Patent Document ID: 8218823
Application ID: 12539139
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for identifying main objects in digital images, the method implemented at least in part by a data processing system and comprising: receiving a digital image representing a scene, the digital image being captured from a viewpoint; identifying range information associated with the digital image and including distances of pixels in the scene from a known reference location; identifying a plurality of objects in the digital image; identifying at least one main object in the digital image based at least upon an analysis of the range information and the digital image, wherein the at least one main object is identified from the plurality of objects; and storing an indication of the identified at least one main object in a processor-accessible memory system; wherein the step of identifying of the at least one main object includes; determining object importance parameters for each of the plurality of objects, wherein objects closer to the viewpoint are given preferred object importance parameter values as compared to objects that are further from the viewpoint and have a similar pixel location within the digital image, and wherein objects that have a more central pixel location within the digital image are given preferred object-importance parameter values as compared to objects that have a less central pixel location within the digital image and are at a similar distance from the viewpoint; and identifying at least one of the plurality of objects to be a main object responsive to the object importance parameters for the plurality of objects.