JP2000270198A - Image processing method and method for processing photo print - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image processing method by which a picture of a person is automatically and properly laid out and to provide a method for processing a photo print employing this image processing method. SOLUTION: The processing method for a photo print includes an extract process that extracts contour information of a face from image data of the face of a person photographed in advance, a selection process that selects desired template information from a plurality of template information sets, a layout process where the selected template information is assigned to an entire image area, the face image is magnified/reduced and positioned so that the face image is laid out in the preset area, a synthesis process where the template information and the positioned face image information are synthesized to obtain a print image and a print process that prints out the synthesized print image as a photo print with a prescribed size.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing method for obtaining a photographic print in which a person's face is displayed in a predetermined layout, such as an ID photograph.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to obtain a photographic print in which a person's face is displayed in a predetermined layout, such as an ID photograph, the magnification of the image data of the person's face must be increased while assuming a finished state. It was necessary to manually adjust the print face layout while performing various trial and error while changing the print face layout. In particular, there are various sizes and aspect ratios, such as a driver's license photo, a passport photo, and a resume photo, and it is troublesome to obtain photo prints that meet those standards. Because of this work, recent photographic printing apparatuses have been able to obtain photographic prints conforming to the standard by selecting and specifying an appropriate template.

[0003]

However, by selecting a template as described above, the external dimensions and the like of the obtained photographic print can be obtained according to the standard. However, the size and position of the face and the like can be obtained. The layout still required manual adjustment.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an image processing method capable of automatically arranging an image of a person in an appropriate layout and a photographic print processing method utilizing this function. is there.

[0005]

In the image processing method according to the present invention, an extraction step of extracting face contour information from image data of a previously captured person's face, and a preset area of the entire image area And enlarging / reducing and positioning the face image so that the face image is arranged.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for processing a photographic print, comprising the steps of extracting face outline information from image data of a person's face imaged in advance, and selecting desired template information from a plurality of template information. A layout step of enlarging / reducing and positioning the face image in a preset area using the selected template information as an entire image area, and a layout step of positioning the template information and the positioned It includes a combining step of combining the image information of the face with the image information to obtain a print image, and a print step of outputting the combined print image as a photo print of a predetermined size.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a printing apparatus employing an image processing method according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a digital camera, reference numeral 2 denotes a computer for image processing, reference numeral 3 denotes a keyboard, reference numeral 4 denotes a display, and reference numeral 5 denotes a thermal sublimation type or the like photographic printer.
Reference numeral 6 denotes an image scanner, and 7 denotes a magneto-optical disk device for recording images.

An example of a procedure for obtaining an identification photograph using the printing apparatus having the above-described configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3. First, in step 1, an image of a person's face is photographed by the digital camera 1 to obtain face image information D.
Get 1. (See FIG. 3A.) Instead of a digital camera, a photographic print obtained by photographing in advance and an image scanner may be used. Further, a magneto-optical disk medium on which a data file of image information obtained in advance is recorded may be set in the magneto-optical disk device 7 and read.

Next, in step 2, the image information of the face obtained as described above is subjected to image processing under standard conditions and displayed on the display 4. In step 3, any template information D2 is selected from a plurality of template information registered in advance. In the template information D2, the coordinates and the size where the face of the person should be located are shown as an area D3. ((B) of FIG. 3)
Then, in step 4, the face outline information D4 is extracted from the face image information by automatic processing or manual operation described later, and the face size W4 is calculated.
(See (C) of FIG. 3) The size W of the area D3 of the template information D2
3 is calculated. Then, the ratio W3 / W4 of both is calculated. Furthermore, the difference between the coordinates of both specific parts (ΔX, ΔY)
Is calculated. (See FIG. 3D)

The magnification W3 / W determined as described above
4 and the amount of translation (ΔX, ΔY), the image information D1 of the original face is enlarged / reduced and translated in step 5 to be included in the frame determined by the template information D2. Only the image information is cut out (see FIG. 3E), and in step 6, the image is printed out by the printer.

In the process of extracting the face outline, first, at step 41, either automatic extraction or manual extraction is selected. The case of automatic extraction will be described below. In step 42, an edge of the image is extracted by performing a differentiation process while scanning the image data in the X-axis direction, for example. In step 43, the edge information of the image obtained in this way is compared with the shape of the sample face which has been input in advance, and a sample face having a similar contour is searched for. Calculate the size of the sample face. The size of the face of the sample image is calculated by scanning the color information of the image data of the sample face and measuring the size of the skin color area. The size W4 of the person's face is calculated based on the above processing. The size of the face may be calculated by measuring the number of pixels in the extracted edge. Then, the coordinates of the specific point of the face are obtained by calculating the barycenter of the pixel within the extracted edge, and the template area D3 obtained in the same manner is obtained.
May be calculated with respect to the coordinates of the center of gravity.

The case of manual extraction will be described below. In step 44, when the face (skin color) portion of the image of the person displayed on the display is designated with the pointer and clicked, the color information (skin color) of the portion is acquired. By measuring pixels having similar color information (skin color), a face size W4 on the image information is calculated.

In this way, a print is obtained which has been laid out so that the face enlarged / reduced to an appropriate size is located in a predetermined area of the selected template. Note that the magnification W3 determined as described above.
The procedure of enlarging / reducing and parallel moving the original face image information D1 based on / W4 and the amount of parallel movement (ΔX, ΔY) has been described. It is also possible to cut out the region to be synthesized and combine it with a separately prepared background image.

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to obtain a print such as an ID photograph having a proper layout simply by selecting a template, thereby greatly reducing the working time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a printing apparatus that employs an image processing method according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of an image processing method according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an image of an image in each procedure.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Digital camera 2 Computer for image processing 3 Keyboard 4 Display 5 Printer

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2C087 AA18 BD06 BD07 BD24 BD52 CA02 CB06 2H098 FA00 5B057 CD05 CE08 DA07 DC16 5C076 AA13 AA17 AA21 AA22 9A001 HH24 HH28 HH34 JJ35 KK42

Claims (2)

[Claims] An extraction step of extracting face outline information from image data of a face of a person captured in advance; and enlarging / reducing the face image so as to be arranged in a preset area of an entire image area. Layout process for positioning
An image processing method comprising: An extraction step of extracting face outline information from image data of a person's face imaged in advance; a selection step of selecting desired template information from a plurality of template information; A layout step of enlarging / reducing and positioning the image of the face so that the image of the face is arranged in a predetermined area as an image area, and printing by synthesizing the template information and the image information of the positioned face. A method of processing a photographic print, comprising: a combining step of obtaining an image; and a printing step of outputting the combined print image as a photographic print of a predetermined size.