Video communication method and system in instant communication

• US 9,369,669 B2
• Filed: 02/09/2015
• Issued: 06/14/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/10/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
• Inventors: Liu, Shuyan
• Primary Examiner(s): Gauthier, Gerald
• Application Number:
  US14/617,621
• Publication Number:
  US 20150229882A1
• Time in Patent Office: 491 Days
• Field of Search: 348/14.03, 348/14.08, 348/345, 382/103, 382/118, 382/255, 382/154, 382/264, 396/133, 396/280, 463/40, 707/737
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10016 Video; Image sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30201 Face
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/70 Denoising; Smoothing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/147 Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals selecting H04Q
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/15 Conference systems

Abstract

A video communication method and system implementing video communication between a first user and a second user in instant communication are disclosed. The method includes: receiving a request for video communication; determining whether to perform a blurred processing on a video image of the first user; and if affirmative, performing the blurred processing on the video image of the first user such that a blurred video image of the first user is displayed on a video dialog window of the second user. Using the present disclosure, convenient online interactions via video communication may be achieved while ensuring that respective privacies of users are not overly exposed.

Claims

1. A method implemented by one or more computing devices, the method comprising:

receiving a request for video communication;

determining whether to perform a blurring operation for a video image of a first user; and

in response to determining that the blurring operation is to be performed for the video image of the first user,

determining a region of operation corresponding to operation information in response to detecting an operation on the video image of the first user,

obtaining the video image of the first user, and

performing the blurring operation only on a portion of the video image of the first user that is outside the region of operation, performing the blurring operation enabling a video dialog window of a second user to display a blurred video image of the first user.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising directly performing the blurring operation on the portion of the video image that is outside the region of operation in an event that the first user is detected to have performed an operation on the video image of the first user.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

detecting that the second user has performed an operation on the video image of the first user;

sending a query message to the first user in response to detecting that the second user has performed the operation on the video image of the first user, the query message being used for querying the first user whether to allow the blurring operation to be performed only on the portion of video image that is outside the region of operation; and

performing the blurring operation only on the portion of the video image that is outside the region of operation in response to receiving a response indicating an approval from the first user.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

storing information associated with the region of operation of the video image of the first user;

querying whether the information associated with the region of operation of the video image of the first user is stored when the request for video communication between the first user and the second user is received again and the blurring operation is to be performed for the video image of the first user; and

performing the blurring operation only on the portion of the video image that is outside the region of operation when the information associated with the region of operation of the video image of the first user is stored.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein a client of the first user sends the blurred video image to a client of the second user after performing the blurring operation on the portion of the video image of the first user to enable the video dialog window of the second user to display the blurred video image of the first user.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the blurred video image of the first user is displayed in the video dialog window of the second user after a client of the first user sends the obtained video image of the first user to a client of the second user so that the client of the second user displays the blurred video image of the first user after the client of the second user performs the blurring operation on the portion of the video image of the first user.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein determining whether to perform the blurring operation for the video image of the first user comprises determining whether to perform the blurring operation for the video image of the first user based on one or more criteria comprising:

whether the second user is included in a contact list of the first user;

whether the first user and the second user conduct video communication with each other for a first time; and

whether the request for video communication includes an indicator that instructs the blurring operation to be performed for the video image of the first user.

8. One or more computer readable media storing executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform acts comprising:

receiving a request for video communication;

determining whether to perform a blurring operation for a video image of a first user; and

in response to determining that the blurring operation is to be performed for the video image of the first user,

determining a region of operation in response to detecting an operation on the video image of the first user,

obtaining the video image of the first user, and

performing the blurring operation on a portion of the video image of the first user that is outside the region of operation, performing the blurring operation enabling a video dialog window of a second user to display a blurred video image of the first user.

9. The one or more computer readable media as recited in claim 8, the acts further comprising directly performing the blurring operation on the portion of the video image that is outside the region of operation in an event that the first user is detected to have performed an operation on the video image of the first user.

10. The one or more computer readable media as recited in claim 8, the acts further comprising:

detecting that the second user has performed an operation on the video image of the first user;

sending a query message to the first user in response to detecting that the second user has performed the operation on the video image of the first user, the query message being used for querying the first user whether to allow the blurring operation to be performed only on the portion of video image that is outside the region of operation; and

performing the blurring operation only on the portion of the video image that is outside the region of operation in response to receiving a response indicating an approval from the first user.

11. The one or more computer readable media as recited in claim 8, the acts further comprising:

storing information associated with the region of operation of the video image of the first user;

querying whether the information associated with the region of operation of the video image of the first user is stored when the request for video communication between the first user and the second user is received again and the blurring operation is to be performed for the video image of the first user; and

performing the blurring operation only on the portion of the video image that is outside the region of operation when the information associated with the region of operation of the video image of the first user is stored.

12. The one or more computer readable media as recited in claim 8, wherein a client of the first user sends the blurred video image to a client of the second user after performing the blurring operation on the portion of the video image of the first user to enable the video dialog window of the second user to display the blurred video image of the first user.

13. The one or more computer readable media as recited in claim 8, wherein the blurred video image of the first user is displayed in the video dialog window of the second user after a client of the first user sends the obtained video image of the first user to a client of the second user so that the client of the second user displays the blurred video image of the first user after the client of the second user performs the blurring operation on the portion of the video image of the first user.

14. The one or more computer readable media as recited in claim 8, wherein determining whether to perform the blurring operation for the video image of the first user comprises determining whether to perform the blurring operation for the video image of the first user based on one or more criteria comprising:

whether the second user is included in a contact list of the first user;

whether the first user and the second user conduct video communication with each other for a first time; and

whether the request for video communication includes an indicator that instructs the blurring operation to be performed for the video image of the first user.

15. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

memory;

a request sending unit stored in the memory and executable by the one or more processors to send a request for video communication to a client of a first user;

a video image receiving unit stored in the memory and executable by the one or more processors to receive a video image of the first user from the client of the first user;

a detection unit stored in the memory and executable by the one or more processors to determine a region of operation in response to detecting an operation on the video image of the first user;

a query unit stored in the memory and executable by the one or more processors to send a query message including information associated with the region of operation to the client of the first user, the query message being used for querying the first user whether to allow the blurring operation to be performed only on a portion of video image that is outside the region of operation; and

a display unit stored in the memory and executable by the one or more processors to display a blurred video image of the first user in a video dialog window of a second user, the blurred video image including an image which has been blurred only in a portion of the video image of the first user that is outside the region of operation in response to receiving an approval from the first user.

16. The system as recited in claim 15, further comprising a determination unit stored in the memory and executable by the one or more processors to determine whether to perform the blurring operation on the video image of the first user.

17. The system as recited in claim 16, wherein the determination unit determines whether to perform the blurring operation on the video image of the first user based at least in part on one or more of:

whether the second user is included in a contact list of the first user;

whether the first user and the second user conduct video communication with each other for a first time;

or

whether the request for video communication includes an indicator that instructs the blurring operation to be performed for the video image of the first user.

18. The system as recited in claim 16, further comprising:

an information storage unit stored in the memory and executable by the one or more processors to store information associated with the region of operation; and

a processing unit stored in the memory and executable by the one or more processors to perform the blurring operation only on an area of the video image that is outside the region of operation if the information associated with the region of operation for the first user is stored.

19. The system as recited in claim 18, wherein the query unit is further configured to query whether the information associated with the region of operation for the first user is stored when a new request for video communication is received and when the blurring operation is to be performed for the video image of the first user.