Abstract:
A digital image manager classifies digital images such as digital photographs for efficient retrieval. The digital image manager assigns a when value, a where value, a who value and a why value to digital images. Much of the value assignment process is automated to make digital image management easy for the user. The digital image manager classifies the digital images according to the assigned property values. The user subsequently enter search requests for digital images meeting desired criteria. The digital image manager uses the assigned values to locate and retrieve digital images that satisfy the user&#39;s request.

Description:
PRIORITY CLAIM AND RELATED APPLICATION 
     This patent application claims the benefit of provisional application Ser. No. 60/662,322, titled “Web Research and Collaboration Process with Digital Photo Asset Classification and Retrieval,” filed on Mar. 15, 2005, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     This invention pertains generally to digital image management, and more specifically to automatic and efficient classification and retrieval of digital images. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Digital photography is becoming increasingly popular, and it is thus becoming more and more important for a user to be able to easily organize a large collection of digital photographs on a computer. There is a lack of usable structure provided by current organizational systems for digital photos, which use either labels or folders. 
     The foldering system of organization creates a many to one relationship between a picture and the folder it is stored in. Most digital pictures are automatically tagged with the date they were shot from the digital camera itself. So the chronological order is a natural order to organize the pictures. But, for example, if a picture is taken at the Statue of Liberty, New York, N.Y. and has John, Suzie and Jane in it, then putting it in a folder called John, Suzie, Statue or vacation will prevent it from being easily retrieved and require a full scan when trying to identify the pictures that are relevant. 
     The tagging system of organization overcomes the single box classification system but introduces a relatively large number of flat labels. This leads to a higher degree of freedom but increases the complexity of organization in the system. For example a tag, birthday party Fremont and a tag home Fremont, have overlapping metadata, and over time will make it harder for users to accurately retrieve the pictures. The tagging system puts undue onus on the user to organize the tags properly so that the pictures can be retrieved efficiently. 
     What is needed are methods, systems and computer readable media for organizing digital pictures in an efficient manner, such that a user can easily add metadata to pictures so that they can be retrieved efficiently. 
     SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
     Computer-implemented methods, computer systems and computer-readable media classify digital images such as digital photographs for efficient retrieval. A digital image manager assigns a when value, a where value, a who value and a why value to digital images. Much of the value assignment process is automated to make digital image management easy for the user. The digital image manager classifies the digital images according to the assigned property values. The user subsequently enter search requests for digital images meeting desired criteria. The digital image manager uses the assigned values to locate and retrieve digital images that satisfy the user&#39;s request. 
     The features and advantages described in this summary and in the following detailed description are not all-inclusive, and particularly, many additional features and advantages will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the relevant art in view of the drawing, specification, and claims hereof. Moreover, it should be noted that the language used in the specification has been principally selected for readability and instructional purposes, and may not have been selected to delineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter, resort to the claims being necessary to determine such inventive subject matter. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating a high level overview of the operation of a digital image manager, according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     The FIGURE depicts embodiments of the present invention for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following discussion that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the invention described herein. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a digital image manager  101 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. It is to be understood that although the digital image manager  101  is illustrated as a single entity, as the term is used herein a digital image manager  101  refers to a collection of functionalities which can be implemented as software, hardware, firmware or any combination of these. Where a digital image manager  101  is implemented as software, it can be implemented as a standalone program, but can also be implemented in other ways, for example as part of a larger program, as a plurality of separate programs, as a kernel loadable module, as one or more device drivers or as one or more statically or dynamically linked libraries. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 1 , the digital image manager  101  allows a user  103  to enter the value  105  for four properties  107 ,  109 ,  111 ,  113  of any digital image  115 : a when property  107 , a where property  109 , a who property  111  and a why property  113 . These properties  107 ,  109 ,  111 ,  113  enable logical classification and subsequent retrieval of the digital images  115 . 
     In one embodiment, the digital image manager  101  automatically defaults the when property  107  to the date  105  that the digital image  115  was created (e.g., the date that the picture was taken). The digital image manager  101  can display the automatically assigned date  105  to the user  103 , who can edit the value  105  if need be. The digital image manager  101  can use different date formats in different embodiments, and can include additional information such as time where desired. 
     The digital image manager  101  prompts the user to enter a value  105  for the where property  109  for a logically associated set of digital images  115  (e.g., a set of digital photographs taken during a single session). The digital image manager  101  then sets the where property  109  to this value  105  for all the images  105  of the group. The digital image manager  101  can allow the user  103  to edit the value  105  for some or all of the additional digital images  105  in the group if desired. In one embodiment, the where property  109  consists of three parts: location; city; and state/country. Of course, in other embodiments the format of the where property  109  varies, and includes more, fewer and/or different fields. 
     As with the where property  109 , the digital image manager  101  prompts the user to enter a value  105  for the who property  111  for a logically associated group of digital images  115 . The digital image manager  101  sets the who property  111  to this value  105  for all the images  105  of the group. The user  103  can edit the value  105  where appropriate. In one embodiment, the who property  111  consists of a person&#39;s name. In some embodiments, additional optional values can be entered, e.g., year of birth, age, relationship, etc. 
     The why property  113  is also set to the same user  103  entered value  105  for any group of images  115  by default, and can also be user  103  edited for individual images  115  of the group. The why property  113  can comprise one of a list of default values  105  such as birthday, vacation, bar mitzvah, hike, field trip, wedding, etc. Of course, in other embodiments the format of the why property  109  varies as desired. 
     In some embodiments of the present invention, one or more additional properties are assigned values  105  to further classify the digital images  115 . In some embodiments of the present invention, the formats and/or content of the four properties  107 ,  109 ,  111 ,  113  varies. 
     Various techniques can be utilized to minimize the amount of effort required from the user  103  in the assignment of values  105  to properties. For example, in one embodiment the digital image manager  101  interface displays an auto-complete button for each property (not illustrated) that automatically pre-fills the value  105 , for example from a list of default values  105  or from previously entered values  105 . 
     The digital image manager  101  utilizes the property values  105  assigned to the digital images  115  to enable efficient and easy image  115  retrieval. Users  103  can enter search requests  117  that include specific values  105  for images  115  they want to retrieve. The digital image manager then locates and retrieves images  115  with those values  105 . For example, when the digital image manager  101  receives a search request  117  for digital images  115  with a specific value  105  for a when property  107 , a where  109  property, a who property  111  and/or a why property  113 , the digital image manager  101  searches for images  115  with the supplied values  105 . 
     A search request  117  can also specify a group of values  105  for one or more property and/or a set of values  105  created by combining two or more values  105  with at least one Boolean operator, for one or more property. For the date when property  107 , a search request  117  can specify a range of dates. 
     Of course, other possible combinations and variations of property value  105  specifications for search requests  117  and corresponding image retrieval are possible, and within the scope of the present invention. For example, in one embodiment the digital image manager  101  supports a keyword search. In that embodiment, the digital image manager  101  automatically maps the keywords supplied by the user  103  in the search request  117  to appropriate values  105  of one or more of the four properties  107 ,  109 ,  111 ,  113  and retrieves digital images  115  matching those values  105 . 
     The present invention enables rapid classification of digital assets including photos, and allows efficient and organized retrieval based on the classification. 
     As will be understood by those familiar with the art, the invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. Likewise, the particular naming and division of the modules, agents, managers, functions, procedures, actions, layers, features, attributes, methodologies and other aspects are not mandatory or significant, and the mechanisms that implement the invention or its features may have different names, divisions and/or formats. Furthermore, as will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the relevant art, the modules, agents, managers, functions, procedures, actions, layers, features, attributes, methodologies and other aspects of the invention can be implemented as software, hardware, firmware or any combination of the three. Of course, wherever a component of the present invention is implemented as software, the component can be implemented as a script, as a standalone program, as part of a larger program, as a plurality of separate scripts and/or programs, as a statically or dynamically linked library, as a kernel loadable module, as a device driver, and/or in every and any other way known now or in the future to those of skill in the art of computer programming. Additionally, the present invention is in no way limited to implementation in any specific programming language, or for any specific operating system or environment. Furthermore, it will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the relevant art that where the present invention is implemented in whole or in part in software, the software components thereof can be stored on computer readable storage media as program codes. As will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the relevant art, any form of computer readable storage medium can be used in this context, such as magnetic or optical storage media, such that when the program codes stored on a computer readable medium are executed by a computer processor of a computing device, the computing device executes their associated functionality. As used herein, the term “computer readable storage medium” does not mean an electrical signal separate from an underlying physical medium. Additionally, as will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the relevant art, software portions of the present invention can be instantiated (for example as object code or executable images) within the memory of any programmable computing device, such that when the processor of the computing device processes the components, the computing device executes their associated functionality. It will be further readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the relevant art that the terms “computer system” and “computing device” means one or more computers configured and/or programmed to execute the described functionality. Accordingly, the disclosure of the present invention is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of the invention, which is set forth in the following claims.