Display control apparatus, display control method, and computer program product

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021311984-A1
Application number	US-202117179709-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 19, 2021
Priority date	Apr 1, 2020
Publication date	Oct 7, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

According to an embodiment, a display control apparatus includes a clustering unit, a sub-clustering unit, and a display control unit. The clustering unit is configured to classify images into a plurality of clusters based on similarity degrees of the images and a first threshold. The sub-clustering unit is configured to further classify images within each of the plurality of clusters into a plurality of sub-clusters based on the similarity degrees and a second threshold that is higher than the first threshold. The display control unit is configured to display, on a display unit, display information including a cluster representative indicative of a representative of images included in a cluster and a sub-cluster representative indicative of a representative of an image included in a sub-cluster.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A display control apparatus comprising:
a memory; and one or more hardware processors electrically coupled to the memory and configured to function as: a clustering unit configured to classify images into a plurality of clusters based on similarity degrees of the images and a first threshold; a sub-clustering unit configured to further classify images within each of the plurality of clusters into a plurality of sub-clusters based on the similarity degrees and a second threshold that is higher than the first threshold; and a display control unit configured to display, on a display unit, display information including a cluster representative indicative of a representative of images included in a cluster and a sub-cluster representative indicative of a representative of an image included in a sub-cluster.

2 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
a plurality of images classified by the sub-clustering unit have a tree structure in which a sub-cluster representative with a highest similarity degree to the cluster representative serves as a root, sub-cluster representatives are connected together in a first direction in descending order of similarity degrees to the cluster representative, and images in a first sub-cluster including a first sub-cluster representative are connected together in a second direction in descending order of similarity degrees to the first sub-cluster representative, and the sub-clustering unit is configured to, when classifying a new image, not calculate similarity degrees between the images in the first sub-cluster and the new image when a similarity degree between the new image and the first sub-cluster representative does not exceed the second threshold.

3 . The apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the display control unit is configured to display a predefined number of images included in the first sub-cluster in descending order of similarity degrees to the first sub-cluster representative.

4 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the images includes persons, the clustering unit is configured to classify the images into the plurality of clusters for the respective persons based on the similarity degrees of the persons included in the images and the first threshold, and the sub-clustering unit is configured to classify the images into the plurality of sub-clusters based on the similarity degrees of the persons included in the images and the second threshold.

5 . The apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the hardware processors are further configured to function as:
a registration control unit configured to register, in a person search database, one or more images selected from the display information.

6 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the hardware processors are further configured to function as:
a correction unit configured to delete one or more images selected from the display information or to change a cluster or a sub-cluster that includes one or more images selected from the display information.

7 . A display control method comprising:
classifying, by a display control apparatus, images into a plurality of clusters based on similarity degrees of the images and a first threshold; further classifying, by the display control apparatus, images within each of the plurality of clusters into a plurality of sub-clusters based on the similarity degrees and a second threshold that is higher than the first threshold; and displaying, on a display unit by the display control apparatus, display information including a cluster representative indicative of a representative of images included in a cluster and a sub-cluster representative indicative of a representative of an image included in a sub-cluster.

8 . The method according to claim 7 , wherein
a plurality of images classified at the further classifying into the plurality of sub-clusters have a tree structure in which a sub-cluster representative with a highest similarity degree to the cluster representative serves as a root, sub-cluster representatives are connected together in a first direction in descending order of similarity degrees to the cluster representative, and images in a first sub-cluster including a first sub-cluster are connected together in a second direction in descending order of similarity degrees to the first sub-cluster representative, and when classifying a new image at the further classifying into the plurality of sub-clusters, similarity degrees between the images in the first sub-cluster and a new image are not calculated when a similarity degree between the new image and the first sub-cluster representative does not exceed the second threshold.

9 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein at the displaying, a predefined number of images included in the first sub-cluster is displayed in descending order of similarity degrees to the first sub-cluster representative.

10 . The method according to claim 7 , wherein
the images includes persons, at the classifying into the plurality of clusters, the images are classified into the plurality of clusters for the respective persons based on the similarity degrees of the persons included in the images and the first threshold, and at the further classifying into the plurality of sub-clusters, the images are classified into the plurality of sub-clusters based on the similarity degrees of the persons included in the images and the second threshold.

11 . The method according to claim 10 , further comprising registering, in a person search database, one or more images selected from the display information.

12 . The method according to claim 7 , further comprising deleting one or more images selected from the display information or changing a cluster or a sub-cluster that includes one or more images selected from the display information.

13 . A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium including programmed instructions, the instructions causing a computer to function as:
a clustering unit configured to classify images into a plurality of clusters based on similarity degrees of the images and a first threshold; a sub-clustering unit configured to further classify images within each of the plurality of clusters into a plurality of sub-clusters based on the similarity degrees and a second threshold that is higher than the first threshold; and a display control unit configured to display, on a display unit, display information including a cluster representative indicative of a representative of images included in a cluster and a sub-cluster representative indicative of a representative of an image included in a sub-cluster.

14 . The product according to claim 13 , wherein
a plurality of images classified by the sub-clustering unit have a tree structure in which a sub-cluster representative with a highest similarity degree to the cluster representative serves as a root, sub-cluster representatives are connected together in a first direction in descending order of similarity degrees to the cluster representative, and images in a first sub-cluster including a first sub-cluster representative are connected together in a second direction in descending order of similarity degrees to the first sub-cluster representative, and the sub-clustering unit is configured to, when classifying a new image, not calculate similarity degrees between the images in the first sub-cluster and the new image when a similarity degree between the new image and the first sub-cluster representative does not exceed the second threshold.

15 . The product according to claim 1

Assignees

• Toshiba Kk

Inventors

• Saito Hiroo
• Yamaji Yuto
• Yamaguchi Osamu

Classifications

• G06V10/7625

  Hierarchical techniques, i.e. dividing or merging patterns to obtain a tree-like representation; Dendograms · CPC title

• G06V10/761

  Proximity, similarity or dissimilarity measures · CPC title

• G06F18/231

  Hierarchical techniques, i.e. dividing or merging pattern sets so as to obtain a dendrogram · CPC title

• G06F18/24323

  Tree-organised classifiers · CPC title

• G06F18/2431

  Multiple classes · CPC title