Granted Patent B2

US 12,411,926 · App. 18/368,450 · Granted Sep 9, 2025

Inventors: Frank Dachille (Mountain View, CA); Anil Sabharwal (Rozelle, AU); Kedar Kanitkar (Mountain View, CA); James Gallagher (Sunnyvale, CA); Timothy Novikoff (Mountain View, CA); David Lieb (San Francisco, CA)

Assignee: Google LLC

G06F21/32G06F3/04842G06F16/583G06F21/6245G06Q50/01H04L67/1097

Abstract

Claims (71)

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, by at least one processor, a person identifier indicating a particular person;

designating, by the at least one processor, the person identifier as a person save criterion and including the person identifier in stored automatic save criteria associated with a user, wherein the automatic save criteria include one or more person identifiers that each identify a respective person, and wherein the person save criterion includes a face save criterion that specifies a particular face identity;

receiving, over a communication network, an indication that the user has been granted access to a first image associated with a different user and provided in a stored different library of images associated with the different user, wherein the first image is not included in an image library associated with the user, wherein the indication includes an access permission for the first image;

in response to receiving the indication that the user has been granted access to the first image, obtaining the first image and the stored automatic save criteria associated with the user;

programmatically analyzing, by the at least one processor, the first image to determine that the first image depicts a person that matches one of the one or more person identifiers of the automatic save criteria, where programmatically analyzing includes applying an image classifier to determine that the first image depicts a face that matches the particular face identity, wherein applying the image classifier is based on pixel values of pixels of the first image; and

in response to determining that the first image depicts the person that matches one of the one or more person identifiers, automatically adding, by the at least one processor, the first image to the image library associated with the user without user input.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the person identifier indicating the particular person comprises:

receiving a selection of a particular image based on user input received by a user device of the user; and

determining, by the at least one processor, the person identifier indicating the particular person who is depicted in the selected particular image.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , further comprising:

selecting, by the at least one processor, a plurality of save criteria images from the image library associated with the user, wherein each of the plurality of save criteria images depicts a different person that is not depicted in other images of the plurality of save criteria images; and

causing the plurality of save criteria images to be displayed in a user interface on the user device of the user,

wherein the selected particular image is selected from the plurality of displayed save criteria images.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , wherein each of the plurality of save criteria images is selected from a different cluster of images from a plurality of clusters of images, wherein each cluster of images includes one or more images depicting each different person.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , further comprising:

selecting, by the at least one processor, one or more second save criteria images from an image library associated with the different user, wherein the different user has previously been given access to the one or more second save criteria images; and

causing the one or more second save criteria images to be displayed on the user device of the user,

wherein the selected particular image is selected from the plurality of displayed save criteria images and the one or more second save criteria images.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , further comprising:

causing to be displayed a first user interface element by the user device, wherein the first user interface element includes a selectable option to accept access to one or more images associated with the different user; and

receiving second user input from the user indicative of an acceptance of access to the one or more images,

wherein selecting the plurality of save criteria images from the image library and causing the plurality of save criteria images to be displayed are in response to receiving the second user input indicative of the acceptance.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , further comprising:

in response to receiving the second user input indicative of the acceptance, causing to be displayed a second user interface that enables the user to update an access permission of one or more images in the image library associated with the user to grant access to the one or more images to the different user.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , further comprising cropping at least one of the plurality of save criteria images to remove image areas other than an image portion that depicts a respective image content feature, wherein the at least one cropped image is provided as at least one of the plurality of save criteria images.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein automatically adding the first image to the image library includes storing a data pointer on a user device, wherein the data pointer points to first image data stored on a server device, wherein the first image data is associated with the first image.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the automatic save criteria includes one or more additional save criteria, wherein the additional save criteria include one or more of: a location save criterion that specifies a location indicated by user input received at a user device, or a time-based save criterion that specifies a time period indicated by the user input received at the user device, and further comprising:

determining whether metadata of the first image meets one or more of the additional save criteria,

wherein automatically adding the first image to the image library is additionally in response to determining that the metadata of the first image meets the one or more of the additional save criteria.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein programmatically analyzing the first image comprises:

applying an image classifier to determine that the first image depicts a face of the particular face identity, wherein applying the image classifier is based on pixel values of the pixels of the first image.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

programmatically analyzing the first image to determine a confidence level for a determination that the first image depicts a person that matches the person save criterion,

wherein in response to the confidence level meeting a first threshold, the first image is automatically added to the image library associated with the user, and

wherein in response to the confidence level not meeting the first threshold and meeting a second threshold that indicates a lower confidence that the first image depicts the person that matches the person save criterion, causing the first image to be displayed on a user device and enabling selection of the first image by second user input from the user to add the first image to the image library associated with the user.

13. A system comprising:

a storage device with instructions stored thereon; and

at least one processor configured to access the storage device and configured to perform operations based on the instructions, the operations comprising:

receiving a selection of a particular image based on user input received by a user device;

determining, by at least one processor, a person identifier indicating a particular person depicted in the selected particular image;

designating the person identifier as a person save criterion and including the person identifier in stored automatic save criteria associated with a user, wherein the automatic save criteria include one or more person identifiers that each identify a respective person, and wherein the person save criterion includes a face save criterion that specifies a particular face identity;

receiving, over a communication network, an indication that the user has been granted access to a first image associated with a different user and provided in a stored different library of images associated with the different user, wherein the first image is not included in an image library associated with the user, wherein the indication includes an access permission for the first image;

in response to receiving the indication that the user has been granted access to the first image, obtaining the first image and the stored automatic save criteria associated with the user;

programmatically analyzing, by the at least one processor, the first image to determine that the first image depicts a person that matches one of the one or more person identifiers of the automatic save criteria, where programmatically analyzing includes applying an image classifier to determine that the first image depicts a face that matches the particular face identity, wherein applying the image classifier is based on pixel values of pixels of the first image; and

in response to determining that the first image depicts the person that matches one of the one or more person identifiers, automatically adding the first image to the image library associated with the user without user input.

14. The system of claim 13 , further comprising:

selecting, by the at least one processor, a plurality of save criteria images from the image library associated with the user, wherein each of the plurality of save criteria images depicts a different person that is not depicted in other images of the plurality of save criteria images; and

causing the plurality of save criteria images to be displayed in a user interface on a user device of the user,

wherein the selected particular image is selected from the plurality of displayed save criteria images.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein each of the plurality of save criteria images is selected from a different cluster of images from a plurality of clusters of images, wherein each cluster of images includes one or more images depicting each different person.

16. The system of claim 14 , wherein the operations further comprise:

selecting, by the at least one processor, one or more second save criteria images from an image library associated with the different user, wherein the different user has previously been given access to the one or more second save criteria images; and

causing the one or more second save criteria images to be displayed on the user device of the user,

wherein the selected particular image is selected from the plurality of displayed save criteria images and the one or more second save criteria images.

17. The system of claim 13 , wherein the automatic save criteria includes one or more additional save criteria, wherein the additional save criteria include one or more of: a location save criterion that specifies a location indicated by user input received at a user device, or a time-based save criterion that specifies a time period indicated by the user input received at the user device, and wherein the operations further comprise:

determining whether metadata of the first image meets one or more of the additional save criteria,

wherein automatically adding the first image to the image library is additionally in response to determining that the metadata of the first image meets the one or more of the additional save criteria.

18. The system of claim 13 , wherein the operation of programmatically analyzing the first image comprises:

applying an image classifier to determine that the first image depicts a face of the particular face identity, wherein applying the image classifier is based on pixel values of the pixels of the first image.

19. The system of claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise:

programmatically analyzing the first image to determine a confidence level for a determination that the first image depicts a person that matches the person save criterion,

wherein in response to the confidence level meeting a first threshold, the first image is automatically added to the image library associated with the user, and

wherein in response to the confidence level not meeting the first threshold and meeting a second threshold that indicates a lower confidence that the first image depicts the person that matches the person save criterion, causing the first image to be displayed on a user device and enabling selection of the first image by second user input from the user to add the first image to the image library associated with the user.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium with instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving, by at least one processor, a person identifier indicating a particular person;

designating the person identifier as a person save criterion and including the person identifier in stored automatic save criteria associated with a user, wherein the automatic save criteria include one or more person identifiers that each identify a respective person, and wherein the person save criterion includes a face save criterion that specifies a particular face identity;

receiving, over a communication network, an indication that the user has been granted access to a first image associated with a different user and provided in a stored different library of images associated with the different user, wherein the first image is not included in an image library associated with the user, wherein the indication includes an access permission for the first image;

in response to receiving the indication that the user has been granted access to the first image, obtaining the first image and the stored automatic save criteria associated with the user;

programmatically analyzing, by the at least one processor, the first image to determine that the first image depicts a person that matches one of the one or more person identifiers of the automatic save criteria, where programmatically analyzing includes applying an image classifier to determine that the first image depicts a face that matches the particular face identity, wherein applying the image classifier is based on pixel values of pixels of the first image; and

in response to determining that the first image depicts the person that matches one of the one or more person identifiers, automatically adding the first image to the image library associated with the user without user input.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (5)

References Cited (400)