Patent ID: 7844135

Claim:
A method of detecting an orientation of a digital image using statistical classifier techniques, comprising: using a processor; acquiring a digital image; cropping the digital image including selecting a facial region within the digital image excluding one or more regions of the digital image outside of said facial region to obtain a cropped image including said facial region; applying a set of face detection classifiers to the cropped image in a first orientation and determining a first level of match between said cropped image at said first orientation and said classifiers; rotating said cropped image to a second orientation to obtain a rotated image, applying the classifiers to said rotated image at said second orientation, and determining a second level of match between said rotated image at said second orientation and said classifiers; comparing said first and second levels of match between said classifiers and said cropped image and between said classifiers and said rotated image, respectively; and determining which of the first orientation and the second orientations has a greater probability of being a correct orientation based on which of the first and second levels of match, respectively, comprises a higher level of match.