Abstract: A method of organizing an image collection includes detecting faces in the image collection, extracting features from the detected faces, determining a set of unique faces by analyzing the extracted features, wherein each face in the set of unique faces is believed to be from a different person than the other faces in the set; and displaying the unique faces to a user.

Abstract: The invention relates generally to the field of digital image processing, and in particular to a method for associating and viewing related video and still images. In particular, the present invention is directed to methods for associating and/or viewing digital content records comprising ordering a first set of digital content records and the second set of digital content records based upon information associated with each of the digital content records.

Abstract: A method for viewing a collection of images or videos, includes analyzing the collection to determine properties of the images or videos and using the determined properties to produce icons corresponding to such properties; providing a time-varying display of the images or videos in the collection following an ordering of the images or videos in the collection and at least one of the corresponding icons; receiving a user selection of an icon; changing the time-varying display of the images or videos in the collection following a reordering of the images or videos in the collection in response to the user selection; storing the sequence of the user selections and associated timing in a script in a processor accessible memory; and playing back the viewing of the collection of images or videos using the script.

Abstract: A method for viewing a collection of images or videos, includes analyzing the collection to determine properties of the images or videos and using the determined properties to produce icons corresponding to such properties; providing a time-varying display of the images or videos in the collection following an ordering of the images or videos in the collection and at least one of the corresponding icons; receiving a user selection of an icon; and changing the display of the images or videos in the collection following a reordering of the images or videos in the collection in response to the user selection.

Abstract: A method and system for accumulating and using images of individuals, and associated image-derived data, on an continuous basis to create recognition models that facilitate ongoing recognition of individuals in images or photo collections.

Abstract: A method of grouping images captured in a common location, including receiving a collection of images; classifying the images into a set of events, where each image in the collection belongs to no more than one event; analyzing background region(s) of images from each event to determine one or more features that represent the event; and comparing features from at least two events to determine which events occurred in a common location.

Abstract: A method of detecting recurring events in a digital image collection taken over a pre-determined period of time is disclosed. The method uses a processor for analyzing the digital image collection to produce a two-dimensional representation of the distribution of image capture activity over time and detecting recurring events by identifying spatial clusters in the two-dimensional representation.

Abstract: A method for image presentation are provided, in which at least one theme for image presentation is obtained; at least one set of images is acquired for presentation in association with each theme; and a presentation area image is generated for presentation on a display with a plurality of separate presentation objects in the presentation area image; an image value for each of the acquired images is determined; an emphasis score is determined for each of the acquired images. The presentation area image is presented with one of the acquired images in each of the presentation objects; and the presentation objects are animated by moving the presentation objects relative to each other in a manner that attracts more attention to presentation objects that are used to present images having a higher emphasis score than presentation objects that are used to simultaneously present images having a lower emphasis score.

Abstract: A method for identifying digital images having matching backgrounds from a collection of digital images, comprising using a processor to perform the steps of: determining a set of one or more feature values for each digital image in the collection of digital images, wherein the set of feature values includes an edge compactness feature value that is an indication of the number of objects in the digital image that are useful for scene matching; determining a subset of the collection of digital images that are good candidates for scene matching by applying a classifier responsive to the determined feature values; applying a scene matching algorithm to the subset of the collection of digital images to identify groups of digital images having matching backgrounds; and storing an indication of the identified groups of digital images having matching backgrounds in a processor-accessible memory.

Abstract: A method for organizing an event timeline for a digital image collection, includes using a processor for detecting events in the digital image collection and each event's associated timespan; determining the detected events that are significant in the digital image collection; and organizing the event timeline so that the event timeline shows the significant events and a clustered representation of the other events, made available to the user at different time granularities. The organized event timeline is also used for selecting images for generating output.

Abstract: A method for determining significant events in a digital image collection, including, using a processor for generating image counts time-series from the image collection; computing a model of the image counts time-series; and using the image counts time-series and the model to determine significant events.

Abstract: A database has chronologically ordered images classified into event groups based upon a time difference threshold, and into subgroups based upon a similarity measure. In a method and system for combining new images into such a database, new images are ordered into clusters based upon assessed image features. A representative image is selected in each cluster. A database segment chronologically overlapping the new images is designated and a set of database images similar to each representative image are identified in the segment. Different subgroups including one or more retrieved images are associated with each cluster to provide matched subgroups. The new images are assigned to matched subgroups associated with respective clusters.

Abstract: A method of automatically classifying images in a consumer digital image collection, includes generating an event representation of the image collection; computing global time-based features for each event within the hierarchical event representation; computing content-based features for each image in an event within the hierarchical event representation; combining content-based features for each image in an event to generate event-level content-based features; and using time-based features and content-based features for each event to classify an event into one of a pre-determined set of semantic categories.

Abstract: The invention relates generally to the field of digital image processing, and in particular to a method for associating and viewing related video and still images. In particular, the present invention is directed to methods for associating and/or viewing digital content records comprising ordering a first set of digital content records and the second set of digital content records based upon information associated with each of the digital content records.

Abstract: A method and system for accumulating and using images of individuals, and associated image-derived data, on an continuous basis to create recognition models that facilitate ongoing recognition of individuals in images or photo collections.

Abstract: A method of grouping images captured in a common location, including receiving a collection of images; classifying the images into a set of events, where each image in the collection belongs to no more than one event; analyzing background region(s) of images from each event to determine one or more features that represent the event; and comparing features from at least two events to determine which events occurred in a common location.

Abstract: A method of identifying at least one particular person of interest in a collection of digital images taken over time, includes providing the collection of digital images with each digital image containing one or more persons; storing in a digital database an appearance model having a set of features that are distance measurements associated with facial features of the particular person of interest at an associated time; and providing an individual recognition classifier that uses the appearance model and the associated time to identify the particular person of interest in images from the collection of digital images.

Abstract: A method of characterizing images taken during a event into one or more sub-events is disclosed. The method includes; acquiring a collection of images taken during the event; identifying one or more particular person(s) in the collection and the apparel associated with the identified person; searching the collection to identify if the apparel associated with identified particular person(s) has been changed during the event; identifying one or more sub-events for those images in which the particular person(s) have changed apparel.

Abstract: A method for image presentation are provided, in which at least one theme for image presentation is obtained; at least one set of images is acquired for presentation in association with each theme; and a presentation area image is generated for presentation on a display with a plurality of separate presentation objects in the presentation area image; an image value for each of the acquired images is determined; an emphasis score is determined for each of the acquired images. The presentation area image is presented with one of the acquired images in each of the presentation objects; and the presentation objects are animated by moving the presentation objects relative to each other in a manner that attracts more attention to presentation objects that are used to present images having a higher emphasis score than presentation objects that are used to simultaneously present images having a lower emphasis score.

Abstract: A method of improving recognition of a particular person in images by constructing a composite model of at least the portion of the head of that particular person, includes acquiring a collection of images taken during a particular event; identifying image(s) having a particular person in the collection; identifying one or more features in the identified image(s) associated with that particular person; searching the collection using the identified features to identify the particular person in other images of the collection; and constructing a composite model of at least a portion of the particular person's head using identified images of the particular person.