Managing consumer image collections on a home network

The integration of management services for personal image collections into a Home Networking Infrastructure is described. The principle system components are a central image store and a local image server. Internal network services are provided via image-aware metadevices. Support for external services is based on metadevice proxies running on the home gateway appliance. Key tools are provided for content location, management and browsing. Central to this is the local image server which manages the raw image collection and applies automated image analysis and sorting tools to uploaded images. New images are uploaded via this image server from wired or wireless digital cameras using the PTP/IP protocol. These are processed prior to storage by an automatic cataloging tool. Faces regions and other key image data, including image annotations are analyzed and images are sorted according to these data. Browsing tools are also described which facilitate navigation of the image collection based on persons, places, temporal contexts and social events.