Facebook’s emotion-detecting selfie mask patent application

As reported by Mashable, Facebook has developed a technique to help users identify the perfect selfie filter (or “mask”) based on their mood.

Facebook’s patent application describes a selfie filter or mask that is automatically selected from a set of filters stored in a database based on one or more emotions identified in the image or video.

For example, if a user is at a zoo looking at a panda and a digital photograph is taken of his or her face with a happy expression, then a "happy panda" face mask may be selected for the user based on the user’s happy expression and the image of the panda in the background.

Other exemplary masks include an "angry bird" mask for features associated with anger, a "surprised eyes" mask for features associated with surprise, and a "gushing tears" mask for features associated with sadness. A sample of the “angry bird” selfie mask, which has been extracted from the patent application, is shown below.

Authors: Jaclyn Tilak, Larissa Fulop and Daniela Cerrone, 2018 Summer Student-at-law