Face detection and recognition

Abstract

The present invention provides, in at least one aspect, methods and systems that detect at least one face in at least one digital image, determine and store area co-ordinates of a location of the at least one detected face in the at least one digital image, apply at least one transformation to the at least one detected face to create at least one portrait of the at least one detected face, rotate the at least one portrait at least until the at least one portrait is shown in a vertical orientation and a pair of eyes of the at least one face shown in the at least one portrait are positioned on a horizontal plane; and store the rotated at least one portrait.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method performed by at least one computer, the method comprising:
 detecting at least one face in at least one digital image;   determining and storing area co-ordinates of a location of the at least one detected face in the at least one digital image;   applying at least one transformation to the at least one detected face to create at least one unidentified portrait of the at least one detected face;   comparing a face signature of the at least one unidentified portrait against a plurality of face signatures of identified portraits, each identified portrait associated with an identified person shown in the respective portrait;   in accordance with a positive comparison, associating the at least one unidentified portrait with the at least one identified person; and   storing the at least one unidentified portrait.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein each of the at least one detected face corresponds to a person. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  comprising extracting the at least one detected face from the at least one digital image prior to the applying. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  comprising inserting the at least one stored portrait in a marketing image. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the at least one digital image is from a frame of a video having a plurality of frames. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4  comprising applying at least one additional transformation to the at least one stored portrait for matching a portrait size requirement of the marketing image. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  comprising:
 receiving a selection of at least one face to be suppressed; 
 masking the area co-ordinates corresponding to the location of the at least one face to be suppressed in the at least one digital image. 
 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7  wherein the masking comprises overlaying a selected image over the area co-ordinate corresponding to the location of the at least one face to be suppressed. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8  comprising adjusting the selected image to correspond to size of the area co-ordinates to be masked. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8  comprising adjusting edges of the overlayed image to blend with image characteristics of the at least one digital image. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the image characteristics may include one or more of color, intensity, brightness, and texture. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 7  wherein the selection of the at least one face to be suppressed comprises a command to suppress a particular individual from being displayed in any digital image, the method comprising identifying any digital image comprising a face corresponding to the particular individual to be suppressed and flagging the identified digital images to mask the area co-ordinates corresponding to the location of the at least one face to be suppressed. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 7  wherein the masking comprises applying a permanent mask to the digital image. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 7  wherein the masking comprises modifying metadata of the digital image to cause the digital image to be masked when displayed. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1  comprising associating date data with the digital image; and displaying stored portraits corresponding to a common person in accordance with the respective associated date data. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15  comprising generating an animated representation of an evolution of the stored portraits corresponding to the common person over time. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1  comprising associating an identification of a person with the at least one stored portrait. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17  comprising associating relationships between identified persons based at least partly on respective identified persons being included in the digital image. 
     
     
         19 . A system comprising at least one computer comprising at least one processor and a non-transitory computer readable memory comprising processing instructions, that when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computer to:
 detect at least one face in at least one digital image;   determine and store area co-ordinates of a location of the at least one detected face in the at least one digital image;   apply at least one transformation to the at least one detected face to create at least one unidentified portrait of the at least one detected face;   compare a face signature of the at least one unidentified portrait against a plurality of face signatures of identified portraits, each identified portrait associated with an identified person shown in the respective portrait;   in accordance with a positive comparison, associate the at least one unidentified portrait with the at least one identified person; and   store the rotated at least one portrait.   
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19  wherein the at least one digital image is from a frame of a video having a plurality of frames.