Patent ID: 7765231

Claim:
An apparatus, comprising: a receiver for receiving information regarding an image of a person of interest, wherein the image is obtained with an image capture device of or associated with a requesting user, and further wherein the image capture device transmits the information regarding the image to the receiver; a database, wherein the database stores information regarding a plurality of images and information regarding a plurality of persons, and further wherein at least one image is associated with each person of the plurality of persons; a processor, wherein the processor processes information regarding the image and compares the information regarding the image to the information regarding a plurality of images, and further wherein the processor determines whether the image matches an image of a person of the plurality of persons and, if the image matches an image of a person of the plurality of persons, then the processor generates a message; and a transmitter, wherein the transmitter transmits the message to a communication device of or associated with the person of interest, wherein the message contains a first request for permission to provide access to information regarding the person of interest to the requesting user, and wherein the receiver receives a second request from the communication device of or associated with the person of interest for permission to provide access to information regarding the requesting user in response to receiving the first request, and further wherein the apparatus receives a response to the message transmitted from the communication device and determines whether the response contains information indicating that permission to allow the requesting user to access the information regarding the person of interest has been granted, wherein permission to allow the requesting user to access the information regarding the person of interest is granted if the person of interest receives access to the information regarding the requesting user, and, if permission to allow the requesting user to access the information regarding the person of interest is granted, then the apparatus transmits information regarding the person of interest to the image capture device.