Face API - v1.0

This API is currently available in:

  • Australia East - australiaeast.api.cognitive.microsoft.com
  • Brazil South - brazilsouth.api.cognitive.microsoft.com
  • Canada Central - canadacentral.api.cognitive.microsoft.com
  • Central India - centralindia.api.cognitive.microsoft.com
  • Central US - centralus.api.cognitive.microsoft.com
  • East Asia - eastasia.api.cognitive.microsoft.com
  • East US - eastus.api.cognitive.microsoft.com
  • East US 2 - eastus2.api.cognitive.microsoft.com
  • France Central - francecentral.api.cognitive.microsoft.com
  • Germany West Central - germanywestcentral.api.cognitive.microsoft.com
  • Italy North - italynorth.api.cognitive.microsoft.com
  • Japan East - japaneast.api.cognitive.microsoft.com
  • Japan West - japanwest.api.cognitive.microsoft.com
  • Jio India West - jioindiawest.api.cognitive.microsoft.com
  • Korea Central - koreacentral.api.cognitive.microsoft.com
  • North Central US - northcentralus.api.cognitive.microsoft.com
  • North Europe - northeurope.api.cognitive.microsoft.com
  • Norway East - norwayeast.api.cognitive.microsoft.com
  • Qatar Central - qatarcentral.api.cognitive.microsoft.com
  • South Africa North - southafricanorth.api.cognitive.microsoft.com
  • South Central US - southcentralus.api.cognitive.microsoft.com
  • Southeast Asia - southeastasia.api.cognitive.microsoft.com
  • Sweden Central - swedencentral.api.cognitive.microsoft.com
  • Switzerland North - switzerlandnorth.api.cognitive.microsoft.com
  • Switzerland West - switzerlandwest.api.cognitive.microsoft.com
  • UAE North - uaenorth.api.cognitive.microsoft.com
  • UK South - uksouth.api.cognitive.microsoft.com
  • West Central US - westcentralus.api.cognitive.microsoft.com
  • West Europe - westeurope.api.cognitive.microsoft.com
  • West US - westus.api.cognitive.microsoft.com
  • West US 2 - westus2.api.cognitive.microsoft.com
  • West US 3 - westus3.api.cognitive.microsoft.com

Face - Group

Divide candidate faces into groups based on face similarity.

  • The output is one or more disjointed face groups and a messyGroup. A face group contains faces that have similar looking, often of the same person. Face groups are ranked by group size, i.e. number of faces. Notice that faces belonging to a same person might be split into several groups in the result.
  • MessyGroup is a special face group containing faces that cannot find any similar counterpart face from original faces. The messyGroup will not appear in the result if all faces found their counterparts.
  • Group API needs at least 2 candidate faces and 1000 at most. We suggest to try Face - Verify when you only have 2 candidate faces.
  • The 'recognitionModel' associated with the query faces' faceIds should be the same.

Http Method

POST

Select the testing console in the region where you created your resource:

Australia East Brazil South Canada Central Central India Central US East Asia East US East US 2 France Central Germany West Central Japan East Japan West Jio India West Korea Central North Central US North Europe Norway East Qatar Central South Africa North South Central US Southeast Asia Sweden Central Switzerland North Switzerland West UAE North UK South West Central US West Europe West US West US 2 West US 3

Request URL

Request headers

string
Media type of the body sent to the API.
string
Subscription key which provides access to this API. Found in your Cognitive Services accounts.

Request body

JSON fields in request body:

FieldsTypeDescription
faceIdsArrayArray of candidate faceId created by Face - Detect. The maximum is 1000 faces.
 

{
    "faceIds": [
        "c5c24a82-6845-4031-9d5d-978df9175426",
        "015839fb-fbd9-4f79-ace9-7675fc2f1dd9",
        "65d083d4-9447-47d1-af30-b626144bf0fb",
        "fce92aed-d578-4d2e-8114-068f8af4492e",
        "30ea1073-cc9e-4652-b1e3-d08fb7b95315",
        "be386ab3-af91-4104-9e6d-4dae4c9fddb7",
        "fbd2a038-dbff-452c-8e79-2ee81b1aa84e",
        "b64d5e15-8257-4af2-b20a-5a750f8940e7"
    ]
}

Response 200

A successful call returns one or more groups of similar faces (rank by group size) and a messyGroup.

JSON fields in response body:

FieldsTypeDescription
groupsArrayA partition of the original faces based on face similarity. Groups are ranked by number of faces.
messyGroupArrayFace ids array of faces that cannot find any similar faces from original faces.
 

{
    "groups": [
        [
            "c5c24a82-6845-4031-9d5d-978df9175426",
            "015839fb-fbd9-4f79-ace9-7675fc2f1dd9",
            "fce92aed-d578-4d2e-8114-068f8af4492e",
            "b64d5e15-8257-4af2-b20a-5a750f8940e7"
        ],
        [
            "65d083d4-9447-47d1-af30-b626144bf0fb",
            "30ea1073-cc9e-4652-b1e3-d08fb7b95315"
        ]
    ],
    "messyGroup": [
        "be386ab3-af91-4104-9e6d-4dae4c9fddb7",
        "fbd2a038-dbff-452c-8e79-2ee81b1aa84e"
    ]
}

Response 400

Error code and message returned in JSON:

Error CodeError Message Description
BadArgumentRequest body is invalid.
BadArgumentThe length of faceIds is not in a valid range. Out of range [2, 1000].
BadArgument'recognitionModel' is incompatible.
FaceNotFoundCurrent face is not found.
 

{
    "error": {
        "code": "BadArgument",
        "message": "Request body is invalid."
    }
}

Response 401

Error code and message returned in JSON:

Error CodeError Message Description
UnspecifiedInvalid subscription Key or user/plan is blocked.
 

{
    "error": {
        "code": "Unspecified",
        "message": "Access denied due to invalid subscription key. Make sure you are subscribed to an API you are trying to call and provide the right key."
    }
}

Response 403

{
    "error": {
        "statusCode": 403,
        "message": "Out of call volume quota. Quota will be replenished in 2 days."
    }
}

Response 415

Unsupported media type error. Only "application/json" is valid for this API.

{
    "error": {
        "code": "BadArgument",
        "message": "Invalid Media Type."
    }
}

Response 429

{
    "error": {
        "statusCode": 429,
        "message": "Rate limit is exceeded. Try again in 26 seconds."
    }
}

Code samples

@ECHO OFF

curl -v -X POST "https://uaenorth.api.cognitive.microsoft.com/face/v1.0/group"
-H "Content-Type: application/json"
-H "Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key: {subscription key}"

--data-ascii "{body}" 

using System;
using System.Net.Http.Headers;
using System.Text;
using System.Net.Http;
using System.Web;

namespace CSHttpClientSample
{
    static class Program
    {
        static void Main()
        {
            MakeRequest();
            Console.WriteLine("Hit ENTER to exit...");
            Console.ReadLine();
        }
        
        static async void MakeRequest()
        {
            var client = new HttpClient();
            var queryString = HttpUtility.ParseQueryString(string.Empty);

            // Request headers
            client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key", "{subscription key}");

            var uri = "https://uaenorth.api.cognitive.microsoft.com/face/v1.0/group?" + queryString;

            HttpResponseMessage response;

            // Request body
            byte[] byteData = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("{body}");

            using (var content = new ByteArrayContent(byteData))
            {
               content.Headers.ContentType = new MediaTypeHeaderValue("< your content type, i.e. application/json >");
               response = await client.PostAsync(uri, content);
            }

        }
    }
}	
// // This sample uses the Apache HTTP client from HTTP Components (http://hc.apache.org/httpcomponents-client-ga/)
import java.net.URI;
import org.apache.http.HttpEntity;
import org.apache.http.HttpResponse;
import org.apache.http.client.HttpClient;
import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpGet;
import org.apache.http.client.utils.URIBuilder;
import org.apache.http.impl.client.HttpClients;
import org.apache.http.util.EntityUtils;

public class JavaSample 
{
    public static void main(String[] args) 
    {
        HttpClient httpclient = HttpClients.createDefault();

        try
        {
            URIBuilder builder = new URIBuilder("https://uaenorth.api.cognitive.microsoft.com/face/v1.0/group");


            URI uri = builder.build();
            HttpPost request = new HttpPost(uri);
            request.setHeader("Content-Type", "application/json");
            request.setHeader("Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key", "{subscription key}");


            // Request body
            StringEntity reqEntity = new StringEntity("{body}");
            request.setEntity(reqEntity);

            HttpResponse response = httpclient.execute(request);
            HttpEntity entity = response.getEntity();

            if (entity != null) 
            {
                System.out.println(EntityUtils.toString(entity));
            }
        }
        catch (Exception e)
        {
            System.out.println(e.getMessage());
        }
    }
}


<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>JSSample</title>
    <script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.9.0/jquery.min.js"></script>
</head>
<body>

<script type="text/javascript">
    $(function() {
        var params = {
            // Request parameters
        };
      
        $.ajax({
            url: "https://uaenorth.api.cognitive.microsoft.com/face/v1.0/group?" + $.param(params),
            beforeSend: function(xhrObj){
                // Request headers
                xhrObj.setRequestHeader("Content-Type","application/json");
                xhrObj.setRequestHeader("Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key","{subscription key}");
            },
            type: "POST",
            // Request body
            data: "{body}",
        })
        .done(function(data) {
            alert("success");
        })
        .fail(function() {
            alert("error");
        });
    });
</script>
</body>
</html>

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

int main(int argc, const char * argv[])
{
    NSAutoreleasePool * pool = [[NSAutoreleasePool alloc] init];
    
    NSString* path = @"https://uaenorth.api.cognitive.microsoft.com/face/v1.0/group";
    NSArray* array = @[
                         // Request parameters
                         @"entities=true",
                      ];
    
    NSString* string = [array componentsJoinedByString:@"&"];
    path = [path stringByAppendingFormat:@"?%@", string];

    NSLog(@"%@", path);

    NSMutableURLRequest* _request = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:path]];
    [_request setHTTPMethod:@"POST"];
    // Request headers
    [_request setValue:@"application/json" forHTTPHeaderField:@"Content-Type"];
    [_request setValue:@"{subscription key}" forHTTPHeaderField:@"Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key"];
    // Request body
    [_request setHTTPBody:[@"{body}" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
    
    NSURLResponse *response = nil;
    NSError *error = nil;
    NSData* _connectionData = [NSURLConnection sendSynchronousRequest:_request returningResponse:&response error:&error];

    if (nil != error)
    {
        NSLog(@"Error: %@", error);
    }
    else
    {
        NSError* error = nil;
        NSMutableDictionary* json = nil;
        NSString* dataString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:_connectionData encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
        NSLog(@"%@", dataString);
        
        if (nil != _connectionData)
        {
            json = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:_connectionData options:NSJSONReadingMutableContainers error:&error];
        }
        
        if (error || !json)
        {
            NSLog(@"Could not parse loaded json with error:%@", error);
        }
        
        NSLog(@"%@", json);
        _connectionData = nil;
    }
    
    [pool drain];

    return 0;
}

<?php
// This sample uses the Apache HTTP client from HTTP Components (http://hc.apache.org/httpcomponents-client-ga/)
require_once 'HTTP/Request2.php';

$request = new Http_Request2('https://uaenorth.api.cognitive.microsoft.com/face/v1.0/group');
$url = $request->getUrl();

$headers = array(
    // Request headers
    'Content-Type' => 'application/json',
    'Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key' => '{subscription key}',
);

$request->setHeader($headers);

$parameters = array(
    // Request parameters
);

$url->setQueryVariables($parameters);

$request->setMethod(HTTP_Request2::METHOD_POST);

// Request body
$request->setBody("{body}");

try
{
    $response = $request->send();
    echo $response->getBody();
}
catch (HttpException $ex)
{
    echo $ex;
}

?>
########### Python 2.7 #############
import httplib, urllib, base64

headers = {
    # Request headers
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    'Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key': '{subscription key}',
}

params = urllib.urlencode({
})

try:
    conn = httplib.HTTPSConnection('uaenorth.api.cognitive.microsoft.com')
    conn.request("POST", "/face/v1.0/group?%s" % params, "{body}", headers)
    response = conn.getresponse()
    data = response.read()
    print(data)
    conn.close()
except Exception as e:
    print("[Errno {0}] {1}".format(e.errno, e.strerror))

####################################

########### Python 3.2 #############
import http.client, urllib.request, urllib.parse, urllib.error, base64

headers = {
    # Request headers
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    'Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key': '{subscription key}',
}

params = urllib.parse.urlencode({
})

try:
    conn = http.client.HTTPSConnection('uaenorth.api.cognitive.microsoft.com')
    conn.request("POST", "/face/v1.0/group?%s" % params, "{body}", headers)
    response = conn.getresponse()
    data = response.read()
    print(data)
    conn.close()
except Exception as e:
    print("[Errno {0}] {1}".format(e.errno, e.strerror))

####################################
require 'net/http'

uri = URI('https://uaenorth.api.cognitive.microsoft.com/face/v1.0/group')


request = Net::HTTP::Post.new(uri.request_uri)
# Request headers
request['Content-Type'] = 'application/json'
# Request headers
request['Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key'] = '{subscription key}'
# Request body
request.body = "{body}"

response = Net::HTTP.start(uri.host, uri.port, :use_ssl => uri.scheme == 'https') do |http|
    http.request(request)
end

puts response.body