Patent Publication Number: US-8122356-B2

Title: Method for image animation using image value rules

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to the production and viewing of an image-based presentation of digital media from a digital media collection. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     With the advent of inexpensive, portable digital imaging devices, there has been a dramatic growth of digital images captured. In addition, since the capture of digital images no longer require the cost of film and the corresponding printing of the film images, there are little constraints to the number of images that can be taken with digital devices. Multi-gigabyte camera cards and near terabyte computer hard drives enable the retention of digital image files more than ever before. However, the viewing of these images still requires time to comprehend the context and subject of digital images. A computer slide show is able to present a mere fraction of a typical image collection in the duration that a consumer is willing to sit and watch the images fade in and out on a screen. Yet even when playing a slide show, it is difficult to view images that are not displayed in proper sequencing or in context with others. 
     Furthermore, organizing images for viewing is a time consuming task that few are willing to take on. Although tagging of images enables key words to be searched using basic search engines, there still remains a need for the indexing of image content in conjunction with the playback and visualization of these images in context from one&#39;s image collection. In addition, it is an unmet need for presenting images that are logically related with each other in a manner that emphasizes certain images over others. Moreover, a large number of images should be cued and presented simultaneously in a rapid manner using an entertaining animation to take advantage of the peripheral vision of a viewer without compromising a viewer&#39;s comprehension of the visual content. It is the purpose of this invention to overcome these deficiencies over the current state of the art. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of the present invention to logically group and present an increased amount of digital media on the same presentation area. This object is achieved by a method of image-based presentation comprising: 
     (a) Obtaining at least one set of images for image presentation; 
     (b) Generating a presentation area image for presentation on a display having a plurality of separate presentation objects in the presentation area; 
     (c) Determining an image value for each of the acquired images by analyzing the images according to an image value metric; 
     (d) Presenting the presentation area image with one of the acquired images in each of the presentation objects and with the presented images being selected such that there will be at least a range of different image values for the images presented at any one moment in time; 
     (e) Animating the presentation objects within the presentation area image 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 image value than presentation objects that are used to simultaneously present images having a lower image value. 
     This method has the advantage of producing a presentation from a given set of digital media that can be viewed by a person. It also enables many images to be selectively viewed within a given time sequence. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The subject matter of the invention is described with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings. 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a digital multimedia presentation and capture device that can implement the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a database and software block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a flow diagram showing a method of image based presentation; 
         FIG. 4  is a representation of a presentation area containing presentation objects; 
         FIG. 5  is representation of layers of image sets and motion vectors; 
         FIG. 6A  is a representation of a theme of presentation objects in a motion metaphor of panning along water and rocks in a stream; 
         FIG. 6B  is a representation of a navigation theme; 
         FIG. 6C  is a representation of a centered presentation object and circling presentation objects; 
         FIG. 6D  is a representation of a building theme; 
         FIG. 7A  is a representation of Christmas themes; 
         FIG. 7B  is a representation of party themes; 
         FIG. 7C  is a representation of a flocking theme; 
         FIG. 7D  is a representation of a passage theme; 
         FIG. 8A  is a representation of media playing from remote media source; 
         FIG. 8B  is a representation of a media library; 
         FIG. 9  is a representation of a theme of a menu of themes; 
         FIG. 10A  is a representation of an interaction with moving presentation objects; 
         FIG. 10B  is a representation of the paused objects after interaction; and 
         FIG. 11  is a representation of segmented portions of images used for presentation. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     In the following description, some embodiments of the present invention will be described as software programs. Those skilled in the art will readily recognize that the equivalent of such a method can also be constructed as hardware or software within the scope of the invention. 
     Because image manipulation algorithms and systems are well known, the present description will be directed in particular to algorithms and systems forming part of, or cooperating more directly with, the method in accordance with the present invention. Other aspects of such algorithms and systems, and hardware or software for producing and otherwise processing the image signals involved therewith, not specifically shown or described herein can be selected from such systems, algorithms, components, and elements known in the art. Given the description as set forth in the following specification, all software implementation thereof is conventional and within the ordinary skill in such arts. 
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram of one embodiment of a multimedia presentation device  301  taking the form of a digital camera phone. Other embodiments of multimedia presentation device  301  can include televisions, portable or non-portable computers and displays, digital cameras or media players such as those with internal memory or those with removable memory such as a Digital Versatile Disk or gaming platforms. A multimedia presentation device  301  can be a portable battery operated device, small enough to be easily handheld by a user when capturing and reviewing images. 
     In the embodiment of  FIG. 1 , multimedia presentation device  301  includes a CMOS image sensor  311  having a lens system  305  that focuses light from a scene (not shown) onto an image sensor array  314 . Lens system  305  can have a single lens or it can have one or more elements. Lens system  305  can be of a fixed focus type or can be manually or automatically adjustable. Lens system  305  is optionally adjustable to provide a variable zoom that can be varied manually or automatically. Other known arrangements can be used for lens system  305 . 
     Light from the scene that is focused by lens system  305  onto image sensor array  314  is converted into image signals representing an image of the scene. Image sensor array  314  can take any number of forms and can, for example, comprise a charge couple device (CCD), a complimentary metal oxide sensor (CMOS), or any other electronic image sensor known to those of ordinary skill in the art. Image sensor array  314  provides a number of discrete sensing locations known as picture elements or “pixels” forming the image. The exact number of pixels provided by image sensor array  314  is not critical. In one non-limiting example, the image sensor array can comprise an arrangement of 1280 columns×960 rows of pixels. 
     In the embodiment of  FIG. 1 , image sensor array  314  comprises a CMOS image sensor  311  that can provide color image information using the well-known Bayer color filter pattern and is controlled by timing generator  312 , which also controls an optional flash  303  in order to illuminate the scene when the ambient illumination is low. 
     In the embodiment of  FIG. 1 , image sensor array  314  provides analog signals representing an amount of light incident on each pixel during an exposure period. The analog signals are amplified and converted to digital data by an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter circuit  316  which, in this embodiment is formed on CMOS image sensor  311 . However, in other embodiments, image sensor array  314  can provide digital data without conversion. 
     The digital data from image sensor array  314  is stored in a DRAM buffer memory  318  and subsequently processed by a digital processor  320  in accordance with instructions in digital processor  320  or in accordance with programs stored in firmware memory  328 , which can be flash EPROM memory. The digital processor  320  can include a real-time clock  324 , which keeps the date and time even when the multimedia presentation device  301  and digital processor  320  are in their low power state. Digital processor  320  stores the processed digital data as a digital image in a memory  330 . 
     The digital image can comprise one or more still images, multiple still images and/or a stream of apparently moving images such as a video segment. Where the digital image comprises a stream of apparently moving images, the digital image can comprise image data stored in an interleaved or interlaced image form, a sequence of still images, and/or other forms known to those of skill in the art of digital video. In some embodiments, multimedia presentation device  301  can also store video clips by summing multiple pixels of the image sensor array  314  together (e.g. summing pixels of the same color within each 4 column×4 row area of the image sensor array  314 ) to produce a lower resolution video image frame. The video image frames are read from the image sensor array  314  at regular intervals, for example, using a 30 frame per second readout rate. 
     Digital processor  320  can apply various image processing algorithms to the image signals when forming a digital image. These can include, but are not limited to, color and exposure balancing, interpolation and compression. Where the image signals are in the form of analog signals, digital processor  320  also converts these analog signals into a digital form. For example, in one embodiment of the still image mode, digital processor  320  performs color interpolation followed by color and tone correction, in order to produce rendered sRGB image data or other forms of rendered digital image data. 
     Digital processor  320  can also be used to generate metadata in association with each image. Metadata is data that is related to a digital image or a portion of a digital image but that is not necessarily observable in the image data itself. In this regard, digital processor  320  can receive signals from user controls  334 , audio codec  340  and, optionally, generates metadata based upon such signals. The metadata can include, but is not limited to, information such as the time, date and location that the image was captured, the type of CMOS image sensor  311 , mode setting information, integration time information, taking lens unit setting information that characterizes the process used to capture the image, and processes, methods and algorithms used by multimedia presentation device  301  to form the image. The metadata can also include, but is not limited to, any other information determined by digital processor  320  or stored in any memory in multimedia presentation device  301  such as information that identifies multimedia presentation device  301 , and/or instructions for rendering or otherwise processing the digital image with which the metadata is associated. The metadata can also comprise an instruction to incorporate a particular message into digital image when presented. Such a message can be a text message to be rendered when the digital image is presented or rendered. The metadata can also include audio signals. The metadata can further include digital image data. The metadata can also include any other information entered into multimedia presentation device  301 . 
     The digital images and optional metadata, can be stored in a compressed form. For example, where the digital image comprises a sequence of still images, the still images can be stored in a compressed form such as by using the JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) ISO 10918-1 (ITU-T.81) standard. This JPEG compressed image data is stored using the so-called “Exif” image format defined in the Exchangeable Image File Format version 2.2 published by the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association JEITA CP-3451. Other image compression and storage formats can be used. This format includes an Exif application segment that stores particular image metadata using various TIFF tags. Separate TIFF tags can be used, for example, to store the date and time the picture was captured, the lens f/number and other camera settings, and to store image captions. In particular, the Image Description tag can be used to store labels. Real-time clock  324  provides a capture date/time value, which is stored as date/time metadata in each Exif image file. 
     Similarly, other compression systems including but not limited to the MPEG-4 (Motion Pictures Export Group) or Apple Quicktime™ standard can be used to store digital images and metadata. 
     The processed digital images are stored in the image/data memory  330 . Image/data memory  330  can also be used to store the personal profile information in person profile database  235 . Image/data memory  330  can also store other types of data, such as phone numbers, to-do lists, and the like. 
     In the embodiment of  FIG. 1 , location determiner  325  provides the geographic location associated with an image capture so that digital processor  320  can incorporate such information into the metadata. Location determiner  325  can use any of a number of methods for determining the location of the image. For example, the geographic location can be determined by receiving communications from the well-known Global Positioning Satellites (GPS). The location is preferably stored in units of latitude and longitude, however, other forms of location information can be used. Note that location determiner  325  can determine the geographic location at a time slightly different than the image capture time. In that case, location determiner  325  can use a geographic location from the nearest time as the geographic location associated with the image. Alternatively, location determiner  325  can interpolate between multiple geographic positions at times before and/or after the image capture time to determine the geographic location associated with the image capture. Interpolation can be necessitated because it is not always possible for location determiner  325  to determine a geographic location. For example, the GPS receivers often fail to detect signal when indoors. In this case, the last successful geographic location reading (i.e. prior to entering the building) can be used by location determiner  325  to estimate the geographic location associated with a particular image capture. 
     Digital processor  320  can also produce a low-resolution “thumbnail” size image, which can be produced as described in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,164,831 to Kuchta et al., the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein. The thumbnail image can be stored in RAM memory  322  and supplied to a color display  332 , which can be, for example, an active matrix LCD or an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display. After images are captured, they can be quickly reviewed on the color LCD image display  332  by using the thumbnail image data. 
     The graphical user interface displayed on color display  332  is controlled by user controls  334 . Digital processor  320  is adapted to receive user input and identified requests from user controls  334 . User controls  334  can include dedicated push buttons (e.g. a telephone keypad) to dial a phone number, a control to set the mode (e.g. “phone” mode, “camera” mode), a joystick controller that includes 4-way control (up, down, left, right) and a push-button center “OK” switch, or the like. Additional user controls  334  can comprise of a touch screen associated with color display  332  such as found in the “KODAK EasyShare One” digital camera or an attached mouse controller device associated with general control computer  375 . 
     An audio codec  340  connected to the digital processor  320  receives an audio signal from a microphone  342  and provides an audio signal to a speaker  344 . These components can be used both for telephone conversations and to record and playback an audio track, along with a video sequence or still image. Speaker  344  can also be used to inform the user of an incoming phone call. This can be done using a standard ring tone stored in firmware memory  328 , or by using a custom ring-tone downloaded from a mobile phone network  358  and stored in image/data memory  330 . In addition, a vibration device (not shown) can be used to provide a silent (e.g. non audible) notification of an incoming phone call. 
     A dock interface  362  can be used to connect multimedia presentation device  301  to a dock/charger  364 , which is connected to a general control computer  375 . Dock interface  362  can conform to, for example, the well-know USB interface specification. Alternatively, the interface between multimedia presentation device  301  and general control computer  375  can be a wireless interface, such as the well-known Bluetooth wireless interface or the well-know 802.11b wireless interface. The dock interface  362  can be used to download images from the image/data memory  330  to the general control computer  375 . The dock interface  362  can also be used to transfer calendar information from the general control computer  375  to the image/data memory  330  in the multimedia presentation device  301 . Dock/charger  364  can also be used to recharge the batteries (not shown) in digital multimedia presentation device  301 . 
     In the embodiment of  FIG. 1 , digital processor  320  is coupled to an optional wireless modem  350 , which enables multimedia presentation device  301  to transmit and receive information via a Radio Frequency (RF) channel  352 . A wireless modem  350  communicates over a radio frequency (e.g. wireless) link with mobile phone network  358 , such as a 3GSM network. The mobile phone network  358  communicates with a photo service provider  372  and companion database  327 , which can exchange digital images with multimedia presentation device  301 . These images can also be accessed via Internet  370  by other devices, including the general control computer  375 . Mobile phone network  358  also connects to a standard telephone network (not shown) in order to provide normal telephone service. In addition, the radio frequency link can also access public broadcast media such as television and radio from a remote media source  285 . Broadcast media can also be accessed directly from a common cable media provider such as Time Warner Cable, using a common cable TV interface  307  or through mobile phone network  358  or through Internet  370 . Email, text or media messaging can be a remote media source  285  as well. 
     One embodiment of a database and software block diagram is illustrated in  FIG. 2 . With brief reference back to  FIG. 1 , image/data memory  330 , firmware memory  328 , RAM memory  322  and digital processor  320  can be used to provide the necessary data storage and computational functions as described below. The term “digital processor” is intended to be a synonym for or include any data processing device, such as a central processing unit (“CPU”), a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a mainframe computer, a personal digital assistant, a Blackberry™, or any other device for processing data, managing data, or handling data, whether implemented with electrical, magnetic, optical, biological components, or otherwise. 
     As shown in  FIG. 2 , an image database  200  is provided consisting of a digital image collection  210  and companion capture metadata  215  and image content metadata  220 . Remote media source  285  represents channels or sources of visual media. Examples of visual media from a remote media source  285  include streaming media from television stations, a playing song on radio stations, or Internet-based streaming content. Remote database  245  can be personal libraries of media, media available for download and purchase or libraries of shared media collections from other users or third parties. Remote database  245  can be accessed from Internet  370  or the mobile phone network  358  or a photo service provider  372 . Person profile database  235  contains user information such as phone number, birthday, name, appearance information, addresses, likes, dislikes, and other information about a user. Additional personal profile database methods are described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,652,880 to Seagraves, the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference. Relational database  240  works in conjunction with person profile database  235  to provide tree structure or unstructured data storage known as “triples” used by artificial intelligence engines. Such data structures can provide data linkage to other people which can include friends, family, social networks, groups or teams one belongs to. Linkages are also made using content-based text retrieval from media content. This can include objects, places and events that are found in conjunction with people in media files using image content engine  280 . Image content engine  280  is one of several software engines  290 . In this embodiment, image content engine  280  derives text-based descriptions of media using methods described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,697,001 to Ring et al., which describes methods of extracting object data within images and is incorporated by reference herein. Briefly stated, a photographic camera includes an electronic image processing system comprising a computer and the electronic camera, wherein the computer interfaces with the output section in the camera and accesses the image data and the object data in order to characterize the objects within the image. 
     Event engine  225  clusters images into events producing event database  258 . Events may be a birthday party, vacation, collection of family moments or a soccer game. Such events may also be broken into sub-events. A birthday party may comprise cake, presents, and outdoor activities. A vacation may be a series of sub-events associated with various cities, times of the day, visits to the beach etc. Events can be tagged manually or can be clustered automatically. U.S. Pat. No. 6,606,411, assigned to Loui et al., entitled “A method for automatically classifying images into events,” issued Aug. 12, 2003 and, U.S. Pat. No. 6,351,556, assigned to Loui et al., entitled “A method for automatically comparing content of images for classification into events”, issued Feb. 26, 2002, disclose algorithms for clustering image content by temporal events and sub-events. The disclosure of the above two patents are herein incorporated by reference. According to U.S. Pat. No. 6,606,411, events have proximate capture time &amp; date and usually consistent color distributions. Therefore, these pictures are likely to have been taken with the same backdrop. For each sub-event, a single color and texture representation is computed for all background areas taken together. The above two patents teach how to cluster images and videos in a digital image collection into temporal events and sub-events. The terms “event” and “sub-event” are used in an objective sense to indicate the products of a computer mediated procedure that attempts to match a user&#39;s subjective perceptions of specific occurrences (corresponding to events) and divisions of those occurrences (corresponding to sub-events). Briefly summarized, a collection of images is classified into one or more events determining one or more largest time differences of the collection of images based on time and/or date clustering of the images and separating the plurality of images into the events based on having one or more boundaries between events which one or more boundaries correspond to the one or more largest time differences. For each event, sub-events (if any) can be determined by comparing the color histogram information of successive images as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,351,556. Dividing an image into a number of blocks and then computing the color histogram for each of the blocks can accomplish this. A block-based histogram correlation procedure is used as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,351,556 to detect sub-event boundaries. Another method of automatically organizing images into events is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,915,011, assigned to Loui et al., entitled “Event clustering of images using foreground and background segmentation” issued Jul. 5, 2005, which is herein incorporated by reference. Briefly summarized, according to one aspect of the above invention, an event clustering method uses foreground and background segmentation for clustering images from a group into similar events. Initially, each image is divided into a plurality of blocks, thereby providing block-based images. Utilizing a block-by-block comparison, each block-based image is segmented into a plurality of regions comprising at least a foreground and a background. One or more luminosity, color, position or size features are extracted from the regions and the extracted features are utilized to estimate and compare the similarity of the regions comprising the foreground and background in successive images in the group. Then, a measure of the total similarity between successive images is computed, thereby providing image distance between successive images, and event clusters are delimited from the image distances. 
     Data mining engine  260  derives threads of semantic information through analysis of image database  200 , remote database  245 , event database  258 , person profile database  235 , and relational database  240 . Thematic engine  270  determines themes from semantic information found by data mining engine  260 . Rendering engine  265  produces the visual display using animation database  255 , graphics database  250 , and imagery derived from image database  200 , remote database  245 , and remote media sources  285 . 
     Image value engine  275  is adapted to determine an image value for each of the acquired images is determined by analyzing the images according to an image value metric. Methods that can be used to determine the image value metric will be discussed in greater detail below. 
       FIG. 3  is a flow diagram showing a method of image-based presentation. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the display of image based presentations can be on the display of a cell phone, a display associated with a computing device, an imaging device, a digital media frame, a digital media player or a television or any other appliance possessing a display for displaying images. Multiple displays can work in conjunction with these devices. In addition, multiple displays can present different presentations or the same presentation across the devices. 
     At least one set of images is acquired for presentation. (Step  100 ). Images can be selected from digital image collection  210  from image/data memory  330  or database  114 . Images can be acquired with system-selected rules. Such rules can be associated with most recent images downloaded, image metadata or a theme that can be system-produced or chosen by a user. Images can be a still image, a graphic, a video sequence or an image visualization of information, text or a data file. 
     A presentation area containing presentation objects is generated having a presentation area image for presentation on color display  332  having a plurality of separate presentation objects in presentation areas. As illustrated in  FIG. 4 , presentation area  405  represents a color display  332  of multimedia presentation device  301 . In some embodiments, color display  332  can be small as a one-inch cell phone screen. In one embodiment, multimedia presentation device  301  is a digital media player or digital media wall frame. In another embodiment, a computer monitor, and in yet another embodiment multimedia presentation device  301  is a digital television set. Background  425  can be a non-animation area within color display  332  that at least two displayable object types such as  410 ,  412 ,  415 ,  420  and  400  can move across. In one embodiment, background  425  can be a solid color. In other embodiments, background  425  can be artwork associated with a theme from graphics database  250  or from an image or a moving video clip from image database  200  or remote database  245 . Large horizontal object  410  and large vertical object  412  represent locations of images for image presentation. These larger display areas are used for a set of images representing high value to the user and high correlation to a selected theme. Mid-size presentation objects  400  and  415  are for a set of content that is secondary to that placed in large horizontal object  410  and large vertical object  412 . Small object  420  can be reserved for content that is ancillary to the theme or not of high image value. 
     In  FIGS. 5A-5C , what is shown is a representation of layers of images. Layers are one embodiment for selecting a stratification scheme for presenting, at one time, the plurality of presentation objects in an ordered manner within presentation area  405 . The strata are defined by the desired presentation attention for each ones of the ordered layers. Each respective layer can be associated with a range of image values, sets of acquired images or theme. Image objects are further provided with a motion vector  445 . As illustrated, motion vectors  445  can represent an instance of the motion of associated with a movement path associated with a logical mathematical function in the display area. Moreover, layer  430  is a representation of a collection of large presentation objects and layer  435  is a representation of midsize presentation objects and layer  440  is a representation of small objects  420 . In one embodiment, the cluster of objects in layer  430  will animate in a manner that is slower, appear in the foreground, and have a minimal translucency extent compared to presentation objects appearing in on layer  435  and layer  440 . It should be noted that three layers are discussed in this example, however this is not limited and any number of layer greater than one can be used. It will be understood that any number of layers appropriate to the display of multimedia presentation device  301  can be implemented within the scope of the invention. 
     An image value for each of the acquired images is determined by analyzing the images according to an image value metric (Step  104 ). An image value metric can comprise several components that will sum into a single image value score. One component of image value can comprise image quality. Another component can comprise the colorfulness of the image. A further component can be that the eyes of a media subject are open or that the subject is smiling. Another image value component can be that the image media is aesthetically pleasing using rules of good composition. Other components of image value are determined based in part by automatically sensing who is watching or using multimedia presentation device  301 . A user can be sensed based on recognition of a user based on a log-in ID, the use of a personal multimedia presentation device  301 , such as the use of a personal cellular phone type of multimedia presentation device  301  by an owner or frequent user of that cellular phone, or based on facial recognition using an embodiment that includes an imaging system in multimedia presentation device  301  to capture an image of one or more users. From the image of the users, a mood of the users can further be determined to create themes. Activity can be determined to be a high-energy party, versus mellow and sitting on a couch. Furthermore, a personal based image value can be related the behavior of one or more users. This behavior can be frequency of viewing, utilizing certain media such as images tagged by the user or users as favorites, or a frequency of viewing a media object from a library or remote content such as a television station or show. Other methods of ranking personal based image value can be calculated in conjunction with how closely the person appearing in a media collection is in relation to the sensed user(s). Best friends or closest relatives can have higher values associated with a sensed user than friends of friends or distant relatives as documented in relational database  240 . 
     The presentation area image is then presented with one of the acquired images in each of the presentation objects and with the presented images being selected such that there will be at least a range of different image values for the images presented at any one moment in time (Step  106 ). Image sets can be assigned to displayable presentation objects in association with image values. A presentation object characteristic can be continuously variable according to image value. Object characteristics are further associated with size, closeness to the center of the screen, speed, order, and translucency. 
     The presentation objects are then animated within the presentation area image 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 image value than presentation objects that are used to simultaneously present images having a lower image value (Step  108 ). As a result, various presentation objects will attract various levels of attention. Lower image value images can move faster through the presentation area while higher image value images can be larger and move slowly, commanding greater level of viewer attention. In certain embodiments, the animation of various presentation objects can be organized accordingly to what will be referred to herein as a motion metaphor. Motion metaphors that have large objects moving slowly in conjunction with fast moving small objects have a psychological benefit of maintaining viewer interest in the presentation. One such motion metaphor can be a solar system motion metaphor with small presentation objects apparently orbiting larger presentation objects. 
     Additional embodiments of the invention can incorporate themes for image presentation. A first theme for image presentation can be chosen using from a list of possible themes or thematic engine  270  can generate a first theme and a second theme using data mining engine  260 . Thematic engine  270  can generate the first theme associated with a date, event or season of images. In one embodiment, data mining engine  260  can query a person profile database  235  to determine dates that are significant to a user. Such dates can include birthdays, anniversaries, faith-based holidays, or national holidays. In this embodiment, an anniversary of an upcoming event may be selected as a suitable theme. If the earliest significant anniversary of a significant event within person profile database  235  is December 25, and there are images associated with that date within the digital image collection  210 , then on a viewing date of December 21st, the theme can be of last year&#39;s Christmas or a compilation of previous family Christmas celebrations. In addition, first, second and subsequent themes can be chosen based on any single metadata or semantic elements within a person&#39;s picture collection. If a recurring subject of a person&#39;s picture collection is swimming, a theme can be selected as swimming. Another may be the most photographed person or object. One or a group of friends, family or social network can represent a theme for imagery to present using relational database  240 . Furthermore, visualization of media types can be themes. A theme can be of all of a type of television stations that are available to the viewer or of the recorded media on a media player. A theme can be a visualization of unread email in an email or message computer application. A theme can be the most recently viewed pictures, or the least recently viewed pictures in an image collection. Themes can be associated with frequency of other viewer activity such as most frequented U-Tube videos watched or other ranking criteria associated with a ranking list. Theme lists can be presented in pull down menus or managed by a viewer or user. Themes can be system generated and selected at random or selected with user controls  334  using associated key words from the images as capture metadata  215  and image content metadata  220 . Event database  258  enables the data associated with an event to enable the acquisition of images supporting a theme. For example, a group of images from an event can be classified as images that depict family moments and/or family members. When a family theme is later determined for presentation, digital processor  320  can search any available database or image/data memory  330  for images that depict family members. Thus, the images from that event are suitable imagery for this theme. 
     The image value can be further modified in accordance with how each of the acquired images corresponds to a theme. Degree of correspondence to a theme can be related to the key words associated with an image in capture metadata  215 , image content metadata  220  generated by image content engine  280  by data mining engine  260 . If the theme is camping, key words can include tent, hike, backpack, campfire, and outdoors. Through analyzing each key word, an image can have a degree of correspondence to the theme of camping. In this example, an image depicting a tent and campfire can have a relatively high correspondence to the camping theme while an image depicting people hiking or wearing backpacks can have a lower correspondence to the camping theme. Furthermore, if a theme is camping, animation can be assigned based on the theme of camping. 
     One example is illustrated in  FIG. 6A , which shows a representation of a theme of presentation objects in a motion metaphor of panning along water and rocks in a stream. Higher valued images can be assigned to the large horizontal objects  410  that appear as rocks in an image. Lower image value images can be assigned to a “water” animation of small objects  420 . As a result, the concurrent animation of panning or translating motion of a background image  425  or objects  410 ,  420  provides an illusion of a larger presentation area  405 . 
       FIG. 6B  shows a metaphor of traveling that can be appropriate, for example, when presenting images according to a navigating theme. Here large presentation object  527  can be centered and moves in a manner to grow in size on presentation area  405 , as smaller presentation objects translated outward to the periphery of presentation area  405 . Navigation theme can be applied to an event of a vacation or road trip. Each set of images can be associated with a sub-event to the main event. Image from the sets depicting sub-event sets can be displayed on the presentation objects concurrently or sequentially. Additionally, sets of images that can be defined by single or unique metadata elements thus enabling each set to have unique combinations of images and/or unique presentation characteristics. 
       FIG. 6C  shows another motion metaphor having a centered presentation object and orbiting presentation objects. Motion metaphors can support a theme that centers on one set of images or preferred image. The image having the highest image value is promoted as large horizontal object  410  to attract the greatest attention while mid-sized presentation object  400  and small object  420  are actively promoted in circular or elliptical orbits about large horizontal object  410  that are animated in accordance with their image values. In this embodiment, equations of motion can dictate and be applied based on a mass related to the area of the object and related objects. In one example embodiment, a rate of circling can be determined using a calculated velocity that is based on a standard orbit equation. 
       FIG. 6D  shows another motion metaphor for use with a connecting theme. In this motion metaphor, presentation objects are clustered in a manner that corresponds to the passage of time or the growth of someone or something over time. This animation starts with grouping presentation object  560  and grows and produces connected images with each attached presentation object  565 . This group of objects can move slowly across the screen in a manner that appears that a camera is panning across a scene while additional grouping presentation object  570  speed and link to the built up cluster of objects. These built up connected images of presentation objects  570  can be constructed using basic tessellation building blocks in sub-clusters of image shapes. Presentation objects are not limited to a 2:3 or 4:5 aspect ratio. Embodiments can include groupings of cropped images in various sized and shaped presentation objects. Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,654,506 to Luo et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 6,654,507 to Luo, describe methods for automatically creating cropped and zoomed versions of photographic images wherein the method and computer program/system for cropping a digital image includes selecting a zoom factor and a crop window, positioning the crop window such that the crop window is centered on a main portion having a highest belief value of being the main subject, and cropping the image according to the crop window and automatically producing an image of a portion of a photographic image respectively. In addition, images can be cropped and divided into multiple image portions for presentation using various aspect ratios. Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,654,507 to Luo describes a method and computer program/system for cropping a digital image includes selecting a zoom factor and a crop window, positioning the crop window such that the crop window is centered on a main portion having a highest belief value of being the main subject, and cropping the image according to the crop window. This main subject can be extracted using one crop window, and secondary subject can be extracted with another crop window in sequence. 
       FIG. 7A  shows a motion metaphor wherein presentation objects have shapes that are related to the theme to provide visual theme context. In this embodiment, the shape and border area of presentation object are aligned with the shapes that are associated with a Christmas theme. Images are cropped to within the shape of the presentation objects. Accordingly, presentation objects are in the shape of snowflakes and Christmas trees. The arrangement at the beginning and throughout the presentation of these presentation objects enables a mix of object sizes and patterns. For an example of Christmas as an upcoming event, there can be many themes associated with Christmas. A theme of “Christmas tree” is one embodiment of a theme associated with Christmas. People in front of the tree are Theme One. Data mining engine  260  can filter images from a set of images captured in the month of December for the presence of the color green. If there is a large presence of people in front of a green background that is close to the color of the tree, the degree of correspondence for theme one is high. In addition, if people and Christmas tree ornaments are sensed, there is an even higher likelihood that there is a tree in the image and as a result, a high correspondence to a Christmas tree set of images. Theme Two, getting the tree, can be determined by coats that the people are wearing, an outdoor classification based on lighting or background, the presence of green without ornaments, and snow in the picture. Referring back to  FIG. 7A , Theme One (images of people in front of a tree), can be assigned to tree presentation object  535 . Theme Two images can be assigned to snowflake presentation object  530 . Animation can comprise of snow falling motion vector  445  for snowflake presentation object  530  which occurs concurrently with an animation of a panning motion of tree presentation object  535  suggesting movement up a hill of Christmas trees. 
       FIG. 7B  shows a motion metaphor wherein presentation objects  540  have shapes, such as balloon shapes, that are associated with a birthday party or celebration theme. Images from the birthday party can be inserted, zoomed and cropped within presentation objects  540  that have, for example, a balloon shape. In addition, animation of presentation objects  540  can be logically determined from the shape of the balloon presentation object  540  to provide an expected association from knowledge of motion characteristics of a tangible object represented by the shape of the presentation objects and/or determined based upon the theme for the movement of the object. The type of animation associated with, for example, helium balloons is typically traveling from low to high such that motion vector  445  is pointed up. Confetti presentation object  545 , associated with a companion theme in this embodiment that takes on a motion vector  445  influenced by simulated gravity, a random Brownian motion, or swirling wind. With a swirling animation, object position, relative velocity and acceleration relationship can be modeled using fluid equations. In addition, salient contextual images or image objects of the birthday party event group of images can be concurrently displayed. With the birthday theme, a salient set of images include the birthday child&#39;s baby pictures and/or images depicting the child at different ages. 
       FIG. 7C  shows motion metaphor wherein presentation objects  550  have avian shapes and are moved in accordance with a flocking theme having a leader bird presentation object  550  and follower bird presentation object  555  that can take on commonly known animations associated with flocking. Groups of bird shaped presentation objects  550  can flock in or out and swirl in and out of presentation area  405 . Images can be cropped to the outline of the flocking bird presentation objects  550  and  555 . Flocking birds can be selected for group activity events and themes.  FIG. 7D  shows a motion metaphor useful in representing a passage theme, and illustrates translating cloud presentation object  575  in many sizes. Images are cropped to the outline of cloud presentation objects  575  and transverse across presentation area  405 . Companion theme airplane presentation object  580  can convey images of the person on the passage through space or time. 
     As with all of these embodiments, music and/or narration can play during the image presentation. Narration can be recorded and subsequently played during future presentations of the theme and images. Music can be associated with the theme of the presentation such as Christmas or a birthday. Music can be associated with the era of a sequence of pictures from a certain year like a popular musical hit from that year. Music can accompany the audio of a video presentation object. When a video presentation object is encountered and subsequently presented, music that is accompanying the presentation is attenuated, not terminated, to allow the audio of the video presentation object to be heard while the attenuated music provides continuity in the overall presentation. The presentation including the accompanying music and video object with audio can be further rendered to a format such as a DVD movie, slide show or the like. Attenuation of accompanying music to accommodate a video object is highly desirable. In other embodiments where multiple video clips are shown, the dominant video clip can have the loudest volume over smaller also playing video clips. The video and audio in conjunction with a display object can be played or restarted with a user interaction. With the user interaction, all other objects can mute. In some embodiments, the motion vector  445  can be sized for the speed of the presentation object such that it transverses the screen for an exact amount of time. This time can be associated with the entire playback time of a whole or trimmed video snippet. 
     Referring to  FIG. 8A , what is shown is a representation of media playing from a remote media source. As shown, media source outline  512  can appear over non-animated background  513  of a current channel. Media source outline  512  can represent current playing television channels over the air or via cable TV or streaming over the Internet  370 . Sizes of media source outline can represent favorite shows or stations that sensed users prefer. Similarly,  FIG. 8B  represents media cover artwork  515  from a library of a media collection. Artwork can be a record album jacket, a CD jacket, a DVD or HD-DVD or similar media collection jacket. A playing selection can be represented as background  525  or as a moving or non-moving presentation object. 
       FIG. 9  is a representation of a menu of themes. A user can interact or click on the presentation objects that represent the theme and can launch into the theme and subsequent images within objects presented. For example, year in pictures theme  510  can launch a presentation associated with images captured in that year. Message theme  505  can link to a presentation of messages. Presentation object, “this day last year theme”  500  appears in conjunction with other themes such as Internet location theme  495 . Theme icons  465  present themes that are available for viewing. Sharing message theme  470  can launch into another user&#39;s image collection from remote database  245 . Service representation  475  and store representation  490  illustrate visualization of goods and services available in a theme presentation. 
       FIG. 10A  shows one embodiment of an interaction with moving presentation objects. A user control arrow  450  can click on a presentation object  455  containing an image. Pressing on the image directly using a touch screen interface on color display  332  can also perform this. As shown in  FIG. 10B , clicking on the presentation object  455  brings the object to the foreground and pauses the motion of it and other objects. It can also enlarge it to fill some or all of the screen. Resuming image motion can be accomplished by clicking on the presentation object  455  again. Alternatively, clicking twice or right mouse clicking on presentation object  455  can present to the user a menu of options associated with presentation object  455 . One set of options can present a list of all objects within or associated with that image. By selecting these objects, one can launch new themes, connect, search or send a message to the people within the images, or purchase products shown or represented within the image. 
       FIG. 11  shows the use of segmented portions of images used for presentation. Any image segment can be extracted from an image. Salient shapes of people such as heads and or bodies can be extracted from the images and the salient shapes are used as shapes to form presentation objects  527  and  528 . This can also be performed for video objects on a frame-by-frame basis. Similarly, a border of various styles, colors and patterns can be placed around each of the presentation objects to denote the set associated with the objects. As cited earlier, relational database  240  works in conjunction with person profile database  235  to provide tree structure or unstructured data storage known as “triples” used by artificial intelligence engines. In one embodiment, the theme incorporates a primary set of content and at least one companion set of content defined according to the tree structure or “triple”. A child can be the primary theme with one border color or pattern portion. Close associates of the child for example, the mother, father, and siblings can also be organized as companion sets of content, each with their own shape, frame or manner of animation. 
     Those skilled in the art will recognize that many variations can be made to the description of the present invention without significantly deviating from the scope of the present invention. 
     Parts List 
     
         
           100  step 
           102  step 
           104  step 
           106  step 
           108  step 
           200  image database 
           210  digital image collection 
           215  capture metadata 
           220  image content metadata 
           225  event engine 
           235  person profile database 
           240  relational database 
           245  remote database 
           250  graphics database 
           255  animation database 
           258  event database 
           260  data mining engine 
           265  rendering engine 
           270  thematic engine 
           275  image value engine 
           280  image content engine 
           285  remote media source 
           290  software engines 
           301  multimedia presentation device 
           303  flash 
           305  lens system 
           307  cable TV interface 
           311  CMOS image sensor 
           312  timing generator 
           314  image sensor array 
           316  A/D converter circuit 
           318  DRAM buffer memory 
           320  digital processor 
           322  RAM memory 
           324  real-time clock 
           325  location determiner 
           327  database 
           328  firmware memory 
           330  image/data memory 
           332  color display 
           334  user controls 
           340  audio codec 
           342  microphone 
           344  speaker 
           350  wireless modem 
           352  RF channel 
           358  phone network 
           362  dock interface 
           364  dock/charger 
           370  Internet 
           372  service provider 
           375  general control computer 
           400  mid-size object 
           405  presentation area 
           410  large horizontal object 
           412  large vertical object 
           415  presentation object 
           420  small object 
           425  background image 
           430  layer  1   
           435  layer  2   
           440  layer  3   
           445  motion vector 
           450  control arrow 
           455  presentation object 
           460  media source 
           465  theme icon 
           470  message theme 
           475  service representation 
           490  store representation 
           495  Internet location 
           500  this day last year theme 
           505  message theme 
           510  year in pictures theme 
           512  media source outline 
           513  background 
           515  media library outline 
           525  background 
           527  large presentation object 
           528  small presentation object 
           530  snowflake presentation object 
           535  tree presentation object 
           540  balloon presentation object 
           545  confetti presentation object 
           550  leader bird presentation object 
           555  follower bird presentation object 
           560  grouping presentation object 
           565  grouping presentation object 
           570  grouping presentation object 
           575  cloud presentation object 
           580  airplane presentation object