Image sorting device, method, program, and integrated circuit and storage medium storing said program

An image classification method of using an image classification device, the image classification method comprising:

• extracting, for each of a plurality of images, features of each face included in the image and classifying each face into a face group containing one or more faces determined to be of a same person, said extracting being performed using a face clustering unit of the image classification device;
• calculating image group feature information, indicating features of an image group composed of a plurality of images, based on the face group into which at least one face among any faces included in images of the image group is classified in said extracting, said calculating being performed using an image group feature calculation unit of the image classification device;
• classifying an image group into at least one of a plurality of different classifications based on the image group feature information for the image group, said classifying being performed using an image group classification unit of the image group classification device;
• and
• sorting each face group into one of one or more person groups indicating a predetermined human relationship, said sorting being performed using a person group sorting unit of the image classification device, wherein
• the image group feature information includes person group information indicating the one person group into which each face group is sorted, and
• said classifying of the image group classifies the image group based on the person group information included in the image group feature information.

A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having an image classification program recorded thereon, the image classification program causing a computer to function as an image classification device for classifying images by executing a method, comprising:

• extracting, for each of a plurality of images, features of each face included in the image and classifying each face into a face group containing one or more faces determined to be of a same person;
• calculating image group feature information, indicating features of an image group composed of a plurality of images, based on the face group into which at least one face among any faces included in images of the image group is classified in said extracting;
• classifying an image group into at least one of a plurality of different classifications based on the image group feature information for the image group;
• and
• sorting each face group into one of one or more person groups indicating a predetermined human relationship, wherein
• the image group feature information includes person group information indicating the one person group into which each face group is sorted, and
• said classifying of the image group classifies the image group based on the person group information included in the image group feature information.

An integrated circuit comprising:

• a face clustering unit configured to, for each of a plurality of images, extract features of each face included in the image and to classify each face into a face group containing one or more faces determined to be of a same person;
• an image group feature calculation unit configured to calculate image group feature information, indicating features of an image group composed of a plurality of images, based on the face group into which the face clustering unit classifies at least one face among any faces included in images of the image group;
• an image group classification unit configured to classify an image group into at least one of a plurality of different classifications based on the image group feature information for the image group;
• and
• a person group sorting unit configured to sort each face group into one of one or more person groups indicating a predetermined human relationship, wherein
• the image group feature information includes person group information indicating the one person group into which each face group is sorted, and
• the image group classification unit classifies the image group based on the person group information included in the image group feature information.