Call routing based on facial recognition

• US 20130100238A1
• Filed: 12/11/2012
• Published: 04/25/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Vidtel, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Vidtel, Inc.
• Inventors: Wharton, Scott D., Goepp, Daniel P.
• Application Number:
  US13/711,555
• Publication Number:
  US 20130100238A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/14.08
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/16 Human faces, e.g. facial parts, sketches or expressions
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/147 Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals selecting H04Q

Abstract

Systems, apparatus and methods for routing a caller of an incoming video call are presented. A representative frame is selected from a sequence of images from the incoming video call. The representative frame may contain a video element (e.g., a face, QR code or printout). If the video element is recognized or unrecognized, a recognition status is set. Next, a rules database blocks or directs the incoming video call, based at least in part on the recognition status, to a video or audio destination.

Claims

1. A method for routing a caller of an incoming video call, the method comprising:

receiving, from the incoming video call, a video stream comprising a sequence of images;

selecting a frame, from the sequence of images;

searching for a video element in the frame;

setting a recognition status based on a searching for the video element in the frame, wherein the recognition status is one of recognized and unrecognized; and

following a rule, based on the recognition status, to route the incoming video call.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the incoming video call follows at least one of an H.323 standard, a SIP standard, a WebRTC standard and an XMPP standard.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the video element is a face.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the video element is a QR code.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the video element comprises an image on a smart phone.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the video element comprises printed sheet of paper.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein setting the recognition status comprises:

finding a match between the video element and a database; and

setting the recognition status to recognized.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein recognizing the video element comprises decoding an address from the video element.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein decoding the address from the video element comprises decoding a QR code.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the rule comprise routing the incoming video call to a particular video conference call.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising comparing the video element to a database.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the database comprises a facial database.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the database comprises an image of the caller.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the database comprises an image of the caller captured on a previous incoming video call.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising authentication the caller based on the recognition status being recognized.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the recognition status is recognized and the rule comprise routing the incoming video call to a voice mailbox.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the recognition status is recognized and the rule comprise routing the incoming video call to a video mailbox.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the recognition status is recognized and the rule comprise routing the incoming video call to a video conference.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the recognition status is unrecognized and the rule comprise routing the incoming video call to a prerecorded video message.

20. A device for routing a caller of an incoming video call, the device comprising:

at least one video call transceiver couple to receive the incoming video call on an incoming video line;

a video frame selector coupled to the at least one video call transceiver and configured to select a representative frame from the incoming video call;

a video frame searcher coupled to the video frame selector and configured to find and recognizes video element and to set a recognition status; and

a rules processor coupled to the video frame searcher, wherein the rules processor is configured to use at least one of the recognition status, a called number and calling number to determine whether to route or block the incoming video call.

21. A method for receiving an incoming video call, the method comprising:

receiving, from the incoming video call, a video stream comprising a sequence of images from a caller;

selecting a frame, from the sequence of images; and

displaying at least a portion of the frame to a callee.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the frame comprises a face of the caller.

23. A method for receiving an incoming video call, the method comprising:

receiving, from the incoming video call, a video stream comprising a sequence of images from a caller;

selecting a frame, from the sequence of images, comprising a video element; and

setting a recognition status based on the video element, wherein the recognition status is one of recognized and unrecognized; and

following a rule, based on the recognition status, to route the incoming video call.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the frame comprises a face of the caller.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein following the rule comprises routing the incoming video call to an audio call.