Method for presenting high-interest-level images

1. A method for presenting digital images having a high interest level to a particular person, comprising:

designating a set of candidate digital images;

automatically analyzing the candidate digital images or metadata associated with the candidate digital images to designate one or more image elements in the candidate digital image;

determining familiarity levels of the designated image elements in the candidate digital images to the particular person;

for each candidate digital image determining an associated interest level to the particular person responsive to the determined familiarity levels for the image elements in the respective candidate digital image;

selecting one or more of the candidate digital images based on the determined interest levels; and

presenting the selected digital images to the particular person;

wherein the method is performed at least in part using a data processor.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the familiarity levels of the designated image elements are determined by:

designating a digital image collection that is associated with the particular person, the digital image collection including a plurality of digital images;

analyzing the frequency of occurrence of the designated image elements in the digital image collection; and

determining the familiarity levels of the designated image elements responsive to the corresponding frequency of occurrence.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the familiarity levels of the designated image elements are determined by:

designating a digital image collection that is associated with e particular person, the digital image collection including a plurality of digital images;

determining a degree of similarity between the designated image elements and image elements in the digital images in the digital image collection; and

determining the familiarity levels of the designated image elements responsive to the corresponding degrees of similarity.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the image elements in the digital images in the digital image collection are assigned familiarity scores, and wherein the determination of the familiarity levels of the designated image elements is also responsive to the assigned familiarity scores.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the designated image elements include persons or objects depicted in the digital images.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the familiarity levels for depicted persons are determined responsive to social relationships between the depicted persons and the particular person.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the familiarity levels for depicted persons are determined responsive to evaluating interactions between the persons and the particular person using telecommunication processes.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein the depicted objects include animals, consumer products, buildings, landmarks or food items.

9. The method of claim 5 wherein higher interest levels are determined for digital images including depicted persons or depicted objects having higher familiarity levels to the particular person relative to the interest levels determined for digital images including depicted persons or depicted objects having lower familiarity levels to the particular person.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the designated image elements include scene contexts.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein higher interest levels are determined for digital images including scene contexts having lower familiarity levels to the particular person relative to the interest levels determined for digital images including scene contexts having higher familiarity levels to the particular person.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the determination of the interest level is responsive to a gender, age, ethnicity or culture of the particular person.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the set of candidate digital images are some or all of the digital images in a digital image collection associated with the particular person.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the set of candidate digital images are advertising images, and the selected digital images are presented as an element of an advertisement.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the selected digital images are presented as an element of an educational or entertainment presentation.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the selected digital images are presented as a suggested element of a photographic product.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the selected digital images are presented by displaying them on a soft-copy display.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the selected digital images are presented by printing them on a digital printer.

19. A computer program product for presenting digital images having a high interest level to a particular person comprising a non-transitory tangible computer readable storage medium storing an executable software application for causing a data processing system to perform the steps of:

designating a set of candidate digital images;

automatically analyzing the candidate digital image or metadata associated with the candidate digital image to designate one or more image elements in the candidate digital image;

determining familiarity levels of the designated image elements in the candidate digital images to the particular person;

for each candidate digital image determining an associated interest level to the particular person responsive to the determined familiarity levels for the image elements in the respective candidate digital image;

selecting one or more of the candidate digital images based on the determined interest levels; and

presenting selected digital images to the particular person.