Google To Purchase Facial Recognition Firm Viewdle

Google is about to buy its way further into the facial recognition and augmented reality sectors with the rumored acquisition of Viewdle.

According to Forbes Russia, the search giant will acquire Viewdle for $30 million. The buyout is believed to mostly surround the company’s large patent portfolio, which focuses on image recognition and augmented reality technology. Viewdle technology is used to auto tag photos and even unlock devices by examining a user’s face.

Viewdle had come under the microscope of Motorola Mobility before the company was acquired by Google earlier this year. After Google announced plans to purchase Motorola Mobility, talks broke down but started back up after the buyout was finalized in all regions of the world where approval was needed.

While Viewdle managed to amass a large portfolio of important patents, the company in 2011 began seeking a buyer, claiming that it could not advance its product reach quick enough to turn a profit.

If the deal is finalized, this would not be the first augmented reality based company to be purchased by Google. The software firm purchased Neven Vision in 2006, eventually folding the company into the Picasa platform.

Google also made a purchase in 2011 in which it acquired Pittsburgh Pattern Recognition, a company who’s products were rolling into Android’s facial recognition unlock feature, which was met with problems and complaints.

Facebook recently acquired Face.com, a leading facial recognition provider. This most recent move by Google could be an attempt to protect itself from Face.com patent violations as lawsuits are sure to pop up in the future.