Method and apparatus for determining social networking relationships

Abstract

An approach is provided for recognizing one or more people from media content and determining if the one or more people are associated with a social networking service. A request is received from a user equipment specifying a media content. Electronically processing of the media content to recognize one or more people is initiated. It is determined whether the one or more people are associated with a member account of a social networking service. A prompting of the user is initiated with an option based on the determination.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for developing social networking relationships in a social network based on a media content and biometric data, the method comprising:
 initiating electronic processing of the media content to attempt to recognize one or more people by extracting, utilizing at least one processor, biometric data of the one or more people represented in the media content using one or more computer algorithms configured to extract the biometric data, wherein the extracted biometric data is associated with one or more intrinsic physical traits of the one or more people as represented in the media content;   comparing the extracted biometric data with other biometric data to attempt to recognize the one or more people represented in the media content;   determining that the extracted biometric data and the other biometric data do not match within a predetermined error threshold; and   adding the one or more people associated with the extracted biometric data to a future invitation list of the social network of a user.   
     
     
         2 . A method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 initiating a transmission of a social network invitation to the one or more people added to the future invitation list;   determining at least one of the one or more people has created a social networking service account; and   recommending a group of people to a new member of the social network.   
     
     
         3 . A method of  claim 2 , wherein the transmission of the social network invitation is based, at least in part, on the biometric data, and wherein the biometric data comprises previous profile image biometric data associated with the one or more people. 
     
     
         4 . A method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 determining that the extracted biometric data of the one or more people added to the future invitation list matches new biometric data associated with the new member of the social network; and   initiating a transmission of a friend request to the new member of the social network.   
     
     
         5 . A method of  claim 4 , wherein the transmission of the friend request is initiated automatically based on the determining that the extracted biometric data matches the new biometric data. 
     
     
         6 . A method of  claim 1 , wherein the future invitation list is an invitation queue, a social invitation queue, or a combination thereof, and comprises corresponding biometric information of the one or more unmatched people. 
     
     
         7 . A method of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 retrieving at least one identification of the new member; and   initiating a presentation of the at least one identification and at least one option of transmitting the friend request to the new member via the social networking service.   
     
     
         8 . A method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 comparing the extracted biometric data with additional biometric data associated with one or more other members of another social network to attempt to recognize the one or more people represented in the media content.   
     
     
         9 . A method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 initiating a presentation of the one or more members of the another social network for selection by the user as a recognized person.   
     
     
         10 . A method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 storing the extrapolated biometric data of the one or more people unassociated with a social networking service account in a social networking database;   associating the stored extrapolated biometric data with a social invitation queue; and   initiating a transmission of a social network invitation to the one or more people based, at least in part, on determining at least one of the one or more people is associated with the biometric data.   
     
     
         11 . An apparatus for developing social networking relationships in a social network based on a media content and biometric data, the apparatus comprising:
 at least one processor; and   at least one memory including computer program code,   the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following,
 initiate electronic processing of the media content to attempt to recognize one or more people by extracting, utilizing at least one processor, biometric data of the one or more people represented in the media content using one or more computer algorithms configured to extract the biometric data, wherein the extracted biometric data is associated with one or more intrinsic physical traits of the one or more people as represented in the media content; 
 compare the extracted biometric data with other biometric data to attempt to recognize the one or more people represented in the media content; 
 determine that the extracted biometric data and the other biometric data do not match within a predetermined error threshold; and 
 add the one or more people associated with the extracted biometric data to a future invitation list of the social network of a user. 
   
     
     
         12 . An apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the apparatus is further caused to:
 initiate a transmission of a social network invitation to the one or more people added to the future invitation list;   determine at least one of the one or more people has created a social networking service account; and   recommend a group of people to a new member of the social network.   
     
     
         13 . An apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein the transmission of the social network invitation is based, at least in part, on the biometric data, and wherein the biometric data comprises previous profile image biometric data associated with the one or more people. 
     
     
         14 . An apparatus of  claim 12 , further comprising:
 determine that the extracted biometric data of the one or more people added to the future invitation list matches new biometric data associated with the new member of the social network; and   initiate a transmission of a friend request to the new member of the social network.   
     
     
         15 . An apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the transmission of the friend request is initiated automatically based on the determining that the extracted biometric data matches the new biometric data. 
     
     
         16 . An apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the apparatus is further caused to:
 retrieve at least one identification of the new member; and   initiate a presentation of the at least one identification and at least one option of transmitting the friend request to the new member via the social networking service.   
     
     
         17 . An apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the apparatus is further caused to:
 compare the extracted biometric data with additional biometric data associated with one or more other members of another social network to attempt to recognize the one or more people represented in the media content.   
     
     
         18 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause an apparatus to perform at least the following for developing social networking relationships in a social network based on a media content and biometric data:
 initiating electronic processing of the media content to attempt to recognize one or more people by extracting, utilizing at least one processor, biometric data of the one or more people represented in the media content using one or more computer algorithms configured to extract the biometric data, wherein the extracted biometric data is associated with one or more intrinsic physical traits of the one or more people as represented in the media content;   comparing the extracted biometric data with other biometric data to attempt to recognize the one or more people represented in the media content;   determining that the extracted biometric data and the other biometric data do not match within a predetermined error threshold; and   adding the one or more people associated with the extracted biometric data to a future invitation list of the social network of a user.   
     
     
         19 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 18 , further comprising:
 initiating a transmission of a social network invitation to the one or more people added to the future invitation list;   determining at least one of the one or more people has created a social networking service account; and   recommending a group of people to a new member of the social network.   
     
     
         20 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 19 , further comprising:
 determining that the extracted biometric data of the one or more people added to the future invitation list matches new biometric data associated with the new member of the social network; and   initiating a transmission of a friend request to the new member of the social network.