize and view their photos in electronic Albums, for example organized in folders based on dates (e.g., October 2003) and events (e.g., Ski Trip—January 2002). Considering that the average user has hundreds of photos, such tools offer a convenient way to organize and retrieve photos.
Despite these existing products and services, the inventors of this application has found that the need exists for more-advanced techniques and software tools for conveniently and quickly organizing digital photos.
In one aspect, the present invention is directed to a computer-based method and apparatus for organizing digital media, particularly digital photos, using recognition techniques. According to a first aspect of the present invention, a computer-based method for organizing digital photos comprises: extracting objects of interest from a plurality of digital photos; cropping the plurality of digital photos to generate images of isolated objects of interest; applying a recognition algorithm to determine the similarity of isolated objects with a reference; displaying a plurality of objects of interest arranged as a function of the determined similarity; and receiving user input to associate the objects and corresponding digital photos with a particular classification.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, an apparatus for organizing digital photos comprises: an object detecting unit for detecting objects of interest in a plurality of digital photos and cropping the plurality of digital photos to generate images of isolated objects of interest; a recognition unit for applying a recognition algorithm to determine the similarity of isolated objects with a reference; a display output for displaying a plurality of objects arranged as a function of the determined similarity; and a user input for receiving user input to associate the objects and corresponding digital photos with a particular classification.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, the operations of applying the recognition algorithm and displaying image objects as a function of determined similarity are repeated as objects are classified. In one embodiment, the objects are faces.
Further aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description and with reference to the appended drawings, in which:
Embodiments of the present invention are more specifically set forth in the following description with reference to the appended figures. Generally, the present invention is directed to a computer-based method and system for organizing media, and more particularly to a computer-based system and method for organizing digital photos in accordance with objects detected and recognized in the digital photos. In one implementation described in detail below, a group of digital photos is organized by detecting and recognizing faces appearing therein.
The present invention may be implemented as a computer-executed software product, installed on a user's personal computer (or some other suitable device) to allow the user to organize a collection of digital photographs in accordance with the people appearing in the photographs. In one embodiment, a system for organizing and processing photographs is provided with at least one face recognition algorithm, which determines the similarity of faces appearing in a collection of photographs to at least one face in a model folder. The present invention may be implemented to allow a user to set up folders for different people, find similar faces to a face or faces in these folders, and add photographs to the “people folders” based on detected similarity. One implementation of the present invention is described in which face detection and recognition are used as tools (e.g., as a software plug-in for a photo storing/processing application) for facilitating digital photo organization (e.g., allowing the user to organize hundreds or photographs based on people in a few minutes). Although the following description details a specific work-flow with reference to specific display screens shown in the figures, it should be recognized that many variations are possible.
The image input device 20 provides digital image data representing a photograph. The image input device 20 may be one or more of any number of devices for providing digital image data derived from photographic film or a digital camera, e.g., a recording medium (a CD-R, floppy disk, etc.) or a network connection. The image input device 20 may be a scanner for scanning images recorded on paper or film, e.g., including CCD sensors for photoelectronically reading R (red), G (green), and B (blue) image information from film, frame by frame. The media organizing and processing unit 30 receives digital image data from the image input device 20 and performs recognition-based media organizing in a manner discussed in detail below. Although not a focus of this application, the media organizing and processing unit 30 may perform other functions, such as image compression, editing, color/density correction, etc., in accordance with commands received from the user input device 50. A user views graphical user interface (GUI) display screens and other information (including photos) output by the media organizing and processing unit 30 on a display 60 and inputs commands and other information to the media organizing and processing unit 30 via the user input device 50. In the embodiment illustrated in
The GUI display screen 100 further includes a display window 110 for viewing photos. In the example of
The user is able to control whether to automatically detect and crop out faces for images being imported, e.g., by selecting the “automatically detect faces” button 306 on the GUI display screen 300 shown in
At any time after face detection and cropping for a group of imported digital images has been executed, the user may initiate face recognition-based organization of such digital photos.
The user may select a folder 402 under the “people” category in GUI display screen 400 (in category list 102) or create a new person folder (S216). To serve as a basis for face recognition, the selected folder or new folder must contain at least one face image. The user may drag and drop any of the faces from an “unknown” display window portion 406 (i.e., displaying faces from imported digital photos that have not been associated with a particular person folder). Once the user has selected the person folder for matching with “unknown” faces (which serves as a comparison model), the face recognition unit 36 applies face recognition to determine similarity of unknown faces to the selected model (S218).
A previously classified image of a person may appear substantially different than the same person in other photographs (e.g., due to different angles, poses, photographing positions, aging, etc.). Thus, a preferred embodiment of the present invention utilizes a face recognition algorithm that provides good results under such conditions. One implementation of the present invention utilizes the face recognition algorithm described in the U.S. patent application titled “Method and Apparatus for Object Recognition Using Probability Models” filed on even date herewith and which is hereby incorporated by reference. Such a face recognition algorithm has also been described in U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/519,639 filed Nov. 14, 2003, which has been incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. After the face recognition unit 36 obtains a similarity measure for each unknown face, the media organizing control unit 38 sorts the unknown faces by similarity measure (most similar to least similar) and outputs an updated “unknown” display window portion 406 (
Having detected and recognized faces in digital photos, the resulting information can be used in accordance with principles of the present invention to enhance photo viewing presentations. For example, as shown in
Although embodiments of the present invention have been described above in the context of face-recognition, principles of the present invention may be applied to organizing digital photos based on other types of objects that can be detected and recognized in the digital photos. The invention having thus been described, it should be apparent that various other modifications are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. For example, depending on accuracy, digital photos may be automatically grouped in people folders based on face recognition, providing the user with the option of re-assigning incorrectly grouped photos.
This application is a Divisional of and claims the benefit under 35 USC §120 of co-pending Nonprovisional application Ser. No. 10/734,259 filed on Dec. 15, 2003, which claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119 of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/519,639 filed on Nov. 14, 2003. The entire contents of all of the above applications is hereby incorporated by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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60519639 | Nov 2003 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 10734259 | Dec 2003 | US |
Child | 12858097 | US |