Granted Patent B2

US 12,443,645 · App. 18/117,700 · Granted Oct 14, 2025

Inventors: Ophir Frieder (Chevy Chase, MD); Abdur Chowdhury (San Francisco, CA); Eric Jensen (Brooklyn, NY); Ben Cherry (San Francisco, CA); Richard Sanford (Seattle, WA); Alek Kolcz (Issaquah, WA)

Assignee: AURA HOME, INC.

G06F16/435G06F16/48G06F16/55G06F18/23G06F18/2323G06V10/7635G06V20/30G06V40/174G06V40/23H04N1/00H04N1/00185H04N21/234372H04N21/454H04W4/021H04W4/21H04W4/80G01S5/0244G01S19/42G06F1/1605

Abstract

Claims (51)

1. A method of displaying photos on a digital picture frame including a digital display mounted within a frame, a microphone and speaker connected to the frame, and a network connection module, the method comprising:

automatically clustering original photos within a digital photo collection into a plurality of sub-clusters, each for a corresponding common detected content in the original photos selected from a person, a thing, a place, an activity, or combinations thereof, wherein each of the plurality of sub-clusters is formed for the corresponding common detected content of interest at a similar time and/or age;

extracting one or more photo features from the corresponding common detected content within the each of the sub-clusters of the original photos to form a cluster representation, wherein the photo features are predetermined as having the limited change over a timeframe;

comparing the cluster representation of the each of the sub-clusters to new photos added to the digital photo collection, to determine a corresponding sub-cluster for each of the new photos;

linking the each of the new photos to the corresponding sub-cluster for display; automatically displaying a slideshow on the digital display of the original photos and the new photos from the digital photo collection as a function of the clustering;

automatically providing a verbal interaction with a viewer of the digital picture frame via the microphone and speaker, wherein the verbal interaction comprises a plurality of automated back-and-forth conversational iterations with the viewer to establish the identity of the user and/or the search parameter, the plurality of automated back-and-forth conversational iterations comprising more than one spoken statement or spoken question from the speaker;

automatically determining a search parameter from the verbal interaction;

automatically connecting to the digital photo collection;

automatically searching the digital photo collection for digital photos matching the search parameter; and

automatically displaying on the digital display matching photos obtained from the digital photo collection over the network connection.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising automatically determining with automated questions an identity of a viewer of the digital picture frame.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the search parameter includes a person, an activity, a location, or combinations thereof, identified from keywords parsed and extracted in the verbal exchange.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the search is performed on content clustered photographs of the digital photo collection, clustered according to the person, the thing, the place, the activity, or combinations thereof, and/or performed on metadata associated with photos in the digital photo collection.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising comparing metadata of the original and new photos to identify or confirm the original or new photos in the sub-clusters, the metadata including photograph dates.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising automatically clustering photos of a preselected photographed person.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising automatically identifying the photographed person and/or clustering the photos by facial features.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising filtering clusters of photos as a function of quality and/or content, wherein photos of low quality, photos including nudity, and photos of predetermined people, activities, and/or locations are removed from the clusters.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cluster representation comprises a cluster centroid of averaged photo features within each of the plurality of sub-clusters, and further comprising:

comparing the centroids to the new photos; and

linking the new photos for display as a function of a similar centroid.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising comparing clusters of photos across more than one digital photo collection over a network and sharing related clusters over the network for viewing on the digital picture frame.

11. A method of displaying photos on a digital picture frame including a digital display mounted within a frame, a microphone and speaker connected to the frame, and a network connection module, the method comprising:

automatically clustering original photos of a digital photo collection for display to the viewer, wherein the clustering comprises:

preparing a plurality of sub-clusters, each for a corresponding common detected content in the original photos selected from a person, a thing, a place, an activity, or combinations thereof;

extracting one or more photo features from the corresponding common detected content within the each of the sub-clusters of original photos to form a cluster representation, wherein the one or more photo features are predetermined as having a limited change over a timeframe;

comparing the cluster representation of the each of the sub-clusters to new photos in the digital photos collection or in a second digital photo collection, to determine a corresponding sub-cluster for each of the new photos;

linking the each of the new photos to the corresponding sub-cluster for display;

automatically displaying a slideshow on the digital display of the original photos and the new photos from the digital photo collection as a function of the clustering;

automatically verbally interacting with a viewer of the digital picture frame via the microphone and speaker, wherein the verbally interacting comprises more than one spoken statement or spoken question from the speaker;

automatically determining a search parameter from the verbally interacting;

automatically connecting to the digital photo collection over the network;

automatically searching the digital photo collection for digital photos matching the search parameter; and

automatically displaying on the digital display matching photos obtained from the digital photo collection over the network connection.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising automatically determining with automated questions from the speaker an identity of a viewer of the digital picture frame.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the verbally interacting comprises a plurality of automated back-and-forth conversational iterations to establish the identity of the user and/or the search parameter.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the search parameter includes a person, an activity, a location, or combinations thereof, identified from keywords detected in the verbal exchange.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein each of the plurality of sub-clusters is formed of the corresponding common detected content of interest at a similar time and/or age.

16. The method of claim 11 , further comprising automatically clustering photos of the digital photo collection of the viewer stored on a viewer electronic device and of the second digital photo collection of a community member stored on a community member electronic device, wherein each of the viewer electronic device and the community member electronic device includes a digital picture frame interaction application that performs the clustering.

17. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

downloading a digital picture frame interaction application to an electronic device of the viewer of the digital display;

automatically scanning pictures of the electronic device with the downloaded digital picture frame interaction application; and

clustering photos of the electronic device according to content in the plurality of clusters within the digital picture frame interaction application.

18. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

automatically detecting via the microphone or the camera a vocal or physical response from the viewer to one of the displayed photos; and

adjusting the verbal interaction as a function of the vocal or physical response.

19. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

automatically extracting content features from photos of the digital photo collection;

automatically extracting photo image features from photos of the digital photo collection;

creating metadata tags for the photos as a function of the extracted content features and the extracted photo image features;

storing tagged photos in a database; and

automatically searching the digital photo collection for metadata tags and digital photos matching the search parameter.

Assignments (2)

Continuity (12)

References Cited (89)