JP2010177813A - Digital camera - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent erroneous deletion of a subject image photographed by detecting a predetermined face expression in a digital camera. <P>SOLUTION: When a face expression detecting section 23 detects a smile of a subject person when the smile is set as a predetermined face expression of the subject person in a subject image, an automatic photographing section 30 automatically starts photographing of the subject image, and a protection section 41 executes protection processing of the subject image. An image recording section 16 sets a flag of the protected image on a header section of an image file of the subject image and stores the image in a memory 16a. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a digital camera having a function of automatically photographing by recognizing facial expressions of a subject.

Generally, in a digital camera, a subject is photographed, the photographed image is recorded on a non-volatile recording medium, and then the photographed image is reproduced on a monitor, and unnecessary images are erased, that is, deleted from the recording medium. It has been broken.
In order to prevent accidental deletion of an image that is desired to be saved during such a deletion operation of a photographed image, the digital camera has a protection function that prohibits deletion. This function reads an image from a recording medium, plays it back to the monitor, selects “Protect” from the playback menu on the display screen for the image you like, and protects the image by pressing the execute button. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).

JP 2004-274457 A

  However, the digital camera of the cited document 1 uses the above-described smile automatic photographing function, for example, in order to perform the protection process even when the photographing that fulfills the photographer's intention is performed. The photographed image is read from the recording medium, reproduced on the monitor, “Protect” on the menu is selected on the monitor, and the execution button needs to be pressed down, which is extremely troublesome.

(1) A digital camera according to a first aspect of the present invention is an imaging means for capturing a subject and generating a subject image, and facial expression detection for detecting that a facial image of a subject person in the subject image is a predetermined facial expression. Means, an automatic photographing means for automatically starting photographing when the facial expression detecting means detects that the face image of the subject person has a predetermined facial expression, and a subject image photographed by the automatic photographing means as a storage medium And recording means for recording, and protection means for automatically performing protection processing for prohibiting deletion of the subject image from the storage medium when the subject image is recorded on the storage medium.
(2) According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a digital camera comprising: an imaging unit that images a subject to generate a subject image; and a facial expression detection that detects that a facial image of a subject person in the subject image is a predetermined facial expression. Means, an automatic photographing means for automatically starting photographing when the facial expression detecting means detects that the face image of the subject person has a predetermined facial expression, and a subject image photographed by the automatic photographing means as a storage medium Recording means for recording, protection means for prohibiting deletion of the subject image from the storage medium when the subject image is recorded on the storage medium, and automatic photographing means before the protection processing by the protection means Display means for automatically displaying a message as to whether or not to perform protection processing in accordance with automatic photographing.
(3) A digital camera according to a fifth aspect of the invention is an image pickup means for picking up a subject and generating a subject image, and a facial expression detection for detecting that a face image of a subject person in the subject image is a predetermined facial expression. Means, an automatic photographing means for automatically starting photographing when the facial expression detecting means detects that the face image of the subject person has a predetermined facial expression, and a subject image photographed by the automatic photographing means as a storage medium A recording means for recording, a reading means for automatically reading out subject images of a predetermined facial expression from a storage medium and displaying them in a list on a display screen; a selecting means for selecting an image from the displayed subject images; and a selection Protection means for performing protection processing for prohibiting deletion of an image selected by the means from the storage medium.

  According to the digital camera of the present invention, when it is detected that the face image of the subject person has a predetermined facial expression, the image is automatically taken, and when the subject with the predetermined facial expression is taken, the image can be simply added. Protection processing can be performed.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the digital camera which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the digital camera which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

Hereinafter, a digital camera according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
-First embodiment-
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a digital camera according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the digital camera includes a photographic lens 11, an aperture 12, an image sensor 13, a buffer memory 14, an image processing unit 15, an image recording unit 16, and a control unit 20. The digital camera includes a face detection unit 21, a face data storage unit 22, a facial expression detection unit 23, a facial expression data storage unit 24, a facial expression setting unit 25, a facial expression level data storage unit 26, and a facial expression level setting unit 27. The display control unit 28 and the liquid crystal display 29 are provided. The digital camera further includes an automatic photographing unit 30, a facial expression photographing mode setting unit 40, a protect unit 41, and a resizing unit.

  The photographing lens 11 includes a plurality of lenses including a zoom lens and a focus lens, and forms a subject image on the image sensor 13. In FIG. 1, for the sake of simplicity, the taking lens 11 is shown as a single lens. The imaging element 13 generates an image signal by photoelectrically converting the subject light L1 from the photographing lens 11.

The image signal output from the image pickup device 13 is sent to the image processing unit 15 via the buffer memory 14, where predetermined various image processing is performed. In the stage before the start of photographing, the image signal from the image sensor 13 is sent to the liquid crystal display 29 via the buffer memory 14, the image processing unit 15, and the control unit 20, and is displayed as a through image. At the photographing stage, the image signal from the image sensor 13 is recorded in the image recording unit 16 via the buffer memory 14 and the image processing unit 15.
The image recording unit 16 records the image information and attribute information related to the image in association with each other in the nonvolatile memory 16a.

  The face detection unit 21 detects the face of the subject person in the subject image by comparing the subject image with the face data stored in advance in the face data storage unit 22. When there are a plurality of subject persons, all faces are detected individually. The detected face area image is sent from the face detection unit 21 to the control unit 20. The face data storage unit 22 stores, for example, feature point data relating to the shape of eyebrows, eyes, nose, and lips.

  For the face detection, for example, a detection method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-16573 can be used. In this detection method, feature points are extracted from an input image to detect the face area, face size, etc. of the subject. The feature points include end points of eyebrows, eyes, nose, lips, and face contour points, such as the head vertex and the lower end point of the chin.

  As other face detection, for example, a detection method disclosed in JP-A-2005-157679 can be used. In this detection method, first, a luminance difference between two pixels in an input image is learned as a feature amount, and an estimated value indicating whether or not a face exists in a predetermined region in the input image based on the feature amount. And when the estimated value is 1 or more, it is determined that a face exists in the predetermined area.

  The facial expression detection unit 23 inputs an image of the face area detected by the face detection unit 21 via the control unit 20, and the facial expression of the image of the facial area is stored in advance in the facial expression data storage unit 24. By comparing with the predetermined facial expression data, it is detected that the facial expression of the subject person in the face area image corresponds to the predetermined facial expression data. This facial expression detection is performed at regular time intervals.

There are various types of facial expressions such as a smiling face, a crying face, an angry face, a surprised face, and a sleeping face, and the facial expression data storage unit 24 stores the plurality of facial expression data.
The facial expression setting unit 25 is an operation unit that sets a plurality of facial expressions of the subject person from the outside. In the following description, it is assumed that a smile is set as the facial expression.

When the facial expression detection unit 23 detects a facial expression of an image in the face area, a detection method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-42319 can be used. In this detection method, for example, in order to detect a smile, the type of facial expression is determined based on whether the face of the detected image is close to the two facial expressions of a smile and a normal face. .
When the facial expression detection unit 23 detects that the facial expression of the subject person in the subject image is a smile, it outputs a detection signal to the control unit 20.

Furthermore facial expression detection section 23, by comparing with a predetermined facial expression level data previously stored face table information of the image of the face region detected by the face detection unit 20 to the facial expression level data storage unit 26, It is detected that the facial expression of the subject person in the face area image corresponds to a predetermined facial expression level.

  The facial expression level data storage unit 26 has a plurality of facial expressions that can be set by the facial expression setting unit 25. Each facial expression level (facial expression level value) is 10% to 100% at 10% intervals. The facial expression level data is stored for each facial expression level. For example, as the smile level increases to 10%, 20%, 30%,..., The smile level increases from a smile level to a big smile level.

  The facial expression level setting unit 27 sets, for example, a facial expression level value such as a smile level value of 10%, 20%, 30%, etc. from the outside for a plurality of facial expressions that can be set by the facial expression setting unit 25. It is an operation unit. As will be described later, this smile level value is a reference for performing protection processing for automatically captured subject images.

  As a method for determining the degree of smile, for example, a method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-46591 can be used. This determination method evaluates the degree of smile for the smile of the input partial image, and calculates a smile evaluation value. When evaluating smiles, calculate the evaluation points for the shape of each element of the eyebrows, pupils, and lips by referring to the smile data stored in advance. Value.

  The display control unit 28 controls display on the liquid crystal display 29. That is, the display control unit 28 displays the through image on the liquid crystal display 29, the subject image temporarily recorded in the buffer memory 14, and the reproduction display of the subject image stored in the memory 16a of the image recording unit 16. The display mode when performing is controlled. Further, the display control unit 28 displays only the subject image on the liquid crystal display 29 or displays the subject image to which the attribute information is added.

  The liquid crystal display 29 displays a through image, a subject image temporarily recorded in the buffer memory 14, and a subject image stored in the memory 16 a, and is displayed on the subject image according to a command from the display control unit 28. Related attribute information, for example, tag information in EXIF format is displayed.

When the facial expression detector 23 detects a predetermined facial expression of the subject person, for example, a smile, the automatic photographing unit 30 outputs an operation signal to the photographing lens 11, the aperture 12, and the image sensor 13 to automatically photograph the subject. .
The memory 16a includes a plurality of facial expression folders corresponding to the types of facial expressions that can be set by the facial expression setting unit 25, such as a smile, a crying face, and an angry face, such as a smiling folder, a crying face folder, and an angry face folder. When the automatic photographing unit 30 is prepared and automatically photographs a smiling subject person, the image of the smiling subject person is stored in a smile folder.

  The facial expression photographing mode setting unit 40 is an operation unit that sets ON / OFF a mode in which the automatic photographing unit 30 executes automatic photographing when the facial expression of the subject person corresponds to a predetermined facial expression.

  In order to prevent the smiling subject image automatically shot by the automatic shooting unit 30 from being recorded in the non-volatile memory 16a and then being deleted from the memory 16a due to an erroneous operation, the protect unit 41 applies to the subject image. Perform protection processing. For example, the protect unit 41 automatically performs a protect process based on a detection signal from the facial expression detection unit 23. The fact that the subject image recorded in the memory 16a has been protected is recorded in the memory 16a in association with attribute information indicating that the subject has been protected.

  The resizing unit 42 automatically performs a resizing process for changing the number of pixels of the smiley image stored in the smiley folder in the memory 16a. The resized image is stored in the smiley folder separately from the smiley image. Stored. More specifically, the photographer inputs in advance the resolution of a display device that is commonly used, for example, the resolution of a high-definition television (HDTV), by operating the resizing unit 42 when viewing a captured image. The resizing unit 42 automatically resizes the image stored in the smile folder based on the input resolution, and the image recording unit 16 sets the resized image as an image for display display in the smile folder. Store separately.

The digital camera configured as described above operates as follows.
First, the facial expression photographing mode setting unit 40 is turned on, and the facial expression setting unit 25 sets, for example, a smile as a facial expression type.

The face detection unit 21 detects the face portion of the person in the through image by comparing the through image from the image sensor 13 with the face data in the face data storage unit 22.
The facial expression detection unit 23 compares the face image of the subject person detected by the face detection unit 21 with smile data stored in the facial expression data storage unit 24, and generates a detection signal when detecting the smile of the subject person. .

  The automatic photographing unit 30 outputs an operation signal to the photographing lens 11, the diaphragm 12, and the image sensor 13 in accordance with the detection signal, and automatically photographs a smiling subject person. The automatically captured subject image is recorded in the smile folder of the memory 16a via the image processing unit 15.

Further, when receiving the above detection signal, the protection unit 41 executes the above-described protection processing of the subject image, and the image recording unit 16 sets a flag that has been subjected to the protection processing in the header portion of the image file of the subject image. Record in the memory 16a.
In this way, the subject image automatically captured by smile detection is recorded in the memory 16a, and a protection process for prohibiting deletion of the image from the memory 16a is automatically performed.

The resizing unit 42 automatically resizes the protected subject image based on the resolution of the display device, and the resized image is stored in the smile folder of the memory 16a as a display image. When the subject image recorded in the memory 16a is viewed on the display device at a later date, the display image is reproduced.
In this embodiment, the memory 16a stores both the resized display image and the original image. However, when storing the resized display image in the memory 16a, the memory 16a stores the resized display image and the original image. In addition, the original image may be deleted. In the case of this deletion, it is possible to prevent a decrease in the remaining capacity of the memory 16a.

The digital camera according to the present embodiment has the following operational effects.
(1) Since the subject image automatically detected by detecting the smile of the subject person is automatically protected, it is possible to save the trouble of the protection work.
(2) Since an image in which a smile is detected is protected at the time of shooting, the opportunity for the protection process is not missed.

Variations of the digital camera according to the present embodiment are as follows.
(1) Protection based on smile level In the first embodiment, all subject images in which a smile is detected are protected. That is, in the above-described embodiment, when the facial expression detection unit 23 detects the smile of the subject person, a detection signal is generated, and automatic shooting of the subject image and automatic protection processing for the subject image are performed based on the detection signal. It was to be.

On the other hand, in this modified example, protection processing is not performed on all smile detection images, but protection processing is performed only on smile detection images having a predetermined smile level or higher.
In this modification, the facial expression detection unit 23 generates a detection signal when detecting the smile of the subject person, and detects that the smile is equal to or higher than the predetermined smile level set by the facial expression level setting unit 27. Then, an evaluation signal is issued. The automatic photographing unit 30 performs automatic photographing of the subject image based on the detection signal, and the protection unit 41 performs protection processing on the subject image based on the evaluation signal.

The digital camera of this modification operates as follows.
For example, smile is set as the facial expression type by the facial expression setting unit 25, and 60% is preset as the smile level value by the facial expression level setting unit 27. When the facial expression detection unit 23 detects the smile of the subject person and outputs a detection signal, the automatic photographing unit 30 automatically shoots the subject image. Whether or not the subject image is protected depends on the smile level value. Determined based on 60%. That is, the facial expression detection unit 23 compares the facial expression of the subject person with the facial expression level data stored in advance in the facial expression level data storage unit 26. When the facial expression detection unit 23 detects that the facial expression of the subject person corresponds to a facial expression level with a smile level value of 60% or more, the evaluation signal is generated.

  Based on the evaluation signal, the protection unit 41 automatically performs protection processing on the subject image. On the other hand, the protection process is not executed for a smile image having a smile level value of less than 60%. In general, an image with a higher smile level value has a higher willingness to save, and therefore, it is more significant to determine whether or not to protect the image with a smile level value.

(2) Message Display Before Protection Processing In this modification, the protection unit 41 is configured to execute protection processing by an external operation, unlike the above-described embodiment.
Before the protection unit 41 automatically executes the protection process, a message as to whether or not to perform the protection process is displayed on the liquid crystal display 29. Based on this message, the photographer operates the protection unit 41 to perform the protection process. Processing may be executed.

-Second Embodiment-
Next, a digital camera according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.
The digital camera according to the second embodiment is obtained by adding a new configuration to the configuration of the digital camera according to the first embodiment. These new additional configurations are an image reading unit 43 and an image selecting unit 44, as shown in FIG. The other components are substantially the same as those in the first embodiment, and thus the same reference numerals are given and description thereof is omitted.

  Referring to the block diagram of FIG. 2, the image reading unit 43 is an operation unit that searches and reads out a subject image having a predetermined facial expression stored in the memory 16a in the playback mode. Also in the present embodiment, when smile is set as the predetermined facial expression, the image reading unit 43 reads the smile image stored in the smile folder of the memory 16a. The read smile images are displayed in a list on the liquid crystal display 29.

  The image selection unit 44 is an operation unit for selecting a desired image for protection processing from smile images displayed in a list.

The digital camera according to the second embodiment operates as follows.
First, the facial expression photographing mode setting unit 40 is turned on, and the facial expression setting unit 25 sets, for example, a smile as a facial expression type. When the facial expression detection unit 23 detects the smiling face of the subject person, the automatic photographing unit 30 automatically photographs the smiling subject person. The automatically captured subject image is recorded in the smile folder of the memory 16a via the image processing unit 15.
The facial expression detection unit 23 further detects the smile level of the subject person based on the facial expression level data in the facial expression level data storage unit 26, and the detected smile level of each subject image is associated with the subject image. And recorded in the smile folder of the memory 16a.

  In the reproduction mode, when the image reading unit 43 reads smile images stored in the smile folder of the memory 16a, the display control unit 28 displays the read smile images on the liquid crystal display 29 as a list.

  Subsequently, after the image selection unit 44 is operated to select a desired image from the smile images displayed as a list, the protect unit 41 is externally operated to automatically protect the selected smile image. Apply. The image recording unit 16 records attribute information indicating that protection processing has been completed in the memory 16a in association with the subject image.

  When a photographer selects an image for protection processing from a list of displayed images, the photographer generally selects an image with a smile level or higher preferred by the photographer. Therefore, the facial expression setting unit 25 automatically sets the above-described smile level as a facial expression for performing automatic shooting by smile detection based on the smile level related to the protected image. As a result, the next automatic shooting based on smile detection is executed when the smile of the subject person is above the smile level described above.

In the digital camera according to the present embodiment, smile images stored in the smile folder of the memory 16a are displayed in a list in the playback mode, and images to be protected are selected in a lump, so that simple protection that reflects the photographer's intention is possible. Processing is possible.
The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above as long as the characteristics are not impaired.

16: Image recording unit 20: Control unit 23: Facial expression detection unit 24: Facial expression data storage unit 25: Facial expression setting unit 26: Facial expression level data storage unit 27: Facial expression level setting unit 30: Automatic photographing unit 40: Facial expression shooting mode setting unit 41: Protect unit 42: Resize unit 43: Image reading unit 44: Image selection unit

Claims (9)

Imaging means for imaging a subject to generate a subject image;
Facial expression detection means for detecting that the facial image of the subject person in the subject image is a predetermined facial expression;
Automatic photographing means for automatically starting photographing when the facial expression detecting means detects that the face image of the subject person is the predetermined facial expression;
Recording means for recording the subject image photographed by the automatic photographing means on a storage medium;
A digital camera comprising: protection means for automatically performing protection processing for prohibiting deletion of the subject image from the storage medium when the subject image is recorded on the storage medium. The digital camera according to claim 1, wherein
Facial expression level data storage means for storing a plurality of facial expression levels representing the degree of expression related to the predetermined facial expression as facial expression level data;
The facial expression detection means detects the facial expression level of the subject person by comparing the facial image of the subject person of the subject image with the facial expression level data;
The digital camera according to claim 1, wherein the protection means performs the protection process when the facial expression of the subject person is equal to or higher than a predetermined facial expression level. The digital camera according to claim 2,
A digital camera further comprising a facial expression level setting means for setting the predetermined facial expression level by an external operation. Imaging means for imaging a subject to generate a subject image;
Facial expression detection means for detecting that the facial image of the subject person in the subject image is a predetermined facial expression;
Automatic photographing means for automatically starting photographing when the facial expression detecting means detects that the face image of the subject person is the predetermined facial expression;
Recording means for recording the subject image photographed by the automatic photographing means on a storage medium;
Protection means for performing a protection process for prohibiting deletion of the subject image from the storage medium when the subject image is recorded on the storage medium;
And a display unit that automatically displays a message as to whether or not to perform the protection process in response to the automatic shooting by the automatic shooting unit before the protection process by the protection unit. camera. Imaging means for imaging a subject to generate a subject image;
Facial expression detection means for detecting that the facial image of the subject person in the subject image is a predetermined facial expression;
Automatic photographing means for automatically starting photographing when the facial expression detecting means detects that the face image of the subject person is the predetermined facial expression;
Recording means for recording the subject image photographed by the automatic photographing means on a storage medium;
Reading means for automatically reading out subject images having a predetermined facial expression from the storage medium and displaying the list on a display screen;
Selecting means for selecting an image from the subject images displayed in the list;
A digital camera comprising: protection means for performing protection processing for prohibiting deletion of an image selected by the selection means from the storage medium. The digital camera according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The digital camera according to claim 1, wherein the recording unit stores the protected subject image in a specific folder of the storage medium. The digital camera according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
The image processing apparatus further includes resizing means for resizing the subject image subjected to the protection process in accordance with a resolution of a display device that displays the subject image.
The digital camera according to claim 1, wherein the recording means stores the subject image resized by the resizing means in the storage medium. The digital camera according to claim 7, wherein
The digital camera according to claim 1, wherein the display device is an HDTV. The digital camera according to claim 5, wherein
Facial expression level data storage means for storing a plurality of facial expression levels representing the degree of expression related to the predetermined facial expression as facial expression level data;
The facial expression detection means detects the facial expression level of the subject person by comparing the facial image of the subject person of the subject image with the facial expression level data;
The recording means records the facial expression level of the subject image in the storage medium in association with the subject image;
The reading means reads the facial expression level associated with the subject image subjected to the protection process from the storage medium, and after the facial expression level is read, the facial expression detection means Detecting that the face image of the subject person in the subject image is the read facial expression level;
The digital camera characterized in that the automatic photographing means automatically starts photographing when the facial expression detecting means detects that the facial image of the subject person in the subject image is at the facial expression level. .

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