Providing subject information regarding upcoming images on a display

1. A method of effecting a display of a sequence of images, the method comprising:

selecting, by a device, a sequence of images;

effecting the display of a current image from the sequence of images in a first area of a display, wherein the current image is the only image from the sequence of images to be displayed during a display period;

selecting, by the device, a subset of the sequence of images that are to be displayed subsequent to the current image to form a plurality of analysis window images;

determining updated subject information from the plurality of analysis window images, the updated subject information comprising subject representations of those subjects appearing in the plurality of analysis window images and subject prominence scores, each subject prominence score determined as a function of a face size ratio value and a zone value for a subject face appearing in one or more analysis window images, wherein the face size ratio value is determined as a function of an area of the subject face and a total image area, and wherein the zone value is determined as a function of a zone in which the subject face appears;

sorting the subject representations by their corresponding subject prominence scores; and

effecting the display of the updated subject information in a second area of the display contemporaneously with the current image.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein determining updated subject information further comprises:

determining subject status indicator information for the subject representations; and

effecting display of the subject status indicator information for the subject representations in the second area of the display, wherein the subject status indicator information is chosen from the group consisting of subject occurrence counts, image countdown counts, and time countdown counts.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein:

determining the subject status indicator information further comprises:

determining subject occurrence counts, each subject occurrence count defining a number of times a subject corresponding to a subject representation appears in the plurality of analysis window images; and

sorting the subject representations by their corresponding subject occurrence counts.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein:

determining the subject status indicator information further comprises:

determining an image countdown counts, each image countdown count defining a number of images to be displayed before a subject corresponding to a subject representation appears in the current image; and

sorting the subject representations by their corresponding image countdown counts.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein:

determining the subject status indicator information further comprises:

determining time countdown counts, each time countdown count defining a time duration before a subject corresponding to a subject representation appears in the current image; and

sorting the subject representations by their corresponding time countdown counts.

6. The method of claim 2 wherein determining updated subject information further comprises:

determining next subject indicator information for the subject representations, the next subject indicator information indicating which subjects will appear in the next current image from the sequence of images; and

effecting the display of the next subject indicator information in the second area of the display.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein selecting the sequence of images further comprises:

detecting a viewer in proximity to the device;

capturing information identifying the viewer; and

selecting, by the device, the sequence of images based on the information identifying the viewer.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the subject representations comprise likenesses of those subjects appearing in the plurality of analysis window images.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein selecting the sequence of images further comprises:

obtaining a subject affinity for each of a plurality of other subjects that appear in a collection of images, the subject affinity defining a subject affinity score between the viewer and a corresponding one of the plurality of other subjects, the other subjects corresponding to subjects other than the viewer;

determining an image affinity for each image in the collection of images based on the subject affinity for the plurality of other subjects, the image affinity defining an image affinity score between the viewer and each image in the collection of images based on the other subjects appearing in the collection of images; and

selecting, by the device, the sequence of images from the collection of images based on the image affinities.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein effecting the display of the subject representations further comprises:

sorting the subject representations by their corresponding subject affinity; and

effecting display of subject status indicator information in the second area of the display.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein effecting the display of the current image further comprises:

scaling a time duration the current image is displayed according to its image affinity.

12. The method of claim 7 wherein the information identifying the viewer is an image of the viewer.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining, based on timing information, that it is time to display a next image from the sequence of images;

selecting, by the device, the next image in the sequence of images as a new current image; and

effecting the display of the new current image.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the device is one of a digital picture frame, cellular phone, pda, and a media player.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein analysis window images are not shown on the display contemporaneously with the current image.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein a size of the analysis window is a viewer defined preference.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the subject representations are not selected from the sequence of images.

18. A device comprising:

a communication interface facilitating communication between the device and a plurality of other devices;

a processor operably in communication with the communication interface; and

memory storing software executable by the processor, whereby the server is operable to:

select, by the device, the sequence of images;

effect the display of a current image from the sequence of images in a first area of the display, wherein the current image is the only image from the sequence of images to be displayed during a display period;

select, by the device, a subset of the sequence of images that are to be displayed subsequent to the current image to form a plurality of analysis window images;

determine updated subject information from the plurality of analysis window images, the updated subject information comprising subject representations of those subjects appearing in the plurality of analysis window images and subject prominence scores, each subject prominence score determined as a function of a face size ratio value and a zone value for a subject face appearing in one or more analysis window images, wherein the face size ratio value is determined as a function of an area of the subject face and a total image area, and wherein the zone value is determined as a function of a zone in which the subject face appears;

sort the subject representations by their corresponding subject prominence score; and

effect the display of the updated subject information in a second area of the display contemporaneously with the current image.

19. A computer program product, the computer program product stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and including instructions configured to cause a processor to:

select, by a device, the sequence of images;

effect a display of a current image from the sequence of images in a first area of a display, wherein the current image is the only image from the sequence of images to be displayed during a display period;

select, by the device, a subset of the sequence of images that are to be displayed subsequent to the current image to form a plurality of analysis window images;

determine updated subject information from the plurality of analysis window images, the updated subject information comprising subject representations of those subjects appearing in the plurality of analysis window images and subject prominence scores, each subject prominence score determined as a function of a face size ratio value and a zone value for a subject face appearing in one or more analysis window images, wherein the face size ratio value is determined as a function of an area of the subject face and a total image area, and wherein the zone value is determined as a function of a zone in which the subject face appears;

sort the subject representations by their corresponding subject prominence score; and

effect the display of the updated subject information in a second area of the display contemporaneously with the current image.