Apple has been granted four iPhoto related patents by the US Patent & Trademark Office. Following is a summary of each.
Patent number 20100172579 involves distinguishing between faces and non-faces. It involves methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for evaluating image data. In one aspect, a method includes accessing an image that includes a candidate face, such as a face detected during a face detection operation. The method further includes generating a sharpness measure based on image data corresponding to the candidate face, evaluating the sharpness measure to determine a confidence score representing a likelihood that the candidate face corresponds to a human face, and accepting the candidate face when the confidence score compares in a predetermined manner to a confidence threshold. Additionally, the method can be implemented to include generating a skin tone measure based on image data corresponding to the candidate face and evaluating the sharpness measure in combination with the skin tone measure to determine the confidence score. The inventors are Reid Russell, Nikhil Bhatt and Ben Weiss.
Patent number 20100171763 is for organizing digital images based on locations of capture. It involves methods, apparatuses, and systems for organizing digital images based on locations of capture. On a small scale map of a geographic region that is displayed on a device, an object representing digital media items associated with a location in the geographic region are displayed. In response to receiving an input to display a portion of the map that includes the object, in a larger scale, multiple objects are displayed in the larger scale map, each of which represent a location of at least one of the multiple digital media items represented by the object in the small scale. The inventors are Nikhil Bhatt, Erik Hanson, Joshua Fagans, Greg Gilley, Timothy B. Martin and Gregory Charles Lindley.
Patent number 20100172550 involves organizing images by correlating faces. The invention is for a computer-implemented method for organizing images including receiving an image that includes a representation of a human face; generating a correlation value indicating a likelihood that the human face corresponds to a stored facial profile associated with one or more profile images including a human face; evaluating the received image and the generated correlation value to determine, depending on a result of the evaluating, whether the image corresponds to the stored facial profile; associating the received image with the stored facialThe inventors are Nikhil Bhatt, Simeon Leifer, Joshua Fagans, Greg Gilley, Timothy B. Martin and Gregory Charles Lindley.
Patent numbers 20100172550 and 20100172551 involves organizing images by correlating faces. The invention is for a computer-implemented method for organizing images including receiving an image that includes a representation of a human face; generating a correlation value indicating a likelihood that the human face corresponds to a stored facial profile associated with one or more profile images including a human face; evaluating the received image and the generated correlation value to determine, depending on a result of the evaluating, whether the image corresponds to the stored facial profile; associating the received image with the stored facialThe inventors are Nikhil Bhatt, Simeon Leifer, Joshua Fagans, Greg Gilley, Timothy B. Martin and Gregory Charles Lindley.
