US7035467B2
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Method and system for processing images for themed imaging services
Assignee: Monument Peak Ventures LLC
•
Filing: 2002-01-09
•
Granted: 2006-04-25
•
Expires: 2022-01-09
Abstract
Abstract In a method for determining the general semantic theme of a group of images, whereby each digitized image is identified as belonging to a specific group of images, one or more image feature measurements are extracted from each of the digitized images in an image group, and then used to produce an individual image confidence measure that an individual image belongs to one or more semantic classifications. Then, the individual image confidence measures for the images in the image group are used to produce an image group confidence measure that the image group belongs to one or more semantic classifications, and the image group confidence measure is used to decide whether the image group belongs to one or to none of the semantic classifications, whereby the selected semantic classification constitutes the general semantic theme of the group of images. Additionally, a plurality of semantic theme processors, one for each semantic classification, are provided to produce enhanced value imaging services and products for image groups that fall into an appropriate semantic theme.
Inventors
- 👤 Henry Nicponski
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-25 00:35
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06V; G06V40/00; G06V40/10; G06V40/16; G06F; G06F18/00; G06F18/20; G06F18/24; G06F18/241; G06F18/2411
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 42
Claim 1
Independent Claim
241 words
A method for determining the general semantic theme of a group of images, said method comprising the steps of: (a) providing a plurality of digital images, whereby each digital image is identified as belonging to a specific group of images; (b) extracting one or more image feature measurements from each of the digital images in an image group; (c) using the one or more image feature measurements to produce an individual image confidence measure that an individual image belongs to one or more semantic classifications, said individual image confidence measure produced for a plurality of the digital images in an image group; (d) using the individual image confidence measures for the images in the image group to produce an image group confidence measure that the image group belongs to one or more semantic classifications; and (e) using the image group confidence measure to decide whether the image group belongs to a selected one or to none of the semantic classifications, whereby the selected semantic classification constitutes the general semantic theme of the group of images; wherein step (a) comprises the step of identifying the specific image group by relating the images to a roll of film from which the digital images were obtained, to a time or date of image capture, to a time or date the images were provided into step (a), or to the occurrence of a roll change in a film from which the digital images were obtained.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
241 words
A method for determining the general semantic theme of a group of images, said method comprising the steps of: (a) providing a plurality of digital images, whereby each digital image is identified as belonging to a specific group of images; (b) extracting one or more image feature measurements from each of the digital images in an image group; (c) using the one or more image feature measurements to produce an individual image confidence measure that an individual image belongs to one or more semantic classifications, said individual image confidence measure produced for a plurality of the digital images in an image group; (d) using the individual image confidence measures for the images in the image group to produce an image group confidence measure that the image group belongs to one or more semantic classifications; and (e) using the image group confidence measure to decide whether the image group belongs to a selected one or to none of the semantic classifications, whereby the selected semantic classification constitutes the general semantic theme of the group of images; wherein step (a) comprises the step of identifying the specific image group by relating the images to a roll of film from which the digital images were obtained, to a time or date of image capture, to a time or date the images were provided into step (a), or to the occurrence of a roll change in a film from which the digital images were obtained.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
49 words
The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the image features extracted in step (b) include at least one feature selected from the group consisting of a face, a standing person, a gender or age characteristic of a person, a color histogram, a texture measure, and image spectral information.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
46 words
The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein step (d) comprises processing a plurality of image group confidence measures relating to an image group and making a mutually exclusive decision that the image group belongs to a specific one or to none of the semantic classifications.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
20 words
A computer storage medium having instructions stored therein for causing a computer to perform the method of claim 1 .
Claim 6
Independent Claim
194 words
A method for determining the general semantic theme of a group of images, said method comprising the steps of: (a) providing a plurality of digital images, whereby each digital image is identified as belonging to a specific group of images; (b) extracting one or more image feature measurements from each of the digital images in an image group; (c) using the one or more image feature measurements to produce an individual image confidence measure that an individual image belongs to one or more semantic classifications, said individual image confidence measure produced for a plurality of the digital images in an image group; (d) using the individual image confidence measures for the images in the image group to produce an image group confidence measure that the image group belongs to one or more semantic classifications; and (e) using the image group confidence measure to decide whether the image group belongs to a selected one or to none of the semantic classifications, whereby the selected semantic classification constitutes the general semantic theme of the group of images; wherein a support vector machine is used in the production of the individual image confidence measure in step (c).
Claim 7
Independent Claim
194 words
A method for determining the general semantic theme of a group of images, said method comprising the steps of: (a) providing a plurality of digital images, whereby each digital image is identified as belonging to a specific group of images; (b) extracting one or more image feature measurements from each of the digital images in an image group; (c) using the one or more image feature measurements to produce an individual image confidence measure that an individual image belongs to one or more semantic classifications, said individual image confidence measure produced for a plurality of the digital images in an image group; (d) using the individual image confidence measures for the images in the image group to produce an image group confidence measure that the image group belongs to one or more semantic classifications; and (e) using the image group confidence measure to decide whether the image group belongs to a selected one or to none of the semantic classifications, whereby the selected semantic classification constitutes the general semantic theme of the group of images; wherein a support vector machine is used in the production of the individual image confidence measure in step (c).
Claim 8
Independent Claim
194 words
A method for determining the general semantic theme of a group of images, said method comprising the steps of: (a) providing a plurality of digital images, whereby each digital image is identified as belonging to a specific group of images; (b) extracting one or more image feature measurements from each of the digital images in an image group; (c) using the one or more image feature measurements to produce an individual image confidence measure that an individual image belongs to one or more semantic classifications, said individual image confidence measure produced for a plurality of the digital images in an image group; (d) using the individual image confidence measures for the images in the image group to produce an image group confidence measure that the image group belongs to one or more semantic classifications; and (e) using the image group confidence measure to decide whether the image group belongs to a selected one or to none of the semantic classifications, whereby the selected semantic classification constitutes the general semantic theme of the group of images; wherein a support vector machine is used in the production of the image group confidence measure in step (d).
Claim 9
Independent Claim
194 words
A method for determining the general semantic theme of a group of images, said method comprising the steps of: (a) providing a plurality of digital images, whereby each digital image is identified as belonging to a specific group of images; (b) extracting one or more image feature measurements from each of the digital images in an image group; (c) using the one or more image feature measurements to produce an individual image confidence measure that an individual image belongs to one or more semantic classifications, said individual image confidence measure produced for a plurality of the digital images in an image group; (d) using the individual image confidence measures for the images in the image group to produce an image group confidence measure that the image group belongs to one or more semantic classifications; and (e) using the image group confidence measure to decide whether the image group belongs to a selected one or to none of the semantic classifications, whereby the selected semantic classification constitutes the general semantic theme of the group of images; wherein a support vector machine is used in the production of the image group confidence measure in step (d).
Claim 10
Independent Claim
214 words
A method for generation of themed imaging services said method comprising the steps of: providing a plurality of digital images, wherein each said digital image is identified as belonging to a specific group of images; extracting one or more image feature measurements from each of the digital images in an image group; using the one or more image feature measurements to produce an individual image confidence measure that an individual image belongs to one or more semantic classifications, said individual image confidence measure produced for a plurality of the digital images in an image group; using the individual image confidence measures for the images in the image group to produce an image group confidence measure that the image group belongs to one or more semantic classifications; using the image group confidence measure to decide whether the image group belongs to a selected one or to none of the semantic classifications to provide a classification decision, whereby the selected semantic classification constitutes the general semantic theme of the group of images; providing a plurality of semantic theme processors, one for each semantic classification; using the selected semantic classification to determine which of the semantic theme processors to apply to the group of images; and applying the selected semantic theme processor to the group of images.
Claim 11
Independent Claim
214 words
A method for generation of themed imaging services said method comprising the steps of: providing a plurality of digital images, wherein each said digital image is identified as belonging to a specific group of images; extracting one or more image feature measurements from each of the digital images in an image group; using the one or more image feature measurements to produce an individual image confidence measure that an individual image belongs to one or more semantic classifications, said individual image confidence measure produced for a plurality of the digital images in an image group; using the individual image confidence measures for the images in the image group to produce an image group confidence measure that the image group belongs to one or more semantic classifications; using the image group confidence measure to decide whether the image group belongs to a selected one or to none of the semantic classifications to provide a classification decision, whereby the selected semantic classification constitutes the general semantic theme of the group of images; providing a plurality of semantic theme processors, one for each semantic classification; using the selected semantic classification to determine which of the semantic theme processors to apply to the group of images; and applying the selected semantic theme processor to the group of images.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
44 words
The method as in claim 7 wherein the plurality of semantic theme processors include at least one semantic theme processor selected from the group consisting of a wedding group processor, a baby group processor, a birthday party group processor, and an undersea group processor.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
35 words
The method as claimed in claim 7 in which the semantic theme processor is a wedding group processor and the method further comprises the step of identifying image locations associated with a bride and groom.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
33 words
The method as claimed in claim 7 in which the semantic theme processor is a baby group processor and the method further comprises the step of identifying image locations associated with a baby.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
18 words
The method as claimed in claim 10 wherein the baby group processor identifies the gender of the baby.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
34 words
The method as claimed in claim 7 in which the semantic theme processor is a birthday group processor and the method further comprises the step of identifying image locations associated with a birthday person.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
97 words
The method as in claim 7 in which the semantic theme processor is a wedding group processor and the wedding group processor includes at least one processor selected from the group consisting of a compositing processor to autonomously create pleasing composite images of a bride and a groom or wedding party members, a vignetting processor to autonomously create pleasing vignette images of the bride and groom individually or together, an album processor to autonomously create pleasing photo albums of wedding images, and a motion image processor to autonomously create pleasing motion images of the bride and groom.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
103 words
The method as in claim 7 in which the semantic theme processor is a baby group processor and the baby group processor includes at least one processor selected from the group consisting of a vignetting processor to autonomously create pleasing vignette images from suitable baby pictures, an album processor to autonomously create pleasing photo albums of baby images, an album processor to autonomously create pleasing photo albums of baby images in which the gender of the baby is automatically determined from image content and the album has gender-specific artwork, and a motion image processor to autonomously create pleasing motion images from baby pictures.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
65 words
The method as in claim 7 in which the semantic theme processor is a birthday group processor and the birthday group processor includes at least one vignetting processor to autonomously create pleasing vignette images from suitable birthday person pictures, an album processor to autonomously create pleasing photo albums of birthday images, and a motion image processor to autonomously create pleasing motion images from birthday pictures.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
38 words
The method as in claim 7 in which the semantic theme processor is an undersea group processor and the undersea group processor includes a processor to autonomously create images optimally rendered so as to produce more vivid colors.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
20 words
A computer storage medium having instructions stored therein for causing a computer to perform the method of claim 7 .
Claim 22
Independent Claim
207 words
A system for determining the general semantic theme of a group of digital images, whereby each digital image is identified as belonging to a specific group of images, said system comprising: (a) an image feature extractor that extracts one or more image feature measurements from each of the digital images in an image group; (b) an image semantic classifier that uses the one or more image feature measurements to produce an individual image confidence measure that an individual image belongs to one or more semantic classifications, whereby said image semantic classifier produces the individual image confidence measures for a plurality of the digital images in an image group; (c) an image group semantic classifier that uses the individual image confidence measures for the images in the image group to produce an image group confidence measure that the image group belongs to one or more semantic classifications; and (d) a decision module that uses the image group confidence measure to decide whether the image group belongs to a selected one or to none of the semantic classifications, whereby the selected semantic classification constitutes the general semantic theme of the group of images and that routes the group of images to further processing responsive to the selected semantic classification.
Claim 23
Independent Claim
207 words
A system for determining the general semantic theme of a group of digital images, whereby each digital image is identified as belonging to a specific group of images, said system comprising: (a) an image feature extractor that extracts one or more image feature measurements from each of the digital images in an image group; (b) an image semantic classifier that uses the one or more image feature measurements to produce an individual image confidence measure that an individual image belongs to one or more semantic classifications, whereby said image semantic classifier produces the individual image confidence measures for a plurality of the digital images in an image group; (c) an image group semantic classifier that uses the individual image confidence measures for the images in the image group to produce an image group confidence measure that the image group belongs to one or more semantic classifications; and (d) a decision module that uses the image group confidence measure to decide whether the image group belongs to a selected one or to none of the semantic classifications, whereby the selected semantic classification constitutes the general semantic theme of the group of images and that routes the group of images to further processing responsive to the selected semantic classification.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
46 words
The system as claimed in claim 18 wherein the image feature extractor extracts at least one feature selected from the group consisting of a face, a standing person, a gender or age characteristic of a person, a color histogram, a texture measure, and image spectral information.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
46 words
The system as claimed in claim 18 wherein the decision module processes a plurality of image group confidence measures relating to an image group and makes a mutually exclusive decision that the image group belongs to a specific one or to none of the semantic classifications.
Claim 26
Independent Claim
210 words
A system for determining the general semantic theme of a group of digital images, whereby each digital image is identified as belonging to a specific group of images, said system comprising: (a) an image feature extractor that extracts one or more image feature measurements from each of the digital images in an image group; (b) an image semantic classifier that uses the one or more image feature measurements to produce an individual image confidence measure that an individual image belongs to one or more semantic classifications, whereby said image semantic classifier produces the individual image confidence measures for a plurality of the digital images in an image group; (c) an image group semantic classifier that uses the individual image confidence measures for the images in the image group to produce an image group confidence measure that the image group belongs to one or more semantic classifications; and (d) a decision module that uses the image group confidence measure to decide whether the image group belongs to a selected one or to none of the semantic classifications, whereby the selected semantic classification constitutes the general semantic theme of the group of images; wherein the image semantic classifier uses a support vector machine in the production of the individual image confidence measure.
Claim 27
Independent Claim
210 words
A system for determining the general semantic theme of a group of digital images, whereby each digital image is identified as belonging to a specific group of images, said system comprising: (a) an image feature extractor that extracts one or more image feature measurements from each of the digital images in an image group; (b) an image semantic classifier that uses the one or more image feature measurements to produce an individual image confidence measure that an individual image belongs to one or more semantic classifications, whereby said image semantic classifier produces the individual image confidence measures for a plurality of the digital images in an image group; (c) an image group semantic classifier that uses the individual image confidence measures for the images in the image group to produce an image group confidence measure that the image group belongs to one or more semantic classifications; and (d) a decision module that uses the image group confidence measure to decide whether the image group belongs to a selected one or to none of the semantic classifications, whereby the selected semantic classification constitutes the general semantic theme of the group of images; wherein the image semantic classifier uses a support vector machine in the production of the individual image confidence measure.
Claim 28
Independent Claim
211 words
A system for determining the general semantic theme of a group of digital images, whereby each digital image is identified as belonging to a specific group of images, said system comprising: (a) an image feature extractor that extracts one or more image feature measurements from each of the digital images in an image group; (b) an image semantic classifier that uses the one or more image feature measurements to produce an individual image confidence measure that an individual image belongs to one or more semantic classifications, whereby said image semantic classifier produces the individual image confidence measures for a plurality of the digital images in an image group; (c) an image group semantic classifier that uses the individual image confidence measures for the images in the image group to produce an image group confidence measure that the image group belongs to one or more semantic classifications; and (d) a decision module that uses the image group confidence measure to decide whether the image group belongs to a selected one or to none of the semantic classifications, whereby the selected semantic classification constitutes the general semantic theme of the group of images; wherein the image group semantic classifier uses a support vector machine in the production of the image group confidence measure.
Claim 29
Independent Claim
211 words
A system for determining the general semantic theme of a group of digital images, whereby each digital image is identified as belonging to a specific group of images, said system comprising: (a) an image feature extractor that extracts one or more image feature measurements from each of the digital images in an image group; (b) an image semantic classifier that uses the one or more image feature measurements to produce an individual image confidence measure that an individual image belongs to one or more semantic classifications, whereby said image semantic classifier produces the individual image confidence measures for a plurality of the digital images in an image group; (c) an image group semantic classifier that uses the individual image confidence measures for the images in the image group to produce an image group confidence measure that the image group belongs to one or more semantic classifications; and (d) a decision module that uses the image group confidence measure to decide whether the image group belongs to a selected one or to none of the semantic classifications, whereby the selected semantic classification constitutes the general semantic theme of the group of images; wherein the image group semantic classifier uses a support vector machine in the production of the image group confidence measure.
Claim 30
Independent Claim
220 words
A system for generation of themed imaging services based on the general semantic theme of a group of images, whereby each digital image is identified as belonging to a specific group of images, said system comprising: (a) an image feature extractor that extracts one or more image feature measurements from each of the digital images in an image group; (b) an image semantic classifier that uses the one or more image feature measurements to produce an individual image confidence measure that an individual image belongs to one or more semantic classifications, whereby said image semantic classifier produces the individual image confidence measures for a plurality of the digital images in an image group; (c) an image group semantic classifier that uses the individual image confidence measures for the images in the image group to produce an image group confidence measure that the image group belongs to one or more semantic classifications; (d) a decision module that uses the image group confidence measure to decide whether the image group belongs to one or to none of the semantic classifications, whereby the selected semantic classification constitutes the general semantic theme of the group of images; and (e) a plurality of semantic theme processors, one for each semantic classification, said semantic theme processor each being configured to process said group of images differently.
Claim 31
Independent Claim
220 words
A system for generation of themed imaging services based on the general semantic theme of a group of images, whereby each digital image is identified as belonging to a specific group of images, said system comprising: (a) an image feature extractor that extracts one or more image feature measurements from each of the digital images in an image group; (b) an image semantic classifier that uses the one or more image feature measurements to produce an individual image confidence measure that an individual image belongs to one or more semantic classifications, whereby said image semantic classifier produces the individual image confidence measures for a plurality of the digital images in an image group; (c) an image group semantic classifier that uses the individual image confidence measures for the images in the image group to produce an image group confidence measure that the image group belongs to one or more semantic classifications; (d) a decision module that uses the image group confidence measure to decide whether the image group belongs to one or to none of the semantic classifications, whereby the selected semantic classification constitutes the general semantic theme of the group of images; and (e) a plurality of semantic theme processors, one for each semantic classification, said semantic theme processor each being configured to process said group of images differently.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
44 words
The system as in claim 23 wherein the plurality of semantic theme processors include at least one semantic theme processor selected from the group consisting of a wedding group processor, a baby group processor, a birthday party group processor, and an undersea group processor.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
97 words
The system as in claim 23 in which the semantic theme processor is a wedding group processor and the wedding group processor includes at least one processor selected from the group consisting of a compositing processor to autonomously create pleasing composite images of a bride and a groom or wedding party members, a vignetting processor to autonomously create pleasing vignette images of the bride and groom individually or together, an album processor to autonomously create pleasing photo albums of wedding images, and a motion image processor to autonomously create pleasing motion images of the bride and groom.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
103 words
The system as in claim 23 in which the semantic theme processor is a baby group processor and the baby group processor includes at least one processor selected from the group consisting of a vignetting processor to autonomously create pleasing vignette images from suitable baby pictures, an album processor to autonomously create pleasing photo albums of baby images, an album processor to autonomously create pleasing photo albums of baby images in which the gender of the baby is automatically determined from image content and the album has gender-specific artwork, and a motion image processor to autonomously create pleasing motion images from baby pictures.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
65 words
The method as in claim 23 in which the semantic theme processor is a birthday group processor and the birthday group processor includes at least one vignetting processor to autonomously create pleasing vignette images from suitable birthday person pictures, an album processor to autonomously create pleasing photo albums of birthday images, and a motion image processor to autonomously create pleasing motion images from birthday pictures.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
38 words
The method as in claim 23 in which the semantic theme processor is an undersea group processor and the undersea group processor includes a processor to autonomously create images optimally rendered so as to produce more vivid colors.
Claim 37
Independent Claim
208 words
A method for determining the general semantic theme of a group of images, said method comprising the steps of: providing a group of digital images, each said digital image being identified as belonging to said group; extracting one or more image feature measurements from each of a plurality of said digital images in said image group; producing a set of individual image confidence measures from said image feature measurements of each of said digital images of said plurality, each said image confidence measure indicating a confidence that the individual image belongs to a respective one of a plurality of semantic classifications; generating a set of image group confidence measures from said individual image confidence measures of said plurality of digital images, each said image group confidence measure indicating a confidence that said image group belongs to a respective one of said semantic classifications; deciding whether said image group belongs to one or none of said semantic classifications based upon said image group confidence measures to provide a classification decision; and providing a plurality of semantic theme processors, one for each semantic classification; processing each of said digital images of said group in accordance with said classification decision using a respective one or none of said semantic theme processors.
Claim 38
Independent Claim
208 words
A method for determining the general semantic theme of a group of images, said method comprising the steps of: providing a group of digital images, each said digital image being identified as belonging to said group; extracting one or more image feature measurements from each of a plurality of said digital images in said image group; producing a set of individual image confidence measures from said image feature measurements of each of said digital images of said plurality, each said image confidence measure indicating a confidence that the individual image belongs to a respective one of a plurality of semantic classifications; generating a set of image group confidence measures from said individual image confidence measures of said plurality of digital images, each said image group confidence measure indicating a confidence that said image group belongs to a respective one of said semantic classifications; deciding whether said image group belongs to one or none of said semantic classifications based upon said image group confidence measures to provide a classification decision; and providing a plurality of semantic theme processors, one for each semantic classification; processing each of said digital images of said group in accordance with said classification decision using a respective one or none of said semantic theme processors.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
19 words
The method as claimed in claim 29 wherein said providing further comprises identifying said group by time or date.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
48 words
The method as claimed in claim 29 wherein said image feature measurements are determined from at least one feature selected from the group consisting of: a face, a standing person, a gender or age characteristic of a person, a color histogram, a texture measure, and image spectral information.
Claim 41
Dependent Claim
23 words
The method as claimed in claim 29 wherein a support vector machine is used in the production of said individual image confidence measures.
Claim 42
Dependent Claim
23 words
The method as claimed in claim 29 wherein a support vector machine is used in the production of said image group confidence measures.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
US4888648A
Cited
US5974189A
Cited
US5649068A
Cited
US5724758A
Cited
US6269323B1
Cited
US5950146A
Cited
US5899999A
Cited
US5852823A
Cited
US5819288A
Cited
US5828495A
Cited
US6035055A
Cited
US6263792B1
Cited
US6267051B1
Cited
US20020122596A1
Cited
US20030123737A1
Cited
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2009-04-24 | 2009-10-24 | 2010-04-25 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2013-04-24 | 2013-10-24 | 2014-04-25 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2017-04-24 | 2017-10-24 | 2018-04-25 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |