In picture captioning, an algorithm is given a picture and tasked with producing a smart caption. It’s a difficult process for a number of causes, not the least being that it includes a notion of saliency or relevance. That is why current deep studying approaches largely embrace some “consideration” mechanism (typically even a couple of) to assist specializing in related picture options.
On this submit, we reveal a formulation of picture captioning as an encoder-decoder downside, enhanced by spatial consideration over picture grid cells. The thought comes from a current paper on Neural Picture Caption Era with Visible Consideration (Xu et al. 2015), and employs the identical type of consideration algorithm as detailed in our submit on machine translation.
We’re porting Python code from a current Google Colaboratory pocket book, utilizing Keras with TensorFlow keen execution to simplify our lives.
Stipulations
The code proven right here will work with the present CRAN variations of tensorflow
, keras
, and tfdatasets
.
Verify that you just’re utilizing a minimum of model 1.9 of TensorFlow. If that isn’t the case, as of this writing, this
will get you model 1.10.
When loading libraries, please ensure you’re executing the primary 4 strains on this precise order.
We want to ensure we’re utilizing the TensorFlow implementation of Keras (tf.keras
in Python land), and we have now to allow keen execution earlier than utilizing TensorFlow in any method.
No must copy-paste any code snippets – you’ll discover the whole code (so as essential for execution) right here: eager-image-captioning.R.
The dataset
MS-COCO (“Frequent Objects in Context”) is one in every of, maybe the, reference dataset in picture captioning (object detection and segmentation, too).
We’ll be utilizing the coaching pictures and annotations from 2014 – be warned, relying in your location, the obtain can take a lengthy time.
After unpacking, let’s outline the place the pictures and captions are.
annotation_file <- "train2014/annotations/captions_train2014.json"
image_path <- "train2014/train2014"
The annotations are in JSON format, and there are 414113 of them! Fortunately for us we didn’t should obtain that many pictures – each picture comes with 5 totally different captions, for higher generalizability.
annotations <- fromJSON(file = annotation_file)
annot_captions <- annotations[[4]]
num_captions <- size(annot_captions)
We retailer each annotations and picture paths in lists, for later loading.
all_captions <- vector(mode = "record", size = num_captions)
all_img_names <- vector(mode = "record", size = num_captions)
for (i in seq_len(num_captions)) {
caption <- paste0(" " ,
annot_captions[[i]][["caption"]],
" "
)
image_id <- annot_captions[[i]][["image_id"]]
full_coco_image_path <- sprintf(
"%s/COCO_train2014_percent012d.jpg",
image_path,
image_id
)
all_img_names[[i]] <- full_coco_image_path
all_captions[[i]] <- caption
}
Relying in your computing surroundings, you’ll for certain need to limit the variety of examples used.
This submit will use 30000 captioned pictures, chosen randomly, and put aside 20% for validation.
Under, we take random samples, cut up into coaching and validation elements. The companion code can even retailer the indices on disk, so you may choose up on verification and evaluation later.
num_examples <- 30000
random_sample <- pattern(1:num_captions, dimension = num_examples)
train_indices <- pattern(random_sample, dimension = size(random_sample) * 0.8)
validation_indices <- setdiff(random_sample, train_indices)
sample_captions <- all_captions[random_sample]
sample_images <- all_img_names[random_sample]
train_captions <- all_captions[train_indices]
train_images <- all_img_names[train_indices]
validation_captions <- all_captions[validation_indices]
validation_images <- all_img_names[validation_indices]
Interlude
Earlier than actually diving into the technical stuff, let’s take a second to mirror on this process.
In typical image-related deep studying walk-throughs, we’re used to seeing well-defined issues – even when in some circumstances, the answer could also be exhausting. Take, for instance, the stereotypical canine vs. cat downside. Some canine could appear like cats and a few cats could appear like canine, however that’s about it: All in all, within the regular world we stay in, it needs to be a roughly binary query.
If, however, we ask folks to explain what they see in a scene, it’s to be anticipated from the outset that we’ll get totally different solutions. Nonetheless, how a lot consensus there may be will very a lot depend upon the concrete dataset we’re utilizing.
Let’s check out some picks from the very first 20 coaching objects sampled randomly above.

Now this picture doesn’t depart a lot room for choice what to give attention to, and obtained a really factual caption certainly: “There’s a plate with one slice of bacon a half of orange and bread.” If the dataset had been all like this, we’d assume a machine studying algorithm ought to do fairly effectively right here.
Selecting one other one from the primary 20:

What can be salient info to you right here? The caption offered goes “A smiling little boy has a checkered shirt.”
Is the look of the shirt as essential as that? You would possibly as effectively give attention to the surroundings, – and even one thing on a very totally different stage: The age of the picture, or it being an analog one.
Let’s take a ultimate instance.

What would you say about this scene? The official label we sampled right here is “A bunch of individuals posing in a humorous method for the digital camera.” Effectively …
Please don’t overlook that for every picture, the dataset contains 5 totally different captions (though our n = 30000 samples in all probability received’t).
So this isn’t saying the dataset is biased – under no circumstances. As a substitute, we need to level out the ambiguities and difficulties inherent within the process. Really, given these difficulties, it’s all of the extra superb that the duty we’re tackling right here – having a community robotically generate picture captions – needs to be potential in any respect!
Now let’s see how we are able to do that.
For the encoding a part of our encoder-decoder community, we are going to make use of InceptionV3 to extract picture options. In precept, which options to extract is as much as experimentation, – right here we simply use the final layer earlier than the absolutely linked high:
image_model <- application_inception_v3(
include_top = FALSE,
weights = "imagenet"
)
For a picture dimension of 299×299, the output will probably be of dimension (batch_size, 8, 8, 2048)
, that’s, we’re making use of 2048 characteristic maps.
InceptionV3 being a “huge mannequin,” the place each move by way of the mannequin takes time, we need to precompute options upfront and retailer them on disk.
We’ll use tfdatasets to stream pictures to the mannequin. This implies all our preprocessing has to make use of tensorflow features: That’s why we’re not utilizing the extra acquainted image_load
from keras under.
Our customized load_image
will learn in, resize and preprocess the pictures as required to be used with InceptionV3:
Now we’re prepared to save lots of the extracted options to disk. The (batch_size, 8, 8, 2048)
-sized options will probably be flattened to (batch_size, 64, 2048)
. The latter form is what our encoder, quickly to be mentioned, will obtain as enter.
preencode <- distinctive(sample_images) %>% unlist() %>% type()
num_unique <- size(preencode)
# adapt this in accordance with your system's capacities
batch_size_4save <- 1
image_dataset <-
tensor_slices_dataset(preencode) %>%
dataset_map(load_image) %>%
dataset_batch(batch_size_4save)
save_iter <- make_iterator_one_shot(image_dataset)
until_out_of_range({
save_count <- save_count + batch_size_4save
batch_4save <- save_iter$get_next()
img <- batch_4save[[1]]
path <- batch_4save[[2]]
batch_features <- image_model(img)
batch_features <- tf$reshape(
batch_features,
record(dim(batch_features)[1], -1L, dim(batch_features)[4]
)
)
for (i in 1:dim(batch_features)[1]) {
np$save(path[i]$numpy()$decode("utf-8"),
batch_features[i, , ]$numpy())
}
})
Earlier than we get to the encoder and decoder fashions although, we have to care for the captions.
Processing the captions
We’re utilizing keras text_tokenizer
and the textual content processing features texts_to_sequences
and pad_sequences
to remodel ascii textual content right into a matrix.
# we are going to use the 5000 most frequent phrases solely
top_k <- 5000
tokenizer <- text_tokenizer(
num_words = top_k,
oov_token = "" ,
filters = '!"#$%&()*+.,-/:;=?@[]^_`~ ')
tokenizer$fit_on_texts(sample_captions)
train_captions_tokenized <-
tokenizer %>% texts_to_sequences(train_captions)
validation_captions_tokenized <-
tokenizer %>% texts_to_sequences(validation_captions)
# pad_sequences will use 0 to pad all captions to the identical size
tokenizer$word_index["" ] <- 0
# create a lookup dataframe that permits us to go in each instructions
word_index_df <- information.body(
phrase = tokenizer$word_index %>% names(),
index = tokenizer$word_index %>% unlist(use.names = FALSE),
stringsAsFactors = FALSE
)
word_index_df <- word_index_df %>% prepare(index)
decode_caption <- perform(textual content) {
paste(map(textual content, perform(quantity)
word_index_df %>%
filter(index == quantity) %>%
choose(phrase) %>%
pull()),
collapse = " ")
}
# pad all sequences to the identical size (the utmost size, in our case)
# may experiment with shorter padding (truncating the very longest captions)
caption_lengths <- map(
all_captions[1:num_examples],
perform(c) str_split(c," ")[[1]] %>% size()
) %>% unlist()
max_length <- fivenum(caption_lengths)[5]
train_captions_padded <- pad_sequences(
train_captions_tokenized,
maxlen = max_length,
padding = "submit",
truncating = "submit"
)
validation_captions_padded <- pad_sequences(
validation_captions_tokenized,
maxlen = max_length,
padding = "submit",
truncating = "submit"
)
Loading the information for coaching
Now that we’ve taken care of pre-extracting the options and preprocessing the captions, we want a technique to stream them to our captioning mannequin. For that, we’re utilizing tensor_slices_dataset
from tfdatasets, passing within the record of paths to the pictures and the preprocessed captions. Loading the pictures is then carried out as a TensorFlow graph operation (utilizing tf$pyfunc).
The unique Colab code additionally shuffles the information on each iteration. Relying in your {hardware}, this may increasingly take a very long time, and given the scale of the dataset it isn’t strictly essential to get cheap outcomes. (The outcomes reported under had been obtained with out shuffling.)
batch_size <- 10
buffer_size <- num_examples
map_func <- perform(img_name, cap) {
p <- paste0(img_name$decode("utf-8"), ".npy")
img_tensor <- np$load(p)
img_tensor <- tf$forged(img_tensor, tf$float32)
record(img_tensor, cap)
}
train_dataset <-
tensor_slices_dataset(record(train_images, train_captions_padded)) %>%
dataset_map(
perform(item1, item2) tf$py_func(map_func, record(item1, item2), record(tf$float32, tf$int32))
) %>%
# optionally shuffle the dataset
# dataset_shuffle(buffer_size) %>%
dataset_batch(batch_size)
Captioning mannequin
The mannequin is principally the identical as that mentioned within the machine translation submit. Please confer with that article for a proof of the ideas, in addition to an in depth walk-through of the tensor shapes concerned at each step. Right here, we offer the tensor shapes as feedback within the code snippets, for fast overview/comparability.
Nonetheless, in case you develop your individual fashions, with keen execution you may merely insert debugging/logging statements at arbitrary locations within the code – even in mannequin definitions. So you may have a perform
And in case you now set
you may hint – not solely tensor shapes, however precise tensor values by way of your fashions, as proven under for the encoder. (We don’t show any debugging statements after that, however the pattern code has many extra.)
Encoder
Now it’s time to outline some some sizing-related hyperparameters and housekeeping variables:
# for encoder output
embedding_dim <- 256
# decoder (LSTM) capability
gru_units <- 512
# for decoder output
vocab_size <- top_k
# variety of characteristic maps gotten from Inception V3
features_shape <- 2048
# form of consideration options (flattened from 8x8)
attention_features_shape <- 64
The encoder on this case is only a absolutely linked layer, taking within the options extracted from Inception V3 (in flattened type, as they had been written to disk), and embedding them in 256-dimensional house.
cnn_encoder <- perform(embedding_dim, title = NULL) {
keras_model_custom(title = title, perform(self) {
self$fc <- layer_dense(models = embedding_dim, activation = "relu")
perform(x, masks = NULL) {
# enter form: (batch_size, 64, features_shape)
maybecat("encoder enter", x)
# form after fc: (batch_size, 64, embedding_dim)
x <- self$fc(x)
maybecat("encoder output", x)
x
}
})
}
Consideration module
In contrast to within the machine translation submit, right here the eye module is separated out into its personal customized mannequin.
The logic is identical although:
attention_module <- perform(gru_units, title = NULL) {
keras_model_custom(title = title, perform(self) {
self$W1 = layer_dense(models = gru_units)
self$W2 = layer_dense(models = gru_units)
self$V = layer_dense(models = 1)
perform(inputs, masks = NULL) {
options <- inputs[[1]]
hidden <- inputs[[2]]
# options(CNN_encoder output) form == (batch_size, 64, embedding_dim)
# hidden form == (batch_size, gru_units)
# hidden_with_time_axis form == (batch_size, 1, gru_units)
hidden_with_time_axis <- k_expand_dims(hidden, axis = 2)
# rating form == (batch_size, 64, 1)
rating <- self$V(k_tanh(self$W1(options) + self$W2(hidden_with_time_axis)))
# attention_weights form == (batch_size, 64, 1)
attention_weights <- k_softmax(rating, axis = 2)
# context_vector form after sum == (batch_size, embedding_dim)
context_vector <- k_sum(attention_weights * options, axis = 2)
record(context_vector, attention_weights)
}
})
}
Decoder
The decoder at every time step calls the eye module with the options it received from the encoder and its final hidden state, and receives again an consideration vector. The eye vector will get concatenated with the present enter and additional processed by a GRU and two absolutely linked layers, the final of which provides us the (unnormalized) possibilities for the subsequent phrase within the caption.
The present enter at every time step right here is the earlier phrase: the proper one throughout coaching (instructor forcing), the final generated one throughout inference.
rnn_decoder <- perform(embedding_dim, gru_units, vocab_size, title = NULL) {
keras_model_custom(title = title, perform(self) {
self$gru_units <- gru_units
self$embedding <- layer_embedding(input_dim = vocab_size,
output_dim = embedding_dim)
self$gru <- if (tf$check$is_gpu_available()) {
layer_cudnn_gru(
models = gru_units,
return_sequences = TRUE,
return_state = TRUE,
recurrent_initializer = 'glorot_uniform'
)
} else {
layer_gru(
models = gru_units,
return_sequences = TRUE,
return_state = TRUE,
recurrent_initializer = 'glorot_uniform'
)
}
self$fc1 <- layer_dense(models = self$gru_units)
self$fc2 <- layer_dense(models = vocab_size)
self$consideration <- attention_module(self$gru_units)
perform(inputs, masks = NULL) {
x <- inputs[[1]]
options <- inputs[[2]]
hidden <- inputs[[3]]
c(context_vector, attention_weights) %<-%
self$consideration(record(options, hidden))
# x form after passing by way of embedding == (batch_size, 1, embedding_dim)
x <- self$embedding(x)
# x form after concatenation == (batch_size, 1, 2 * embedding_dim)
x <- k_concatenate(record(k_expand_dims(context_vector, 2), x))
# passing the concatenated vector to the GRU
c(output, state) %<-% self$gru(x)
# form == (batch_size, 1, gru_units)
x <- self$fc1(output)
# x form == (batch_size, gru_units)
x <- k_reshape(x, c(-1, dim(x)[[3]]))
# output form == (batch_size, vocab_size)
x <- self$fc2(x)
record(x, state, attention_weights)
}
})
}
Loss perform, and instantiating all of it
Now that we’ve outlined our mannequin (constructed of three customized fashions), we nonetheless want to truly instantiate it (being exact: the 2 lessons we are going to entry from outdoors, that’s, the encoder and the decoder).
We additionally must instantiate an optimizer (Adam will do), and outline our loss perform (categorical crossentropy).
Observe that tf$nn$sparse_softmax_cross_entropy_with_logits
expects uncooked logits as an alternative of softmax activations, and that we’re utilizing the sparse variant as a result of our labels usually are not one-hot-encoded.
encoder <- cnn_encoder(embedding_dim)
decoder <- rnn_decoder(embedding_dim, gru_units, vocab_size)
optimizer = tf$prepare$AdamOptimizer()
cx_loss <- perform(y_true, y_pred) {
masks <- 1 - k_cast(y_true == 0L, dtype = "float32")
loss <- tf$nn$sparse_softmax_cross_entropy_with_logits(
labels = y_true,
logits = y_pred
) * masks
tf$reduce_mean(loss)
}
Coaching
Coaching the captioning mannequin is a time-consuming course of, and you’ll for certain need to save the mannequin’s weights!
How does this work with keen execution?
We create a tf$prepare$Checkpoint
object, passing it the objects to be saved: In our case, the encoder, the decoder, and the optimizer. Later, on the finish of every epoch, we are going to ask it to put in writing the respective weights to disk.
restore_checkpoint <- FALSE
checkpoint_dir <- "./checkpoints_captions"
checkpoint_prefix <- file.path(checkpoint_dir, "ckpt")
checkpoint <- tf$prepare$Checkpoint(
optimizer = optimizer,
encoder = encoder,
decoder = decoder
)
As we’re simply beginning to prepare the mannequin, restore_checkpoint
is about to false. Later, restoring the weights will probably be as simple as
if (restore_checkpoint) {
checkpoint$restore(tf$prepare$latest_checkpoint(checkpoint_dir))
}
The coaching loop is structured similar to within the machine translation case: We loop over epochs, batches, and the coaching targets, feeding within the right earlier phrase at each timestep.
Once more, tf$GradientTape
takes care of recording the ahead move and calculating the gradients, and the optimizer applies the gradients to the mannequin’s weights.
As every epoch ends, we additionally save the weights.
num_epochs <- 20
if (!restore_checkpoint) {
for (epoch in seq_len(num_epochs)) {
total_loss <- 0
progress <- 0
train_iter <- make_iterator_one_shot(train_dataset)
until_out_of_range({
batch <- iterator_get_next(train_iter)
loss <- 0
img_tensor <- batch[[1]]
target_caption <- batch[[2]]
dec_hidden <- k_zeros(c(batch_size, gru_units))
dec_input <- k_expand_dims(
rep(record(word_index_df[word_index_df$word == "" , "index"]),
batch_size)
)
with(tf$GradientTape() %as% tape, {
options <- encoder(img_tensor)
for (t in seq_len(dim(target_caption)[2] - 1)) {
c(preds, dec_hidden, weights) %<-%
decoder(record(dec_input, options, dec_hidden))
loss <- loss + cx_loss(target_caption[, t], preds)
dec_input <- k_expand_dims(target_caption[, t])
}
})
total_loss <-
total_loss + loss / k_cast_to_floatx(dim(target_caption)[2])
variables <- c(encoder$variables, decoder$variables)
gradients <- tape$gradient(loss, variables)
optimizer$apply_gradients(purrr::transpose(record(gradients, variables)),
global_step = tf$prepare$get_or_create_global_step()
)
})
cat(paste0(
"nnTotal loss (epoch): ",
epoch,
": ",
(total_loss / k_cast_to_floatx(buffer_size)) %>% as.double() %>% spherical(4),
"n"
))
checkpoint$save(file_prefix = checkpoint_prefix)
}
}
Peeking at outcomes
Identical to within the translation case, it’s attention-grabbing to take a look at mannequin efficiency throughout coaching. The companion code has that performance built-in, so you may watch mannequin progress for your self.
The fundamental perform right here is get_caption
: It will get handed the trail to a picture, hundreds it, obtains its options from Inception V3, after which asks the encoder-decoder mannequin to generate a caption. If at any level the mannequin produces the finish
image, we cease early. In any other case, we proceed till we hit the predefined most size.
Anderson et al. 2017) use object detection methods to bottom-up isolate attention-grabbing objects, and an LSTM stack whereby the primary LSTM computes top-down consideration guided by the output phrase generated by the second.
One other attention-grabbing method involving consideration is utilizing a multimodal attentive translator (Liu et al. 2017), the place the picture options are encoded and offered in a sequence, such that we find yourself with sequence fashions each on the encoding and the decoding sides.
One other various is so as to add a realized matter to the knowledge enter (Zhu, Xue, and Yuan 2018), which once more is a top-down characteristic present in human cognition.
In case you discover one in every of these, or yet one more, method extra convincing, an keen execution implementation, within the type of the above, will possible be a sound method of implementing it.