Techniques for automatically correcting groups of images

1. A method for automatically correcting a blemish in a collection of images, the method comprising:

receiving, via a user interface of a computing device, input selecting an area of an image that includes the blemish to be corrected;

correcting, in the computing device, the blemish identified within the image based on identifying a spot pattern of the blemish within the selected area of the image;

displaying, via the user interface of the computing device, the image in which the blemish is corrected; and

in response to receiving, via the user interface of the computing device, input specifying related images for examination to correct similar blemishes appearing in the related images:

correcting, in the computing device, the similar blemishes identified in different locations within the related images based on identifying similar instances of the spot pattern appearing within context patterns of the related images, wherein the context patterns in which the similar instances appear are similar to a context pattern in which the spot pattern occurs in the image; and

displaying, via the user interface of the computing device, at least a portion of the related images in which the similar blemishes are corrected.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein a user confirms, via the user interface, the correcting of the image by approving a preview of the image.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising identifying the related images based upon metadata indicating that the related images were captured at geographic locations similar to a geographic location of the image.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

storing at least the spot pattern and the context pattern of the image in a correction history; and

automatically examining newly added images for blemish correction based at least in part upon the correction history.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the related images are specified in an image library.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the related images are examined in an order based upon a date of capture of the respective images, beginning with ones of the related images captured nearest in time to the image.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the context pattern of the image is a multilevel context pattern and the context patterns of the related images are similar to at least one component context pattern of the multilevel context pattern.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

identifying a collection of other images having context patterns similar to at least one of the context patterns of the related images; and

correcting similar instances of the spot pattern appearing within the collection of other images based at least in part upon on a confirmation by a user via the user interface.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the spot pattern is identified using a noise detection algorithm.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein said correcting the similar blemishes identified within the related images is performed after a user confirms a preview of the related images in which the similar blemishes are corrected.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the spot pattern is corrected using content-aware fill technology.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying a program executable in a computing device, the program comprising code that:

receives, via a user interface, input selecting an area of an image that includes the blemish to be corrected;

correcting, in the computing device, the blemish identified within the image based on identifying a spot pattern of the blemish within the selected area of the image;

displaying, via the user interface of the computing device, the image in which the blemish is corrected; and

in response to receiving, via the user interface of the computing device, input specifying related images for examination to correct similar blemishes appearing in the related images:

correcting, in the computing device, the similar blemishes identified in different locations within the related images based on identifying similar instances of the spot pattern appearing within context patterns of the related images, wherein the context patterns in which the similar instances appear are similar to a context pattern in which the spot pattern occurs in the image; and

displaying, via the user interface of the computing device, at least a portion of the related images in which the similar blemishes are corrected.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the context pattern is detected using an edge detection algorithm.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the program further comprises code that:

identifies a collection of other images from the image library having context patterns similar to at least one of the context patterns of the related images; and

corrects similar instances of the spot pattern appearing within the collection of other images following confirmation by a user via the user interface.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 , wherein images in the image library are examined for the related images in an order based upon a capture location of the respective images, beginning with ones of the images captured nearest in location to the image.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the program further comprises code that:

stores at least the spot pattern and the context pattern of the image in a correction history; and

automatically examines images newly added to the image library for blemish correction based at least in part upon the correction history.

17. A system, comprising;

a computing device comprising a processor; and

an image correction service executed by the processor, the image correction service comprising logic that:

receives, via a user interface, input selecting an area of an image that includes the blemish to be corrected;

correcting, in the computing device, the blemish identified within the image based on identifying a spot pattern of the blemish within the selected area of the image;

displaying, via the user interface of the computing device, the image in which the blemish is corrected; and

in response to receiving, via the user interface of the computing device, input specifying related images for examination to correct similar blemishes appearing in the related images:

correcting, in the computing device, the similar blemishes identified in different locations within the related images based on identifying similar instances of the spot pattern appearing within context patterns of the related images, wherein the context patterns in which the similar instances appear are similar to a context pattern in which the spot pattern occurs in the image; and

displaying, via the user interface of the computing device, at least a portion of the related images in which the similar blemishes are corrected.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the image correction service further comprises logic that:

identifies a collection of other images from the image library having context patterns similar to at least one of the context patterns of the related images; and

corrects similar instances of the spot pattern appearing within the collection of other images following confirmation by a user via the user interface.

19. The system of claim 17 , wherein the image correction service further comprises logic that:

stores at least the spot pattern and the context pattern of the image in a correction history; and

automatically examines images newly added to the image library for blemish correction based at least in part upon the correction history.

20. The system of claim 17 , wherein the context pattern of the image is a multilevel context pattern and the context patterns of the related images are similar to at least one component context pattern of the multilevel context pattern.