Flipboard, Inc.

Meng Guo

Filipe Fortes

Lei Zheng

David Zachary Creemer

A digital magazine server presents content, which may include images, retrieved from various sources to a user. To improve presentation of images while allowing modification of images, the digital magazine server identifies feature points in an image and identifies regions of the image including the feature points. Groups of regions are generated based at least on the number of feature points in each region and the location of each region. Based on information associated with the groups, such as the location of various groups and the aspect ratio of various groups, one or more groups are selected and associated with the image. The selected groups may identify regions of the image including an object or not including an object, providing information for modifying the image without obscuring objects in the image.

Identifying regions of free space within an image

A computer implemented method enables presenting interesting and informative preview video of a video content item in a digital magazine. The method comprises steps of receiving a video content item from a content provider, e.g., a 2-minute video advertisement for a car from an advertiser, and analyzing the video content item. The video content item is segmented into multiple segments based on the analysis, e.g., scene changes detected with the video frames of the video content item. One or more segments are selected, e.g., based on their associated visual quality, and are combined to generate a preview video, e.g., a 10-second long video highlighting new features of the car. One or more transition segments can be added between segments to enhance user experience with the preview video. The preview video is provided to a client device for display and auto playback.

Auto video preview within a digital magazine

A digital content system enables users of the content system to access, view and interact with digital content items in a safe, efficient and enjoyable online environment. The content system pre-filters an image content item and determines whether the content item is suspicious of having unsafe content, e.g., nudity and pornography. For example, the content system pre-filters an image content item based on the source of the image content item. A content item from a source known for providing safe content is determined to be safe. The content system determines an image content item to be safe if the content item matches a content item known to be safe or if the content item contains less than a threshold amount of human skin. The content system may further verify the content of the image content item with a verification service and takes remedial actions based on the verification result.

Pre-filtering digital content in a digital content system

A digital magazine server determines a dominant color present in an image using a clustering algorithm. Color components of each pixel in the image are identified used to generate vectors associated with each pixel. Based on the vectors associated with the pixels, clusters including one or more pixels are generated using a clustering algorithm (e.g., k-means). The digital magazine server generates a characteristic vector for each cluster based on the vectors included in the cluster and selects a set of clusters based on their characteristic vectors. A centroid identifying the dominant color of the image is determined from the characteristic vectors of clusters in the set.

Determining a dominant color of an image based on pixel components

A digital magazine server detects a portion of an image including pixels having similar or matching color values. Values are identified for pixels within the portion based on color values of the pixels and a measure of diversity of color is determined based on the identified values. The measure of color diversity is compared to a threshold value, and if the measure of diversity does not exceed the threshold value, the digital magazine server stores information indicating the portion does not include content. The digital magazine server may also identify an additional portion within a threshold distance of the portion if the portion does not include content and determine whether the additional portion includes pixels having matching or similar color values.

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Meng Guo