System and method for matching faces

• US 9,613,259 B2
• Filed: 11/12/2014
• Issued: 04/04/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cheswick, William Roberts
• Primary Examiner(s): Carter, Aaron W
• Application Number:
  US14/539,205
• Publication Number:
  US 20150071504A1
• Time in Patent Office: 874 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/5838 using colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/5854 using shape and object relationship
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/22 Matching criteria, e.g. proximity measures
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/30 in albums, collections or shared content, e.g. social network photos or video
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/168 Feature extraction; Face representation
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/172 Classification, e.g. identification
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/173 face re-identification, e.g. recognising unknown faces across different face tracks

Abstract

Disclosed herein are systems, computer-implemented methods, and tangible computer-readable media for matching faces. The method includes receiving an image of a face of a first person from a device of a second person, comparing the image of the face of the first person to a database of known faces in a contacts list of the second person, identifying a group of potential matching faces from the database of known faces, and displaying to the second person the group of potential matching faces. In one variation, the method receives input selecting one face from the group of potential matching faces and displays additional information about the selected one face. In a related variation, the method displays additional information about one or more face in the displayed group of potential matching faces without receiving input.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving an image of a first person on a device of a second person;

receiving an indication from the second person, the indication identifying whether the second person desires a speedy matching process or an accurate matching process;

selecting, from different algorithms, a matching algorithm based on the indication;

identifying, based on the matching algorithm, images of a group of potential matching people from a database of known people associated with the second person, wherein each potentially matching image of a person in the group of potential matching people meets a confidence threshold based on a similarity of the potentially matching image to the image;

displaying, on the device, the images of the group of potential matching people;

after the displaying of the images of the group of potential matching people, receiving an input associated with a specific image from the images; and

displaying the specific image on the device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the group of potential matching people are identified according to a face of the first person.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the group of potential matching people is within a social network of the second person.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the input is entered using a touch-sensitive screen.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the input is a tap on the touch-sensitive screen.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying additional information about the group of potential matching people.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the group of potential matching people are identified according to a similarity between the image and images of the group of potential matching people.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising altering the image by modifying a size of the image, to aid in a comparison to determine similarity of the image to images of the group of potential matching people.

9. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored which, when executed by the processor to perform operations comprising;

receiving an image of a first person on a device associated with a second person;

receiving an indication from the second person, the indication identifying whether the second person desires a speedy matching process or an accurate matching process;

selecting, from different algorithms, a matching algorithm based on the indication;

identifying, based on the matching algorithm, images of a group potential matching people from a database of known people associated with the second person, wherein each potentially matching image of a person in the group of potential matching people meets a confidence threshold based on a similarity of the potentially matching image to the image;

displaying on the device the images of the group of potential matching people;

after the displaying of the images of the group of potential matching people, receiving an input associated with a specific image from the images; and

displaying the specific image on the device.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the group of potential matching people are identified according to a face of the first person.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the group of potential matching people is within a social network of the second person.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the input is entered using a touch-sensitive screen.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the input is a tap on the touch-sensitive screen.

14. The system of claim 9, further comprising displaying additional information about the group of potential matching people.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the group of potential matching people are identified according to a similarity between the image and images of the group of potential matching people.

16. The system of claim 9, the computer-readable storage medium having additional instructions stored which, when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform operations comprising altering the image by modifying a size of the image, to aid in a comparison to determine similarity of the image to images of the group of potential matching people.

17. A computer-readable storage device having instructions stored which, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving an image of a first person on a device associated with a second person;

receiving indication from the second person, the indication identifying whether the second person desires a speedy matching process or an accurate matching process;

selecting, from different algorithms, a matching algorithm based on the indication from a group of matching algorithms;

identifying, based on the matching algorithm, images of a group of potential matching people from a database of known people associated with the second person, wherein each potentially matching image of a person in the group of potential matching people meets a confidence threshold based on a similarity of the potentially matching image to the image;

displaying, on the device, the images of the group of potential matching people;

after the displaying of the images of the group of potential matching people, receiving an input associated with a specific image from the images; and

displaying the specific image on the device.

18. The computer-readable storage device of claim 17, wherein the group of potential matching people are identified according to a face of the first person.

19. The computer-readable storage device of claim 18, wherein the group of potential matching people is within a social network of the second person.

20. The computer-readable storage device of claim 17, wherein the input is entered using a touch-sensitive screen.