Image Annotation for Image Auxiliary Information Storage and Retrieval

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide a novel and non-obvious method, system and computer program product for image annotation for image auxiliary information storage and retrieval. In an embodiment of the invention, a method for image annotation for image auxiliary information storage and retrieval is provided. The method includes loading a digital image into memory of a computer and selecting separately stored auxiliary information for the digital image. A network location of the auxiliary information can be encoded. Finally, the encoding can be embedded into the digital image.

1 . A method for image annotation for image auxiliary information storage and retrieval comprising:
 storing a digital image into memory of a computer;   selecting separately stored auxiliary information for the digital image;   encoding a network location of the auxiliary information; and,   embedding the encoding into the digital image;   wherein the stored auxiliary information includes a textual statement of a location of a subject of the digital image and at least one of: audio commentary providing context to the digital image, video imagery temporally contemporaneous to the corresponding digital image, camera settings at a time of acquiring the digital image, identity of a user of a camera at the time of acquiring the digital image, and text providing classification and categorization information with respect to the digital image.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein encoding a network location of the auxiliary information, comprises embedding the bar code into a comer of the digital image. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 scanning the encoding of the digital image;   decoding the encoding into the network location;   retrieving the auxiliary information from the network location;   displaying the auxiliary information including the textual statement of a location of a subject of the digital image and at least one of: the audio commentary providing context to the digital image, video imagery temporally contemporaneous to the corresponding digital image, camera settings at a time of acquiring the digital image, identity of a user of a camera at the time of acquiring the digital image, and text providing classification and categorization information with respect to the digital image.   
     
     
         4 . An image data processing system comprising:
 a host computer with at least one processor and memory;   an image editing tool executing in the memory of the host computer; and,   an image annotation module coupled to the image editing tool, the module   comprising program code enabled upon execution by the host computer to select auxiliary information for a digital image loaded in the image editing tool, to encode a network location of the auxiliary information, and to direct the image editing tool to embed the encoding into the digital image;   wherein the stored auxiliary information includes a textual statement of a location of a subject of the digital image and at least one of: audio commentary providing context to the digital image, video imagery temporally contemporaneous to the corresponding digital image, camera settings at a time of acquiring the digital image, identity of a user of a camera at the time of acquiring the digital image, and text providing classification and categorization information with respect to the digital image.   
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the encoding is a bar code. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the image annotation module is configured to:
 scan the encoding of the digital image;   decode the encoding into the network location;   retrieve the auxiliary information from the network location;   display the auxiliary information including the textual statement of a location of a subject of the digital image and at least one of: audio commentary providing context to the digital image, video imagery temporally contemporaneous to the corresponding digital image, camera settings at a time of acquiring the digital image, identity of a user of a camera at the time of acquiring the digital image, and text providing classification and categorization information with respect to the digital image.   
     
     
         7 . A computer program product for image annotation for image auxiliary information storage and retrieval, the computer program product comprising:
 a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising:   computer readable program code for storing a digital image into memory of a computer;   computer readable program code selecting separately stored auxiliary information for the digital image;   computer readable program code encoding a network location of the auxiliary information; and,   computer readable program code embedding the encoding into the digital image;   wherein the stored auxiliary information includes a textual statement of a location of a subject of the digital image and at least one of: audio commentary providing context to the digital image, video imagery temporally contemporaneous to the corresponding digital image, camera settings at a time of acquiring the digital image, identity of a user of a camera at the time of acquiring the digital image, and text providing classification and categorization information with respect to the digital image.   
     
     
         8 . The computer program product of  claim 7 , wherein the encoding is a bar code. 
     
     
         9 . The computer program product of  claim 7 , the computer program product comprising:
 computer readable program code for scanning the encoding of the digital image;   computer readable program code for decoding the encoding into the network location;   computer readable program code for retrieving the auxiliary information from the network location;   computer readable program code for displaying the auxiliary information including the textual statement of a location of a subject of the digital image and at least one of: audio commentary providing context to the digital image, video imagery temporally contemporaneous to the corresponding digital image, identity of a user of a camera at the time of acquiring the digital image, and text providing classification and categorization information with respect to the digital image.   
     
     
         10 . A method for managing a plurality of digital images over a network comprising:
 receiving, at an imaging web server coupled to the network, a digital image file along with information associated to the digital image file, wherein the digital image file comprises data representing a digital image and the associated information includes a location of the imaging web server and at least one of: a customer identification number, a date image was taken, a picture sequence number, a name of the digital image, a time the digital image was taken, location where the image was taken at, author/publisher of the digital image, subject matter of the digital image, keyword for the digital image file and a name of the imaging web server; parsing the associated information to extract multiple pieces of information from the associated information;   coding the multiple pieces of extracted information of the associated information to create an identifier for the digital image file, wherein the identifier is associated with at least one printed digital image that represents the digital image file;   storing the digital image file and the identifier in a database coupled to the imaging web server;   receiving a search request;   querying the database with the search request;   retrieving at least one requested digital image file matching the search request; and   presenting at least one requested digital image corresponding to the at least one requested digital image file to a user.