KR20220021628A - System and Methods for Image Media Processing in Social Network - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided are a system, method, and non-transitory computer-readable media configured to create, process, and/or modify images. The method comprises: a step of receiving, by a first computing system, receiver image data associated with an original image captured by a second computing system; a step of generating a first intermediate image based on the receiver image data; a step of distributing and storing the generated first intermediate image in a distributed storage server; and a step of generating a first viewable image for display on the first computing system based on the distributed and stored first intermediate image. According to the present invention, a user can dramatically reduce time which takes to obtain processed image and benefit from ability to upload directly to a social network.

Description

System and Methods for Image Media Processing in Social Network

The present technology relates to the field of image editing processing. More specifically, the present technology provides a technology for processing media, such as a photo or video, at a receiver side in a social network.

People have many options for taking pictures. In addition to traditional cameras used to capture images in film or digital form, many mobile devices, including smartphones, also have the ability to take pictures. For example, a mobile device may include a camera and an application that allows a user to take a picture with the camera on the mobile device. These images are saved and can be viewed at any time. In view of the growing popularity of social networks, photos can be shared with users' connections and in many different ways.

In order to share an image, the user needs to select one or more recipients to which the image or video will be shared. Shared images are often sent through processing at the sender side. That is, following image capture and/or selection by the sender, the image is processed at the client device used by the sender. For example, an image may be edited or changed by the sender before being shared with a recipient designated by the sender. As another example, the image may be stabilized by the client device used by the sender before being shared with the recipient designated by the sender. The shared image needs to be processed before being sent to the client device used by the server or recipient. Therefore, delay in transmission of the processed image to the receiver due to the time required for processing cannot be avoided.

A system and method for processing image media in a social network, comprising: receiving recipient image data associated with an original image captured on a mobile device; generating a first intermediate image based on the receiver image data; Distributing and storing the generated first intermediate image in a distributed storage server; and generating a first viewable image for display on a first computing system based on the distributed and stored first intermediate image.

Images may be processed in various ways and at various times. In general, image processing may involve an image, such as a picture or video frame, as an input, an image as an output, or a set of features or parameters associated with the image. Images may be captured and then processed before being rendered for viewing. The user can choose to enhance some image effects to enhance the beauty of the image. Exposure, color, hue and other parameters of the image can be shared and edited before being viewed by the user's connection. Due to this, users can dramatically reduce the time required to obtain processed images and benefit from the ability to upload directly to social networks.

1 shows an example of a system including an example of an image processing module configured to render and/or process an image according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
2 shows an example of an image data conversion module according to an embodiment of the present specification.
3 shows an example of a system for receiver-side image processing according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.
4 shows an example of an image generating module according to an embodiment of the present specification.
5 shows an example of a method of processing an image at a receiver side according to an embodiment of the present specification.
6 shows an example of a method of processing an image at a receiver side according to an embodiment of the present specification.

The social networking system may include a client application that allows a user to interface with the social networking system. The term “client application” is used broadly herein and may include any program or software that provides a user interface that is displayed or displayed on a client device for a user. Client applications may include mobile applications running on cell phones and standalone applications running on client devices. A client application may also include a website having one or more web pages accessible by a user through a web browser on the client device. The client application may provide an image for display to the user on the client device. The images described herein may relate to drawings, photographs, graphic images, advertisements, and the like. In certain instances, the images described herein are equally applicable to a set of images, such as a video as well. Although features of the systems and methods herein are described in the context of a social networking system, it should be noted that the features may also be applied to any suitable networked computer system involving the display of various images.

1 shows an example of a system 100 that includes an example of an image processing module configured to generate, process, and/or modify an image in accordance with an embodiment herein. As shown in FIG. 1 , an example of the image processing module 102 may include an image data conversion module 104 and an image generation module 106 .

System 100 may include at least one data store 108 . In the example of FIG. 1 , the at least one image store 110 may be configured to store image data and an image including an original image, an intermediate image, and a viewable image. An image may be generated from image data. In some embodiments, the image data may be a data stream, which is a series of digitally encoded coherent signals or data packets carrying information in the image. The image data may be generated by compressing the image according to various compression-related formats. Various compression techniques may be used in different embodiments, eg, lossless compression (eg, FFV1, JPEG 2000 lossless, PNG, QuickTime, etc.) or lossy compression (eg, Cinepak, H.261, MPEG-4 Part 2, etc.).

In various embodiments, the original image captured by the sender as well as a derived image processed based on the original image may be stored in the data store 108 . At least one image parameter of the derived image may be different from the original image. For example, the derived image may have a different image quality, resolution, or color format than the original image. Derived images may be original images with comments, comments, or special effects. The derivative image may be an intermediate image and/or a viewable image.

The image data conversion module 104 may be configured to generate an image from image data. In various embodiments, the image generated by the image data conversion module 104 is an intermediate image. That is, the image generated by the image data conversion module 104 is not displayed to the recipient in some cases. For example, the recipient's client device may generate an intermediate image from the image data. In some examples, the intermediate image may not be viewable. Thus, the intermediate image can be processed according to the sender's instructions to create a viewable image that can be displayed to the recipient. For example, a sender can select a recipient before recording a video clip. While the video clip is being recorded, the image data of the video clip can be transmitted and received by a recipient. The intermediate image generated based on the image data may be further processed for viewing by the recipient.

The image creation module 106 may be configured to process the intermediate image into a viewable image for presentation to a recipient. The intermediate image may be processed according to the sender's instructions. In some embodiments, intermediate images may be processed according to supplemental or alternative instructions of an intermediary (eg, a server) or a recipient (eg, a client device). A viewable image for display to the recipient is generated based on the intermediate image such that the original image is generated, for example, according to instructions provided by the sender.

Intermediate image processing to create a viewable image may involve any type of image processing. For example, the sender may need one or more image parameters (eg, color, exposure, focus, contrast, blur, resolution, etc.) of the original image to be modified when shared with the recipient. As another example, the sender may choose to apply an image or photo filter (eg, Amaro, Mayfair, Sierra, Lo-fi, Inkwell, 1977, etc.) to the original image. As another example, the intermediate image may be processed such that stabilization is performed on the original image to produce a viewable image. As another example, the original video clip as recorded may be blurry for a variety of reasons and processing may be performed to improve or correct the blur.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the image data conversion module 202 (eg, the image data conversion module 104 ) shown in FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the present specification. An example of the image data conversion module 202 may generate a set of intermediate images based on the image data. Image data 212 may be obtained or received from data store 210 (eg, data store 108 of FIG. 1 ). The intermediate image 214 may be generated based on the image data 212 and may be stored in the data store 210 . In various embodiments, the image data conversion module 202 may be configured to generate a set of intermediate images based on image data associated with video in real-time or near real-time as the image data is received.

The image data conversion module 202 may include a data receiving module 204 , a data decoding module 206 , and a data-image conversion module 208 . The image data may include information of the original image captured by the sender. The original image may be generated from image data. In some embodiments, an image of low or high quality but based on the original image may be generated from the image data. Image quality can be informed by a variety of factors including sharpness, noise, dynamic range, gradation reproduction, contrast, color accuracy, distortion, vignetting, exposure accuracy, lateral chromatic aberration, lens flare, color moire, and artifacts.

The data receiving module 204 may be configured to receive image data when a user is designated as a recipient by the sender. In various embodiments, image data may be received in real-time or near real-time as the original image is captured. The image data may be generated from the original image according to a format compatible or optimized with the recipient device. In some embodiments, the received image data may be compressed or otherwise modified relative to the image data of the original image.

The data decoding module 206 may be configured to decode the received image data. Image data may be encrypted with an encryption key. The image data may be decrypted using an encryption key, which may be provided by the sender or obtained from a server.

The data-to-image conversion module 208 is configured to generate a set of intermediate images based on the image data received by the data receiving module 204 . In some embodiments, when the received image data has been encrypted, the data-to-image conversion module 208 may be performed on the decrypted image data. As described herein, the received image data is not encrypted unless otherwise specified. In various embodiments, the data-to-image conversion module 208 may be configured to decompress image data and generate a set of images. The set of images is an intermediate image, which may be further processed for display to a recipient.

The intermediate image may contain information describing the pixel, such as the pixel's location and RGB values. Thus, the intermediate image may provide a basis from which to create a viewable image for display to the recipient. The viewable image is based on the original image captured by the sender and may be modified according to the sender's instructions. In some embodiments, intermediate images may be processed according to supplemental or alternative instructions of an intermediary (eg, a server) or a recipient (eg, a client device). In some embodiments, the intermediate image may be an image displayed to the recipient. The data-to-image conversion module 208 may decompress image data according to various image or video decompression formats. That is, a data stream of image data may be decoded according to a bitstream format defined by an image or video decompression format.

3 shows an example of a system for receiver-side image processing according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 3 shows an example of a system 300a (eg, image data conversion module 104 ) for receiver-side image processing shown in FIG. 1 in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

The illustrated system 300a includes a receiver device 302 , an originator device 304 , a server 306 , and a network 308 . Recipient device 302 and sender device 304 may be referred to collectively as a client device. The term “server” is used broadly herein and may include a computer system that provides content to client devices, such as one or more servers. A client device (eg, recipient device 302 or sender device 304 ) may include any computer system. In various embodiments, a client device may include a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a tablet computing device, a mobile phone, or any other device. A client device may include a client application and a display. The server 306 may be remote from the recipient device 302 and the sender device 304 . Server 306 may be communicatively coupled with a client device (eg, recipient device 302 or sender device 304 ) via a network 308 , such as the Internet. Each recipient device 302 , sender device 304 , and server 306 may be coupled to the network 308 by wired or wireless communication.

The client application may run on a client device (eg, recipient device 302 or sender device 304 ) and displayed to a user on a display of the client device. The client application may be a standalone application, for example a mobile application. In another embodiment, a client application may run on the server 306 and communicate with the client device for presentation on the client device. For example, a client application may include a website having one or more web pages accessible by a user through a web browser.

In some embodiments, the data store (eg, data store 108 of FIG. 1 or data store 210 of FIG. 2 ) may contain the original image, image data, as well as any derivative images based on the original image (eg, intermediate images; viewable images). The location of the image data store may vary. For example, the image data store may be located within a client device (eg, recipient device 302 and/or sender device 304 ). As another example, the image store may be located within the sender device 304 or within an image processing module located within the server 306 (eg, the image processing module 102 of FIG. 1 ). The image data store may also be located within the originator device 304 or remotely from an image processing module located within the server 306 (eg, the image processing module 102 of FIG. 1 ).

In various embodiments, the sender device 304 may capture an image and provide it to the recipient device 302 in a format that is compatible or optimized (eg, compression ratio, size, image quality, etc.). For example, constraints such as limited computing power, limited bandwidth, network limitations, data limitations or costs, or settings of the receiver may affect the performance of the receiver device. A low performing recipient device may not have the processing capability to resize (eg, reduce) an image for display on a mobile phone. Furthermore, these recipient devices may not have the processing capability to download high quality images or large amounts of data associated with a plurality of images in an acceptable time. Moreover, these recipient devices may not have the computational capability to process image data compressed to the bit rate, decode the data stream, or process the sender's instructions. Long download and/or processing times as well as lack of processing power can adversely affect the speed and operation of the client application on the recipient device in general, resulting in an unsatisfactory user experience.

Device information for the recipient device may be provided to the sender device. The device information may further be provided to the server. For example, as shown, device information 310 regarding a recipient device 302 may be provided to an originator device 304 via a network 308 . Device information may include information about the device that may affect the capture and presentation of the image from the sender to the receiver. For example, computing power, operating system, network carrier, bandwidth or other information that may affect the format of the image may be provided from the receiver to the sender. The amount of data required for capture of the image and transmission to the recipient device may depend on various factors, such as the image quality with which the image is compressed, the size of the image, and the like. Compression to a higher image quality may require more data to properly represent the image than compression to a lower image quality. Furthermore, compression of a larger size image may require more data than compression of a smaller size. An image processing module (eg, image processing module 102 of FIG. 1 ) may communicate device information 310 to the originator device 304 .

Based on the device information 310 provided by the recipient device 302 , the sender device 304 can generate image data 312 that can be provided to and processed by the recipient device 302 . The image data 312 is generated to be compatible or optimized with the recipient device 302 . For example, based on the device information 310 , the originating device 304 may determine that the recipient device 302 is capable of supporting multiple image formats and thus selects a supported image format to display the image data 312 . can create The image format may be selected to provide the best user experience to the recipient. The image format may be selected so that the best image quality, fastest image delivery speed, lowest cost, or other user settings are provided to the recipient. For example, based on the device information 310 , the originating device 304 may determine that the recipient device 302 supports only one image format, thereby generating image data 312 based on the image format. .

In various embodiments, image data 312 is provided to recipient device 302 in real-time or near real-time as image data 312 is generated by sender device 304 . In the illustrated example, image data 312 is provided from an originator device 304 to a recipient device 302 over a network 308 . In further embodiments, image data 312 may be provided to server 306 .

Based on the device information 310 provided by the recipient device 302 , the sender device 304 determines that the recipient device 302 is unable to process the image or that it is more efficient for the image to be processed by the sender device 304 . can decide In this case, the original image may be processed by the sender device 304 instead of the recipient device 302 to generate a derivative image. The image data 312 may be generated based on a derivative image of the original image. The image data 312 may be provided to a recipient device 302 for display to the recipient.

The client application may run on a client device (eg, recipient device 302 or sender device 304 ) and displayed to a user of the client application on a display. The client application may be a standalone application, for example a mobile application. In another embodiment, a client application may run on the server 306 and communicate with the client device for presentation on the client device. For example, a client application may include a website having one or more web pages accessible by a user through a web browser.

In some embodiments, a data store (eg, data store 108 of FIG. 1 or data store 210 of FIG. 2 ) may store the original image, image data, as well as any derivative images based on the original image. The location of the image data store may vary. For example, the image data store may be located within a client device (eg, recipient device 302 and/or sender device 304 ). As another example, the image store may be located within the sender device 304 or within an image processing module located within the server 306 (eg, the image processing module 102 of FIG. 1 ). The image data store may also be located within the originator device 304 or remotely from an image processing module located within the server 306 (eg, the image processing module 102 of FIG. 1 ).

In various embodiments, the sender device 304 may capture an image and provide it to the recipient device 302 in a format that is compatible or optimized (eg, compression ratio, size, image quality, etc.). Device information 314 includes both device information 310 for recipient device 302 as well as device information 312 for sender device 304 . As shown, device information 314 may be provided to server 306 via network 308 . Device information may include information about the recipient device 302 and the sender device 304 that may affect the capture and presentation of images from the sender to the recipient. For example, computing power, operating system, network carrier, bandwidth or other information that may affect the format of the image may be provided to the server from the sender and receiver. The amount of data required for capture of the image and transmission to the recipient device may depend on various factors, such as the image quality with which the image is compressed, the size of the image, and the like. Compression to a higher image quality may require more data to properly represent the image than compression to a lower image quality. Furthermore, compression of a larger size image may require more data than compression of a smaller size.

Based on the receiver device 302 and the device information 314 of the sender device 304 , the server 306 configures an image format 316 that is compatible or optimized with the recipient device 302 and supported by the sender device 304 . can be decided For example, based on the device information 314 , the server 306 may determine that the sender device 304 and the recipient device 302 can support a plurality of image formats and image formats supported from the plurality of image formats. select The image format may be selected to provide the best user experience to the recipient. The image format may be selected so that the best image quality, fastest image delivery speed, lowest cost, or other user settings are provided to the recipient. For example, based on the device information 314 , the calling device 304 may determine that the recipient device 302 and the calling device 304 support only one image format. Server 306 may provide the determination of image format 316 to sender device 304 . In some embodiments, the server may provide identification of a codec compatible with the image format 316 and induce the originating device 304 to generate image data 312 based on the image format.

In accordance with the determination of the image format 316 , the originator device 304 may generate image data 318 . In some embodiments, image data 318 may be generated by using a codec identified by server 306 . The image data 318 may be provided to a recipient device 302 . In various embodiments, image data 318 is provided to recipient device 302 in real-time or near real-time as image data 318 is generated by sender device 304 . In the illustrated example, image data 318 is provided from an originator device 304 to a receiver device 302 over a network 308 . In further embodiments, image data 318 may be provided to server 306 .

Based on the device information 314 provided by the recipient device 302 and the sender device 304 , the server 306 indicates that the recipient device 302 is unable to process the image or the image is processed by the sender device 304 . You may decide to be more efficient. In this case, the original image is processed by the originator device 304 to produce a derivative image. The image data 318 may be generated based on a derivative image of the original image. The image data 318 may be provided to a recipient device 302 for display to the recipient.

4 shows an example of the image generation module 402 (eg, the image generation module 106 ) shown in FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the present specification. An example of the image generation module 402 may generate a viewable image for display to a recipient. The image generating module 402 may be configured to generate a viewable image according to a sender's instruction. In some embodiments, intermediate images may be processed according to supplemental or alternative instructions of an intermediary (eg, a server) or a recipient (eg, a client device). The image creation module 402 may also be configured to automatically generate a viewable image. The viewable image may be generated based on the intermediate image. The intermediate image 410 may be obtained or received from at least one data store 408 (eg, data store 108 of FIG. 1 ). Viewable image 412 may be generated based on intermediate image 410 and stored in data store 408 . In various embodiments, the image generation module 402 may be configured in real-time or near real-time as a set of intermediate images is generated from the image data, for example by an image data conversion module (eg, the image data conversion module 104 shown in FIG. 1 ). is configured to create a viewable image.

The image generation module 402 may include an image stabilization module 404 and an image modification module 406 . The image stabilization module 404 may be configured to reduce blur associated with the original image. Thus, the blur associated with the viewable image is less than the blur associated with the original image captured by the sender. In some embodiments, image stabilization module 404 may be configured to automatically generate less blurry viewable images. For example, automatic image stabilization may be performed when the original image captured by the sender is blurry and image data of the original blurry image is provided to the recipient, but the sender does not specify that the original blurry image requires stabilization. When the set of intermediate images is generated from the image data, the image generation module 402 is configured to generate the viewable image based on the set of intermediate images such that the viewable image has less blurring than the original blurry image. In some embodiments, image stabilization module 404 may be configured to generate less blurry viewable images based on the recipient's device settings. In some embodiments, the recipient may provide that image stabilization is performed only when the blurring of the original image exceeds a predetermined amount.

The image modification module 406 is configured to generate the viewable image so that the viewable image is modified based on the original image according to the sender's instruction. The sender may want to share an image with the receiver that is different from the original captured image. For example, the original image may be cropped, zoomed, modified to another color format, faded, colorized, or annotated with comments, annotations, or special effects from the sender. An intermediate image may be generated from the image data based on the original image without any instruction to modify the image. Any modifications desired and selected by the sender may be performed on the intermediate image 410 by the image modification module 406 . In some embodiments, the image modification module 406 may be configured to create a viewable image including the sender's comments, annotations, or other special effects. In some embodiments, the image modification module 406 may be configured to generate the viewable image 412 such that at least one parameter of the viewable image 412 is modified. For example, the sender may choose to share the original image with certain photo filters or effects applied.

5 shows an example of a method 500 of processing an image at a receiver side according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. It is to be understood that there may be additional, fewer, or alternative steps performed in parallel or in a similar or alternative order or in parallel within the scope of the various embodiments, unless otherwise stated. At block 502 , image data is received by a client device used by a recipient. The recipient may be designated by the sender. Image data may be generated and received by a recipient in real-time or near real-time as the image is captured. In some embodiments, the image data may be received from a client device used by the sender. In some embodiments, the image data may be received from a server that has received the image data from the sender. In various embodiments, the image data is generated in a format that is compatible or optimized with the recipient's client device. At block 504 , a set of intermediate images is generated based on the image data. The intermediate image may be generated in real-time or near real-time as the image data is received. At block 506 , a viewable image is generated from the set of intermediate images. The viewable image is for display to a recipient. The viewable image may be processed such that the original image is modified according to the sender's instructions. The viewable image may be automatically processed to stabilize the original image. Viewable images may be processed in real-time or near real-time as sets of intermediate images are generated. A more detailed description and examples are provided herein.

6 shows an example of a method 600a of processing an image at the receiver side according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. It is to be understood that there may be additional, fewer, or alternative steps performed in parallel or in a similar or alternative order or in parallel within the scope of the various embodiments, unless otherwise stated. At block 610 , device information of the recipient device is provided from the recipient device 602 to the calling device 604 . In further embodiments, the device information may be provided from the recipient device 602 to the server device 606 . The sender device 604 may receive recipient device information from the recipient device 602 or from the server device 606 . At block 612 , a format (eg, compression ratio, size, image quality, etc.) is determined by the originator device 604 based on the recipient device information. The format may be compatible or optimized with the recipient device. At block 614 , image data is generated by the originating device based on the format determined at block 612 . Image data is provided to and received by a recipient device 602 at block 616 . Additionally or alternatively, image data is provided to and received by the server device 606 at block 616'. At block 618 , a set of intermediate images is generated by the recipient device 602 from the image data received at block 616 . At block 620 , a viewable image is generated by the recipient device 602 from the intermediate image. A more detailed description and examples are provided herein.

System 700 includes one or more user devices 710 , one or more external systems 720 , a social networking system 730 , and a network 750 . In one embodiment, the social networking service, provider, and/or system discussed in connection with the foregoing embodiments may be implemented as a social networking system 730 . For illustrative purposes, the embodiment of system 700 illustrated by FIG. 7 includes a single external system 720 and a single user device 710 . However, in other embodiments, system 700 may include more user devices 710 and/or more external systems 720 . In particular embodiments, social-networking system 730 is operated by a social-networking provider, while external system 720 is separate from social-networking system 730 in that it may be operated by different entities. However, in various embodiments, social-networking system 730 and external system 720 work together to provide social-networking services to users (or members) of social-networking system 730 . In this respect, social networking system 730 provides a platform or backbone that other systems, such as external system 720 , can use to provide social networking services and functionality to users over the Internet.

User device 710 includes one or more computing devices capable of receiving input from a user and sending and receiving data over network 750 . In one embodiment, user device 710 is a conventional computer system running, for example, a Microsoft Windows compatible operating system (OS), Apple OS X, and/or a Linux distribution. In another embodiment, the user device 710 may be a device with computer capabilities, such as a smart phone, tablet, personal digital assistant (PDA), mobile phone, or the like. User device 710 is configured to communicate via network 750 . User device 710 may run an application, such as a browser application, that allows a user of user device 710 to interact with social networking system 730 , for example. In another embodiment, the user device 710 interacts with the social networking system 730 through an application programming interface (API) provided by the native operating system of the user device 710 , such as iOS and ANDROID. User device 710 connects to external system 720 and social networking system 730 via network 750 , which may include any combination of local area and/or wide area networks using wired and/or wireless communication systems. ) to communicate with

In one embodiment, user device 710 uses browser application 712 to process markup language document 714 received from external system 720 and social networking system 730 to process external system 720 . and/or display content from social networking system 730 . The markup language document 714 identifies the content and one or more instructions that describe the format or presentation of the content. By executing instructions contained in markup language document 714 , browser application 712 displays the identified content using the format or presentation described by markup language document 714 . For example, markup language document 714 includes instructions for creating and displaying a web page having multiple frames containing text and/or image data retrieved from external system 720 and social networking system 730 . do. In various embodiments, markup language document 714 includes a data file containing extensible markup language (XML) data, extensible hypertext markup language (XHTML) data, or other markup language data. Additionally, the markup language document 714 facilitates data interchange between JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) data, JSON with padding (JSONP), and the external system 720 and the user device 710 . It may contain JavaScript data that says The browser application 712 on the user device 710 may use a JavaScript compiler to decode the markup language document 714 .

External system 720 includes one or more web servers containing one or more web pages 722a , 722b communicated to user device 710 using network 750 . External system 720 is separate from social networking system 730 . For example, external system 720 is associated with a first domain, while social networking system 730 is associated with a separate social networking domain. Web pages 722a, 722b included in external system 720 include a markup language document 714 that identifies the content and includes instructions specifying the format or presentation of the identified content.

Social-networking system 730 includes one or more computing devices for a social network that includes a number of users and provides users of the social network with the ability to communicate or interact with other users of the social network. In some examples, a social network may be represented as a graph, ie, a data structure comprising edges and nodes. Other data structures including, but not limited to, databases, objects, classes, meta-components, files, or any other data structure may also be used to represent the social network. The social networking system 730 may be managed, maintained, or controlled by an operator. An operator of social-networking system 730 may be a person, an automated application, or a set of applications for managing content, regulating policies, and collecting usage metrics within social-networking system 730 . Any type of operator may be used.

In addition to establishing and managing connections between users and allowing interaction between users, social-networking system 730 provides users with access to various types of items supported by social-networking system 730 . It provides the ability to perform an action. Groups or networks to which users of social-networking system 730 may belong (ie, a social network of people, entities, and concepts), events or calendar entries that the user may be interested in, and Computer-based applications available through social networking system 730 , transactions that allow a user to buy or sell items through services provided by or through social networking system 730 . , interactions with advertisements that the user may perform within or outside of social networking system 730 . These are just a few examples of items on which a user may act on social-networking system 730 , and many other examples are possible. A user may interact with anything that may be represented on the social networking system 730 or on an external system 720 that is separate from the social networking system 730 or connected to the social networking system 730 via a network 750 . there is.

Social networking system 730 may also link various entities. For example, social networking system 730 enables users to interact with each other, as well as users interact with external system 720 or other entities via APIs, web services, or other communication channels. The social networking system 730 creates and manages a “social graph” comprising a plurality of nodes interconnected by a plurality of edges. Each node in the social graph may act on and/or represent an entity on which other nodes may act. The social graph may include various types of nodes. Examples of types of nodes include users, non-human entities, content items, web pages, groups, activities, messages, concepts, and any other that may be represented by objects in social networking system 730 . . An edge between two nodes in a social graph may represent a particular type of connection or association between two nodes, and an edge may arise from a node connection or from an action that one of the nodes performs with respect to the other node. In some cases, edges between nodes may be weighted. The weight of an edge may represent a property associated with an edge, such as a connection between nodes or the strength of an association. Different types of edges may be given different weights. For example, edges generated when one user "likes" another user may be given one weight, while edges generated when a user makes another user as friends may be given a different weight.

As an example, when the first user identifies the second user as a friend, an edge in the social graph is created to connect the node representing the first user and the second node representing the second user. As the various nodes relate or interact, social-networking system 730 changes the edges connecting the various nodes to reflect the relationship or interaction.

Social-networking system 730 also includes user-generated content that enhances user interaction with social-networking system 730 . User-generated content may include anything that a user may add, upload, transmit, or “post” to the social-networking system 730 . For example, a user communicates a post from the user device 710 to the social networking system 730 . Posts may contain data such as status updates or other text data, location information, images such as photos, videos, links, music, or other similar data and/or media. Content may also be added to social networking system 730 by third parties. Content “items” may be represented as objects in social networking system 730 . In this way, users of social-networking system 730 are encouraged to communicate with each other by posting text and content items of various types of media over various communication channels. Such communication increases users' interactions with each other and increases the frequency with which users interact with social networking system 730 .

The social networking system 730 includes a web server 732 , an API request server 734 , a user profile store 736 , a connection store 738 , a behavior logger 740 , an activity log 742 , and an authentication server 744 . includes In one embodiment of the present invention, social-networking system 730 may include additional, fewer, or different components for various applications. Other components such as network interfaces, security mechanisms, load balancers, failover servers, management and network operations consoles, etc. are not shown in order not to obscure the details of the system.

The user profile store 736 is a user profile store that contains demographic, demographic, and other types of descriptive information, such as career, education, hobbies or preferences, location, etc., declared by the user or inferred by the social networking system 730 . Manage account information. This information is stored in the user profile store 736 so that each user is uniquely identified. Social-networking system 730 also stores data describing one or more connections between different users in connection store 738 . Connection information may indicate users with similar or common careers, group memberships, hobbies, or educational backgrounds. Additionally, social-networking system 730 includes user-defined connections between different users, allowing users to specify their relationships with other users. For example, user-defined connections allow a user to create relationships with other users that match the user's real-life relationships, such as friends, colleagues, partners, and the like. Users can choose from predefined types of connections or define their own connection types as needed. Connections with other nodes in social networking system 730 , such as non-human entities, buckets, cluster centers, images, interests, pages, external systems, concepts, etc. are also stored in connection store 738 .

The social networking system 730 manages data regarding objects with which the user may interact. To manage this data, the user profile store 736 and the connection store 738 store instances of corresponding types of objects managed by the social networking system 730 . Each object type has an information field suitable for storing information appropriate to the type of object. For example, the user profile store 736 includes a data structure having fields suitable for describing the user's account and information related to the user's account. When a new object of a particular type is created, social-networking system 730 initializes a new data structure of the corresponding type, assigns it a unique object identifier, and adds data to the object as needed. This may, for example, result in the user becoming a user of the social networking system 730 , the social networking system 730 creating a new instance of the user profile in the user profile store 736 , assigning a unique identifier to the user account, and the user This can happen when you start filling out the fields of your user account with information provided by .

Connection store 738 contains data structures suitable for describing a user's connections to other users, connections to external systems 720, or connections to other entities. Connection store 738 may also associate a connection type with a user's connection, which may be used in conjunction with the user's privacy settings to regulate access to information about the user. In one embodiment of the present invention, the user profile store 736 and the connection store 738 may be implemented as a federated database.

Data stored in connection store 738 , user profile store 736 , and activity log 742 allows social networking system 730 to identify nodes to identify various objects and relationships between different objects. You can have it create a social graph that uses connecting edges. For example, if a first user establishes a connection with a second user in the social networking system 730 , the user accounts of the first user and the second user from the user profile store 736 will serve as nodes in the social graph. can The connection between the first user and the second user stored by the connection store 738 is an edge between the nodes associated with the first user and the second user. Continuing with this example, the second user may then send a message to the first user within social-networking system 730 . The act of sending this message, which may be stored, is another edge between two nodes in the social graph representing the first user and the second user. Additionally, the message itself may be identified and included in the social graph as another node connected to nodes representing the first user and the second user.

As another example, a first user may tag a second user in an image managed by social-networking system 730 (or alternatively, an image managed by another system external to social-networking system 730 ). The image itself may be represented as a node in the social networking system 730 . This tagging action not only creates an edge between the first user and the second user, but can also create an edge between each user and the image that becomes a node in the social graph. As another example, if a user confirms attending an event, then the user and the event are nodes obtained from the user profile store 736 , where attendance at the event is an edge between the nodes that can be retrieved from the activity log 742 . . By creating and managing social graphs, social networking system 730 provides a rich source of socially relevant information, including data describing different types of objects and interactions and connections between those objects. to provide.

Web server 732 links social networking system 730 via network 750 to one or more user devices 710 and/or one or more external systems 720 . Web server 732 serves web pages as well as other web-related content, such as Java, JavaScript, Flash, XML, and the like. Web server 732 may include a mail server or other messaging function for receiving and routing messages between social networking system 730 and one or more user devices 710 . Messages may be instant messages, queued messages (eg, email), text and SMS messages, or any other suitable message format.

The API request server 734 allows one or more external systems 720 and user devices 710 to call access information from the social networking system 730 by calling one or more API functions. The API request server 734 may also cause the external system 720 to send information to the social networking system 730 by calling APIs. In one embodiment, external system 720 sends an API request to social networking system 730 over network 750 , and API request server 734 receives the API request. The API request server 734 processes the request by calling the API associated with the API request to generate an appropriate response in which the API request server 734 communicates via the network 750 to the external system 720 . For example, in response to the API request, the API request server 734 collects data associated with the user, such as a logged user's connection to the external system 720 , and communicates the collected data to the external system 720 . In another embodiment, user device 710 communicates via APIs with social networking system 730 in the same manner as external system 720 .

Behavior logger 740 may receive communications from web server 732 regarding user behavior within and/or outside social networking system 730 . The action logger 740 populates the activity log 742 with information about user actions so that the social networking system 730 can perform various actions taken by its users within the social networking system 730 and outside the social networking system 730 . action to be discovered. Any actions that a particular user has taken with respect to other nodes on the social-networking system 730 may be associated with each user's account through information maintained in an activity log 742 or similar database or other data store. Examples of actions taken by a user within the identified and stored social networking system 730 include, for example, adding a connection to another user, sending a message to another user, reading a message from another user, or viewing content associated with another user. viewing, attending events posted by other users, posting images, attempting to post images, or other actions of interacting with other users or other objects. When a user takes an action within the social-networking system 730 , the action is recorded in the activity log 742 . In one embodiment, social-networking system 730 maintains activity log 742 as a database of entries. When an action is taken within the social-networking system 730 , an entry for the action is added to the activity log 742 . The activity log 742 may be referred to as an activity log.

Additionally, user actions may be associated with concepts and actions occurring within entries external to social networking system 730 , such as external system 720 separate from social networking system 730 . For example, behavior logger 740 may receive data from web server 732 describing a user's interaction with external system 720 . In this example, external system 720 reports the user's interactions according to structured actions and objects in the social graph.

Other examples of actions in which the user interacts with the external system 720 include the user expressing an interest in the external system 720 or other entity, the user expressing an interest in the external system 720 or other entity, and the user interacting with the external system 720 or a web within the external system 720 . posting a comment discussing page 722a to social networking system 730 , a user posting to social networking system 730 a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) or other identifier associated with external system 720 ; the user attending an event associated with the external system 720 , or any other action by the user associated with the external system 720 . Accordingly, the activity log 742 may include actions that describe interactions between a user of the social-networking system 730 and an external system 720 that is separate from the social-networking system 730 .

The authentication server 744 enforces one or more privacy settings of the user of the social-networking system 730 . A user's privacy settings determine how certain information associated with the user may be shared. Privacy settings include a specification of specific information associated with a user and an entity or entities with which the information can be shared. Examples of entities with which information may be shared may include other users, applications, external systems 720 , or any entity with potentially access to information. Information that may be shared by a user includes user account information, such as, for example, a profile picture, a phone number associated with the user, a user's connection, an action taken by the user, such as adding a connection, changing the user's profile information, etc. do.

Privacy setting specifications may be provided at different levels of granularity. For example, privacy settings may identify specific information to be shared with other users; A privacy setting identifies a work phone number or a specific set of related information, such as a profile picture, home phone number, and status. Alternatively, privacy settings may be applied to all information associated with the user. The specification of the set of entities that can access particular information may also be specified at various levels of granularity. The various sets of entities with which information may be shared may include, for example, all friends of the user, all friends of friends, all applications, or all external systems 720 . One embodiment allows a specification of a set of entities to include a list of entities. For example, a user may provide a list of external systems 720 that are allowed to access certain information. Another embodiment allows the specification to include a set of entities with exceptions that are not allowed to access information. For example, a user may specify a list of external systems 720 that allows all external systems 720 to access the user's job information, but is not allowed to access the job information. Certain embodiments may refer to a "block list" as a list of exceptions for which access to certain information is not permitted. External systems 720 belonging to the block list specified by the user are blocked from accessing the information specified in the privacy settings. Various combinations of granularity of the specification of information and the granularity of the specification of entities with which the information is shared are possible. For example, all personal information may be shared with friends, while all work information may be shared with friends of a friend.

The authentication server 744 includes logic to determine whether certain information associated with the user may be accessed by the user's friends, external systems 720, and/or other applications and entities. External system 720 may require authentication from authentication server 744 to access more personal and sensitive information of the user, such as the user's work phone number, for example. Based on the user's privacy settings, the authentication server 744 may prevent other users, external systems 720, applications, or other entities from accessing information associated with the user, including information regarding actions taken by the user. decide whether it is allowed or not.

The social networking system 730 can include an image processing module 746 . In some embodiments, the image processing module 746 may be implemented as the image processing module 102 of FIG. 1 . The image processing module 746 may be configured to generate, process, and/or modify an image in accordance with various embodiments herein.

User device 710 may include an image processing module 746 ′. In some embodiments, the image processing module 746 ′ may be implemented as the image processing module 102 of FIG. 1 . Image processing module 746 ′ may be configured to create, process, and/or modify images in accordance with various embodiments herein.

The present invention may include a cutting unit, a first transfer and a second transfer, and a combine unit.

The cutting unit may generate a plurality of pieces by dividing the data, and may assign an address to each of the pieces. Here, the addresses of the pieces may be composed of a combination of a plurality of letters and numbers.

Also, the cutting unit may generate a combination rule in consideration of each address. Here, the combination rule refers to a rule that allows a plurality of data pieces to be combined into data before being divided based on each address.

The first transfer may transmit a plurality of data pieces in an arbitrary order. Here, a plurality of data pieces may be transmitted together with an assigned address, respectively.

The second transfer may transmit a combination rule corresponding to the plurality of data pieces transmitted by the first transfer. Here, it may be preferable that the second transfer transmits the combination rule with a time difference with respect to the transmission of the plurality of data pieces by the first transfer.

The functional operations described in this specification and the embodiments related to the present subject matter can be implemented in a digital electronic circuit, computer software, firmware or hardware, including the structures disclosed herein and structural equivalents thereof, or in a combination of one or more thereof Do.

Embodiments of the subject matter described herein are one or more computer program products, ie one or more modules directed to computer program instructions encoded on a tangible program medium for execution by or for controlling the operation of a data processing apparatus. can be implemented. A tangible program medium may be a radio wave signal or a computer-readable medium. A radio wave signal is an artificially generated signal, eg a machine-generated electrical, optical or electromagnetic signal, that is generated to encode information for transmission to an appropriate receiver device for execution by a computer. The computer-readable medium may be a machine-readable storage device, a machine-readable storage substrate, a memory device, a combination of materials that affect a machine-readable radio wave signal, or a combination of one or more of these.

A computer program (also known as a program, software, software application, script or code) may be written in any form of any programming language, including compiled or interpreted language or a priori or procedural language, and may be written as a stand-alone program or module; It can be deployed in any form, including components, subroutines, or other units suitable for use in a computer environment.

A computer program does not necessarily correspond to a file in a file system. A program may be in a single file provided to the requested program, or in multiple interacting files (eg, files that store one or more modules, subprograms, or portions of code), or portions of files that hold other programs or data. (eg, one or more scripts stored within a markup language document).

The computer program may be deployed to be executed on one computer or multiple computers located at one site or distributed over a plurality of sites and interconnected by a communication network.

Additionally, the logic flows and structural block diagrams described herein describe corresponding acts and/or specific methods supported by corresponding functions and steps supported by the disclosed structural means, and corresponding software. It can also be used to build structures and algorithms and their equivalents.

The processes and logic flows described herein may be performed by one or more programmable processors executing one or more computer programs to perform functions by operating on input data and generating output.

Processors suitable for the execution of computer programs include, for example, both general and special purpose microprocessors and any one or more processors of any kind of digital computer. Typically, the processor will receive instructions and data from read-only memory, random access memory, or both.

A key element of a computer is one or more memory devices for storing instructions and data and a processor for executing instructions. In addition, a computer is generally operably coupled to receive data from, or transmit data to, one or more mass storage devices for storing data, such as, for example, magnetic, magneto-optical disks or optical disks, or to perform both such operations. or will include However, the computer need not have such a device.

The present description sets forth the best mode of the invention, and provides examples to illustrate the invention, and to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the invention. The specification thus prepared does not limit the present invention to the specific terms presented.

Accordingly, although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the above-described examples, those skilled in the art can make modifications, changes, and modifications to the examples without departing from the scope of the present invention. In short, in order to achieve the intended effect of the present invention, it is not necessary to separately include all the functional blocks shown in the drawings or follow all the orders shown in the drawings. indicate that it may be within the scope

Claims (6)

receiving, by the first computing system, recipient image data associated with the original image captured by the second computing system;
generating a first intermediate image based on the receiver image data;
distributing and storing the generated first intermediate image in a distributed storage server; and
and generating a first viewable image for display on a first computing system based on the distributed first intermediate image. The method of claim 1,
and displaying the first viewable image on a mobile device and a PC. The method of claim 1,
The method of generating the first intermediate image is
decoding the receiver image data to generate decoded image data; and
decoding the decoded image data to generate a first intermediate image based on the format; and
and applying an image filter to the first intermediate image. The method of claim 1,
generating a set of intermediate images comprising a first intermediate image based on the recipient image data;
and generating the first viewable image based on the first intermediate image is based on the set of intermediate images. 5. The method of claim 4,
storing the set of intermediate images; and
The method for processing image media in a social network, further comprising the step of storing, in a first computing system, the first viewable image. receiving, by the first computing system, recipient image data associated with the original image captured by the second computing system;
generating a first intermediate image based on the receiver image data; and
and generating a first viewable image for display on the first computing system based on the first intermediate image.

Images