Retrieving contact information based on image recognition searches

• US 9,454,665 B1
• Filed: 07/21/2014
• Issued: 09/27/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Wren, Christopher Richard, Aharony, Nadav
• Primary Examiner(s): Shah, Utpal
• Application Number:
  US14/336,242
• Time in Patent Office: 799 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/434 using image data, e.g. images, photos, pictures taken by a user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/60 Protecting data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6263 during internet communication, e.g. revealing personal data from cookies
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/30 in albums, collections or shared content, e.g. social network photos or video
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/16 Human faces, e.g. facial parts, sketches or expressions
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/161 Detection; Localisation; Normalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/168 Feature extraction; Face representation
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/172 Classification, e.g. identification
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/179 metadata assisted face recognition
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/107 wherein the security policies are location-dependent, e.g. entities privileges depend on current location or allowing specific operations only from locally connected terminals

Abstract

A system and method for retrieving contact information based on image recognition searches is disclosed. A requestor takes a picture of a user or retrieves a storage image of a user and transmits the image to an image recognition module. The image recognition module identifies the user and determines whether the requestor can receive access to the user'"'"'s contact information based on permission rules. For example, the permission rule includes a requirement that the user and the requestor be sufficiently related on a social graph generated by a social network application. The permission rules can also include a requirement that the requestor have a predetermined proximity to the image. Once the permission rules are satisfied, the image recognition module transmits the user'"'"'s contact information to the requestor.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting contact information to a requestor comprising:

receiving, by one or more processors, from the requestor an image of a user, the image associated with a location;

identifying, by the one or more processors, the user in the image based on features in the image and the location associated with the image;

retrieving, by the one or more processors, permission rules associated with the identified user, the permission rules indicating a predetermined threshold of proximity between a location of the user and a location of the requestor to be satisfied before the contact information is transmitted;

determining, by the one or more processor, whether the permission rules are satisfied and that the requestor has permission to access the contact information; and

responsive to satisfying the permission rules, transmitting, by the one or more processors, the contact information to the requestor.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the requestor captures an image of the user with a user device.

3. The method of claim 1, comprising retrieving a social graph from a social network that includes a relationship between the requestor and the user and wherein the permission rules include a requirement that the requestor and the user satisfy a predetermined relationship on the social graph.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the user in the image comprises:

identifying facial features in the image;

comparing the facial features in the image to facial features of account holders; and

identifying users based on similarity of facial features.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the user in the image comprises:

identifying account holders that are within a pre-determined proximity of the location of the image;

generating a list of the account holders for displaying to the requestor; and

receiving an identification of the user from the requestor.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the user in the image comprises receiving an identification of the user from the requestor.

7. The method of claim 1, comprising capturing the image of the user on a user device.

8. The method of claim 7, comprising generating metadata for the captured image, the metadata including at least one of the location of the image, a context of the image, a time of capturing the image and an audio sample at the time of capturing the image.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the contact information includes at least one of a name, an email address, a phone number, a home address, a work address, a profile uniform resource locator, a link to establish a relationship with the user on a social network application and an instant messaging handle.

10. The method of claim 1, comprising updating an address book with the contact information.

11. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

an image parser, stored on a memory and executable by the one or more processors, the image parser configured to identify a user in an image; and

a controller, stored on a memory, executable by the one or more processors, and coupled to the image parser, the controller configured to;

receive an image of at least one user, the image associated with a location;

transmit the image to the image parser;

receive an identification of the user from the image parser based on features in the image and the location associated with the image;

retrieve permission rules associated with the identified user, the permission rules indicating a predetermined threshold of proximity between a location of the user and a location of a requestor to be satisfied before the contact information is transmitted;

determine whether the permission rules are satisfied and that the requestor has permission to access the contact information; and

responsive to satisfying the permission rules, transmit the contact information to the requestor.

12. The system of claim 11, comprising a user device for capturing the image of the user and transmitting the image to the controller.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the user device updates an address book with the contact information.

14. The system of claim 11, comprising a social network application for generating a social graph that includes a relationship between the requestor and the user and wherein the permission rules include a requirement that the requestor and the user satisfy a predetermined relationship on the social graph.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the social network application is stored on a different server than the image parser and the controller.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the image parser identifies facial features in the image, compares the facial features in the image to facial features of account holders and identifies users based on similarity of facial features.

17. The system of claim 11, comprising a metadata engine that is coupled to the controller, the metadata engine for identifying account holders that are within a pre-determined proximity of the location of the image, generating a list of the account holders for displaying to the requestor;

and receiving an identification of the user from the requestor.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the parser receives an identification of the user from the requestor to identify the user in the image.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the user device generates metadata for the captured image, the metadata including at least one of the location of the image, a context of the image, a time of capturing the image and an audio sample at the time of capturing the image.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the contact information includes at least one of a name, an email address, a phone number, a home address, a work address, a uniform resource locator profile, a link to establish a relationship with the user on a social network application and an instant messaging handle.

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

receive from a requestor an image of at least one user, the image associated with a location;

identify the user in the image based on features in the image and the location associated with the image;

retrieve permission rules associated with the identified user, the permission rules indicating a predetermined threshold of proximity between a location of the user and a location of the requestor to be satisfied before the contact information is transmitted;

determine whether the permission rules are satisfied and that the requestor has permission to access the contact information; and

responsive to satisfying the permission rules, transmit the contact information to the requestor.