SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IDENTIFYING PEOPLE IN AN IMAGE

• US 20140368670A1
• Filed: 06/14/2013
• Published: 12/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Morley, Stewart
• Granted Patent: US 9,313,399 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/207.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32106 separate from the image data, e.g. in a different computer file
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/80 Camera processing pipelines; Components thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Described herein are methods and devices employing low power wireless features to identify persons in a captured image using signals emitted from such persons'"'"' personal computing devices. As described, signals emitted from personal computing devices commonly carried on a person, such as cell phones, enable an image capture device to wirelessly connect to the personal computing devices, both directly and through a mesh network, and to obtain information about the person carrying the device. Further, the image capture device may determine the location of the personal computing devices to tag locations of persons in a captured image. Some embodiments may allow the image capture device to automatically share the captured image, such as by email, text, or social networking websites and applications. It is also possible to create a local group of users who will be identified by the image capture device, or to operate in a publicly detectable mode.

Claims

1. An imaging system comprising:

an image capture device comprising;

a communication module having a wireless communication range, the communication module configured to communicate with a plurality of personal computing devices;

a location triangulation module configured to determine a location of each of the plurality of personal computing devices using the communication module;

an image capture module configured to capture a target image of a scene, and

a tagging module configured to identify which, if any, of the personal computing devices are located within a range of the scene;

wherein each of the plurality of personal computing devices is configured to transmit user information to the image capture device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein at least some of the plurality of personal computing devices is located outside of the wireless communication range of the image capture device, and wherein the devices located outside of the wireless communication range are configured to form a mesh network with the image capture device.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the image capture device is configured to periodically check for new personal computing devices within the wireless communication range.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the image capture device is configured to periodically check for new personal computing devices within the mesh network.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the user information comprises contact information of a user of each of the plurality of personal computing devices.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the image capture device is further configured to share the target image with the user using the contact information.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the contact information comprises one or more of mobile phone number, email address, and social networking presences.

8. A method of capturing a target image using an image capture device, comprising:

connecting to at least one personal computing device located on or near a person, the at least one personal computing device located within a wireless communication range of the image capture device;

receiving information from the at least one personal computing device regarding the person;

calculating a location of the at least one personal computing device; and

associating the location and the information with the target image.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

determining whether any additional personal computing devices are networked with the at least one personal computing device; and

forming a mesh network with any additional personal computing device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein receiving information further comprises receiving information regarding a user of each additional personal computing device.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein triangulating a location further comprises triangulating a location of each additional personal computing device.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

sharing the target image with the person based at least in part on the information;

wherein the information comprises contact information of the person.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising receiving privacy preferences of the person from the at least one personal computing device, and wherein sharing the target image further comprises complying with the privacy preferences.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein triangulating a location of the at least one personal computing device is based at least in part on a known location of the image capture device and on a connection of the at least one personal computing device with the image capture device.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein triangulating a location of the at least one personal computing device is based at least in part on GPS coordinates.

16. An imaging system for capturing a target image, comprising:

an image capture device; and

at least one personal computing device located on or near a person in the target image, the at least one personal computing device configured to communicate with the image capture device;

wherein the image capture device is configured to track a location of the at least one personal computing device, to read information from the at least one personal computing device regarding the person, and to associate the location and information with the target image.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the at least one personal computing device comprises a cellular phone, smart phone, tablet computer, digital camera, GPS, or personal locator beacon.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the image capture device and the at least one personal computing device communicate via low-power wireless technology.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the low-power wireless technology comprises at least one of near field communication, infrared communication, Bluetooth, GPS, iGPS, Wi-Fi, WLAN, and radio frequency.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the information comprises one or more of mobile phone number, email address, and social networking presence.

21. The system of claim 16, wherein the information comprises privacy preferences for available actions regarding sharing of photos of the person.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the at least one personal computing device is configured to automatically send the privacy preferences to any connected image capture device.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the image capture device is configured to comply with the privacy preferences.

24. A method of capturing a target image using an image capture device, comprising:

connecting to at least one personal computing device located on or near a person in the target image;

determining a location of the at least one personal computing device;

reading information from the at least one personal computing device regarding the person; and

associating the information with the target image.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein connecting to at least one personal computing device comprises:

determining a field of view of the target image;

scanning the field of view for personal computing device signals; and

connecting to any detected personal computing devices.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein connecting to at least one personal computing device comprises preconfiguring the image capture device and the at least one personal computing device as a local group.

27. The method of claim 24, further comprising sharing the target image with the person.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the information comprises contact information of the person, the contact information comprising a mobile phone number and/or an email address of the person, and wherein sharing the target image comprises sending the target image to the mobile phone number and/or an email address.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the information comprises:

social networking presences of the person; and

privacy preferences of the person for available actions regarding sharing of photos of the person.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein sharing the target image comprises:

determining social networking presences of a user of the image capture device;

determining common social networking presences of the user and the person;

uploading the target image to the social networking presences of the user; and

tagging the person on the common social networking presences, wherein tagging is done in compliance with the privacy preferences of the person.

31. The method of claim 27, wherein sharing the target image comprises:

uploading the target image to a digital album; and

sending a link to the album to the person based on contact information in the information read from the at least one personal computing device.

32. The method of claim 24, further comprising identifying a location of the person based at least in part on the tracked location of the at least one personal computing device and storing the location of the person in association with the target image.

33. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions, which, when executed, cause a processor associated with an image capture device to:

connect to at least one personal computing device located on or near a person in a target image;

determine a location of the at least one personal computing device;

read information from the at least one personal computing device regarding the person; and

associate the location and the information with the target image.

34. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 33, the instructions further configured to cause the processor to identify a location of the person based at least in part on the tracked location of the at least one personal computing device and to store the location of the person in association with the target image.

35. An image capture device comprising:

means for connecting to at least one personal computing device located on or near a person in a target image, the at least one personal computing device configured to communicate with the image capture device;

means for determining a location of the at least one personal computing device;

means for reading information from the at least one personal computing device regarding the person; and

means for associating the location and the information with the target image.