JP2012231208A - Electronic apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic apparatus which even when there are images captured at plural scenes, is capable of selecting and transmitting an image containing a specific person for each of the scenes.SOLUTION: The electronic apparatus according to the invention is provided with: a transmission means for transmitting an image; image storage means which stores plural images; and image selection means which extracts a face image and a non-face portion for each image stored in the image storage means, sets images having similarity of the non-face portions equal to or larger than a fixed value to be the same-image group, and selects an image on the basis of the face image from each same-image group. The transmission means transmits the image selected by the image selection means.

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic device with a camera that transmits a captured image.

  In recent years, a camera is mounted on a mobile phone, and an image taken by the camera can be directly transmitted using a communication function of the mobile phone.

  Also, a mail function is used as one of communication means using a mobile phone. As part of the mail function, an image can be transmitted as mail attachment data, and an image taken with a camera is often transmitted as mail attachment data.

  In this case, it decides which image to send among images taken with the camera, decides the other party to send, composes an email using an application called mailer, and selects the image as attached data A series of operations such as sending an e-mail attached to an e-mail must be performed. Further, when there are a plurality of counterparts or images to be transmitted, this operation must be repeated.

  Therefore, in Patent Document 1, a face image of a person included in a photographed image is detected and compared with data registered in a database to determine whether or not they are the same person. A technique is disclosed in which a mail address to be read is read from a database and set as an e-mail address for transmission. As a result, the address of the photographed person is automatically selected and the image is distributed.

  Patent Document 2 discloses a technique in which the degree of coincidence in the determination of whether or not they are the same person is expressed as a numerical value, and those whose numerical values exceed a threshold value are determined as the same person. As a result, when there are a plurality of photographed images including a face image of a certain person, the photographed person image is selectively transmitted.

JP 2006-178558 A JP 2007-028077 A

  In the prior art, it is determined whether or not to transmit only a person's face image without taking the shooting scene into account.Therefore, when there are images shot over a plurality of scenes, an image is selected for each shooting scene. There was a problem that it could not be transmitted. For example, when it is desired to send a photograph taken during a sightseeing trip to the accompanying person, it is not possible to select and send a photograph of the facial expression that the accompanying person laughs most for each sightseeing spot.

  The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and even when there are images shot in a plurality of scenes, an image is selected for each shooting scene based on the similarity between a face image and a portion other than the face image. It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic device that transmits data.

  The electronic apparatus according to the present invention extracts a face image and a portion other than the face image for each image stored in the image storage unit, a transmission unit that transmits an image, an image storage unit that stores a plurality of images, Image selection means for selecting images based on the face image for each of the same image groups, with images having similarities in a portion other than the face image equal to or greater than a certain value, and the transmission means includes the image It has the structure which transmits the image selected in the selection means.

  With this configuration, even when there are images shot in a plurality of scenes, images can be selected and transmitted for each shooting scene based on the similarity between the face image and a portion other than the face image.

  According to the electronic apparatus of the present invention, even when a large number of images obtained by photographing a specific person over a plurality of scenes are stored, an image showing the specific person is selected and transmitted for each photographing scene. Is possible.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an electronic device in an embodiment of the invention. 8 is a flowchart showing the operation of the electronic device according to the embodiment of the invention.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a functional block configuration diagram of an electronic device according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the electronic apparatus in the present embodiment includes an image photographing unit 101, an image storage unit 102, a transmission destination information storage unit 103, an image selection unit 104, and a transmission unit 105.

  The image capturing unit 101 is a camera mounted on, for example, a mobile phone, and captures an image at any timing of the user.

  The image storage unit 102 is, for example, a flash memory, and stores a plurality of images captured by the image capturing unit 101.

  The transmission destination information storage unit 103 is, for example, telephone directory data of a mobile phone, and stores a plurality of transmission destination information (face image data corresponding to a mail address).

  The image selection unit 104 extracts a face image portion and other portions from a plurality of images stored in the image storage unit 102, performs comparison determination on each extracted portion, and selects a transmission image. The face image is compared with the face image data stored in the transmission destination information storage unit 103 to determine whether the face image is a specific person. For portions other than face images, the portions other than the face images included in the plurality of images are compared, and images having similarities of a certain value or more are set as the same image group. A face image is selected based on the feeling expression level from images determined to include a specific person in the images of the same image group. The similarity other than the face image is, for example, a matching ratio of the comparison image data. The emotion expression level is determined based on the size of the eyes and mouth in the face image, the rising angle of the mouth corners, and the wrinkle level, and is expressed as, for example, a smile level indicating the level of laughter.

  The transmission unit 105 is a mail transmission function of a mobile phone, for example, and transmits the image selected by the image selection unit 104 to any one of the transmission destination mail addresses stored in the transmission destination information storage unit 103.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the electronic device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  First, the image selection unit 104 sets one of the images stored in the image storage unit 102 as a reference image (S101). Next, a background portion other than the face image is extracted from the reference image (S102). Then, an image other than the reference image is set as a processing target image (S103), and a background portion other than the face image is extracted for each processing target image (S104). The background portion of the reference image extracted in S102 and the background portion of the processing target image extracted in S104 are compared for each image, and the similarity is calculated for each image (S105). Then, the images having similarities of a certain value or more are set as the same image group (S106). Next, it is determined whether or not grouping has been completed for all images (S107). If grouping has not been completed, a new reference image is selected from among the images that have not been assigned to the same image group. Set and repeat the processing from S101 to S106. If it is determined in S107 that all the images have been grouped, an image having a high smile level is selected for each image group (S108). Then, the image selected in S108 is mailed by the transmission means 105 (S109).

  Through the above processing, images with similar backgrounds can be set as the same image group, and an image with a high smile degree can be selected and sent by e-mail for each same image group. For example, it is possible to perform grouping such as an image group taken at the beach or an image group showing a shrine building, and select a photograph taken with the most smile for each image group and send it by e-mail.

  In the above example, the image selected by the image selection unit 104 is transmitted by mail. However, the image may be transmitted to a file server or an external storage device and stored.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, even when a large number of images obtained by photographing a specific person over a plurality of scenes are stored, an image showing the specific person is selected for each photographing scene. Can be transmitted.

  Furthermore, by selecting an image by determining the degree of emotional expression, it is possible to select an image captured with a specific expression for a specific person and transmit the image.

  According to the present invention, even when there are images shot in a plurality of scenes, an image obtained by shooting a specific person can be selected for each shooting scene. Therefore, the present invention can be applied to electronic devices with cameras such as digital cameras, mobile phones, and communication terminals. Can be applied.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 Image photographing means 102 Image storage means 103 Transmission destination information storage means 104 Image selection means 105 Transmission means

Claims (3)

A transmission means for transmitting an image;
Image storage means for storing a plurality of images;
For each image stored in the image storage means, a face image and a portion other than the face image are extracted, images having a similarity of a portion other than the face image equal to or greater than a certain value are defined as the same image group, and each of the same image group Image selection means for selecting an image based on the face image;
The transmission means is an electronic device that transmits the image selected by the image selection means. A destination information storage means for storing a mail address and face image data corresponding to the mail address;
The transmission means is an electronic device that transmits the image selected by the image selection means to the mail address. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the image selection unit selects an image by determining an emotion expression level of the face image for each of the same image groups.

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