System and method for identifying people in an image

• US 9,313,399 B2
• Filed: 06/14/2013
• Issued: 04/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2013
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Morley, Stewart
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Nirav G
• Application Number:
  US13/918,651
• Publication Number:
  US 20140368670A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,033 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 a subset of the plurality of personal computing devices that are located within a range of the scene;

wherein the communication module is further configured to;

receive contact information of users associated with at least some of the subset of the plurality of personal computing devices, and

automatically share the target image with the users using the contact information; and

wherein at least one of the plurality of personal computing devices is located outside of the wireless communication range of the image capture device, and wherein the at least one of the plurality of personal computing devices located outside of the wireless communication range is configured to form an ad-hoc network with the image capture device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the image capture device is configured to periodically check for new personal computing devices within the wireless communication range.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the image capture device is configured to periodically check for new personal computing devices within the mesh network.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the contact information comprises one or more of mobile phone number, email address, and social networking presences.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein sharing the target image with the users using the contact information comprises sending the target image to the users using at least one of a mobile phone number or an email address.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the contact information comprises:

at least one social networking presence of a user associated with a personal computing device of the subset of the plurality of personal computing devices; and

privacy preferences of the user regarding sharing of photos of the user.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein automatically sharing the target image via the communication module comprises:

uploading the target image to the at least one social networking presence; and

tagging the user in compliance with the privacy preferences.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein automatically sharing the target image via the communication module comprises:

uploading the target image to a digital album; and

sending a link to the digital album to the users based on the contact information.

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

connecting, via the image capture device, to a plurality of personal computing devices, each of the plurality of personal computing devices associated with one of a plurality of users, wherein the connecting comprises;

connecting to a first personal computing device located within a wireless communication range of the image capture device;

connecting to a second personal computing device located outside of the wireless communication range of the image capture device, wherein the second personal computing device is configured to form an ad-hoc network with the image capture device;

receiving contact information from at least some of the plurality of personal computing devices regarding the associated one of the plurality of user;

capturing the target image; and

for each device of the plurality of personal computing devices;

determining a location of the device;

identifying, based at least partly on the location, whether the device is located within a range of the target image; and

in response to identifying that the device is located within the range;

associating the location and the contact information with the target image; and

automatically sharing the target image with the associated one of the plurality of users using the contact information.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

determining whether any additional personal computing devices of the plurality of personal computing devices are networked with the first personal computing device; and

forming the ad-hoc network with the additional personal computing devices.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising receiving, from at least one of the plurality of personal computing devices, privacy preferences of the associated one of the plurality of users, and wherein sharing the target image further comprises complying with the privacy preferences.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein determining the location of the device is based at least in part on a known location of the image capture device and on a connection of the device with the image capture device.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein determining the location of the device is based at least in part on GPS coordinates.

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

an image capture device having a wireless communication range; and

at least one personal computing device located outside of the wireless communication range of the image capture device 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 at least one personal computing device located outside of the wireless communication range is configured to form an ad-hoc network with the image capture device;

wherein the image capture device is configured to;

track a location of the at least one personal computing device,

receive information from the at least one personal computing device regarding the person,

capture the target image,

determine whether the at least one personal computing device is within a range of the target image, and

in response to determining that the at least one personal computing device is within the range, automatically share the target image with the person using the contact information.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the at least one personal computing device comprises a cellular phone, smart phone, tablet computer, digital camera, GPS, or personal locator beacon.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the image capture device and the at least one personal computing device each connect to and communicate with, via low-power wireless technology, a node comprising an additional computing device in the ad-hoc network.

17. The system of claim 16, 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.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the information comprises one or more of mobile phone number, email address, and social networking presence.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the information comprises privacy preferences for available actions regarding sharing of photos of the person.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the at least one personal computing device is configured to automatically send the privacy preferences to any connected image capture device.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the image capture device is configured to comply with the privacy preferences.

22. The system of claim 14, further comprising identifying a location of the person in the target image 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.

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

connecting, via a node in an ad hoc network, to at least one personal computing device located on or near a person in the target image and located outside of a wireless communication range of the image capture device, wherein the at least one personal computing device located outside of the wireless communication range is configured to form the ad-hoc network with the image capture device;

capturing a target image;

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

determining whether the location is within a range of the target image; and

in response to determining the location is within the range;

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

automatically sharing the target image with the person using the information.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the image capture device connecting to the node:

determining a field of view of the target image;

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

detecting and connecting to an additional personal computing device comprising the node, the additional personal computing device configured to form the ad hoc network with the image capture device and the at least one personal computing device.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein connecting to the additional personal computing device comprises preconfiguring the image capture device and the additional personal computing device as a local group.

26. The method of claim 23, 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 email address.

27. The method of claim 23, 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.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein automatically 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.

29. The method of claim 23, wherein automatically 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.

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

connect, via a node in an ad-hoc network, to at least one personal computing device located on or near a person and located outside of a wireless communication range of the image capture device, wherein the at least one personal computing device located outside of the wireless communication range is configured to form an ad-hoc network with the image capture device;

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

capture a target image;

determine whether the location is within a range of the target image; and

in response to determining the location is within the range;

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

automatically share the target image with the person using the information.

31. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 30, the instructions further configured to cause the processor to identify a location of the person in the target image 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.

32. An image capture device comprising:

means for connecting to at least one personal computing device located on or near a person outside of a wireless communication range of the image capture device, the at least one personal computing device configured to form an ad-hoc network with the image capture device;

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

means for capturing a target image;

means for determining that the location is within a range of the target image;

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

means for automatically sharing the target image with the person using the information.