KR20090090851A - Image capturing apparatus enabling non-contact shutter-operation and image capturing method - Google Patents

Abstract

A pickup device and a non-contact photographing method for initiating photograph based on the operation signal of a photographer are provided to prevent the flickering of a camera by initiating the photograph by recognizing the operation signal of the photographer. An operation recognizing system(200) recognizes clearly the operation of the intended user by using the photographing start signal. The recognition of movement system outputs the shutter signal. A pickup system(100) reacts to the shutter signal and initiates the photographing work of the subject. A pickup unit(220) outputs the image about the portion of a human body to the digital image signal. A body area extractor extracts the body region. An operation recognizer recognizes clearly the operation of the user.

Description

Image capturing apparatus enabling non-contact shutter-operation and image capturing method

The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus and a non-contact imaging method capable of non-contact imaging.

In the conventional photographing method, photographing of the camera is started through a user's manipulation of physically pressing the shutter release button. For example, when taking a picture of a baby, the photographer must take specific actions to attract the baby's attention. In other words, while holding the camera with one hand and pressing the shutter button, the other hand is holding the camera with only one hand while manipulating the shutter button. In an unstable state in which the camera is held with only one hand, the entire camera is shaken by pressing the shutter button, and the image in the picture is likely to shake. In particular, the shake of the captured image is more prominent in a low light amount of shooting condition in which aperture aperture or shutter speed is not sufficiently secured with a limited amount of light, compared to a DSLR equipped with a large-diameter lens.

In the more advanced technology, a face recognition technique is applied to recognize a face of a subject and a face recognition technique is applied to capture a specific facial expression such as a smile and start shooting. The problem with this technique is that it can't take pictures that fully reflect the intention of the photographer by responding only to specific expressions. In particular, in face recognition, a complex matching process is essential because a pattern matching process must be performed, and data on an object as a comparison target is required. That is, it is necessary to store data for tracking the facial expression of the subject person in advance, and there is a problem that the recognition success rate is lowered according to the surrounding environment such as a background light even though a lot of processing power is required.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an imaging apparatus and a photographing method incorporating a non-contact photographing method in which photographing is started on the basis of an operation signal of a photographer without the operation of a shutter button.

In order to achieve the above objects and other objects, the imaging device of the present invention,

A motion recognition system for recognizing a user's motion intended as a shooting start signal and outputting a shutter signal; And

And an imaging system communicatively connected to the operation recognition system and configured to start photographing a subject in response to the shutter signal.

The motion recognition system,

An imaging unit for outputting an image of a body part as a digital image signal; And

A body region extraction unit which extracts a body region based on chromaticity distribution of the digital image signal;

A motion recognition unit for recognizing a user's motion taken on the extracted body region image; And

And a comparison determiner configured to generate the shutter signal by comparing the recognized operation with a designated operation.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the gesture recognition system recognizes the number of fingers stretched along the length and length from the finger image taking the counting operation, and compares the counted value with the teaching of the designated operation.

In this case, the motion recognition system may take a circle line of a predetermined radius from the center of the hand on the image of the hand portion, and recognize the number of fingers crossing the circle line as the number of the extended fingers.

In the present invention, the shutter signal preferably includes an s1 signal for commanding the setting of the shooting condition and an s2 signal for commanding the image capture of the subject. In this case, it is preferable that different designation operations corresponding to the s1 / s2 signals are input to the motion recognition system.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the image processing algorithm of the imaging system and the image analysis algorithm of the motion recognition system may be executed in a shared digital signal processor.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the imaging system and the motion recognition system each have an optical unit facing a subject and an optical unit facing a user separately,

Processing and analysis of the images introduced from the respective optical units may be performed by a shared image pickup device and a digital signal processor.

On the other hand, according to another aspect of the present invention,

A mode switching step of entering a non-contact photographing mode according to a user input signal;

As the user enters the non-contact photographing mode, a body region in which a body part is taken is detected from an image capturing a user's motion, and an image of the detected body region is analyzed to recognize a user's motion taken on the image. An operation recognition step of outputting a shooting start signal by comparing an operation with a specified operation;

A draft step of waiting for photographing while displaying an image of a subject in live view as the user enters the non-contact photographing mode; And

And a capturing step of capturing a current subject image according to the capturing start signal.

In the present invention, by introducing a non-contact shooting method that starts shooting by recognizing the operation signal of the photographer, the camera shake phenomenon by the operation of the conventional shutter button is prevented inherently, even when holding the camera with one hand, high-definition picture Shooting can be done. In addition, by applying a relatively simple algorithm as compared to conventional facial recognition, it is possible to drastically reduce the processing power, and to significantly increase the recognition success rate without being sensitive to changes in the surrounding environment such as background lighting. In addition, since photographing is started in association with the photographer's operation, a photograph sufficiently reflecting the photographer's intention can be obtained.

In addition, in the imaging apparatus of the present invention, by providing an interface of a new concept through the operation of the photographer, it is possible to induce the interest of the photographer by interactive shooting.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Fig. 1 schematically shows the overall configuration of an imaging apparatus capable of non-contact imaging according to an embodiment of the present invention. The illustrated imaging apparatus includes an imaging system 100 for capturing an image of a subject largely, and an operation recognition system 200 for commanding the start of recording to the imaging system 100 by analyzing an operation signal of a user. The imaging system 100 and the operation recognition system 200 are connected to each other via an internal bus line. For reference, reference numerals (I) and (II) appended next to the names of the components are used to indicate that they belong to the imaging system 100 and the motion recognition system 200, respectively.

The imaging system 100 includes a plurality of optical lenses, an optical unit 110 for forming an image of a subject on an imaging surface, and an image pickup device for converting a subject image via the optical unit 110 into an electrical image signal. 120, an analog front end (AFE) circuit 130 for processing the output signal of the imaging device 120 and converting it into a quantized digital video signal, to provide a working area for signal processing. DRAM (155; Dynamic Random Access Memory) for temporarily storing the data, a recording medium 158 for storing image data of a subject in the form of a still image or a moving image file, and an overall data flow of the imaging system 100 and each component part thereof. And a digital signal processor 150 that controls the overall operation, forms a contact point with the operation recognition system 200, and performs communication.

The optical unit 110 includes a zoom lens (not shown) for moving back and forth along the optical axis direction to change the focal length, a shutter and an aperture (not shown) for adjusting the exposure time and the amount of incident light to the imaging device 120, and And a focus lens (not shown) for adjusting the focus of the subject image formed on the imaging device 120. The zoom lens, the shutter, the iris, and the focus lens may be driven by an actuating motor (not shown) controlled by the driver 111.

The imaging device 120 is, for example, a Charged Coupled Device (CCD) or Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor, and converts an image of a subject incident through the optical unit 110 into an electrical image signal. . The imaging device 120 converts an incident image of a subject into a digital image signal in response to an output signal of a timing generator (TG).

The analog front end circuit 130 performs sample hold on the output signal of the image pickup device 120 in a correlated double sampling (CDS) scheme so that a high signal to noise ratio is maintained. By controlling the gain of the image signal by AGC (Auto Gain Control) and performing analog digital conversion (ADC) processing, thereby converting the analog image signal output from the image pickup device 120 into a digital image signal.

The DRAM 155 or the SDRAM is a volatile memory that provides a work area for data processing of the digital signal processor 150. For example, the DRAM 155 or the SDRAM temporarily stores an output signal of the imaging device 120 or compresses an image signal. Provides a work area for encoding and decode decoding.

The digital signal processor 150 collectively controls the components of the imaging system 100 by executing a program recorded in the EEPROM 151 (Electronically Erasable and Programmable ROM). For example, the digital signal processor 150 controls the operation of the optical unit 110 through the driver 111 and issues a control command to control the operation of the image pickup device 120 through the timing generator 121. Create

In addition, the digital signal processor 150 calculates an EV value to determine an appropriate combination of aperture value and shutter speed, and performs an auto exposure (AE) operation to detect a main subject and detects the main subject. An auto focus (AF) operation for determining the focusing position of the focus lens is performed so that the image is focused. In addition, the digital signal processor 150 may perform encoding and decoding of compression / extension processing on image data written in the DRAM 155.

The digital signal processor 150 is communicatively connected to the motion recognition system 200 through an internal bus line. More specifically, the digital signal processor 150 generates the s1 / s2 signal according to the input signal from the motion recognition system 200. The s1 / s2 signal corresponds to a half-pressing operation and a pressing operation of the conventional shutter button. More specifically, the s1 / s2 signal is used to set shooting conditions such as an AF operation for moving the focus lens to a focus position of a subject. In the s2 signal, exposure to the image pickup device and image capture are performed. On the other hand, the recording medium 158 stores the compressed image data in the form of a still image file or a moving image file. The recording medium 158 may be provided as a memory card detachable through an interface.

On the other hand, the motion recognition system 200 includes a plurality of components for image analysis of the user's motion signal, more specifically, the optical unit for imaging the user's image on the image pickup surface including a plurality of optical lenses ( 210, an image pickup device 220 for converting a user's image introduced from the optical unit 210 into an electric video signal, and an analog signal for converting an output signal from the image pickup device 220 into a quantized digital video signal. Analog Front End (AFE) circuit 230 detects a body region on which a body part is taken from a digital image signal, analyzes an image of the detected body region, recognizes a body motion taken on the image, and starts a photographing operation. It includes a digital signal processor 250 for commanding.

Although not shown in the drawings, the optical unit 210 includes a zoom lens and a focus lens for zooming or focusing, a shutter mechanism and an aperture mechanism, and an actuating motor and a driver as their driving mechanisms. can do.

The imaging device 220 may be configured as a Charged Coupled Device (CCD) or a Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor, and converts an image of a user incident through the optical unit 210 into an electrical image signal. . The image pickup device 220 performs exposure and image capturing on a subject image at periodic time intervals. For example, an image capturing operation may be performed in synchronization with an output signal of a timing generator TG. Can be. The analog front end circuit 230 may include a correlated double sampling (CDS) circuit, an auto gain control (AGC) circuit, and an analog digital conversion (ADC) circuit. The optical unit 210, the image pickup device 220, and the analog front end circuit 230 are used to output a digitized image signal by inputting a user's image, and they are gathered together to recognize an operation system 200. ) An imaging unit.

On the other hand, the digital signal processor 250 of the motion recognition system 200 obtains the quantized digital image signal through the analog front end circuit 230 and performs image analysis. That is, the digital signal processor 250 detects a body region in which a body part is taken from the input image, and analyzes the image of the detected body region to recognize a body motion taken on the image. For example, the digital signal processor 250 may capture an operation of shaking a hand from side to side and output an s1 / s2 signal, or may capture a counting operation using a finger and count the numbers from 1 to 5 Among them, for example, one finger can output the s1 signal as the pin image is captured to show the coefficient value 1, and two fingers can be pinned together to show the coefficient value 2 as s2 Can output a signal. More specific operation of the digital signal processor 250 will be described in detail below.

The digital signal processor 250 includes a body region extraction unit 251, an operation recognition unit 252, and a comparison determination unit 253, each modularized to perform a unique signal processing algorithm. The body region extractor 251 applies an algorithm for detecting a body region with respect to the quantized digital image signal through the analog front end circuit 230. Here, the body region calculator 251 compares statistical data about skin color with chromaticity signals on the captured image to determine pixels belonging to the body region. It is known from the statistical data that the relative ratio (R / G) of red (R) and green (G) of the skin color of the body satisfies the relationship of the equation (1).

1 (1.05) ≤ R / G ≤ 4

The body region extraction unit 251 calculates an R / G value from the R, G, and B chromaticity values acquired at each pixel on the image, and applies an upper limit and a lower limit of Equation 1 to determine an area in which corresponding pixels are collected. Judging by the body area.

The motion recognition unit 252 applies an algorithm for recognizing a user's motion with respect to the detected body region. The motion recognition unit 252 recognizes the user's motion taken on the captured image from the geometric distribution of the pixels determined to belong to the body region. More specifically, first, the motion recognition unit 252 calculates the center positions Xavg and Yavg of the body region by using Equation 2 below.

Here, Xi and Yi denote X and Y axis coordinates of the i th pixel, respectively, and K denotes the total number of pixels belonging to the body region.

Next, the motion recognition unit 252 calculates the longest distance from the center positions Xavg and Yavg to the furthest position of the body region. In general, the longest distance is the distance from the center position (Xavg, Yavg) to the tip of the longest finger. For example, if the center position (Xavg, Yavg) is centrifuged, and a virtual circle line having a radius of 70% of the calculated longest distance is set, the circle line has an annular shape passing through all of the extended fingers. Get drunk. Therefore, by examining the one-dimensional data array along the circle line and counting the change in luminance distribution, it is determined whether one or two or more finger nodes are unfolded, and the count value of the finger (1 or 2, or else) is determined. Any number of) can be output as data.

The comparison determination unit 253 compares and analyzes the operation recognized by the operation recognition unit 252 with the designated operation previously taught as the s1 / s2 operation, and generates and transmits the s1 / s2 signal to the imaging system according to the match. Done. That is, when it is determined that the count value of the finger and the predetermined count value (ex. 1) are matched with each other on the photographed image and are determined to coincide with each other, the comparison determination unit 253 generates the s1 signal and connects with each other. The data is transmitted to the imaging system 100 (more specifically, the digital signal processor 150 of the imaging system). When it is determined that the coefficient value of the finger and the predetermined coefficient value are matched with each other by the s2 operation on the photographed image, the comparison determination unit 253 generates the s2 signal and transmits it to the imaging system 100. Then, the digital signal processor 150 of the imaging system 100 that receives the s1 / s2 signal outputs the corresponding s1 / s2 signal to each component of the imaging system 100, thereby autofocusing (AF) operation. Alternatively, the camera may instruct to prepare for shooting such as an AE (Auto Exposure) operation or to capture an image of a final subject.

Fig. 2 shows a back side structure of the imaging device capable of non-contact imaging of the present invention. Referring to the drawings, the LCD panel 180 is formed in a substantially rectangular shape on the rear surface of the image pickup device, and a plurality of keys and levers are formed around the LCD panel 180 and on the top of the case 190. A user input unit 140 including input mechanisms is provided. For example, the user input unit 140 may include a mode setting key 141 related to mode switching between a normal shooting mode and a non-contact shooting mode, an optical zoom telephoto zoom button 142, and the like in relation to a shooting operation. . The user input unit 140 generates a predetermined command according to a user's operation and transmits the predetermined command to the digital signal processor 150. In addition, an optical lens 215 constituting a part of the motion recognition system 200 for capturing a user's motion is formed on the rear surface of the imaging device. Through this optical lens 215, for example, an image of a hand shaking left or right or a counting operation using a finger is introduced, and the user's motion signal can be judged by comparison with a previously inputted designated motion. do.

3, the schematic structure of the imaging device which concerns on other embodiment of this invention is shown. Referring to the drawings, the imaging apparatus includes an imaging system 100 for photographing a subject and an operation recognition system 200 for instructing a photographing start by recognizing a user's designated operation. However, in the present embodiment, a dedicated digital signal processor is not provided separately for the imaging system 100 and the operation recognition system 200, but the imaging system 100 and the operation recognition system 200 are one digital. The signal processor 350 is shared, and the shared digital signal processor 350 may execute an image processing algorithm supporting the imaging system 100 and an image analysis algorithm supporting the motion recognition system 200 together. The digital signal processor 350 is connected to another configuration of the imaging system 100 through the first signal channel ch11 and may receive an image signal of the subject via the first signal channel ch11. In addition, the digital signal processor 350 is connected to another configuration of the operation recognition system 200 through the second signal channel ch12, and an image analysis algorithm for the image received through the second signal channel ch12. By applying this, the user's designated action can be recognized. As the s1 / s2 operation is recognized from the input image, the corresponding photographing operation is performed.

4 shows a schematic configuration of an imaging apparatus capable of contactless imaging according to still another embodiment of the present invention. The illustrated imaging apparatus also includes an imaging system 100 for photographing a subject and an operation recognition system 200 for instructing a photographing start by recognizing a user's designated operation. In the imaging system 100 and the operation recognition system 200, the optical unit 110 facing the subject and the optical unit 200 facing the user are provided separately because they differ in orientation from each other. The overall configuration from the 420 to the analog front end circuit 430 and the digital signal processor 450 is different from the above-described embodiment in that it is shared by both the imaging system 100 and the operation recognition system 200. The imaging device 420 receives an image of a subject from the optical unit 110 of the imaging system 100 through the first optical channel ch21, and recognizes the motion 200 through the second optical channel ch22. The operation unit of the user is received from the optical unit 210 of the. At this time, the image inflow to the image pickup device 420 may be switched to the first optical channel ch21 / the second optical channel ch22 according to the user's selection, and thus image processing thereafter from the image pickup device 420. Is determined to be an image processing process for the subject image or an image analysis process for the operation image of the user.

5 is a flowchart illustrating a series of steps performed in the non-contact imaging method according to another aspect of the present invention. First, when driving power is applied to the imaging device, initialization is performed (S10), and the contactless photographing mode is performed according to the user's input signal regarding the mode setting input from the user manipulation unit (S11). In the non-contact photographing mode, the power of the operation recognition system 200 is turned on (S12), and initial communication settings for data communication with the imaging system 100 are made (S13), and then the operation recognition system 200-the imaging system. Communication between s1 / s2 signals is performed between the digital signals processor 100.

In the non-contact photographing mode, the gesture recognition system 200 (more specifically, the digital signal processor 250) detects a body region in which a body part is taken from an image of capturing a user's motion, and detects an image of the detected body region. Recognizing the user's motion taken on the image by analyzing the, it is compared with the recognized motion and the specified motion (S14). On the other hand, the imaging system 100 (more specifically, the digital signal processor 150) performs a draft mode for displaying an image of a current subject in a live view, and waits for a photographing start. (S15).

The motion recognition system 200 captures a moment when a pre-specified s1 / s2 motion (movement of a hand shakes left or right or a counting motion using a finger) is detected according to a result of analyzing a user's motion taken on a current image, The s1 / s2 signal is transmitted to the imaging system (S16). Then, in response to the input s1 / s2 signal, the digital signal processor 150 of the imaging system 100 instructs preparation for shooting such as an auto focus (AF) operation or an auto exposure (AE) operation, or the final subject. Image capturing is performed (S17), and the video image of the subject is stored in the recording medium (S18).

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments illustrated in the drawings, this is merely exemplary, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications and equivalent other embodiments are possible. Therefore, the true technical protection scope of the present invention will be defined by the technical spirit of the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is an overall block diagram of the imaging device which can perform non-contact imaging which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

2 is an example of an image pickup apparatus to which the present invention is applied, and shows a rear side appearance of a digital camera.

3 is an overall configuration diagram of an imaging apparatus capable of non-contact imaging according to another embodiment of the present invention.

4 is an overall configuration diagram of an imaging apparatus capable of non-contact imaging according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a flow chart showing a series of driving steps performed in a non-contact imaging method according to another aspect of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

100: imaging system 110: optical unit of the imaging system

120: imaging device of the imaging system 121: timing generator of the imaging system

130: analog front end circuit of the imaging system

150: digital signal processor of the imaging system

151: EEPROM of imaging system 155: RAM (SDRAM) of imaging system

158: recording medium 200: motion recognition system

210: optical unit of motion recognition system 220: imaging device of motion recognition system

221: timing generator of the motion recognition system

230: Analog front end circuit of motion recognition system

250: digital signal processor of motion recognition system

251: Body region extraction unit 252: Motion recognition unit

253: comparison judgment

350: Digital signal processor of imaging system / motion recognition system

420: imaging device of the imaging system / operation recognition system

430: analog front end circuit of the imaging system / motion recognition system

Claims (8)

A motion recognition system for recognizing a user's motion intended as a shooting start signal and outputting a shutter signal; And And an imaging system communicatively connected to the operation recognition system and configured to start photographing a subject in response to the shutter signal. The motion recognition system, An imaging unit for outputting an image of a body part as a digital image signal; And A body region extraction unit which extracts a body region based on chromaticity distribution of the digital image signal; A motion recognition unit for recognizing a user's motion taken on the extracted body region image; And And a comparison determiner configured to generate the shutter signal by comparing the recognized operation with a designated operation. The method of claim 1, And the motion recognition system recognizes the number of fingers stretched along the length and length from the finger image on which the counting operation is performed, and compares the number of the fingers with the count value taught in the designated operation. The method of claim 1, And the motion recognition system takes a circle line of a predetermined radius from the center of the hand on the image of the hand portion and recognizes the number of fingers crossing the circle line as the number of the extended fingers. The method of claim 1, And the shutter signal includes an s1 signal for commanding setting of shooting conditions and an s2 signal for commanding image capture of a subject. The method of claim 4, wherein And a different designation operation corresponding to the s1 / s2 signal is input to the motion recognition system. The method of claim 1, And an image processing algorithm of the imaging system and an image analysis algorithm of the motion recognition system are executed in a shared digital signal processor. The method of claim 1, The imaging system and the motion recognition system each have an optical unit facing the subject and an optical unit facing the user separately, And the processing and analysis of the images introduced from each of the optical units is performed by a shared image pickup device and a digital signal processor. A mode switching step of entering a non-contact photographing mode according to a user input signal; As the user enters the non-contact photographing mode, a body region in which a body part is taken is detected from an image capturing a user's motion, and an image of the detected body region is analyzed to recognize a user's motion taken on the image. An operation recognition step of outputting a shooting start signal by comparing an operation with a specified operation; A draft step of waiting for photographing while displaying an image of a subject in live view as the user enters the non-contact photographing mode; And And a photographing step of capturing a current subject image according to the photographing start signal.

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