Patent ID: 7702596

Claim:
A method of classifying an image of objects into different image categories comprising the steps of: recursively constructing a probabilistic boosting tree in which each tree node is a strong classifier, a discriminative model being obtained at the top of the tree and each level of the tree comprising an augmented variable; dividing an input training set into two new sets according to a learned classifier defined by an optimal feature for dividing the input training set; using the two new sets to train a left and right sub-trees recursively, wherein clustering is automatically formed in a hierarchical way; calculating a probability that the image falls within a left sub-tree of the top of the tree and calculating a probability that the image falls within a right sub-tree of the top of the tree by recursively determining left and right sub-tree probabilities at each level of the tree; and outputting the likelihood that the image matches the left sub-tree of the top of the tree and the likelihood that the image matches the right sub-tree of the top of the tree based on the calculated probabilities, wherein each of the method steps are performed within an image processing apparatus or device.