KR101436322B1 - Image capturing apparatus enabling non-contact shutter-operation and image capturing method - Google Patents

Abstract

An imaging apparatus and a non-contact imaging method capable of non-contact imaging are disclosed in the present invention. The non-contact type image sensing apparatus recognizes an operation of a user intended as an image sensing start signal, and is connected to the operation recognition system and the operation recognition system for outputting a shutter signal, The motion recognition system includes an imaging unit for outputting an image related to a part of a body as a digital video signal, a body region extracting unit for extracting a body region based on chromaticity distribution of a digital video signal, An operation recognizing unit for recognizing an operation of a user taken on the image of the subject, and a comparison judging unit for comparing the recognized action and the designated action with each other to generate a shutter signal.

According to the present invention, there is provided an image pickup apparatus and a photographing method which introduce a non-contact type photographing method in which photographing is started based on an operation signal of a photographer without the operation of the shutter button.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to an image capturing apparatus capable of non-contact shooting,

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

In the conventional photographing method, photographing of the camera is started through an operation of the user who physically presses the shutter release button. For example, when taking a picture of a baby, the photographer must take a specific action to induce the baby's gaze. In other words, with one hand holding the camera and pressing the shutter button, while holding the baby's gaze with the other hand, hold the camera with only one hand and operate the shutter button. In an unstable state where the camera is held by only one hand, the entire camera shakes due to the pressing operation of the shutter button, and the image in the photograph is likely to be shaken. Especially, the shaking phenomenon of the photographed image is more prominent in the case of the low light amount photographing condition in which the opening of the iris or the shutter speed is not secured with a limited amount of light, as compared with the DSLR equipped with the large diameter lens.

The more advanced technology captures the specific facial expression such as the smile face by applying the technique of recognizing the face of the person and focusing the face of the subject and the face recognition technology. The problem with this technique is that it only responds to certain facial expressions, so that it is not possible to take photographs sufficiently reflecting the intention of the photographer. Particularly, in face recognition, since a pattern matching process must be performed, a complicated calculation process is essential, and data on an object as a comparison object is required. That is, there is a problem in that data for facial expression tracking of a subject person needs to be stored in advance, and a large number of calculation processing ability is required, but the recognition success rate is lowered depending on the surrounding environment such as background illumination.

An object of the present invention is to provide an image pickup apparatus and a photographing method in which a non-contact type photographing method in which photographing is started based on an operation signal of a photographer, regardless of the operation of a shutter button.

In order to achieve the above object and other objects, an image pickup apparatus of the present invention includes:

An operation recognition system for recognizing the operation of the user intended as the photographing start signal and outputting the shutter signal; And

And an imaging system that is connected to be capable of communicating with the motion recognition system and that starts shooting a subject in response to the shutter signal,

Wherein the motion recognition system comprises:

An image pickup unit for outputting an image relating to a part of the body as a digital image signal; And

A body region extracting unit for extracting a body region based on chromaticity distribution of the digital video signal;

An operation recognition unit for recognizing an operation of a user taken on an image of the extracted body region; And

And a comparison determination unit for comparing the recognized operation and the designated operation with each other to generate the shutter signal.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the motion recognition system recognizes the number of fingers extended along the length of the finger image from the finger image that has undergone the counting operation, and compares the number of fingers expanded with the length of the finger image to the coefficient value taught by the specifying operation.

In this case, the motion recognition system may take a circle line having 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 opened fingers.

In the present invention, it is preferable that the shutter signal includes an s1 signal for instructing the setting of the photographing condition and an s2 signal for instructing the image capturing of the subject. At this time, it is preferable that different operation corresponding to the s1 / s2 signal is 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 can be executed in a shared digital signal processor.

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

Processing and analysis of the image input from each optical unit can be performed by a shared image pickup device and a digital signal processor.

According to another aspect of the present invention,

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

Detecting a body region in which a part of the body is photographed from an image captured by the user in accordance with the entry into the non-contact imaging mode, analyzing the image of the detected body region to recognize the action of the user taken on the image, An operation recognition step of comparing an operation and a specified operation with each other to output a photographing start signal;

A drafting step of displaying an image of a subject in a live view in response to the entry into the non-contact shooting mode and awaiting a photographing; And

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

In the present invention, by introducing a non-contact type photographing method for recognizing the operation signal of the photographer and starting the photographing operation, the camera shake phenomenon by the operation of the conventional shutter button is fundamentally prevented, and even when the camera is held by one hand, The photographing can be performed. In addition, by applying a relatively simple algorithm compared with conventional facial recognition recognition, the computation processing capability is greatly reduced, and the recognition success rate can be dramatically improved without being sensitive to changes in the surrounding environment such as background illumination. In addition, since the photographing is started in conjunction with the operation of the photographer, a photograph in which the intention of the photographer is sufficiently reflected can be obtained.

Further, in the image pickup 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 in an interactive photographing.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings attached hereto. Fig. 1 schematically shows an overall configuration of an image pickup apparatus capable of non-contact type image pickup according to an embodiment of the present invention. The illustrated imaging apparatus mainly includes an imaging system 100 for capturing an image of a subject and an operation recognition system 200 for instructing the imaging system 100 to start capturing images by analyzing a user's operation signal , The image pickup system 100 and the motion recognition system 200 are connected to each other through an internal bus line so as to be able to communicate with each other. For reference, the reference numerals (I) and (II) added 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 an optical unit 110 including a plurality of optical lenses for imaging an object image on an imaging surface, an imaging device 110 for converting an object image passed through the optical unit 110 into an electrical image signal, An analog front end (AFE) circuit 130 for processing an output signal of the image pickup device 120 and converting the output signal of the image pickup device 120 into a quantized digital image signal, A recording medium 158 in which the image data of the subject is stored in the form of a still image or a moving image file, and a recording medium 158 in which the overall data flow of the imaging system 100 and each constituent part And a digital signal processor 150 for collectively controlling the operation recognition system 200 and forming a contact with the motion recognition system 200 and performing communication.

The optical unit 110 includes a zoom lens (not shown) that moves back and forth along the optical axis direction and changes the focal distance, a shutter and an iris (not shown) for adjusting the exposure time to the imaging device 120 and the amount of incident light, And a focus lens (not shown) for adjusting a focus of an object image formed on the image pickup device 120. [ The zoom lens, shutter, diaphragm, and focus lens may be driven by an actuating motor (not shown) controlled by a driver 111.

The imaging device 120 is a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) or a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) image sensor and converts an image of an object incident via the optical unit 110 into an electrical image signal . The image pickup 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) 121.

The analog front end circuit 130 performs a sample-and-hold operation on the output signal of the image pickup device 120 in a correlated double sampling (CDS) manner so as to maintain a high signal-to-noise ratio , And controls the gain of the image signal by AGC (Auto Gain Control) and performs an ADC (Analog Digital Conversion) process to convert 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 may temporarily store the output signal of the image pickup device 120, And provides a work area for encoding and decompression decoding.

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

The digital signal processor 150 may perform an Auto Exposure (AE) operation for calculating an EV value (Exposure Value) and determining a proper combination of a diaphragm value and a shutter speed, an operation for detecting a main subject, An auto focus (AF) operation is performed to determine the in-focus position of the focus lens so that the focus of the image is adjusted. In addition, the digital signal processor 150 can perform encoding / decoding of compression / expansion processing on the image data written in the DRAM 155.

The digital signal processor 150 is communicably connected to the motion recognition system 200 through an internal bus line. More specifically, the digital signal processor 150 generates an s 1 / s 2 signal according to an input signal from the motion recognition system 200. The s1 / s2 signal corresponds to the half-pressing operation and the pressing operation of the conventional shutter button. More specifically, in the s1 signal, the shooting condition is set, for example, the AF operation for moving the focus lens to the focus position of the subject is performed. In the s2 signal, exposure to the imaging element and image capturing are performed. On the other hand, on the recording medium 158, the compressed video data are stored in the form of a still image file or a moving image file. The recording medium 158 may be provided as a memory card which is detached and removed through an interface.

The motion recognition system 200 includes a plurality of components for image analysis of an operation signal of a user, and more specifically, includes an optical unit (not shown) for imaging a user's image on an imaging surface An image pickup element 220 for converting an image of a user introduced from the optical unit 210 into an electrical image signal; an analog to digital converter 220 for converting the output signal of the image pickup element 220 into a quantized digital image signal; (AFE) circuit 230 detects a body region on which a part of the body is imaged from the digital image signal, analyzes the image of the detected body region, recognizes the body motion taken on the image, And a digital signal processor (250) for instructing the digital signal processor (250).

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

The image pickup device 220 may be a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) or a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) image sensor, and converts an image of a user incident via the optical unit 210 into an electrical image signal . The image pickup device 220 performs exposure and image capturing with respect to an object image at regular time intervals. For example, image capturing is performed in synchronization with an output signal of a timing generator (TG) 221 . The analog front end circuit 230 may include a CDS (Correlated Double Sampling) circuit, an AGC (Auto Gain Control) circuit, and an ADC (Analog Digital Conversion) circuit. The optical unit 210, the image pickup device 220 and the analog front end circuit 230 are used for inputting a user's image and outputting a digitized image signal. ) As shown in Fig.

Meanwhile, 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 part of the body is imaged from the input image, analyzes the image of the detected body region, and recognizes the body motion taken on the image. For example, the digital signal processor 250 may capture an operation of shaking the hand to the left and right to output an s1 / s2 signal, or may capture a counting operation using a finger to obtain a countable number from 1 to 5 For example, a pin image is captured by one finger to represent a count value of 1, and the pin image is captured together with two fingers so as to represent the count value 2, so that s2 A signal can be output. More specifically, the operation of the digital signal processor 250 will be described in detail below.

The digital signal processor 250 includes a modular body region extracting unit 251, an operation recognizing unit 252, and a comparison determining unit 253 to perform a unique signal processing algorithm. The body region extracting unit 251 applies an algorithm for detecting a body region to the quantized digital image signal through the analog front end circuit 230. Here, the body area calculation unit 251 determines pixels belonging to the body region by comparing and analyzing statistical data on the skin color and chromaticity signals on the captured image. It is known from the statistical data that the relative ratio (R / G) of red (R) to green (G) of the skin color of the body satisfies the relationship of the formula (1).

1 (1.05)? R / G? 4

The body region extraction unit 251 calculates an R / G value from the R, G, and B chroma values obtained from the respective pixels on the image and applies the upper and lower limits of Equation (1) Body area.

The motion recognition unit 252 applies an algorithm for recognizing the motion of the user to the detected body region. The motion recognition unit 252 recognizes the motion of the user taken on the photographed image from the geometric distribution of the pixels determined to belong to the body region. More specifically, the motion recognition unit 252 calculates the center position (Xavg, Yavg) of the body region using Equation (2) below.

Here, Xi and Yi represent the X and Y axis coordinates of the ith pixel, respectively, and K represents the total number of pixels belonging to the body region.

Next, the motion recognition unit 252 calculates the longest distance from the center position (Xavg, Yavg) to the farthest position of the body area. Generally, the longest distance is the distance from the center position (Xavg, Yavg) to the end of the longest finger. For example, if a virtual circle line is set with a center position (Xavg, Yavg) as a centrifuge and a radius of 70% of the calculated maximum distance is set, the circle line has an annular shape passing through all of the fingers I get drunk. Therefore, by examining the one-dimensional data array along the circle line and counting changes in luminance distribution, it is judged whether one, two or more finger nodes are spread, and the count value of the finger (1 or 2, 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 by the s1 / s2 operation, and generates the s1 / s2 signal according to whether or not the s1 / . That is, if it is determined that the coefficient values of the finger on the photographed image are compared with the predetermined coefficient values (ex. 1) in the s1 operation, the comparison determination unit 253 generates the s1 signals and makes a connection To the imaging system 100 (more specifically, the imaging system digital signal processor 150). If it is determined that the coefficient value of the finger and the coefficient value designated in advance by the s2 operation coincide with each other on the captured image, the comparison determination unit 253 generates the s2 signal and transmits it to the imaging system 100. [ The digital signal processor 150 of the image pickup system 100 that has received the s1 / s2 signals outputs the corresponding s1 / s2 signals to the respective components of the image pickup system 100, thereby performing AF (Auto Focus) Or an AE (Auto Exposure) operation, or instructs to capture a final image of a subject.

2 shows a back side structure of an image pickup apparatus capable of non-contact type photographing of the present invention. An LCD panel 180 is formed in a substantially rectangular shape on the rear surface of the image sensing device and a plurality of keys and levers are formed on the periphery of the LCD panel 180 and the top of the case 190 A user input 140 is provided that includes input mechanisms. For example, the user input unit 140 may include a mode setting key 141 related to mode switching between the general photographing mode and the non-contact photographing mode, and an optical zoom-telephoto zoom button 142 relating to the photographing operation . The user input unit 140 generates a predetermined command according to a user's operation and transmits the generated command to the digital signal processor 150. An optical lens 215 constituting a part of an operation recognition system 200 for capturing an operation of a user is formed on the back surface of the image sensing apparatus. An image obtained by swinging the hand to the left or right or a counting operation using the finger is inputted through the optical lens 215 and the user's operation signal is judged through comparison with the previously designated operation do.

On the other hand, Fig. 3 shows a schematic configuration of an image pickup apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention. Referring to the drawings, the image capturing apparatus includes an image capturing system 100 for capturing an object, and an operation recognizing system 200 for recognizing a user's designated operation and instructing start of capturing. In the present embodiment, however, the dedicated digital signal processor is not separately provided for the imaging system 100 and the motion recognition system 200, but the imaging system 100 and the motion recognition system 200 are one digital 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. [ The digital signal processor 350 is connected to another configuration of the imaging system 100 through a first signal channel ch11 and can receive a video signal of a subject via the first signal channel ch11. The digital signal processor 350 is connected to the other configuration of the motion recognition system 200 through the second signal channel ch12 and transmits an image analysis algorithm to the image received via the second signal channel ch12 Can be applied to recognize the designated operation of the user. Then, the corresponding shooting operation is performed as the s1 / s2 operation is recognized from the input image.

Fig. 4 shows a schematic configuration of an image pickup apparatus capable of non-contact type photographing according to still another embodiment of the present invention. The imaging apparatus also includes an imaging system 100 for photographing a subject and an operation recognition system 200 for recognizing the user's designation operation and instructing start of photographing. The optical unit 110 facing the subject and the optical unit 200 facing the user in the imaging system 100 and the motion recognition system 200 are provided individually because they are different from each other in orientation, 420 differs from the above-described embodiment in that the overall configuration from the analog front end circuit 430 to the digital signal processor 450 is shared by the imaging system 100 and the motion recognition system 200. The imaging device 420 receives the image of the subject from the optical unit 110 of the imaging system 100 through the first optical channel ch21 and receives the image of the subject through the second optical channel ch22, And receives the operation image of the user from the optical unit 210 of FIG. At this time, the image influx into the image sensing device 420 can be switched to the first optical channel ch21 / second optical channel ch22 according to the user's selection, It is determined whether the image processing process is an image processing process for the object image or an image analysis process for the user action image.

5 is a flowchart showing a series of steps performed in the non-contact type photographing method according to another aspect of the present invention. First, initialization is performed when drive power is applied to the image pickup apparatus (S10), and a non-contact image pickup mode is performed according to a user's input signal regarding the mode setting input from the user operation unit (S11). In the non-contact imaging mode, the power of the motion recognition system 200 is turned on (S12), initial communication settings for data communication with the imaging system 100 are made (S13), and then the operation recognition system 200- (S1 / s2) signal through the digital signal processor.

In the non-contact imaging mode, the motion recognition system 200 (more specifically, the digital signal processor 250) detects a body region on which a part of the body is imaged from within the captured image of the user's operation, And recognizes the action of the user on the image, and compares the recognized action with the specified action (S14). On the other hand, the imaging system 100 (more specifically, the digital signal processor 150) performs a draft mode for displaying a current image of a subject as a live view, and waits for the start of imaging (S15).

The motion recognition system 200 captures a moment at which a previously designated s1 / s2 motion (a motion of swinging left or right or a counting operation using a finger) is detected according to a result of analyzing a motion of a user taken on a current image, The signal s1 / s2 is transmitted to the imaging system (S16). Then, the digital signal processor 150 of the image pickup system 100 instructs to prepare for photographing such as AF (Auto Focus) operation or AE (Auto Exposure) operation in response to the input s1 / s2 signal, (S17), and the image of the subject is stored in the recording medium (S18).

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Accordingly, the true scope of the present invention should be determined by the technical idea of the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an image pickup apparatus capable of non-contact type image pickup according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG.

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

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

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

5 is a flowchart showing a series of driving steps performed in the non-contact type photographing method according to another aspect of the present invention.

Description of the Related Art

100: imaging system 110: optical unit of imaging system

120: Imaging element of the imaging system 121: Timing generator of the imaging system

130: Analog front end circuit of imaging system

150: digital signal processor of an imaging system

151: EEPROM 155 of an image pickup system: RAM (SDRAM)

158: Recording medium 200: Motion recognition system

210: Optical unit of motion recognition system 220: Image pickup element of motion recognition system

221: Timing generator of motion recognition system

230: Analog front-end circuit of motion recognition system

250: Digital signal processor of motion recognition system

251: Body region extracting unit 252:

253:

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

420: Imaging element of imaging system / motion recognition system

430: Analog front end circuit of imaging system / motion recognition system

Claims (8)

An operation recognition system for recognizing the operation of the user intended as the photographing start signal and outputting the shutter signal; And And an imaging system that is connected to be capable of communicating with the motion recognition system and that starts shooting a subject in response to the shutter signal, Wherein the motion recognition system comprises: An image pickup unit for outputting an image relating to a part of the body as a digital image signal; And A body region extracting unit for extracting a body region based on chromaticity distribution of the digital video signal; An operation recognition unit for recognizing an operation of a user taken on an image of the extracted body region; And And a comparison determination unit for comparing the recognized operation with a designated operation to generate the shutter signal, Wherein the imaging system and the imaging unit of the motion recognition system each include a separate optical unit. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the motion recognition system recognizes the number of fingers extended along the length of the finger image from the finger image that has undergone the counting operation and compares the number of fingers spread with the count value taught by the specifying operation. The method according to claim 1, Wherein 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 fingers extended. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the shutter signal includes an s1 signal for commanding setting of a photographing condition and an s2 signal for commanding an image capturing of a subject. 5. The method of claim 4, Wherein the motion recognition system inputs different assigning operations corresponding to the S1 / S2 signals. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the image processing algorithm of the imaging system and the image analysis algorithm of the motion recognition system are executed in a shared digital signal processor. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the imaging system and the motion recognizing system each have an optical unit facing the subject and an optical unit facing the user, Wherein processing and analysis of an image input from each of the optical units is performed by a shared image pickup element and a digital signal processor. A mode switching step of entering a non-contact photographing mode according to a user's input signal; Detecting a body region in which a part of the body is photographed from an image captured by the user in accordance with the entry into the non-contact imaging mode, analyzing the image of the detected body region to recognize the action of the user taken on the image, An operation recognition step of comparing an operation and a specified operation with each other to output a photographing start signal; A drafting step of displaying an image of a subject in a live view in response to the entry into the non-contact shooting mode and awaiting a photographing; And And a capturing step of capturing a current subject image according to the capturing start signal, Wherein the image capturing operation of the user and the subject image are photographed using a separate optical unit.

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