Tensorflow Transfer Learning with Input Pipeline - tensorflow

Question

I want to use transfer learning with Google's Inception network for an image recognition problem. I am using retrain.py from the TensorFlow example source for inspiration.
In retrain.py, the Inception graph is loaded and a feed dict is used to feed the new images into the model's input layer. However, I have my data serialized in TFRecord files and have been using an input pipeline to feed in my inputs, as demonstrated here.
So I have a tensor images which returns my input data in batches when run. But how can I feed these images into Inception? I can't use a feed dict since my inputs are tensors, not NumPy arrays. My two ideas are
1) simply call sess.run() on each batch to convert it to a NumPy array, and then use a feed dict to pass it to Inception.
2) replace the input node in the Inception graph with my own batch input tensor
I think (1) would work, but it seems a little inelegant. (2) seems more natural to me, but I can't do exactly that because TensorFlow graphs can only be appended to and not otherwise modified.
Is there a better approach?

Answer 1

You can implement option (2), replacing the input node, but you will need to modify retrain.py to do so. The tf.import_graph_def() function supports a limited form of modification to the imported graph, by remapping tensors in the imported graph to existing tensors in the target graph.
This line in retrain.py calls tf.import_graph_def() to import the Inception model, where jpeg_data_tensor becomes the tensor that you feed with input data:
bottleneck_tensor, jpeg_data_tensor, resized_input_tensor = (
tf.import_graph_def(graph_def, name='', return_elements=[
BOTTLENECK_TENSOR_NAME, JPEG_DATA_TENSOR_NAME,
RESIZED_INPUT_TENSOR_NAME]))
Instead of retrieving jpeg_data_tensor from the imported graph, you can remap it to an input pipeline that you construct yourself:
# Output of a training pipeline, returning a `tf.string` tensor containing
# a JPEG-encoded image.
jpeg_data_tensor = ...
bottleneck_tensor, resized_input_tensor = (
tf.import_graph_def(
graph_def,
input_map={JPEG_DATA_TENSOR_NAME: jpeg_data_tensor},
return_elements=[BOTTLENECK_TENSOR_NAME, RESIZED_INPUT_TENSOR_NAME]))
Wherever you previously fed jpeg_data_tensor, you no longer need to need it, because the inputs will be read from the input pipeline you constructed. (Note that you might need to handle resized_input_tensor as well... I'm not intimately familiar with retrain.py, so some restructuring might be necessary.)