Suggesting profile images for a social network

• US 8,867,849 B1
• Filed: 10/05/2011
• Issued: 10/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/05/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Kirkham, Stephen, Bilinski, Brandon
• Primary Examiner(s): Bali, Vikkram
• Application Number:
  US13/253,693
• Time in Patent Office: 1,112 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 382/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/5866 using information manually generated, e.g. tags, keywords, comments, manually generated location and time information
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/22 Matching criteria, e.g. proximity measures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/24 Classification techniques

Abstract

A system and method for generating an ordered set of suggested profile images. The profile image application includes a scorer, a recognition engine, a trend analyzer, a suggestion module and a user interface engine. The scorer scores user images based on metadata, such as the number of people tagged in the image and the recency of the image. The recognition engine identifies people and objects in the image. The trend analyzer identifies trends. The suggestion module generates the ordered set of suggested profile images based at least in part on the score. The user interface engine generates a user interface that includes the ordered set of suggested profile images.

Claims

1. A method for generating an ordered set of suggested profile images for a social network, the method comprising:

registering, with one or more processors, a user and generating a user profile for the user, the user profile lacking a profile image;

receiving a plurality of images associated with the user;

identifying, with the one or more processors, metadata associated with each image;

scoring, with the one or more processors, the plurality of images based at least in part on the metadata;

generating, with the one or more processors, the ordered set of suggested profile images, the ordered set ordered based on the scoring;

generating a user interface for displaying the ordered set of suggested profile images to the user;

receiving a selected profile image from the ordered set of suggested profile images; and

updating the user profile to include the selected profile image.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the metadata includes at least one of a tag of the user, a tag of other people and a timestamp.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the scoring includes generating a lower score for an image where the user and other people are tagged than an image where the user is tagged.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the scoring includes generating a higher score for more recent images based at least in part on the timestamp.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising performing image recognition on the plurality of images to confirm that the user was properly tagged.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising performing image recognition to determine whether an image includes people that were not tagged.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of images are at least one of user-uploaded images and images from a third-party application.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the selected profile image constitutes a user preference from the user and further comprising adjusting the scoring to reflect the user preference.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing image recognition on the plurality of images in the social network to identify at least one of a person and an object;

identifying a trend based at least in part on the at least one of the person and the object; and

wherein the scoring is based at least in part on the trend.

10. A system for generating an ordered set of suggested profile images for a social network, the system comprising:

a social network application stored on a memory and executable by one or more processors, the social network application registering a user and generating a user profile for the user, the user profile lacking a profile image;

a scorer stored on the memory and executable by the one or more processors, the scorer receiving a plurality of images associated with the user, identifying metadata associated with each image and scoring the plurality of images based at least in part on the metadata;

a suggestion module stored on the memory and executable by the one or more processors, the suggestion module generating the ordered set of suggested profile images, the ordered set ordered based on the scoring; and

a user interface engine stored on the memory and executable by the one or more processors, the user interface engine generating the ordered set of suggested profile images to a user;

wherein the social network application receives a selected profile image from the ordered set of suggested profile images and updates the user profile to include the selected profile image.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the metadata includes at least one of a tag of the user, a tag of other people and a timestamp.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the scorer generates a lower score for an image where the user and other people are tagged than an image where the user is tagged.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the scorer generates a higher score for more recent images based at least in part on the timestamp.

14. The system of claim 11, further comprising a recognition engine coupled to the scorer, the recognition engine for performing image recognition on the plurality of images to confirm that the user was properly tagged.

15. The system of claim 11, further a recognition engine coupled to the scorer, the recognition engine for performing image recognition to determine whether an image includes people that were not tagged.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the plurality of images are at least one of user-uploaded images and images from a third-party application.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein receiving the selected profile constitutes a user preference and wherein the scorer adjusts the scoring to reflect the user preference.

18. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

a recognition engine coupled to the scorer, the recognition engine for performing image recognition on the plurality of images in the social network to identify at least one of a person and an object; and

a trend analyzer coupled to the recognition engine and the scorer, the trend analyzer for identifying a trend based at least in part on the at least one of the person and the object; and

wherein the scoring is based at least in part on the trend.

19. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer useable medium including a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to:

register a user and generate a user profile for the user, the user profile lacking a profile image;

receive a plurality of images associated with the user;

identify metadata associated with each application;

score the plurality of images based at least in part on the metadata;

generate an ordered set of suggested profile images, the ordered set ordered based on the scoring;

generate a user interface for displaying the ordered set of suggested profile images to the user;

receive a selected profile image from the ordered set of suggested profile images; and

update the user profile to include the selected profile image.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the metadata includes at least one of a tag of the user, a tag of other people and a timestamp.