JP2008011412A - Picture processing method and picture processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To control possibility and impossibility of execution of the printing operation of the pictures taken by a digital camera on the basis of a focal position information within the pictures added during the period for taking pictures. <P>SOLUTION: At the time of printing pictures taken by an picture sensing device, a picture with a picture sensing information given by the picture sensing device is inputted, a characteristic region in the picture is extracted, and a focal position in the picture is also extracted from the picture sensing information. In the case where the focal position is determined to be overlapped on the characteristic region within the picture, the same picture is printed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing method and an image processing apparatus, and more particularly to an image processing method and an image processing apparatus for controlling output according to a focus position with respect to a main subject in photographed digital image data.

  In recent years, photographic images have been easily digitized as a result of improved performance and widespread use of image input devices such as digital still cameras (hereinafter referred to as digital cameras), and in particular, opportunities to handle photographic images as digital data on personal computers (hereinafter referred to as PCs). Has increased. Moreover, it has become possible to easily process and edit these photographic images arbitrarily on a PC using various application software.

  On the other hand, full-color hard copy technology is also developing rapidly. Especially, the improvement of print technology by inkjet method is remarkable, and the print image quality is becoming equivalent to silver salt photography by the technology that reduces the graininess due to ink dots. is there. Such a relatively simple and high-quality printing method is widely used.

  In addition, as the performance of digital cameras has improved, the capacity and cost of storage media such as memory cards for recording photographed images have increased significantly, and the number of image data that can be photographed and recorded at one time has increased.

  Furthermore, the printing time required for printing a photographic image as described above has been greatly shortened, and it has become easy to perform a large amount of printing at a time. Many application software that enables such continuous printing of a plurality of sheets with a simple operation are also provided.

  Further, as a function on the digital camera side, when recording a photographed image as digital data on a storage medium such as a memory card, it is possible to record additional information representing a photographing condition at the time of photographing together with the image data. Yes. As a recording format of additional information to be recorded together with the digital image data, a standardized format as described below is known. That is, there is a standard of JEITA CP-3451, Exchangeable image file format for digital stillcameras: Exif by the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA). According to this file format, together with image data taken with a digital camera, the shooting mode, aperture value, shutter speed, etc. at the time of shooting can be recorded as additional information.

  As digital cameras become more sophisticated, in addition to the information defined in the above format, information on the lens used and the point at which the image was focused using the so-called multi-point focusing system (focus position) Can be recorded as additional information.

  With the improvement of the technology related to the digital camera as described above, it has become possible for the user to easily and continuously print a large number of captured images. However, when performing such continuous printing, the user does not always check the shooting state of all the shot images in detail. Therefore, for example, an image that is generally not suitable for printing, such as an out-of-focus image in which the main subject is not in focus, is printed, and as a result, useless printing may be performed.

  In order to avoid such unnecessary printing, the out-of-focus state is detected using the additional information of the photographed image, and control is performed so that printing is not performed for the image that is determined to be photographing failure. An image printing apparatus has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

In the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 described above, specifically, additional information for a captured image is used as follows. That is, by using the shutter speed held as additional information, blur detection with higher accuracy is performed and a failed image is detected. Further, by using the sensitivity information and the exposure amount held as additional information, noise detection of the image is performed and a failed image is detected. Furthermore, by using shooting distance information held as additional information, an in-focus state (out of focus) of the image is detected with high accuracy, and a failed image is detected.
JP 2002-187329 A

  According to the technique described in Patent Document 1 described above, particularly when detecting the out-of-focus state of a captured image, the shooting distance indicated by the additional information is infinite, and the main subject occupies the center of the image. If it is, it is determined that the shooting has failed because the possibility that the focus is in the background is strong. That is, the failure image is determined with the case where the focus is in the center of the image as an ideal in-focus state.

  However, particularly for an image in which a human face is photographed, it is desirable to focus on the face area in the photographed image, and the position is not necessarily limited to the center of the image. Therefore, for example, for a captured image in which the face region is at the edge of the image, an appropriate determination result cannot be expected in the failure image determination based on the shooting distance described in Patent Document 1.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problem, and an image processing method and an image processing apparatus for controlling whether or not to execute printing on a captured image based on in-focus position information in the image added at the time of shooting. The purpose is to provide.

  As a technique for achieving the above object, the image processing method of the present invention includes the following steps.

  That is, an image processing method for printing an image photographed by an imaging device, an image input step for inputting an image to which photographing information is given by the imaging device, and a feature region extracting in the image A region extraction step, a focus position extraction step for extracting a focus position in the image from the photographing information, and a focus determination step for determining whether or not the focus position overlaps the feature region in the image. And a print execution step of printing the image when it is determined in the focus determination step that the focus position overlaps the feature region.

  For example, the feature region is a human face region.

  For example, the in-focus position is one of a plurality of focus adjustment points included in the imaging apparatus.

  With the above configuration, according to the image processing method of the present invention, it is possible to control whether or not to execute printing on a captured image based on in-focus position information in the image added at the time of shooting.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings. The configurations shown in the following embodiments are merely examples, and the present invention is not limited to the illustrated configurations.

<First Embodiment>
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an image processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. This system is generally configured to include a host computer 1, a printer 6, and a display 7. In other words, an inkjet printer 6 and a display 7 are connected to the host computer 1 so as to be capable of bidirectional communication.

  The host computer 1 includes an operating system (OS) 3, and further includes application software (hereinafter simply referred to as an application) 2 that performs processing under the management of the OS 3, a printer driver 4, and a display driver 5.

  The application 2 includes software for controlling processes such as photo retouching and layout. The printer driver 4 processes various drawing command groups (image drawing command, text drawing command, graphics drawing command) issued by the application 2 and indicating an output image to create print data. The display driver 5 processes various drawing command groups issued by the application 2 and displays them on the display 7.

  The host computer 1 has various hardware that can be operated by the above-described software. As the hardware, FIG. 1 shows an example including a central processing unit (CPU) 9, a hard disk driver 8, a random access memory (RAM) 10, a read only memory (ROM) 11, an input interface 14, and the like.

  That is, the CPU 9 executes signal processing related to the processing according to each software described above, and the hard disk (HD) 12 driven by the hard disk driver 8 stores, for example, image data taken by a digital camera (not shown). The The HD 12 also stores the above software. The above-described software is also stored in the ROM 11 in advance, and these are read into the RAM 10 by the CPU 9 as necessary. The RAM 10 is used as a work area for executing signal processing by the CPU 9 described above. In addition, input by the input device 13 such as a mouse and a keyboard is provided to processing by the OS 3 via the input interface 14.

  In this embodiment, it is assumed that image data to be processed is held in the HD 12 in a format to which shooting information is added. That is, image data captured by an image input device (not shown) such as a digital camera is stored in the HD 12 with the shooting information. Image data can be stored from the image input device to the HD 12 by a memory disk reader, a memory card reader, a cable connection, infrared communication means, or wireless communication means.

  Of course, it is also possible to directly connect the digital camera and the host computer 1 by cable connection, infrared communication means, or wireless communication means without moving image data to the HD 12. According to such a configuration, image data can be directly read into the RAM 10 or the like in the host computer 1 from a memory card or built-in memory held by an image input device such as a digital camera, and processing can be performed.

  In the system configured as described above, the user can create desired image data based on the display image displayed on the display 6 by the application 2. Here, the display image is from text data classified as text such as characters, graphics data classified as graphics such as graphics, and image image data classified as photographic images taken with a digital camera or the like. Become.

  When the user gives an instruction to print out the created image data, the application 2 issues a print output request to the OS 3 and issues a drawing command group indicating the output image to the OS 3. This drawing command group is configured with a graphics data portion of image data as a graphic drawing command and an image image data portion as an image drawing command.

  When the OS 3 receives a print output request from the application software 2, it issues a drawing command group to the printer driver 4 corresponding to the printer 6 that executes printing. In general, 8-bit data for each color is often used as an image drawing command.

  The printer driver 4 processes the print request and drawing command group from the OS 3, creates print data in a form that can be printed by the printer 6, and transfers the print data to the printer 6. Here, if the printer 6 is a raster printer, the printer driver 4 sequentially performs image correction processing in response to a drawing command from the OS 3, and sequentially rasterizes it into an RGB 24-bit page memory (8 bits for each of R, G, and B colors). . Then, after rasterizing all drawing commands, the contents of the RGB 24-bit page memory are converted into a data format (for example, CMYK data) that can be printed by the printer 6 and transferred to the printer 6.

  Also, the display on the display 7 is the same as at the time of printing, the OS 3 issues a drawing command group to the display driver 5, and the display driver 5 converts the signal data into a format that can be displayed on the display 7, and then the display Data is transferred to 7.

  Hereinafter, the operation of the application 2 in the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic functional configuration of the application 2 (corresponding to the application 23 in FIG. 2).

  An image file 21 in which shooting information is added to image data shot by an image input device such as a digital camera is read into the HD 12 by the file reading unit 22 and then subjected to image processing in the application 23 as described later. Provided.

  The application 23 has a data analysis module 24 and a display control module 25.

  The data analysis module 24 includes a face region extraction unit 241 that extracts a face region in the image, an additional information analysis unit 242 that analyzes additional information of the image data, and a focus in the image based on the analysis results of the additional information analysis unit 242. An in-focus position extracting unit 243 for extracting the position; The data analysis module 24 further includes a position comparison unit 244 that compares the face region extracted by the face region extraction unit 241 with the focus position extracted by the focus position extraction unit 243.

  The display control module 25 displays a predetermined message and displays a user interface for selecting various functions.

  The image data processed and converted by the application 23 is sent to the display driver 27 and / or the printer driver 28 via the drawing interface 26. The display driver 27 and the printer driver 28 shown in FIG. 2 correspond to the display driver 5 and the printer driver 4 shown in FIG.

  Hereinafter, the image processing in this embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  First, in step S100, the face area extraction unit 241 detects a face area in the image. A known technique can be used as this face area extraction method. For example, a method for analyzing an image feature amount to determine an image area estimated as a face, or extracting a portion estimated to be a person in an image from features of the skin tone of a person and finally a face area Or the like can be used. At this time, when a plurality of face areas are detected in one image, all detected face areas may be determined as the main subject, or the largest face area among the plurality of detection results is determined. The main subject portion may be determined.

  Next, in step S101, the additional information analysis unit 242 analyzes information regarding the focus among the additional information for the image data. In step S102, based on the analysis result of the additional information analysis unit 242, the focus position extraction unit 243 extracts the focus position in the captured image. Here, in order to extract the in-focus position more accurately, not only the information on the focus but also the angle of view of the lens used at the time of image shooting, the aperture value, etc. are analyzed during the additional information analysis in step S101. More preferably, the size of the in-focus area is variable according to the value.

  Next, in step S103, the position comparison unit 244 determines whether or not the face area extracted in step S100 and the in-focus position extracted in step S102 match in the captured image.

  Here, a method for determining whether the position comparison unit 244 matches the face area and the in-focus position will be described with reference to FIGS. 4A and 4B. FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B are diagrams respectively showing an example of a focus matching state and an example of a mismatch state according to the present embodiment. As the in-focus points in these figures, out of the multi-point focus adjustment points of the digital camera, points that are in focus at the time of shooting are shown. In FIG. 4A which shows the state where the focus is the same, since the focal point is included in the face area, that is, overlapped, it is determined that the focus position matches the face area. On the other hand, in FIG. 4B which shows a state where the focus is not coincident, since the focal point does not overlap with the face region, it is determined that the facial region does not coincide with the focal point.

  The position comparison unit 244 determines whether the positional relationship between the face area and the in-focus position is in the state of FIG. 4A or FIG. 4B. That is, if the face area and the focal point match as shown in FIG. 4A, it is determined that the main subject is in focus. If the face area and the focal point do not coincide as shown in FIG. Judge that the subject is not in focus.

  If it is determined in step S103 that the in-focus position matches the face area, the process proceeds to step S106 to print the image.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S103 that the in-focus position does not match the face area, there is a possibility that the main subject is not in focus, so the process proceeds to step S104 and the display control module 25 is used. Display a warning. For example, as the warning display, a display is made to notify the user that the image is inappropriate for printing, and to select whether or not to print the image.

  If print execution is selected in step S105 in response to the warning display, the process proceeds to step S106 to execute print. If the print execution is not permitted, the process proceeds to step S107 to print the image. Cancel.

  Note that the warning display via the display control module 25 in step S104 is not limited to merely prompting selection of whether or not printing is possible as described above. For example, an image is enlarged and displayed centering on the face area detected in step S100, that is, the main subject area to make it easier to visually recognize the matching state of the focus, and the user is allowed to select whether or not the next printing operation can be performed. Also good. Further, not only the warning is displayed on the display 7, but also when the digital camera is directly connected to the host computer 1 to control the printing operation, the warning is displayed on the display unit mounted on the digital camera. May be performed.

  If it is determined in step S103 that the face area and the in-focus position do not match, the image is forcibly not provided with steps S104 and S105, that is, without selecting whether to print. The print job may be canceled. As described above, the method of forcibly canceling printing of the image without selecting whether or not to print is particularly effective when it is difficult to confirm the image on the display.

  Furthermore, when performing continuous printing of a plurality of images without selecting whether to allow printing, thumbnails of the plurality of images to be printed are displayed on the display 7 with a mark indicating that they are non-printed images. Is also effective. It is also effective to record additional information indicating non-printing in the image data.

  In addition, as a recording form of the additional information in the present embodiment, Digital Print Order Format (DPOF) generally used for image data of a digital camera may be used.

  The determination of whether or not printing is possible may be performed after a print instruction is issued by the user, or additional information indicating the determination result is recorded in each image by making a determination in advance before the print instruction. Alternatively, a thumbnail image with a predetermined mark indicating “” may be displayed.

  If the face area does not exist or cannot be detected in step S100, printing may be executed without performing the in-focus position determination after step S101. In this case, the process may forcibly advance to step S104 to display a warning that there is a possibility that an image that has failed to be shot will be printed.

  Further, the focus determination process of the present embodiment may be executed only when the shooting mode is the auto mode or the portrait mode.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the captured image data is printed, the in-focus position recorded as the additional information of the image data is set on the main subject, particularly the person (face) area in the image. If they match, print. On the other hand, if the in-focus position and the main subject area do not match, the user is allowed to select whether or not to continue printing, or printing is forcibly stopped. In this way, by controlling whether or not printing is possible according to the in-focus position in the captured image, it is possible to avoid wasteful printing of images that are not suitable for printing.

<Other embodiments>
Although the embodiment has been described in detail above, the present invention can take an embodiment as a system, apparatus, method, program, storage medium (recording medium), or the like. Specifically, the present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, an imaging device, a web application, etc.), or may be applied to a device composed of a single device. good.

  In the present invention, a software program for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied directly or remotely to a system or apparatus, and the computer of the system or apparatus reads and executes the supplied program code. Is also achieved. The program in this case is a program corresponding to the flowchart shown in the drawing in the embodiment.

  Accordingly, since the functions of the present invention are implemented by computer, the program code installed in the computer also implements the present invention. In other words, the present invention includes a computer program itself for realizing the functional processing of the present invention.

  In this case, as long as it has a program function, it may be in the form of object code, a program executed by an interpreter, script data supplied to the OS, or the like.

  Recording media for supplying the program include the following media. For example, floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, MO, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM, DVD (DVD-ROM, DVD- R).

  As a program supply method, the following method is also possible. That is, the browser of the client computer is connected to a home page on the Internet, and the computer program itself (or a compressed file including an automatic installation function) is downloaded from the browser to a recording medium such as a hard disk. It can also be realized by dividing the program code constituting the program of the present invention into a plurality of files and downloading each file from a different homepage. That is, a WWW server that allows a plurality of users to download a program file for realizing the functional processing of the present invention on a computer is also included in the present invention.

  In addition, the program of the present invention is encrypted, stored in a storage medium such as a CD-ROM, distributed to users, and key information for decryption is downloaded from a homepage via the Internet to users who have cleared predetermined conditions. It is also possible to make it. That is, the user can execute the encrypted program by using the key information and install it on the computer.

  Further, the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the computer executing the read program. Furthermore, based on the instructions of the program, an OS or the like running on the computer performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments can also be realized by the processing.

  Further, the program read from the recording medium is written in a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, and then executed, so that the program of the above-described embodiment can be obtained. Function is realized. That is, based on the instructions of the program, the CPU provided in the function expansion board or function expansion unit can perform part or all of the actual processing.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an imaging system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows schematic function structure of the application software in this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the image data process in this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of a matching state of a focus in this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of a mismatch state of a focus in this embodiment.

Claims (18)

An image processing method for printing an image photographed by an imaging device,
An image input step of inputting an image to which shooting information by the imaging device is added;
A feature region extraction step for extracting a feature region in the image;
A focus position extracting step for extracting a focus position in the image from the photographing information;
An in-focus determination step for determining whether or not the in-focus position overlaps the feature region in the image;
A print execution step of printing the image when it is determined in the focus determination step that the focus position overlaps the feature region;
An image processing method comprising:   The image processing method according to claim 1, further comprising a notification step of notifying when the focus determination step determines that the focus position does not overlap the feature region.   The image processing method according to claim 2, further comprising a print instruction step for controlling whether or not the image can be printed in accordance with a user instruction after the notification in the notification step.   4. The image processing method according to claim 2, wherein in the notification step, a warning is displayed to the effect that the image is inappropriate for printing.   5. The image processing method according to claim 2, wherein a warning mark indicating that the image is inappropriate for printing is added to the image in the notification step.   The image processing method according to claim 1, wherein the feature region is a region indicating a person.   The image processing method according to claim 6, wherein the feature region is a face region.   The image processing method according to claim 1, wherein the in-focus position is one of a plurality of focus adjustment points included in the imaging apparatus. An image processing apparatus that prints an image captured by an imaging apparatus,
Image input means for inputting an image to which shooting information by the imaging device is given;
Feature region extraction means for extracting a feature region in the image;
A focus position extracting means for extracting a focus position in the image from the photographing information;
In-focus determination means for determining whether or not the in-focus position overlaps the feature region in the image;
A printing unit that prints the image when the in-focus determination unit determines that the in-focus position overlaps the feature region;
An image processing apparatus comprising:   The image processing apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising an informing unit that informs when the in-focus determining unit determines that the in-focus position does not overlap the feature region.   The image processing apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising a print instruction unit that controls whether or not the image can be printed in accordance with a user instruction after the notification in the notification step.   12. The image processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the notification unit displays a warning that the image is inappropriate for printing.   The image processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the notification unit displays the warning on a display unit included in the imaging apparatus.   The image processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the characteristic area is an area indicating a person.   The image processing apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the feature region is a face region.   The image processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the in-focus position is one of a plurality of focus adjustment points included in the imaging apparatus.   A program that, when executed on a computer, realizes the image processing method according to any one of claims 1 to 8.   A recording medium on which the program according to claim 17 is recorded.

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