The present invention relates to online profile browsing, and more particularly to a system and method for applying image-based face recognition to online profile browsing.
Just as technological advances, including word-processing and desktop publishing programs, email, video conferencing systems, corporate intranets, etc., have enhanced productivity and work quality of businesses, communications technology, in particular the Internet and mobile phone services, has significantly influenced the social lives of individuals. Computer networks, such as the Internet/World Wide Web, enable users to communicate via email, instant messaging, and electronic forums as well as access an almost unlimited amount of information and online services.
As an example of how the Internet has become an integral part of modern culture, it is estimated that millions of users visit online dating sites annually in the U.S., with most of these users posting their personal profiles online and many subscribing to fee-based online dating services. Such fee-based online dating services currently generate a significant amount of revenue, which is expected to increase in coming years. More recently, online dating services have been integrated with Instant Messaging, and such services likely will become increasingly accessible by cellular phone users.
The current methodology for searching through user profiles for potentially compatible participants is based on criteria such gender, age, location, interests, and demographics. The time required to browse through candidate profiles using this typical methodology is often time-consuming and unproductive, making it difficult for users to find candidates to which they would likely be compatible and physically attracted. As a result, it is often difficult for service providers to keep participants engaged in the process. Furthermore, although current online dating services allow users to post their own images, these images typically need to be cropped, re-sized, and enhanced before uploading, which is often a tedious and lengthy process.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a computer-implemented method provides an online dating service in which users browse profiles of other participants using face recognition. The method comprises: inputting a model image including a face of a person, the model image representing a profile browsing preference for a user; accessing a plurality of profile images, the profile images corresponding to different participants of the online dating service; performing face recognition to determine similarity of the model image to the plurality of profile images, thereby identifying profile images that resemble the model image; outputting a display view showing a result of the face recognition, the display view including at least one profile image resembling the model image; and providing additional profile information associated with a profile image in the display view based on input browsing commands.
According to another aspect of the present invention, an apparatus provides online dating services in which users browse profiles of other participants using face recognition. The apparatus comprises: a model image input for inputting a model image including a face of a person, the model image representing a profile browsing preference for a user; a database storing a plurality of participant profiles each associated with a profile image, the profile images corresponding to different participants of the online dating service; a face recognition unit accessing a plurality of profile images from the database and performing face recognition to determine similarity of the model image to the plurality of profile images, thereby identifying profile images that resemble the model image; a display view output for outputting a display view showing a result of the face recognition, the display view including at least one profile image resembling the model image; and a profile data output providing additional profile information associated with a profile image in the display view based on input browsing commands.
Additional aspects of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Embodiments of the present invention described below address drawbacks of typical online dating services by applying image processing techniques to enable more intelligent browsing of candidate profiles and to make it easier for users to post quality images to be associated with their profiles during set up. By applying principles of the present invention, service providers can improve the quality of, and increase subscriber numbers and revenue generated by, their online dating sites. Aspects of embodiments of the present invention are specifically set forth in the following description with reference to the appended Figures.
The operations performed by the profile matching apparatus 10 will next be described with reference to the flow diagrams of
An embodiment of the present invention includes two phases of operation: model setup; and model matching. Initially, the control/interface module 18 receives one or more model images from a user (e.g., an end user's computer 144 executing web browser software) via the network 130 (S212). An example input model image is shown in
After model image set-up is complete, the control/interface module 18 initiates a repository search function (S216) when the user requests a search to find people that resemble the person/people in the model image(s). The repository (database) 20 stores profile images that have previously been processed (e.g., cropped, re-oriented, enhanced) by the profile image set-up module 16. The face recognition module 12 accesses profile images form the database 20 and performs face recognition to determine similarity to the model image(s) (S218). The face recognition module 12 sorts the profile images based on a similarity score.
The face recognition module 12 can apply various image matching techniques to determine similarity between the model image(s) and profile images retrieved from the database 20. In one implementation, the face recognition module 12 performs face recognition with reference faces (profile images) using calculated feature values as in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/734,258 filed Dec. 15, 2003, titled “Method and Apparatus for Object Recognition Using Probability Models,” which is incorporated herein by reference.
The control/interface module 18 generates a display view with the sorted profile images (S220) for display to the user.
Another aspect of the present invention enables users to easily post profile images for online dating services and improve the quality of such images before posting. This aspect of the present invention will be described with reference to the flow diagram of
A registered member inputs his/her profile information, including their picture or pictures, to the system (S312). In the case of multiple people in the picture, a specific face in the picture may be selected. Upon registration, the control/interface module 18 initiates an automatic profile image set-up process (S314). During automatic profile image set-up, the profile image set-up module 16 detects a face or faces in the input profile image and crops out (and re-orients if necessary) the face region (S316). This allows the final profile image to adequately reflect the member's facial appearance. The profile image set-up module 16 next performs image enhancement (S318), which may include color balance and brightness adjustment, smoothing the skin region of the image, and correcting the red eye(s) by using automatic red eye correction, such as described in S. Ioffe, “Red Eye Detection With Machine Learning,” In Proceedings of Int. Conf. On Image Processing (ICIP), 2003, which is incorporated herein by reference.
Because the image processing operations are performed automatically, the profile image set-up procedure is made easy for the user. For example, after providing original image(s) that the user wishes to post in their profile, the user may simply click on a “1-click setup” prompt, which causes the control/interface module 18 to initiate the automatic cropping/image enhancement processing operations performed by the profile image set-up module 16. The processed profile image(s) and other entered profile information is stored in the database 20 for future access by other members/participants (S320).
When the user wants to find a person or persons whom he/she would consider dating, he/she can specify other criteria, including age, location, interests, etc. Sometimes, the user will not specify any criteria so that they can search all candidates. The result of the search, however, tends to be large, so the user will often refine the search to a smaller number of candidates based on various criteria.
As described above, the user can specify the picture of a face (model image) so that he/she can find the members/online dating candidates having similar faces to the one specified. This operation can either eliminate the candidate images that fall below a threshold similarity measure (i.e., are not similar to the model) or display all candidate images in the order of similarity, as shown in the example of
Although the user may upload the model image(s) in the manner described above, it is also possible for the system to provide predetermined faces (e.g., images of famous people), thus allowing the user to merely select a face to be used as the model image for comparison with the repository images of the database 20 associated with online dating candidates.
Embodiments of the invention having been thus described, it should be apparent that such embodiments may be varied without departing from the scope of the claims set forth below.
The present application claims the benefit of Provisional Patent Application No. 60/578,871 filed Jun. 14, 2004, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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60578871 | Jun 2004 | US |