Adding privacy protection to photo uploading/ tagging in social networks

• US 8,744,143 B2
• Filed: 04/01/2011
• Issued: 06/03/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chen, Pei-Hsi
• Primary Examiner(s): CHAWAN, SHEELA C
• Application Number:
  US13/077,998
• Publication Number:
  US 20120250951A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,159 Days
• Field of Search: 382/100, 382/115, 382/118, 382/276, 382/305, 382/312, 382/321, 382/293, 382/294, 348/207.99, 348/207.1, 348/222.1, 348/231.3, 348/61, 348/143, 348/157, 348/231.5, 348/152, 348/153, 348/159, 348/169, 348/231.2, 348/231.7, 348/231.9, 348/211.1, 348/211.3, 709/204, 709/217, 709/21.9, 715/205, 715/200, 707/E17.019, 707/758, 707/769, 707/E17.026, 707/E17.014, 386/E5.043, 386/E5.002, 455/412.1, 455/466, 455/445, 455/413, 455/414.1
• US Class Current: 382/118
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00156 with a group of selected individuals or correspondents
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32101 Display, printing, storage or transmission of additional information, e.g. ID code, date and time or title
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/444 to a particular document or image or part thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/448 Rendering the image unintelligible, e.g. scrambling
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3204 of data relating to a user, sender, addressee, machine or electronic recording medium H04N2201/3256 and subgroups take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3205 of identification information, e.g. name or ID code H04N2201/3209 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3246 of data relating to permitted access or usage, e.g. level of access or usage parameters for digital rights management [DRM] related to still images
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3278 Transmission

Abstract

An individual is identified in a photograph. A portion of the photograph is temporarily blurred to prevent the individual from being recognized. Once consent is received for the tag, the blur is removed. However, if consent is not received, the blur remains.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for consent-based sharing online photographs, comprising:

identifying the identity of an individual who is shown in the online photograph such that the individual'"'"'s identity is ascertainable from viewing the photograph;

blurring a portion of the online photograph so as to obscure the identity of the individual;

responsive to receiving permission from the individual in response to a permission query message sent from another party wishing to view the unblurred online photograph to the individual based on the individual'"'"'s identified identity, unblurring the portion of the online photograph to the other party wishing to view the unblurred online photograph.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an upload of the online photograph.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the individual comprises:

receiving a tag on the online photograph corresponding to the individual.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the individual comprises:

using facial recognition to identify the individual.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a training photograph of the individual prior to identifying the individual.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein blurring the photograph occurs prior to publishing the photograph online.

7. A computer program product stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium that when executed by a processor, performs a method for consent-based sharing online photographs, comprising:

identifying the identity of an individual who is shown in the online photograph such that the individual'"'"'s identity is ascertainable from viewing the photograph;

blurring a portion of the online photograph so as to obscure the identity of the individual;

responsive to receiving permission from the individual in response to a permission query message sent from another party wishing to view the unblurred online photograph to the individual based on the individual'"'"'s identified identity, unblurring the portion of the online photograph to the other party wishing to view the unblurred online photograph.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving an upload of the online photograph.

9. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein identifying the individual comprises:

receiving a tag on the online photograph corresponding to the individual.

10. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein identifying the individual comprises:

using facial recognition to identify the individual.

11. The computer program product of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving a training photograph of the individual prior to identifying the individual.

12. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein blurring the photograph occurs prior to publishing the photograph online.

13. A computer system for consent-based sharing online photographs implemented at least partly in hardware, comprising:

an identification module to identify the identity of an individual who is shown in the online photograph such that the individual'"'"'s identity is ascertainable from viewing the photograph;

an image processing module, coupled in communication to the identification module, the image processing module to blur a portion of the online photograph so as to obscure the identity of the individual; and

a permission module, coupled to the image processing module, the permission module, responsive to receiving permission from the individual in response to a permission query message sent from another party wishing to view the unblurred online photograph to the individual based on the individual'"'"'s identified identity, to unblur the portion of the online photograph to the other party wishing to view the unblurred online photograph.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

an importing module, coupled to the identification module, the importing module to an upload of the online photograph.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the identifying module receives a tag on the online photograph corresponding to the individual.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the identifying module uses facial recognition to identify the individual.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the identification module receives a training photograph of the individual prior to identifying the individual.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the image processing module blurs the photograph prior to publishing the photograph online.