Patents by Inventor Hong Jiang Zhang

Hong Jiang Zhang has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 7996762
    Abstract: Correlative multi-label image annotation may entail annotating an image by indicating respective labels for respective concepts. In an example embodiment, a classifier is to annotate an image by implementing a labeling function that maps an input feature space and a label space to a combination feature vector. The combination feature vector models both features of individual ones of the concepts and correlations among the concepts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2011
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Guo-Jun Qi, Xian-Sheng Hua, Yong Rui, Hong-Jiang Zhang, Shipeng Li
  • Patent number: 7986372
    Abstract: Systems and methods for smart media content thumbnail extraction are described. In one aspect program metadata is generated from recorded video content. The program metadata includes one or more key-frames from one or more corresponding shots. An objectively representative key-frame is identified from among the key-frames as a function of shot duration and frequency of appearance of key-frame content across multiple shots. The objectively representative key-frame is an image frame representative of the recorded video content. A thumbnail is created from the objectively representative key-frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 2004
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2011
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Yu-Fei Ma, Bin Lin, Zhike Kong, Xinli Zou, Wei-Ying Ma, Hong-Jiang Zhang
  • Patent number: 7904815
    Abstract: Methods and apparatuses are provided for automatically generating video data based on still image data. Certain aspects of the video may also be configured to correspond to audio features identified within associated audio data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2011
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Xian-Sheng Hua, Lie Lu, Hong-Jiang Zhang
  • Publication number: 20110050568
    Abstract: Improvements are provided to effectively assess a user's face and head pose such that a computer or like device can track the user's attention towards a display device(s). Then the region of the display or graphical user interface that the user is turned towards can be automatically selected without requiring the user to provide further inputs. A frontal face detector is applied to detect the user's frontal face and then key facial points such as left/right eye center, left/right mouth corner, nose tip, etc., are detected by component detectors. The system then tracks the user's head by an image tracker and determines yaw, tilt and roll angle and other pose information of the user's head through a coarse to fine process according to key facial points and/or confidence outputs by pose estimator.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 5, 2010
    Publication date: March 3, 2011
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Yuxiao HU, Lei Zhang, Mingjing Li, Hong-Jiang Zhang
  • Patent number: 7885960
    Abstract: In community mining based on core objects and affiliated objects, a set of core objects for a community of objects are identified from a plurality of objects. The community is expanded, based on the set of core objects, to include a set of affiliated objects. According to one aspect, a model of a community of objects is obtained by grouping a first collection of a plurality of objects into a center portion, and grouping a second collection of the plurality of objects into one or more concentric portions around the center portion. The groupings of the first and second collections of the objects are identified as the community of objects.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 8, 2011
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Ji-Rong Wen, Wen-Jun Zhou, Wei-Ying Ma, Hong-Jiang Zhang
  • Patent number: 7873901
    Abstract: A large web page is analyzed and partitioned into smaller sub-pages so that a user can navigate the web page on a small form factor device. The user can browse the sub-pages to find and read information in the content of the large web page. The partitioning can be performed at a web server, an edge server, at the small form factor device, or can be distributed across one or more such devices. The analysis leverages design habits of a web page author to extract a representation structure of an authored web page. The extracted representation structure includes high level structure using several markup language tag selection rules and low level structure using visual boundary detection in which visual units of the low level structure are provided by clustering markup language tags. User viewing habits can be learned to display favorite parts of a web page.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2006
    Date of Patent: January 18, 2011
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Yu Chen, Wei-Ying Ma, Ming-Yu Wang, Hong Jiang Zhang
  • Patent number: 7844086
    Abstract: Improvements are provided to effectively assess a user's face and head pose such that a computer or like device can track the user's attention towards a display device(s). Then the region of the display or graphical user interface that the user is turned towards can be automatically selected without requiring the user to provide further inputs. A frontal face detector is applied to detect the user's frontal face and then key facial points such as left/right eye center, left/right mouth corner, nose tip, etc., are detected by component detectors. The system then tracks the user's head by an image tracker and determines yaw, tilt and roll angle and other pose information of the user's head through a coarse to fine process according to key facial points and/or confidence outputs by pose estimator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 30, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Yuxiao Hu, Lei Zhang, Mingjing Li, Hong-Jiang Zhang
  • Patent number: 7836152
    Abstract: Methods and systems for generic adaptive multimedia content delivery are described. In one embodiment, a novel framework features an abstract content model and an abstract adaptive delivery decision engine. The abstract content model recognizes important aspects of contents while hiding their physical details from other parts of the framework. The decision engine then makes content adaptation plans based on the abstracted model of the contents and needs little knowledge of any physical details of the actual contents. Thus, under the same framework, adaptive delivery of generic contents is possible.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2006
    Date of Patent: November 16, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Yudong Yang, Hong-Jiang Zhang
  • Patent number: 7747701
    Abstract: Methods and systems for generic adaptive multimedia content delivery are described. In one embodiment, a novel framework features an abstract content model and an abstract adaptive delivery decision engine. The abstract content model recognizes important aspects of contents while hiding their physical details from other parts of the framework. The decision engine then makes content adaptation plans based on the abstracted model of the contents and needs little knowledge of any physical details of the actual contents. Thus, under the same framework, adaptive delivery of generic contents is possible.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2004
    Date of Patent: June 29, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Yudong Yang, Hong-Jiang Zhang
  • Patent number: 7689033
    Abstract: Face detection techniques are provided that use a multiple-stage face detection algorithm. An exemplary three-stage algorithm includes a first stage that applies linear-filtering to enhance detection performance by removing many non-face-like portions within an image, a second stage that uses a boosting chain that is adopted to combine boosting classifiers within a hierarchy “chain” structure, and a third stage that performs post-filtering using image pre-processing, SVM-filtering and color-filtering to refine the final face detection prediction. In certain further implementations, the face detection techniques include a two-level hierarchy in-plane pose estimator to provide a rapid multi-view face detector that further improves the accuracy and robustness of face detection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Rong Xiao, Long Zhu, Lei Zhang, Mingjing Li, Hong-Jiang Zhang
  • Publication number: 20100074537
    Abstract: Kernelized spatial-contextual image classification is disclosed. One embodiment comprises generating a first spatial-contextual model to represent a first image, the first spatial-contextual model having a plurality of interconnected nodes arranged in a first pattern of connections with each node connected to at least one other node, generating a second spatial-contextual model to represent a second image using the first pattern of connections, and estimating the distance between corresponding nodes in the first spatial-contextual model and the second spatial-contextual model based on a relationship with adjacent connected nodes to determine a distance between the first image and the second image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 24, 2008
    Publication date: March 25, 2010
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Xian-Sheng Hua, Guo-Jun Qi, Yong Rui, Hong-Jiang Zhang
  • Patent number: 7650031
    Abstract: Methods and systems for identifying black frames within a sequence of frames are provided. In one embodiment, the detection system detects black frames within a sequence of frames by fully decoding base frames and then partially decoding non-black, non-base frames in a way that ensures the blackness of each frame can be determined. The detection system decodes base frames before decoding dependent frames, which is referred to as processing frames in reverse order of dependency since a frame is processed before the frames that depend on it are processed. In another embodiment, the detection system determines the blackness of frames within a sequence of frames by processing the frames in order of their dependency and following chains of block dependency to decode and determine the blackness of blocks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 23, 2004
    Date of Patent: January 19, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Tie-Yan Liu, Bo Feng, Hong-Jiang Zhang
  • Patent number: 7646909
    Abstract: A method and system for generating 3D images of faces from 2D images, for generating 2D images of the faces at different image conditions from the 3D images, and for recognizing a 2D image of a target face based on the generated 2D images is provided. The recognition system provides a 3D model of a face that includes a 3D image of a standard face under a standard image condition and parameters indicating variations of an individual face from the standard face. To generate the 3D image of a face, the recognition system inputs a 2D image of the face under a standard image condition. The recognition system then calculates parameters that map the points of the 2D image to the corresponding points of a 2D image of the standard face. The recognition system uses these parameters with the 3D model to generate 3D images of the face at different image conditions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Dalong Jiang, Hong-Jiang Zhang, Lei Zhang, Shuicheng Yan, Yuxiao Hu
  • Patent number: 7636768
    Abstract: Methods and systems for generic adaptive multimedia content delivery are described. In one embodiment, a novel framework features an abstract content model and an abstract adaptive delivery decision engine. The abstract content model recognizes important aspects of contents while hiding their physical details from other parts of the framework. The decision engine then makes content adaptation plans based on the abstracted model of the contents and needs little knowledge of any physical details of the actual contents. Thus, under the same framework, adaptive delivery of generic contents is possible.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2004
    Date of Patent: December 22, 2009
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Yudong Yang, Hong-Jiang Zhang
  • Patent number: 7636470
    Abstract: Red-eye detection based on red region detection with eye confirmation initially identifies pixels that correspond to the color of red-eye within an image. A determination is then made as to whether these identified pixels and surrounding areas are part of an eye or not part of an eye. Those identified pixels that are determined to be part of an eye are the detected red-eye regions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2004
    Date of Patent: December 22, 2009
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Tong-Xian Chen, Xiangrong Chen, John C. Platt, Jie Yan, Hong-Jiang Zhang
  • Patent number: 7627556
    Abstract: A multimedia object retrieval and annotation system integrates an annotation process with object retrieval and relevance feedback processes. The annotation process annotates multimedia objects, such as digital images, with semantically relevant keywords. The annotation process is performed in background, hidden from the user, as the user conducts normal searches. The annotation process is “semi-automatic” in that it utilizes both keyword-based information retrieval and content-based image retrieval techniques to automatically search for multimedia objects, and then encourages users to provide feedback on the retrieved objects. The user identifies objects as either relevant or irrelevant to the query keywords and based on this feedback, the system automatically annotates the objects with semantically relevant keywords and/or updates associations between the keywords and objects. As the retrieval-feedback-annotation cycle is repeated, the annotation coverage and accuracy of future searches continues to improve.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2004
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2009
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Wen-Yin Liu, Hong-Jiang Zhang
  • Publication number: 20090290802
    Abstract: The concurrent multiple instance learning technique described encodes the inter-dependency between instances (e.g. regions in an image) in order to predict a label for a future instance, and, if desired the label for an image determined from the label of these instances. The technique, in one embodiment, uses a concurrent tensor to model the semantic linkage between instances in a set of images. Based on the concurrent tensor, rank-1 supersymmetric non-negative tensor factorization (SNTF) can be applied to estimate the probability of each instance being relevant to a target category. In one embodiment, the technique formulates the label prediction processes in a regularization framework, which avoids overfitting, and significantly improves a learning machine's generalization capability, similar to that in SVMs. The technique, in one embodiment, uses Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Space (RKHS) to extend predicted labels to the whole feature space based on the generalized representer theorem.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 22, 2008
    Publication date: November 26, 2009
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Xian-Sheng Hua, Guo-Jun Qi, Yong Rui, Tao Mei, Hong-Jiang Zhang
  • Publication number: 20090238452
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are systems methods and devices related to region detection of an image. Detected regions include pixels of a particular one or more colors without requiring faces within the image to be previously detected. Region detection may include receiving information that a flash was used to capture the image or that return light was detected in the image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 13, 2009
    Publication date: September 24, 2009
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Tong-Xian Chen, Xiangrong Chen, John C. Platt, Jie Yan, Hong-Jiang Zhang
  • Publication number: 20090185618
    Abstract: Various embodiments provide methods and systems for streaming data that can facilitate streaming during bandwidth fluctuations in a manner that can enhance the user experience. In one aspect, a forward-shifting technique is utilized to buffer data that is to be streamed, e.g. an enhancement layer in a FGS stream. Various techniques can drop layers actively when bandwidth is constant. The saved bandwidth can then be used to pre-stream enhancement layer portions. In another aspect, a content-aware decision can be made as to how to drop enhancement layers when bandwidth decreases. During periods of decreasing bandwidth, if a video segment does not contain important content, the enhancement layers will be dropped to keep the forward-shifting of the enhancement layer unchanged. If the enhancement layer does contain important content, it will be transmitted later when bandwidth increases.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 20, 2009
    Publication date: July 23, 2009
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Tianming Liu, Hong-Jiang Zhang, Wei Qi
  • Patent number: 7565016
    Abstract: Systems and methods for learning-based automatic commercial content detection are described. In one aspect, the systems and methods include a training component and an analyzing component. The training component trains a commercial content classification model using a kernel support vector machine. The analyzing component analyzes program data such as video and audio data using the commercial content classification model and one or more of single-side left neighborhood(s) and right neighborhood(s) of program data segments. Based on this analysis, each of the program data segments are classified as being commercial or non-commercial segments.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 21, 2009
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Xian-Sheng Hua, Lie Lu, Mingjing Li, Hong-Jiang Zhang