SMART CAMERA FOR SHARING PICTURES AUTOMATICALLY

• US 20130194438A1
• Filed: 07/31/2012
• Published: 08/01/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/18/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Sweet, Charles Wheeler III, Bernarte, Joel Simbulan, Keating, Virginia Walker, Spindola, Serafin Diaz, Bergan, Charles A.
• Granted Patent: US 10,089,327 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/207.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/583 using metadata automatically derived from the content
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/005 Input arrangements through a video camera
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/16 Human faces, e.g. facial parts, sketches or expressions

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention disclose methods, apparatuses, systems, and computer-readable media for taking and sharing pictures of objects of interest at an event or an occasion. A device implementing embodiments of the invention may enable a user to select objects of interest from a view displayed by a display unit coupled to the device. The device may also have pre-programmed objects including objects that the device detects. In addition, the device may detect people using the users'"'"' social networks by retrieving images from social networks like Facebook® and LinkedIn®.

Claims

1. A method for sharing pictures using a device, the method comprising:

accessing image data for an image;

accessing identification of at least one object obtained by processing of the image data for the image;

accessing sharing attributes associated with the at least one object in the image;

automatically associating the image with sharing attributes; and

generating information to share the image based on the sharing attributes.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the at least one object comprises:

generating a first representation of at least a portion of the image associated with the at least one object using some or all of the image data; and

comparing the first representation to a second representation of a reference object stored in a database.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the at least one object comprises:

accessing at least one characteristic associated with the at least one object; and

determining the identification of the at least one object based on the at least one characteristic associated with the at least one object.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one object is a person and wherein facial recognition is used in identifying the portion of the image associated with the at least one object comprising a face of the person.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the database is one of an internal database stored on the device used for sharing pictures or an external database belonging to a network resource.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein identification of an object is performed using a low resolution representation of the object.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising associating the image with a social network based on the sharing attributes of the image.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising associating the image with a grouping of objects within a social network based on the sharing attributes of the image.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the sharing attributes are derived using one or more of a location at which the image was captured, a time at which the image was captured, a history of association of similar objects for the at least one object identified, a characteristic of the at least one object and facial recognition of people in the image, a relationship of the user of the device with a grouping of objects within a social network, and a digital trust between the user of the device and the grouping of objects within the social network.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one object is a first person.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising automatically granting access rights to the first person identified in the image using network resources.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising automatically granting access rights to a second person to the image using the network resources based on a transitive trust established between the first person and the second person using a first trust relationship between the first person and a user of the device and a second trust relationship between the second person and the user of the device.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising automatically granting access rights to a group of people to the image using the network resources based on an association of the first person with the group of people.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein identification of at least one object obtained by processing of the image data for the image occurs at the device.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein sharing pictures further comprises:

receiving the image data for the image from the device at a server using network resources; and

sending information for sharing the image based on the sharing attributes from the server.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a user with a user interface configured for highlighting the at least one object displayed on a display unit of the device.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising receiving input using the user interface to perform one or more of selecting, rejecting or modifying the highlighted object.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising tagging the highlighted object with identifiable information about the at least one object.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising providing the user with a list comprising at least one association based on the sharing attributes.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising providing the user with the user interface to share the image associating the image with other groupings of objects based on the sharing attributes of the image using network resources.

21. A device, comprising:

a processor;

a camera coupled to the processor;

a display unit coupled to the processor; and

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium coupled to the processor, wherein the non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprises code executable by the processor for implementing a method comprising;

accessing an image data for an image;

accessing identification of an at least one object obtained by processing of the image data for the image;

accessing sharing attributes associated with the at least one object in the image;

automatically associating the image with sharing attributes; and

generating information to share the image based on the sharing attributes.

22. The device of claim 21, wherein identifying the at least one object comprises:

generating a first representation of at least a portion of the image associated with the at least one object using some or all of the image data; and

comparing the first representation to a second representation of a reference object stored in a database.

23. The device of claim 21, wherein identifying the at least one object comprises:

accessing an at least one characteristic associated with the at least one object; and

determining the identification of the at least one object based on the at least one characteristic associated with the at least one object.

24. The device of claim 22, wherein the at least one object is a person and wherein facial recognition is used in identifying the portion of the image associated with the at least one object comprising a face of the person.

25. The device of claim 22, wherein the database is one of an internal database stored on the device used for sharing pictures or an external database belonging to a network resource.

26. The device of claim 21, wherein identification of an object is performed using a low resolution representation of the object.

27. The device of claim 21, further comprising associating the image with a social network based on the sharing attributes of the image.

28. The device of claim 21, further comprising associating the image with a grouping of objects within a social network based on the sharing attributes of the image.

29. The device of claim 21, wherein the sharing attributes are derived using one or more of a location at which the image was captured, a time at which the image was captured, a history of association of similar objects for the at least one object identified, a characteristic of the at least one object and facial recognition of people in the image.

30. The device of claim 21, wherein the at least one object is a person.

31. The device of claim 30, further comprising automatically granting access rights to at least one person identified in the image using network resources.

32. The device of claim 30, further comprising automatically granting access rights to a second person to the image using the network resources based on a transitive trust established between the first person and the second person using a first trust relationship between the first person and a user of the device and a second trust relationship between the second person and the user of the device.

33. The device of claim 30, further comprising automatically granting access rights to a group of people to the image using the network resources based on an association of the first person with the group of people.

34. The device of claim 21, wherein identification of at least one object obtained by processing of the image data for the image occurs at the device.

35. The device of claim 21, wherein sharing pictures further comprises:

receiving the image data for the image from the device at a server using network resources; and

sending information for sharing the image based on the sharing attributes from the server.

36. The device of claim 21, further comprising providing a user with a user interface configured for highlighting the at least one object displayed on the display unit of the device.

37. The device of claim 36, further comprising receiving input using the user interface to perform one or more of selecting, rejecting or modifying the highlighted object.

38. The method of claim 36, further comprising tagging the highlighted object with identifiable information about the at least one object.

39. The method of claim 36, further comprising providing the user with a list comprising at least one association based on the sharing attributes.

40. The method of claim 36, further comprising providing the user with the user interface to share the image associating the image with other groupings of objects based on the sharing attributes of the image using network resources.

41. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium coupled to a processor, wherein the non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprises a computer program executable by the processor comprising:

accessing an image data for an image;

accessing identification of an at least one object obtained by processing of the image data for the image;

accessing sharing attributes associated with the at least one object in the image;

automatically associating the image with sharing attributes; and

generating information to share the image based on the sharing attributes.

42. An apparatus for sharing images comprising:

means for accessing an image data for an image;

means for accessing identification of an at least one object obtained by processing of the image data for the image;

means for accessing sharing attributes associated with the at least one object in the image;

means for automatically associating the image with sharing attributes; and

means for generating information to share the image based on the sharing attributes.