We propose a method for the weakly supervised detection of objects in paintings. At training time, only image-level annotations are needed. This, combined with the efficiency of our multiple-instance learning method, enables one to learn new classes on-the-fly from globally annotated databases, avoiding the tedious task of manually marking objects. We show on several databases that dropping the instance-level annotations only yields mild performance losses. We also introduce a new database, IconArt, on which we perform detection experiments on classes that could not be learned on photographs, such as Jesus Child or Saint Sebastian. To the best of our knowledge, these are the first experiments dealing with the automatic (and in our case weakly supervised) detection of iconographic elements in paintings. We believe that such a method is of great benefit for helping art historians to explore large digital databases.
refers to the task of learning an object detector using limited annotations, usually image-level annotations only. Often, a set of detections (e.g. bounding boxes) is considered at image level, assuming we only know if at least one of the detection corresponds the category of interest. The corresponding statistical problem is referred to as multiple instance learning (MIL) @cite_54 . A well-known solution to this problem through a generalisation of Support Vector Machine (SVM) has been proposed in @cite_24 . Several approximations of the involved non-convex problem have been proposed, see e.g. @cite_26 or the recent survey @cite_20 .
@cite_24 @cite_54 @cite_26 @cite_20
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This paper presents two new formulations of multiple-instance learning as a maximum margin problem. The proposed extensions of the Support Vector Machine (SVM) learning approach lead to mixed integer quadratic programs that can be solved heuristic ally. Our generalization of SVMs makes a state-of-the-art classification technique, including non-linear classification via kernels, available to an area that up to now has been largely dominated by special purpose methods. We present experimental results on a pharmaceutical data set and on applications in automated image indexing and document categorization. The multiple instance problem arises in tasks where the training examples are ambiguous: a single example object may have many alternative feature vectors (instances) that describe it, and yet only one of those feature vectors may be responsible for the observed classification of the object. This paper describes and compares three kinds of algorithms that learn axis-parallel rectangles to solve the multiple instance problem. Algorithms that ignore the multiple instance problem perform very poorly. An algorithm that directly confronts the multiple instance problem (by attempting to identify which feature vectors are responsible for the observed classifications) performs best, giving 89 correct predictions on a musk odor prediction task. The paper also illustrates the use of artificial data to debug and compare these algorithms. In this paper we demonstrate how deterministic annealing can be applied to different SVM formulations of the multiple-instance learning (MIL) problem. Our results show that we find better local minima compared to the heuristic methods those problems are usually solved with. However this does not always translate into a better test error suggesting an inadequacy of the objective function. Based on this finding we propose a new objective function which together with the deterministic annealing algorithm finds better local minima and achieves better performance on a set of benchmark datasets. Furthermore the results also show how the structure of MIL datasets influence the performance of MIL algorithms and we discuss how future benchmark datasets for the MIL problem should be designed. The characteristics specific of MIL problems are formally identified and described.MIL methods and applications are reviewed in the light of the problem characteristics.Comparative experiments show the impact of problem characteristics on 16 reference methods.Recommendation are issued for future benchmarking.Promising avenue of research are identified. Multiple instance learning (MIL) is a form of weakly supervised learning where training instances are arranged in sets, called bags, and a label is provided for the entire bag. This formulation is gaining interest because it naturally fits various problems and allows to leverage weakly labeled data. Consequently, it has been used in diverse application fields such as computer vision and document classification. However, learning from bags raises important challenges that are unique to MIL. This paper provides a comprehensive survey of the characteristics which define and differentiate the types of MIL problems. Until now, these problem characteristics have not been formally identified and described. As a result, the variations in performance of MIL algorithms from one data set to another are difficult to explain. In this paper, MIL problem characteristics are grouped into four broad categories: the composition of the bags, the types of data distribution, the ambiguity of instance labels, and the task to be performed. Methods specialized to address each category are reviewed. Then, the extent to which these characteristics manifest themselves in key MIL application areas are described. Finally, experiments are conducted to compare the performance of 16 state-of-the-art MIL methods on selected problem characteristics. This paper provides insight on how the problem characteristics affect MIL algorithms, recommendations for future benchmarking and promising avenues for research. Code is available on-line at https: github.com macarbonneau MILSurvey.