Method and apparatus for mitigating face aging errors when performing facial recognition

1. A computer implemented method comprising:

receiving an indication of a face to be searched in an image set, where each image in the image set comprises a timestamp that identifies a creation date of the image, the creation date being in a continuum of successive time intervals;

performing facial recognition to identify the indicated face in one or more images in a first time interval from a plurality of successive time intervals in the continuum using a positive reference set comprising one or more faces from a previous time interval that match the indicated face and a negative reference set comprising one or more faces from the previous time interval that do not match the indicated face;

replacing the one or more faces from images from the previous time interval in the positive reference set with one or more faces from images from the first time interval that match the indicated face;

replacing the one or more faces from images from the previous time interval in the negative reference set with one or more faces from images from the first time interval that do not match the indicated face; and

performing facial recognition to identify the indicated face in one or more images in a second time interval from the plurality of successive time intervals using the positive reference set and the negative reference set, the second time interval being successive to the first time interval.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

removing images of the image set that do not comprise a face; and

ordering images of the image set according to the timestamp of each image.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the successive time intervals are identified as repeating time periods of one of months, weeks of years.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

performing facial recognition on the one or more images in the previous time interval using the indicated face as a reference, where each image in the previous time interval comprises a timestamp that is within the previous time interval;

storing one or more images from the previous time interval that include the one or more faces that match the indicated face in a resultant image set;

generating the positive reference set for the previous time interval, the positive reference set comprising the one or more faces from images from the previous time interval that match the indicated face; and

generating the negative reference set for the previous time interval, the negative reference set comprising the one or more faces from images from the previous time interval that do not match the indicated face.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising: determining that the one or more images in the second time interval do not include the indicated face;

retaining the one or more faces from images from the first time interval that match the indicated face in the positive reference set; and

replacing the one or more faces from images from the first time interval in the negative reference set with one or more faces from images from the second time interval that do not match the indicated face.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

performing facial recognition to identify the indicated face in one or more images in a plurality of image groups corresponding to a plurality of successive time intervals;

determining that a number of image groups from the plurality of image groups that do not have the indicated face in any images meets a predefined threshold; and

requesting a selection of a face in an image comprising a timestamp in a next time interval, the next time interval successive to a last searched time interval.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing facial recognition for the second time interval comprises using one or more images in the positive reference set as reference to identify the indicated face in the one or more images of the second time interval, and using the one or more images in the negative reference set as reference to identify faces to exclude from possible matches of the indicated face in the one or more images in the second time interval.

8. An apparatus for mitigating face aging errors when performing facial recognition comprising:

at least one processor; and

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:

receive an indication of a face to be searched in an image set, where each image in the image set comprises a timestamp that identifies a creation date of the image, the creation date being in a continuum of successive time intervals;

perform facial recognition to identify the indicated face in one or more images in a first time interval from a plurality of successive time intervals in the continuum using a positive reference set comprising one or more faces from a previous time interval that match the indicated face and a negative reference set comprising one or more faces from the previous time interval that do not match the indicated face;

replace the one or more faces from images from the previous time interval in the positive reference set with one or more faces from images from the first time interval that match the indicated face;

replace the one or more faces from images from the previous time interval in the negative reference set with one or more faces from images from the first time interval that do not match the indicated face; and

perform facial recognition to identify the indicated face in one or more images in a second time interval from the plurality of successive time intervals using the positive reference set and the negative reference set, the second time interval being successive to the first time interval.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:

remove images of the image set that do not comprise a face; and

order images of the image set according to the timestamp of each image.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:

perform facial recognition on the one or more images in the previous time interval using the indicated face as a reference, where each image in the previous time interval comprises a timestamp that is within the previous time interval;

store one or more images from the previous time interval that include the one or more faces that match the indicated face in a resultant image set;

generate the positive reference set for the previous time interval, the positive reference set comprising the one or more faces from images from the previous time interval that match the indicated face; and

generate the negative reference set for the previous time interval, the negative reference set comprising the one or more faces from images from the previous time interval that do not match the indicated face.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:

determine that the one or more images in the second time interval do not include the indicated face;

retain the one or more faces from images from the first time interval that match the indicated face in the positive reference set; and

replace the one or more faces from images from the first time interval in the negative reference set with one or more faces from images from the second time interval that do not match the indicated face.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:

perform facial recognition to identify the indicated face in one or more images in a plurality of image groups corresponding to a plurality of successive time intervals;

determine that a number of image groups from the plurality of image groups that do not have the indicated face in any images meets a predefined threshold; and

request a selection of the face in an image comprising a timestamp in a next time interval, the next time interval successive to a last searched time interval.

13. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform facial recognition for the second time interval by performing steps comprising using the one or more images in the reference set as reference to identify the indicated face in the one or more images of the second time interval, and using the one or more images in the negative reference set as reference to identify faces to exclude from possible matches of the indicated face in the one or more images in the second time interval.

14. A non-transitory computer readable medium for storing computer instructions that, when executed by at least one processor cause a computer system to:

receive an indication of a face to be searched in an image set, where each image in the image set comprises a timestamp that identifies a creation date of the image, the creation date of the image, the creation date being in a continuum of successive time intervals; and

perform facial recognition to identify the indicated face in one or more images in a first time interval from a plurality of successive time intervals in the continuum using a positive reference set comprising one or more faces from a previous time interval that match the indicated face and a negative reference set comprising one or more faces from the previous time interval that do not match the indicated face;

replace the one or more faces from images from the previous time interval in the positive reference set with one or more faces that match the indicated face from the first time interval;

replace the one or more faces from images from the previous time interval in the negative reference set with one or more faces from images from the first time interval that do not match the indicated face; and

perform facial recognition to identify the indicated face in one or more images in a second time interval from the plurality of successive time intervals using the positive reference set and the negative reference set from the first time interval, the second time interval being successive to the first time interval.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the computer system to:

remove images of the image set that do not comprise a face; and

order images of the image set according to the timestamp of each image.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the successive time intervals are identified as repeating time periods of one months, weeks, or years.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computer system to search to identify the indicated face in one or more images in a first time interval by performing steps comprising:

performing facial recognition on the one or more images in the previous time interval using the indicated face as a reference, where each image in the previous time interval comprises a timestamp that is within the previous time interval;

storing one or more images from the previous time interval that include the one or more faces that match the indicated face in a resultant image set;

generating the positive reference set for the previous time interval, the positive reference set comprising the one or more faces from images from the previous time interval that match the indicated face; and

generating the negative reference set for the previous time interval, the negative reference set comprising the one or more faces from the images from the previous time interval that do not match the indicated face.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computer system to:

retain the one or more faces from images from the first time interval that match the indicated face in the positive reference set; and

replace the one or more faces from images from the first time interval in the negative reference set with one or more faces from images from the second time interval that do not match the indicated face.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computer system to perform facial recognition for the second time interval by performing steps comprising using the one or more images in the positive reference set as reference to identify the indicated face in the one or more images of the second time interval, and using the one or more images in the negative reference set as reference to identify faces to exclude from possible matches of the indicated face in the one or more images in the second time interval.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computer system to:

perform facial recognition to identify the indicated face in one or more images in a plurality of image groups corresponding to a plurality of successive time intervals;

determine that a number of image groups from the plurality of image groups that do not have the indicated face in any images meets a predefined threshold; and

request a selection of a face in an image comprising a timestamp in a next time interval, the next time interval successive to a last searched time interval.