Patent ID: 7120586

Claim:
A method for automatically organizing digitized photographic images into events based on spoken annotations, where the events are useful in organizing photographic albums, said method comprising the steps of: providing natural-language text based on spoken annotations corresponding to a plurality of frames of photographic images; extracting predetermined information from the natural-language text that characterizes the annotations of the images; segmenting the images into events by examining each annotation for the presence of certain categories of information which are indicative of a boundary between events; and identifying each event by assembling the categories of information into event descriptions, wherein the step of segmenting the images into events comprises the steps of: assigning a strength value for the certain categories of information which are indicative of a boundary between events; computing the evidence in favor of and against an event break with regard to a current frame by summing the strength values from the certain categories of information present for the current frame relative to a preceding frame already allocated to a current event; and allocating the frame to a new event when the summarized strength values in favor of an event break exceed a predetermined threshold, otherwise allocating the frame to the current event.