Apparatus and method for automated privacy protection in distributed images

• US 9,785,796 B1
• Filed: 07/15/2016
• Issued: 10/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Snap, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Snap, Inc.
• Inventors: Murphy, Robert, Spiegel, Evan
• Primary Examiner(s): Korsak, Oleg
• Application Number:
  US15/212,095
• Time in Patent Office: 452 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/1062 Editing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/32 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voiceprints
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6254 by anonymising data, e.g. decorrelating personal data from the owner's identification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/142 using hand-held instruments; Constructional details of the instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/168 Feature extraction; Face representation
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/172 Classification, e.g. identification
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/42 Anonymization, e.g. involving pseudonyms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/10 Multimedia information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/18 Commands or executable codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/088 Usage controlling of secret information, e.g. techniques for restricting cryptographic keys to pre-authorized uses, different access levels, validity of crypto-period, different key- or password length, or different strong and weak cryptographic algorithms network architectures or network communication protocols for using time-dependent keys in a packet data network H04L63/068
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3231 Biological data, e.g. fingerprint, voice or retina network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using biometrical features in a packet data network H04L63/0861

Abstract

A method executed by a computer includes receiving an image from a client device. A facial recognition technique is executed against an individual face within the image to obtain a recognized face. Privacy rules are applied to the image, where the privacy rules are associated with privacy settings for a user associated with the recognized face. A privacy protected version of the image is distributed, where the privacy protected version of the image has an altered image feature.

Claims

1. A method executed by a computer, comprising:

receiving an image from a client device;

executing a facial recognition technique against an individual face within the image to obtain a recognized face;

applying privacy rules to the image; and

distributing a privacy protected version of the image, wherein the privacy protected version of the image has an altered image feature, wherein the privacy protected version of the image is distributed to an ephemeral gallery including a collection of ephemeral images shown in sequence, and wherein the ephemeral gallery is available for an ephemeral period of time, wherein each ephemeral image has an associated message duration parameter that indicates a display duration for the corresponding ephemeral image during viewing of the ephemeral gallery, and each ephemeral image has a gallery participation parameter that indicates a time value for continued availability of the corresponding ephemeral image in the ephemeral gallery, wherein a particular one of the plurality ephemeral images is removed from the ephemeral gallery in response to the identification of an expired gallery participation parameter corresponding to the particular ephemeral image, and wherein the ephemeral gallery is eliminated upon expiration of either a gallery timer or upon expiration of the gallery participation parameter of a last ephemeral image in the ephemeral gallery, the last ephemeral image being that one of the plurality of ephemeral images which was posted to the ephemeral gallery last.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the altered image feature is a blurred image of the recognized face.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the altered image feature is a block over the recognized face.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the block is selected from an emoticon, an icon and a brand.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the altered image feature is a block over the recognized face and the body associated with the recognized face.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein executing includes making network calls to a machine supplying facial recognition services.

7. A method executed by a computer, comprising:

receiving an image from a client device;

executing a facial recognition technique against an individual face within the image to obtain a recognized face;

applying privacy rules to the image; and

limiting distribution of the image in accordance with the privacy rules and selectively distributing the image to an ephemeral gallery including a collection of ephemeral images shown in sequence, wherein the ephemeral gallery is available for an ephemeral period of time, wherein each ephemeral image has an associated message duration parameter that indicates a display duration for the corresponding ephemeral image during viewing of the ephemeral gallery, and each ephemeral image has a gallery participation parameter that indicates a time value for continued availability of the corresponding ephemeral image in the ephemeral gallery, wherein a particular one of the plurality ephemeral images is removed from the ephemeral gallery in response to the identification of an expired gallery participation parameter corresponding to the particular ephemeral image, and wherein the ephemeral gallery is eliminated upon expiration of either a gallery timer or upon expiration of the gallery participation parameter of a last ephemeral image in the ephemeral gallery, the last ephemeral image being that one of the plurality of ephemeral images which was posted to the ephemeral gallery last.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein limiting distribution of the image includes blocking the distribution of the image.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein limiting distribution of the image includes limiting distribution of the image to members of the social network associated with the recognized face.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein limiting distribution of the image includes soliciting permission from the user associated with the recognized face prior to distribution of the image.

11. The method of claim 7 further comprising distributing a privacy protected version of the image, wherein the privacy protected version of the image has an altered image feature.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the altered image feature is a blurred image of the recognized face.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the altered image feature is a block over the recognized face, wherein the block is selected from an emoticon, an icon and a brand.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the altered image feature is a block over the recognized face and the body associated with the recognized face.