Abstract: Establishments are identified in geo-tagged images. According to one aspect, text regions are located in a geo-tagged image and text strings in the text regions are recognized using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) techniques. Text phrases are extracted from information associated with establishments known to be near the geographic location specified in the geo-tag of the image. The text strings recognized in the image are compared with the phrases for the establishments for approximate matches, and an establishment is selected as the establishment in the image based on the approximate matches. According to another aspect, text strings recognized in a collection of geo-tagged images are compared with phrases for establishments in the geographic area identified by the geo-tags to generate scores for image-establishment pairs. Establishments in each of the large collection of images as well as representative images showing each establishment are identified using the scores.

Abstract: Embodiments of this invention relate to detecting and blurring images. In an embodiment, a system detects objects in a photographic image. The system includes an object detector module configured to detect regions of the photographic image that include objects of a particular type at least based on the content of the photographic image. The system further includes a false positive detector module configured to determine whether each region detected by the object detector module includes an object of the particular type at least based on information about the context in which the photographic image was taken.

Abstract: Establishments are identified in geo-tagged images. According to one aspect, text regions are located in a geo-tagged image and text strings in the text regions are recognized using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) techniques. Text phrases are extracted from information associated with establishments known to be near the geographic location specified in the geo-tag of the image. The text strings recognized in the image are compared with the phrases for the establishments for approximate matches, and an establishment is selected as the establishment in the image based on the approximate matches. According to another aspect, text strings recognized in a collection of geo-tagged images are compared with phrases for establishments in the geographic area identified by the geo-tags to generate scores for image-establishment pairs. Establishments in each of the large collection of images as well as representative images showing each establishment are identified using the scores.

Abstract: Establishments are identified in geo-tagged images. According to one aspect, text regions are located in a geo-tagged image and text strings in the text regions are recognized using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) techniques. Text phrases are extracted from information associated with establishments known to be near the geographic location specified in the geo-tag of the image. The text strings recognized in the image are compared with the phrases for the establishments for approximate matches, and an establishment is selected as the establishment in the image based on the approximate matches. According to another aspect, text strings recognized in a collection of geo-tagged images are compared with phrases for establishments in the geographic area identified by the geo-tags to generate scores for image-establishment pairs. Establishments in each of the large collection of images as well as representative images showing each establishment are identified using the scores.

Abstract: A method and system of identity masking to obscure identities corresponding to face regions in an image is disclosed. A face detector is applied to detect a set of possible face regions in the image. Then an identity masker is used to process the detected face regions by identity masking techniques in order to obscure identities corresponding to the regions. For example, a detected face region can be blurred as if it is in motion by a motion blur algorithm, such that the blurred region can not be recognized as the original identity. Or the detected face region can be replaced by a substitute facial image by a face replacement algorithm to obscure the corresponding identity.

Abstract: Establishments are identified in geo-tagged images. According to one aspect, text regions are located in a geo-tagged image and text strings in the text regions are recognized using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) techniques. Text phrases are extracted from information associated with establishments known to be near the geographic location specified in the geo-tag of the image. The text strings recognized in the image are compared with the phrases for the establishments for approximate matches, and an establishment is selected as the establishment in the image based on the approximate matches. According to another aspect, text strings recognized in a collection of geo-tagged images are compared with phrases for establishments in the geographic area identified by the geo-tags to generate scores for image-establishment pairs. Establishments in each of the large collection of images as well as representative images showing each establishment are identified using the scores.

Abstract: Establishments are identified in geo-tagged images. According to one aspect, text regions are located in a geo-tagged image and text strings in the text regions are recognized using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) techniques. Text phrases are extracted from information associated with establishments known to be near the geographic location specified in the geo-tag of the image. The text strings recognized in the image are compared with the phrases for the establishments for approximate matches, and an establishment is selected as the establishment in the image based on the approximate matches. According to another aspect, text strings recognized in a collection of geo-tagged images are compared with phrases for establishments in the geographic area identified by the geo-tags to generate scores for image-establishment pairs. Establishments in each of the large collection of images as well as representative images showing each establishment are identified using the scores.

Abstract: A method and system of identity masking to obscure identities corresponding to face regions in an image is disclosed. A face detector is applied to detect a set of possible face regions in the image. Then an identity masker is used to process the detected face regions by identity masking techniques in order to obscure identities corresponding to the regions. For example, a detected face region can be blurred as if it is in motion by a motion blur algorithm, such that the blurred region can not be recognized as the original identity. Or the detected face region can be replaced by a substitute facial image by a face replacement algorithm to obscure the corresponding identity.

Abstract: A system and method is provided for automatically recognizing building numbers in street level images. In one aspect, a processor selects a street level image that is likely to be near an address of interest. The processor identifies those portions of the image that are visually similar to street numbers, and then extracts the numeric values of the characters displayed in such portions. If an extracted value corresponds with the building number of the address of interest such as being substantially equal to the address of interest, the extracted value and the image portion are displayed to a human operator. The human operator confirms, by looking at the image portion, whether the image portion appears to be a building number that matches the extracted value. If so, the processor stores a value that associates that building number with the street level image.

Abstract: Establishments are identified in geo-tagged images. According to one aspect, text regions are located in a geo-tagged image and text strings in the text regions are recognized using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) techniques. Text phrases are extracted from information associated with establishments known to be near the geographic location specified in the geo-tag of the image. The text strings recognized in the image are compared with the phrases for the establishments for approximate matches, and an establishment is selected as the establishment in the image based on the approximate matches. According to another aspect, text strings recognized in a collection of geo-tagged images are compared with phrases for establishments in the geographic area identified by the geo-tags to generate scores for image-establishment pairs. Establishments in each of the large collection of images as well as representative images showing each establishment are identified using the scores.

Abstract: A method and system of identity masking to obscure identities corresponding to face regions in an image is disclosed. A face detector is applied to detect a set of possible face regions in the image. Then an identity masker is used to process the detected face regions by identity masking techniques in order to obscure identities corresponding to the regions. For example, a detected face region can be blurred as if it is in motion by a motion blur algorithm, such that the blurred region can not be recognized as the original identity. Or the detected face region can be replaced by a substitute facial image by a face replacement algorithm to obscure the corresponding identity.