RFID assisted image annotation system for a portable digital camera

As for our newly developed smart camera system, a RFID reader is integrated into a digital camera for recognizing user (Who), place (Where) and object (What) that are associated with an image. When an author's RFID tag is detected after the camera system is turned on, corresponding EPC code compliant user information is obtained to perform authentication. All images taken after this would be stored with this attribute indicating the creator of the images. In case other person's RFID tag is detected afterwards, the system recognizes it as the target object that is to be taken into an image. If the detected RFID tag is related to a place, the system records it as the location context. In case GPS is activated at the location, the GPS reading is stored in geotagging format. Unlike computer vision based image annotation process, this new approach could support various geography sensitive imaging services such as an effective image searching on a typical PC. Such a RFID assisted image annotation system enables a highly efficient image classification, archival and retrieval.