The Latest on Snapchat: Patent for Object Recognition Technology

Lately is seems like Snapchat is constantly in the news for new updates to their platform and upcoming features. Last week Snapchat introduced Memories, which allows you to save your snaps and stories in the app itself. On Tuesday it was announced that users can now send their Bitmoji to people in snaps or over chat, which explains why Snapchat bought Bitstrips back in March.

There’s another recent piece of Snapchat news that really piques my interest: a new ad product using image recognition technology. Snapchat recently filed a patent application for a product that recognizes objects in your snaps, then serves you an ad based on that object as a sponsored image overlay. The example below shows how someone snapping a picture of a cup of coffee could be served a filter with a coupon.

While this technology would provide new ways for brands to advertise on Snapchat, the object recognition could also be used for fun as well. An example Snapchat uses in the patent is the Empire State Building. If a user takes a picture of the Empire State Building, the app would identify it and then offer a filter of King Kong to use on the image.

While the patent application isn’t a concrete indication that these features will actually come to fruition, it is a technology that compliments their current geofilters and lenses, and proves that Snapchat is continually striving to come up with new ways to monetize their platform.

Image source: United States Patent and Trademark Office