Image Categorization via Context Data Extraction

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Solution Overview

Problem

Personal devices like smartphones have limited storage capacity, making it time-consuming and tedious to manage and retrieve large volumes of images, especially when users need to find specific subjects or categorize them.

Innovation Solution

A system and method that captures images on portable computing devices, extracts context data, and sends them to an image analyzer for processing, which identifies data like text, people, landmarks, and objects, and stores this information for subsequent retrieval, enabling efficient querying and management of images.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Quantity of substance

If images are stored on personal devices, then images can be accessed and viewed, but storage space is limited and managing large volumes of images becomes time-consuming

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvenumber of images storedVSAvoidtime to manage and retrieve images
Core Design Contradiction:
Quantity of substanceVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts and analyzes key features from images (such as objects, scenes, and visual characteristics) using machine learning models. These extracted features are stored as metadata instead of the full images, allowing users to search and retrieve images based on their visual content without storing the complete image data on the device, thus resolving the storage limitation while maintaining ease of retrieval.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces an intermediary system that includes a machine learning model and a database of visual features. This intermediary layer between the user and the image storage enables automated image categorization and search functionality. The intermediary processes images locally or in the cloud, extracts meaningful features, and stores only the essential metadata, thereby reducing storage requirements while improving image management efficiency.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Ease of operation

If images are manually categorized, then organization is improved, but the process is tedious and time-consuming

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveimage organizationVSAvoidtime to categorize images
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements self-service image categorization through automated machine learning algorithms that automatically analyze and organize images based on their visual content. The system performs tasks such as object detection, scene recognition, and visual similarity matching without requiring user intervention. This automated self-service approach eliminates the tedious manual categorization process while maintaining effective image organization, significantly reducing the time investment required from users.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

The patent performs preliminary image analysis and feature extraction automatically when images are captured or uploaded. The machine learning model pre-processes images to identify and tag relevant visual features before the user needs to access or search for them. This preliminary automated action eliminates the need for users to manually categorize images later, saving time and effort while maintaining well-organized image collections.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentUS9811536B2Categorizing captured images for subsequent search
Publication Date: 2017.11.07 DELL PROD LP
  • US9811536B2 patent drawing
  • US9811536B2 patent drawing
  • US9811536B2 patent drawing

AI summary

Systems and methods are described to identify in the images text, people, landmarks, objects, or any combination thereof and to store and search for images based on extracted data. A portable computing device, such as a wireless phone or tablet computer, may capture an image, determine context data associated with the image, and send the image and context data to an analyzer. The analyzer may extract data from the image and send the extracted data to the portable computing device. For example, the analyzer may determine if the image includes alphanumeric characters and perform character recognition (e.g., using optical character recognition (OCR) or similar technology). A format of the characters that are recognized in the image may be analyzed to determine additional information, such as whether the characters are a phone number, a uniform resource locator (URL), a name of a person, a name of a location, or the like. The analyzer may determine if the image includes a person, a landmark, an object, etc. by comparing at least a portion of the image with other images. The analyzer may send the extracted data to the portable computing device for storage. The portable computing device may associate the context data and the extracted data with a downsampled (e.g., thumbnail) version of the image to enable a user to query the context data and extracted data.