Automatic transition of content based on facial recognition

• US 8,965,170 B1
• Filed: 09/04/2012
• Issued: 02/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Benea, Robert, Cedilnik, Andrej
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, HUY THANH
• Application Number:
  US13/602,914
• Time in Patent Office: 903 Days
• Field of Search: 349/143
• US Class Current: 386/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/16 Human faces, e.g. facial parts, sketches or expressions
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/168 Feature extraction; Face representation
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/172 Classification, e.g. identification
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/33 Arrangements for monitoring the users' behaviour or opinions
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/40 for identifying broadcast time
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/45 for identifying users
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4223 Cameras H04N23/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44008 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in the video stream arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4415 using biometric characteristics of the user, e.g. by voice recognition or fingerprint scanning cryptography using biological data H04L9/3231; authentication in networks using biometric H04L63/0861
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44218 Detecting physical presence or behaviour of the user, e.g. using sensors to detect if the user is leaving the room or changes his face expression during a TV program methods or arrangements for recognising human body or animal bodies or body parts G06V40/10; methods or arrangements for acquiring or recognising human faces, facial parts, facial sketches, facial expressions G06V40/16; methods or arrangements for recognising movements or behaviour G06V40/20; arrangements for identifying users in broadcast systems H04H60/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/458 Scheduling content for creating a personalised stream, e.g. by combining a locally stored advertisement with an incoming stream; Updating operations, e.g. for OS modules ; time-related management operations arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast or during the distribution H04H20/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6587 Control parameters, e.g. trick play commands, viewpoint selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments

Abstract

Methods and systems for automatically transitioning content based on facial recognition, wherein the method may include receiving a signal from a camera, identifying a face of a viewer within an area, retrieving a user identifier associated with the face of the viewer, selecting a program, and displaying the program.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a first signal from a first camera that is associated with a first area;

identifying a face of a viewer within the first area based on the first signal;

retrieving a user identifier associated with the face of the viewer;

selecting a program from a plurality of programs based on the user identifier;

displaying the program on a first device in the first area;

detecting that the viewer is no longer interacting with the first device based on the received first signal;

associating a time parameter of the program that corresponds to the detection with the user identifier;

receiving a second signal from a second camera that is associated with a second area;

determining that the face of the viewer that has been identified within the second area based on the received second signal corresponds to the user identifier; and

displaying, based on the determination, the program on a second device in the second area according to the associated time parameter of the program.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first signal from the first camera and the second signal from the second camera each comprise an image.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

extracting location information from the image to determine location information to associate with the received image.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing the displayed program to the second device based on movement of the viewer.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the program in a memory along with the time parameter.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the time parameter corresponds to a segment of the program that is stopped or paused.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the face of the viewer is identified from a plurality of viewers.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the face of the viewer within the first area further comprises:

detecting and recognizing the face of the viewer based on facial recognition.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the face of the viewer within the first area further comprises:

inferring a user position relative to the first camera; and

determining whether the user is interacting with the first camera.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the user position comprises a facing direction of the user relative to the first camera.

11. A system for selecting a program for playback based on facial recognition of a viewer comprising:

a first camera associated with a first area;

a second camera associated with a second area; and

a processing circuit configured to;

receive a first signal from the first camera;

identify a face of a viewer within the first area based on the first signal;

retrieve a user identifier associated with the face of the viewer;

select a program from a plurality of programs based on the user identifier;

display the program on a first device in the first area;

detect that the viewer is no longer interacting with the first device based on the first signal;

associate a time parameter of the program that corresponds to the detection with the user identifier;

receive a second signal from the second camera;

determine that the face of the viewer that has been identified within the second area based on the received second signal corresponds to the user identifier; and

display, based on the determination, the program on a second device in the second area according to the stored time parameter of the program.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the first signal from the first camera and the second signal from the second camera each comprise an image.

13. The system of claim 12, the processing circuit is further configured to:

extract location information from the image to determine location information to associate with the received image.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein identifying the face of the viewer within the first area further comprises:

inferring a user position relative to the first camera; and

determining whether the user is interacting with the first camera.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the user position comprises a facing direction of the user relative to the first camera.

16. The system of claim 11, the processing circuit is further configured to:

provide the displayed program to the second device based on movement of the viewer.

17. The system of claim 11, the processing circuit is further configured to:

store the program in a memory along with the time parameter.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the time parameter corresponds to a segment of the program that is stopped or paused.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the face of the viewer is identified from a plurality of viewers.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein identifying the face of the viewer within the first area further comprises:

detecting and recognizing the face of the viewer based on facial recognition.