Method of grouping images by face

Claim 3

The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of determining the degree of connection between the clusters comprises: selecting one of the similarities of the face regions.

Claim 4

The method of claim 1 , wherein the relationship of a first face region and a second face region is created if the first face region and the second face region are detected from the same image.

Claim 5

The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of determining further comprises: determining whether the second face region from the first image and the fourth face region from the second images are grouped into the same cluster.

Claim 6

The method of claim 1 , wherein the degree of connection between the first cluster and the second cluster is increased if the determining result is true.

Claim 7

The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of modifying the degree of connection between the clusters according to the relationship of the face regions further comprises: determining whether the similarity between the first face region and the third face region is greater than a similarity threshold; and modifying the degree of connection between the first cluster and the second cluster if the similarity the similarity between the first face region and the third face region is greater than the similarity threshold.

Claim 8

The method of claim 1 , further comprising: merging a first cluster and a second cluster when the degree of connection between the first cluster and the second cluster is greater than a connection threshold.

Claim 9

The method of claim 1 , wherein displaying the face regions according to the degree of connection between the clusters is displaying the face regions in descending order of the degree of connection between the clusters.

Claim 12

The method of claim 9 , further comprising: calculating facial similarity for each pair of face regions in the plurality of images, wherein the step of grouping the plurality of face regions into a plurality of clusters is based on the facial similarities.

Claim 13

The method of claim 9 , further comprising: merging the first cluster and the second cluster when the first condition result is true and the second condition result is true.

Claim 14

The method of claim 9 , further comprising: decreasing separation of the first cluster and the second cluster during display of the first cluster and the second cluster when the first condition result is true and the second condition result is true.

Claim 15

The method of claim 9 , further comprising: displaying the plurality of clusters in descending order of degrees of connections between the first cluster and each of the plurality of clusters.

Claim 16

A photo displaying system comprising: a detecting module for detecting a plurality of face regions from a plurality of images; a grouping module for grouping the face regions into a plurality of clusters based on a similarity of the face regions; a social networking analyzing module for determining a degree of connection between the clusters according to the similarity between the face regions; an identifying module for identifying a first image and a second image from the images, wherein the first image comprises a first face region belonging to a first cluster and a second, face region not belonging to the first cluster, and the second image comprises a third face region belonging to a second cluster and a fourth face region not belonging to the second cluster; a modifying module for modifying the degree of connection between the clusters based on a relationship of the clusters; wherein the modifying module modifies the degree of connection between the first cluster and the second cluster if the second face region is similar to the fourth face region or if the second face region and the fourth face region are grouped into the same cluster; and a display for outputting the face regions according to the degree of connection.

Claim 17

A photo displaying system comprising: a detecting module for detecting a plurality of face regions from a plurality of images; a grouping module for grouping the face regions into a plurality of clusters based on a similarity of the face regions; a social networking analyzing module for determining a degree of connection between the clusters according to the similarity between the face regions; an identifying module for identifying a first image and a second image from the images, wherein the first image comprises a first face region belonging to a first cluster and a second, face region not belonging to the first cluster, and the second image comprises a third face region belonging to a second cluster and a fourth face region not belonging to the second cluster; a modifying module for modifying the degree of connection between the clusters based on a relationship of the clusters; wherein the modifying module modifies the degree of connection between the first cluster and the second cluster if the second face region is similar to the fourth face region or if the second face region and the fourth face region are grouped into the same cluster; and a display for outputting the face regions according to the degree of connection.

Claim 18

The photo displaying system of claim 14 , further comprising: a cluster merging module for merging a first cluster and a second cluster of the plurality of clusters when the degree of connection between the first cluster and the second cluster is greater than a connection threshold.

Claim 19

The photo displaying system of claim 14 , wherein the modifying module increases the degree of connection between the first cluster and the second cluster if the second face region is similar to the fourth face region.

Claim 20

The photo displaying system of claim 14 , wherein the modifying module modifies the degree of connection between the first cluster and the second cluster if the similarity between the first face region and the third face region is greater than a similarity threshold.