Neil Hughes
Starting with iOS 7, Apple began automatically sorting users' iPhone photos based on time taken and location. But a new patent application reveals the company is interested in taking it one step further, and allowing Siri to sort through iOS photos based on voice search and tagging.
The company's interests were revealed in a new patent application published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday, discovered by AppleInsider. The filing, entitled "Voice-Based Image Tagging and Searching," describes associating "natural language" text strings with photographs saved on a device, like an iPhone.
Such text strings would be associated with speech input, much like users can access data on their iPhone by speaking in plain conversation to Siri, the device's voice-driven personal assistant. Text strings associated with photos could cover an entity, an activity, or a location, according to the filing.
Apple's application notes that a growing volume of photos collected by users on devices like iPhones makes them increasingly hard to sort through. The company notes that tagging photos based on names of people or places makes it easier to find what users are looking for.Apple's system would allow users to use their voice to tag and search photos based on locations, people's names and more.
Apple's system would also allow users to tag photos with their voice. In one example provided by Apple, a user tells their device, "This is me at the beach," and the corresponding picture is tagged accordingly.
The proposed invention could even automatically tag corresponding photos, based on the time and location at which they were snapped, to make it easier for users to sort their pictures and not require them to individually tag each picture.
Apple's system could even recognize faces, buildings or landscapes to tag similar photos. For example, by a user telling Siri that they are captured in a photograph, the system could then intelligently tag other photos that capture the user's face.
With photos properly tagged, users could then use their voice in a similar manner to search for the pictures they are looking for. In another example, a user asks their device, "Show me photos of me at the beach," and related items are delivered.
Apple began automatically sorting pictures with a revamped Photos application that debuted in iOS 7 this year. Starting at a macro level, photos are presented in tiny thumbnails based on the year they were captured, and users can zoom in to find their photos sorted based on date and location.
In this manner of auto-tagging alone, Apple could utilize its proposed invention to allow Siri to sort through pictures. For example, saying "Show me photos from Hawaii taken in 2012" could present users with relevant photos, even without the need for tagging faces.
The application, first made public this week, was filed by Apple with the USPTO in March of this year. It's credited to Jan Erik Solem and Thijs Willem Stalenhoef.
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16 Comments
Looking forward to the day Siri will act like my own real estate agent and negotiator, car buyer, personal physician, personal shopper, stock broker, workout coach, gift-buying advisor, tireless business promoter, dating advisor, etc., etc., etc... I'm really not asking for much. :D But seriously, we are very close to having true artificial intelligence on our phones. Only about 5-6 years off according to Ray Kurzweil.
Looking forward to the day Siri will act like my own real estate agent and negotiator, car buyer, personal physician, personal shopper, stock broker, workout coach, gift-buying advisor, tireless business promoter, dating advisor, etc., etc., etc...
I'm really not asking for much.
But seriously, we are very close to having true artificial intelligence on our phones. Only about 5-6 years off according to Ray Kurzweil.
I like it Spam! :) I try to use Siri for all my searches. Not perfect, but very impressive. I'm really pleased with what Apple is doing with this tech and mobile tech in general. Can't wait to see what 2014 brings.
I'm one of those that think the iPad Mini, Air, and 5s are extraordinary devices along with the MacPro. Making the OSX and iWork free is just icing on the cake.
I like what Apple has done with iWork, making it more usable across all my devices including that once a year time I have to use someone else's Windows PC to do something on iCloud. Just brilliant.
Anyway, Best! :)
Edit: Didn't mean to forget the iMac, MBP and MBA lines. All which are best in class devices! :)
But seriously, we are very close to having true artificial intelligence on our phones. Only about 5-6 years off according to Ray Kurzweil.
What evidence do you have of this? Siri can hardly have a one diminutional instruction sent to her, let alone AI. Siri was able to map directions, then understand when I said I wanted to stop for coffee on my way, which is very surprising she did. But that is the exception, not the rule.
As you see, Siri is really one diminutional in her conversation. Getting Siri to actually understand the words that are coming out of my mouth is very frustrating at times. Unless Apple is hiding some huge update, I don't see AI coming into its own for 10+ years. Siri, for me, is only good at very basic tasks such as reminders, getting directions, web searches, and those are not even 100%.
?I think man is learning that real intelligence is extremely complex.
Richard Getz, familiarize yourself with Ray Kurzweil's Singularity timeline AND recent statements coming out of Google about a breakthrough in A.I. being very close. I said [B]5-6 years[/B], which fits the timeline. You just wasted a whole lot of time and energy to complain about what is available today.
Richard Getz, familiarize yourself with Ray Kurzweil's Singularity timeline AND recent statements coming out of Google about a breakthrough in A.I. being very close.
I said 5-6 years, which fits the timeline. You just wasted a whole lot of time and energy to complain about what is available today.
I'll look over his stuff, thanks for the links. I see he has a 2005 book, and a 2009 video on Google's top SERPs. How near was he talking? He says here, real AI will be 2029 and Singularity by 2045.
No, this is not just a complain, as I gave real world scenarios and results. It was to show, that although Siri was introduced two iPhone versions ago, it still is not intelligent.