JP2013109578A - Image processing device, image processing program, and image processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve convenience for a user with a simple configuration in creating an electronic album from a plurality of photograph information pieces, and automatically create an electronic album which does not give a monotonous image to the user and in which the user's intention is reflected.SOLUTION: An importance degree of each photograph information piece is calculated based on initial information and photograph data, and photograph information pieces to be used for an electronic album are automatically selected from a plurality of photograph information pieces on the basis of the calculated importance degrees.

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an image processing program, and an image processing system, and more particularly, to photographic information processing in the image processing apparatus.

  In recent years, with the spread of digital cameras and the like, opportunities to take pictures easily have increased. The user can store images taken by the digital camera or the like by recording them on a recording medium such as a DVD or a hard disk drive. Then, the user adds a title such as “when, where and what was taken” to each image collected by using an information processing terminal such as a PC (Personal Computer). You can create an electronic album whenever you want.

  However, the above-mentioned digital camera can take pictures easily, and can record a large amount of images, and can also record images on another recording medium, so it was collected. The number of images may become enormous without the user being aware. For this reason, it is difficult for the user to assign a title to each of them manually and save them. In addition, if the user does not perform this operation immediately after shooting, the user forgets information about the image such as where the image was shot, making it difficult to create an electronic album.

  In order to solve such a difficulty, an electronic album creating apparatus for automatically creating an electronic album has been devised and already known (for example, Patent Document 1, Patent Document 2, and Patent Document 3). Such an electronic album creating apparatus automatically creates an electronic album by adding title and text information to an image based on shooting information such as Exif (Exchangeable image file format).

  By the way, in order to create an electronic album with such an electronic album creating apparatus, the user must select in advance an image to be used for the electronic album from images that have been collected. There are several reasons for selecting an image, such as “because the composition is good”, “being in focus”, or “being a person”. It is necessary to browse and confirm visually. However, there is a problem that it takes a lot of time and labor to visually select an image to be used for an electronic album from an enormous number of images.

  The present invention has been made to solve such a problem. When an electronic album is created from a plurality of pieces of photo information, the convenience of the user is improved with a simple configuration and the user is monotonous. An object is to automatically create an electronic album that does not give an image and reflects the user's intention.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, an image processing apparatus for creating an electronic album from photograph information in which additional information including information regarding a captured state and information regarding an image is added to captured image information, wherein the photograph information is A photo acquisition unit to acquire, a situation classification unit that classifies the acquired photo information according to the situation based on the information about the captured situation, and calculates the importance of the classified photo information based on the additional information An importance calculation unit, a photo selection unit that selects photo information to be used for the electronic album based on the calculated importance, and the selected photo information based on information about the captured situation A page classification unit for classifying each page of the electronic album and a photo arrangement unit for arranging the classified photo information on each page are provided.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing program for creating an electronic album from photograph information in which additional information including information regarding a captured state and information regarding an image is added to captured image information, A step of acquiring information, a step of classifying the acquired photo information according to the situation based on the information about the captured situation, and a step of calculating the importance of the classified photo information based on the additional information Selecting the photo information to be used for the electronic album based on the calculated importance, and classifying the selected photo information into each page of the electronic album based on the information about the shooting situation And a step of arranging the classified photographic information on each page.

  According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing system for creating an electronic album from photograph information in which additional information including information regarding a captured situation and information regarding an image is added to captured image information, A photo acquisition unit that acquires photo information, a situation classification unit that classifies the acquired photo information according to the situation based on the information about the captured situation, and the importance of the photo information classified based on the additional information An importance calculation unit for calculating the degree, a photo selection unit for selecting photo information to be used for the electronic album based on the calculated importance, and the selected photo information as information on the captured situation A page classifying unit that classifies each page of the electronic album on the basis of the photo album, and a photo arrangement unit that arranges the classified photo information on each page. That.

  According to the present invention, when an electronic album is created from a plurality of pieces of photo information, the convenience of the user is improved with a simple configuration, the user does not feel a monotonous image, and the user's An electronic album reflecting the intention can be automatically created.

It is a figure which shows typically the hardware constitutions of the electronic album production apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the electronic album production apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the initial value setting screen of the electronic album production apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the data structure of the positional infomation database which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the data structure of the image information database which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the data structure of the image information database which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the data structure of the template database which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the data structure of the background database which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence in which the electronic album production apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention produces an electronic album. It is a figure which shows typically the process sequence which classifies photograph information according to a situation among the processes which the electronic album production apparatus concerning embodiment of this invention produces an electronic album. It is a figure which shows typically the process sequence which selects the photo information used for an electronic album from the classified photo information among the processes in which the electronic album production apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention produces an electronic album. It is a figure which shows typically the process sequence which classifies the photograph information used for an electronic album into each page among the processes which the electronic album production apparatus concerning embodiment of this invention produces an electronic album. It is a figure which shows typically the process sequence which arrange | positions the photographic information classified into each page in a template among the processes which the electronic album production apparatus concerning embodiment of this invention produces an electronic album. It is a figure which shows typically the process sequence which inserts a comment into the photograph information arrange | positioned at the template, and sets a background among the processes which the electronic album production apparatus concerning embodiment of this invention produces an electronic album. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence which classifies the photograph information which the electronic album production apparatus concerning embodiment of this invention acquired according to the situation. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence in which the electronic album production apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention performs an image search with respect to photograph information, and sets a keyword to the photograph information. It is a figure which shows typically the process sequence in which the electronic album production apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention performs an image search with respect to photograph information, and sets a keyword to the photograph information. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence which calculates the importance of the photographic information classified according to the situation with the electronic album production apparatus concerning an embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence in which the electronic album production apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention performs addition / subtraction of importance based on the image quality of photograph information. It is a figure which shows the three-division composition method used for determination of the composition of the photographic information which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence which selects the photo information used for an electronic album based on the importance calculated by the electronic album production apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence in which the electronic album production apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention performs a position search with respect to photograph information, and sets a keyword to the photograph information. It is a figure which shows typically the process sequence in which the electronic album production apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention performs a position search with respect to photograph information, and sets a keyword to the photograph information. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence in which the electronic album production apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention performs a person search with respect to photograph information, and sets a keyword to the photograph information. It is a figure which shows typically the process sequence in which the electronic album production apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention searches a person with respect to photograph information, and sets a keyword to the photograph information. It is a figure which shows the completion example of the photograph in the electronic album which the electronic album production apparatus concerning embodiment of this invention produced. It is a figure which shows the example of the photography data added to the photography information which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, as an example of an electronic album creation apparatus, photo information to be used for an electronic album is selected from a plurality of pieces of photo information, and the selected photo information is displayed on each page according to the shooting situation and the number of pages per page. An electronic album creating apparatus that automatically creates an electronic album by arranging the devices will be described as an example. In the present embodiment, the “situation” includes, for example, “photographing in a specific building during a free action time on an excursion”. That is, among a plurality of photographs, it is determined that photographs that are close in time to a photographed place and have the same photograph are photographed in the same situation.

  Note that the photographic information according to the present embodiment is created by photographing a subject with an imaging device such as a digital camera. The photographic information includes photographing date and time when photographing, GPS (Global Positioning System) information, photographing direction, Photo data such as the resolution of the photo information and the number of pixels is added and recorded. The format of the photographic information to which such photographic data is added includes, for example, Exif (Exchangeable image file format). The format of the photo data is as shown in FIG. 27, and can be divided into “information about the image” and “information about the photographed situation”.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing a hardware configuration of an electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, an electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment includes the same configuration as a general server, PC, or the like. That is, the electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to this embodiment includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 10, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 20, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 30, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 40, and an I / F 50. They are connected via a bus 80. Further, an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) 60 and an operation unit 70 are connected to the I / F 50.

  The CPU 10 is a calculation means and controls the operation of the entire electronic album creating apparatus 1. The RAM 20 is a volatile storage medium capable of reading and writing information at high speed, and is used as a work area when the CPU 10 processes information. The ROM 30 is a read-only nonvolatile storage medium and stores a program such as firmware. The HDD 40 is a non-volatile storage medium that can read and write information, and stores an OS (Operating System), various control programs, application programs, and the like.

  The I / F 50 connects and controls the bus 80 and various hardware and networks. The LCD 60 is a visual user interface for the user to check the state of the electronic album creating apparatus 1. The operation unit 70 is a user interface such as a keyboard and a mouse for the user to input information to the electronic album creating apparatus 1.

  In such a hardware configuration, a program stored in a storage medium such as the ROM 30, the HDD 40, or an optical disk (not shown) is read into the RAM 20, and the CPU 10 performs an operation according to the program loaded into the RAM 20, whereby the software control unit Is configured. A functional block that realizes the function of the electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment is configured by a combination of the software control unit configured as described above and hardware.

  The electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to this embodiment includes an interface for directly reading photo information from an external storage medium such as an SD (Secure Digital) memory card, and a network interface for receiving photo information from the outside via a network. Is provided. These interfaces are realized by the I / F 50 shown in FIG.

  Next, a functional configuration of the electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, the electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to this embodiment includes a photo acquisition unit 100, a photo selection unit 110, a photo grouping unit 120, an album creation unit 130, a display unit 140, a face recognition system 150, an image similarity degree. The measurement system 160 includes a position information database 170, an image information database 180, a template database 190, and a background database 200.

  The photo acquisition unit 100 acquires photo information from an external storage medium or via a network. The photo selection unit 110 includes an image quality calculation unit 111, a designated image detection unit 112, an importance calculation unit 113, and a feature image extraction unit 114, and provides a function of selecting photo information used for an electronic album.

  The image quality calculation unit 111 determines whether the composition of the entire photo information is good or bad, determines whether the image is in focus, and determines the degree of similarity with the preceding and subsequent photo information. The designated image detection unit 112 determines whether an image similar to an image designated in advance by the user exists on the photographic information.

  The importance calculation unit 113 calculates the importance based on the determination results of the image quality calculation unit 111 and the designated image detection unit 112, and selects photo information to be used for the electronic album based on the calculated importance. Here, the importance is a parameter serving as a reference for selecting the photo information used for the electronic album. The higher the importance, the higher the possibility of being selected as the photo information used for the electronic album. Represents that.

  The feature image extraction unit 114 extracts a characteristic image from the photographic information, and the image quality calculation unit 111 uses the extracted feature image to determine whether the composition is good or bad, or the designated image detection unit 112 determines whether the designated image exists. It can be used for determination.

  The photo grouping unit 120 includes an image search unit 121, a situation classification unit 122, a page classification unit 123, and a feature image extraction unit 124. Provides a function to assign photo information. The image search unit 121 extracts a keyword from the image information database 180 by comparing the feature image extracted by the feature image extraction unit 124 with the image stored in the image information database 180.

  The situation classification unit 122 sorts the pieces of photo information acquired by the photo acquisition unit 100 in order of shooting date and time, and classifies the information according to the situation. The page classification unit 123 classifies the photo information selected by the photo selection unit 110 into more detailed classifications by situation than the classification by the situation classification unit 122, and assigns the classified photo information to each page. The feature image extraction unit 124 extracts a characteristic image from the photographic information. The feature image whose features are extracted by the image extraction unit 124 is used by the image search unit 121 for image search described later.

  The album creation unit 130 includes a comment insertion unit 131, a photo arrangement unit 132, and a background selection unit 133, and provides a function of processing the photo information assigned to each page by the page classification unit 123 to finish it as an electronic album. The comment insertion unit 131 inserts a comment for each piece of photographic information based on photographing position information included in the photographic data, a photographed person, a feature image included in the photographic information, and the like.

  The photo arrangement unit 132 selects a template for arranging the photo information assigned by the page classification unit 123 on each page from the template database 190, and arranges the photo information according to the template. The background selection unit 133 selects a background from the background database 200 and sets the selected background in each piece of photo information.

  The display unit 140 includes an initial value setting unit 141, a browsing unit 142, and an editing unit 143. The display unit 140 is an output interface that visually displays the state of the electronic album creating apparatus 1, and the user directly operates the electronic album creating apparatus 1. Alternatively, it functions as an input interface for inputting information to the electronic album creating apparatus 1. The display unit 140 is realized by the LCD 60 and the operation unit 70 shown in FIG.

  The initial value setting unit 141 displays an initial value setting screen for inputting initial information on the browsing unit 142, and sets initial information input by the user as an initial value. When the user inputs initial information, the photo information including the initial information is preferentially selected as photo information used for the electronic album.

  Examples of the initial information include person designation, situation designation, image designation, position designation, keyword designation, and essential photo designation. In other words, the photographic information including these designated items is preferentially selected by adding the degree of importance unconditionally. FIG. 3 shows a display example of the initial value setting screen. In the example shown in FIG. 3, as initial information, “Mr. A” and the face image of the person corresponding to the person designation, “Mr. A's entrance ceremony” for the situation designation, and “XXX Corporation” for the keyword designation. It can be seen that “head office”, “▲” is input to the designated image, and “photo 1” is input to the required photo.

  The browsing unit 142 displays an initial value setting screen, a completed electronic album check screen, and a completed electronic album correction screen. The editing unit 143 displays a check screen and a correction screen for the completed electronic album on the browsing unit 142, and checks and corrects the electronic album according to a user operation.

  The face recognition system 150 searches and extracts a human face image from the photographic information. The image similarity measurement system 160 measures the similarity between the feature image and the face image extracted by the feature image extraction unit 114, the feature image extraction unit 124, and the face recognition system 150 and the image stored in the image information database 180. To do.

  The position information database 170 (hereinafter referred to as “position information DB 170”) is a database for specifying the shooting position from the shooting position information of the photo data, and the position information DB 170 associates the shooting position information with the shooting position. Registered.

  FIG. 4 shows an example of the data structure of the position information DB 170. In the example shown in FIG. 4, the shooting position information is defined by “latitude” and “longitude”, and it can be seen that the shooting positions corresponding to the respective shooting position information are registered.

  The image information database 180 (hereinafter referred to as “image information DB 180”) is used to specify the feature image extracted by the feature image extraction unit 114, the feature image extraction unit 124, and the face recognition system 150 and keywords corresponding to the face image. The image identification information and the keyword are registered in association with each other.

  5 and 6 show examples of the data structure of the image information DB 180. FIG. FIG. 5 is a table for associating an image with a keyword among the tables stored in the image information DB 180, in which identification information of each image, a storage location, and a keyword corresponding to the image are registered. FIG. 6 is a table for associating an image with a person name among the tables stored in the image information DB 180. The identification information of each image, the storage location, and the person name corresponding to the image are registered. Hereinafter, when the image information DB 180 is used, the image identification information and the image storage location in FIGS. 5 and 6 are collectively treated as image information.

  A template database 190 (hereinafter referred to as “template DB 190”) is a template for arranging photo information on a page based on the number of pieces of photo information per page of the electronic album and the arrangement pattern of each piece of photo information on the page. It is a database for specifying. In the template DB 190, the number of pieces of photo information per page, the arrangement pattern of each piece of photo information, the template identification information, and the storage location of the template data are registered in association with each other.

  FIG. 7 shows an example of the data structure of the template DB 190. In the example shown in FIG. 7, it can be seen that the arrangement pattern is defined by “the order of date and time—the order of importance—the direction”, and the template identification information corresponding to each arrangement pattern is registered.

  The background database 200 (hereinafter referred to as “background DB 200”) is a database for specifying the background of the photographic information from the color information of the photographic information, and is registered in association with the color information of the photographic information and the background. ing. FIG. 8 shows an example of the data structure of the background DB 200.

  In the example shown in FIG. 8, the color information is defined by “saturation”, “lightness”, and “hue”, and the background identification information and the storage location of the background information corresponding to each color information are registered.

  In the electronic album creating apparatus 1 configured as described above, one of the gist according to the present embodiment is that the electronic album creating apparatus 1 calculates the importance of each piece of photo information based on the initial information and the photo data. The purpose is to automatically select the photo information to be used for the electronic album from a plurality of pieces of photo information based on the importance. Thereby, the electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment can automatically create an electronic album using photo information desired by the user.

  Furthermore, the electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment allocates selected photo information to each page and arranges assigned photo information based on the calculated importance, initial information, and photo data. You can automatically select a template and insert a comment into each photo information. Thereby, the electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment can automatically create an electronic album reflecting the user's intention without causing the user to feel a monotonous image.

  Next, processing in which the album creating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment creates an electronic album will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for creating an electronic album by the electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to this embodiment. 10 to 14 are diagrams schematically showing a processing procedure in which the electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment creates an electronic album. 10 to 14, the photograph information is indicated by rectangles, the numbers described in the rectangles indicate the order of shooting dates and times, and the rectangles of the same color indicate that the images were shot in the same situation.

  As shown in FIG. 9, in order for the electronic album creation apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment to create an electronic album, first, the photo acquisition unit 100 acquires photo information (S901). The image at this time is S1001 shown in FIG.

  Then, the situation classification unit 122 sorts the photo information acquired by the photo acquisition unit 100 in order of shooting date and time, and classifies the information according to the situation (S902). The images at this time are S1002 and S1003 shown in FIG. In the example shown in FIG. 10, the photo information acquired by the photo acquisition unit 100 is finally classified into three types of situations, situation 1, situation 2 and situation 3, and classified into 8, 12 and 8 respectively. You can see that

  When the photo information is classified by situation, the importance calculation unit 113 selects the photo information used for the electronic album based on the importance for each classified situation (S903). The image at this time is as shown in FIG. In the example shown in FIG. 11, it can be seen that 4 sheets are selected from the situation 1, 6 sheets are selected from the situation 2, and 3 sheets are selected from the situation 3. As described above, since the electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment selects the photo information for each classified situation, it can be avoided that only the photo information of the same situation is selected.

  When the selection of the photo information is completed, the page classification unit 123 classifies the selected photo information in more detail and assigns the classified photo information to each page (S904). The image at this time is as shown in FIG. In the example shown in FIG. 12, it can be seen that the situation 1 is further classified into two kinds of situations, the situation 1-1 and the situation 1-2, and is classified into three and one, respectively. In addition, in the situation 2, it can be seen that the situation is further classified into two kinds of situations, the situation 2-1 and the situation 2-2, and classified into 2 and 4 respectively. In situation 3, it can be seen that the classification is not performed.

  As described above, since the electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment classifies the selected photo information in more detail according to the situation, the same page is assigned the photo information having a more similar situation. Therefore, the electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment can create an electronic album that is easy for the user to appreciate.

  Next, the photo arrangement unit 132 determines the number of pieces of photo information per page and the arrangement pattern “order of shooting date of each photo information, order of importance of each piece of photo information, direction of each piece of photo information”. Based on the above, the corresponding template is selected from the template DB 190 shown in FIG. 7, and the photo information assigned in S904 is arranged in accordance with the selected template (S905).

  The image at this time is as shown in FIG. In FIG. 13, the situation 1-1 is given as an example. In the example shown in FIG. 13, in the situation 1-1, the number of pieces of photo information is “3”, and the combination of “order of date and time—order of importance—direction of photo information” is “first- It can be seen that “second-horizontal”, “second-first-vertical”, and “third-third-horizontal”. Then, it can be seen that the template 1 corresponding to the number and the arrangement pattern is selected from the template DB 190 shown in FIG. 7, and the photo information is arranged in accordance with the template.

  As described above, since the electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment selects a template for each page according to the number of photographs per page and the arrangement pattern, the electronic album does not make the user feel a monotonous image. Can be created.

  Also, as shown in FIG. 13, the templates registered in the template DB 190 are arranged with a larger size as the photo information has higher importance. Therefore, the electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment can arrange the photo information reflecting the user's intention.

  It should be noted that the size of the photo layout portion of the template registered in the template DB 190 may be configured to change with time according to the degree of importance. Further, the photo arrangement portion may be configured to move with time. With this configuration, the user does not feel a more monotonous image.

  When photo information is arranged on each page, the background selection unit 133 selects and sets the background from the background DB 200 shown in FIG. 8 based on the “saturation”, “lightness”, and “hue” of each photo information ( S906).

  Here, a method for determining “saturation”, “lightness”, and “hue” of each piece of photographic information will be described. There are several possible methods for this, but the first is to calculate the average of “saturation”, “brightness”, and “hue” of all pixels in the photo information, and calculate the average value for the “saturation” of the photo information. ”,“ Lightness ”, and“ hue ”.

  In addition, all areas of “Saturation”, “Brightness”, and “Hue” are divided into multiple parts, and the areas to which “Saturation”, “Brightness”, and “Hue” of each pixel of the photo information belong are all pixels There is a method of counting, and as a result of the counting, each representative value of the region having the largest number of pixels belongs to “saturation”, “lightness”, “hue” of the photographic information. It is assumed that the representative value of each area is set in advance.

  The image at this time is as shown in FIG. In the example shown in FIG. 14, the combination of “saturation”, “brightness”, and “hue” of each piece of photographic information is “η”, “θ”, “ι” in the photographic information 3, and Are “κ”, “λ”, and “μ”, and in the photo information 20 are “ν”, “ξ”, and “ο”, and therefore, from the background DB 200 shown in FIG. It can be seen that the background 3 is selected.

  As described above, the electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment sets the background of each photo based on “saturation”, “lightness”, and “hue”, so that the user can feel a monotonous image. Can create an electronic album.

  In S906 of FIG. 8 and FIG. 9, an example in which only “saturation”, “lightness”, and “hue” are used as color information for selection of the background has been described, but other photographic data may be used. For example, it is possible to use, for example, the complexity of the photo information, the shooting time zone, the shooting time, and the like. With this configuration, the user does not feel a more monotonous image.

  When the background setting is completed, the comment inserting unit 131 inserts a comment into each piece of photo information (S907), and the electronic album creating apparatus 1 completes the electronic album creating process. The image at this time is as shown in FIG. 14, and it can be seen that a comment is inserted in each piece of photo information.

  Next, the process of S902 shown in FIG. 9, that is, the process of classifying the photo information acquired by the electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to the situation will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for classifying the photographic information acquired by the electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment according to the situation.

  As shown in FIG. 15, in order to classify the photo information acquired by the electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to the situation, first, the situation classification unit 122 uses a photo acquisition unit based on information regarding the shooting date and time included in the photo data of the photo information. The photograph information acquired by 100 is arranged in order of photographing date and time (S1501).

  Then, the situation classification unit 122 selects one photo information from a plurality of pieces of photo information arranged in order of photographing date and time, and selects the selected photo information (hereinafter referred to as “photo information of interest”) and the previous photo. The image similarity measurement system 160 is made to measure the similarity with the information (S1502). Here, the similarity is measured by the feature image extraction unit 124 extracting a feature image from the photograph information of interest and the previous photograph information, and the image similarity measurement system 160 extracts the extracted feature image. This is done by comparing. Since a known algorithm can be used for specific processing of similarity measurement, details thereof are omitted.

  If the situation classification unit 122 determines that the noticed photo information is similar to the previous photo information based on the measurement result of S1502 (S1503 / YES), the photo of the photo information Based on the information regarding the shooting date / time included in the data, it is determined whether the shooting date / time of the photograph information of interest differs from the shooting date / time of the previous photo information by a certain amount or more (S1505).

  Since it is considered that the pieces of photo information having a high degree of similarity of the photo information are in a situation similar to each other, if the situation classification is performed based on the degree of similarity of the photo information as in the processing of S1502, a plurality of pieces of photo information are obtained. Photo information can be properly classified by situation.

  In addition, since it is considered that the pieces of photo information having similar shooting dates and times are similar to each other, if the situation classification is performed based on the shooting date and time as in the process of S1505, a plurality of pieces of photo information are appropriately displayed. Can be categorized by situation.

  On the other hand, if the situation classification unit 122 determines that the photograph information of interest is not similar to the previous photograph information based on the measurement result of S1502 (S1503 / NO), the photograph information Based on the information about the shooting position included in the photo data, it is determined whether the shooting position of the noticed photo information is different from the shooting position of the previous photo information by a certain amount or more (S1504).

  In addition, since it is considered that the pieces of photographic information with close photographing positions are similar to each other, if the situation classification is performed based on the photographing position as in the processing of S1504, a plurality of pieces of photographic information are appropriately displayed. Can be categorized by situation.

  When the situation classification unit 122 determines that the shooting position of the photograph information of interest and the shooting position of the preceding photograph information are not different from each other by a certain amount (S1504 / NO), the situation classification section 122 performs the above-described process of S1505. Make a decision. In the processing of S1505, when the situation classification unit 122 determines that the shooting date / time of the current photo information and the shooting date / time of the previous photo information are not different from each other by a certain amount (S1505 / NO), It is determined that the current photo information and the previous photo information are in the same situation (S1509).

  On the other hand, when it is determined that the shooting date / time of the photo information focused on by the situation classification unit 122 and the shooting date / time of the previous photo information are different from each other by a certain level (S1505 / YES), the image search unit 121 pays attention. An image search is performed on the feature image of the existing photographic information, and a keyword is set in the photographic information (S1506). The process of S1506 is also performed when it is determined that the shooting position of the photo information focused by the situation classification unit 122 is different from the shooting position of the previous photo information by a certain amount (S1504 / YES). The processing of S1506 will be described later with reference to FIGS.

  Then, the situation classification unit 122 determines whether the keyword of the photograph information of interest matches the keyword of the previous photograph information (S1507), and the keyword of the photograph information of interest and the previous photograph If it is determined that the information keyword matches (S1507 / YES), it is determined that the current photo information is the same as the previous photo information (S1509).

  On the other hand, if the situation classification unit 122 determines that the keyword of the photograph information of interest does not match the keyword of the previous photograph information (S1507 / NO), the photograph information of interest and its one It is determined that the situation is different from the previous photo information (S1508).

  In consideration of processing for setting keywords shown in FIGS. 16 and 17 described later, it is considered that the pieces of photo information having the same keyword are similar to each other. Therefore, based on the keyword as in the processing of S1507. If situation classification is performed, a plurality of pieces of photo information can be appropriately classified by situation.

  The situation classification unit 122 is the same as S1502 to S1509 for other photo information until the situation determination is completed for the combination with the previous photo in all the photo information acquired by the photo acquisition unit 100 (S1511 / NO). Is performed (S1510). When the situation determination is completed for all the photo information (S1511 / YES), the situation classification unit 122 groups together the similar photo information (S1512), and the electronic album creating apparatus 1 finishes the process of classifying according to the situation. In FIG. 15, the situation classification is performed based on the photographing position, the photographing date / time, and the keyword. However, the situation classification may be performed based on other photograph data or other combinations.

  Here, the image search unit 121 performs an image search on the feature image of the photographic information focused on, and sets a keyword for the photographic information, that is, the processing of S1506 in FIG. The description will be given with reference.

  FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure in which the electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment performs an image search on photo information and sets a keyword in the photo information. FIG. 17 is a diagram schematically illustrating a processing procedure in which the electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment performs an image search on photo information and sets a keyword in the photo information.

  As shown in FIG. 16, when the electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment performs an image search on photo information and sets a keyword in the photo information, first, the feature image extraction unit 124 pays attention. A feature image is extracted from the existing photographic information (S1601). The images at this time are S1701 to S1703 shown in FIG. Note that if the feature image extracted in the similarity measurement process of S1502 in FIG. 15 is used, the process of S1601 need not be performed.

  Next, the image search unit 121 searches the feature image by causing the image similarity measurement system 160 to measure the similarity between the extracted feature image and the image stored in the image information DB 180 ( S1602). The images at this time are S1704 to S1706 shown in FIG.

  From the result of the similarity measurement in S1602, the image search unit 121 identifies the image having the highest similarity among the images stored in the image information DB 180 as the feature image extracted in S1601 (S1603). The images at this time are S1707 to S1709 shown in FIG. 17, and it can be seen that the feature image 1 is specified as the image 1, the feature image 2 is specified as the image 2, and the feature image 3 is specified as the image 3.

  The image search unit 121 refers to the correspondence relationship of the image information DB 180 shown in FIG. 5 and extracts a keyword corresponding to the image specified in the processing of S1603, and uses the extracted keyword as a keyword of the feature image. The search result of the image search is used (S1604).

  The images at this time are S1710 to S1712 shown in FIG. In the example shown in FIG. 17, the search results of the image search are “BBB”, “CCC”, and “DDD” for the feature image 1, and “AAA” and “BBB” for the feature image 2, and the feature image 3 It can be seen that “BBB”, “CCC”, “DDD”, and “EEE”.

  Then, the image search unit 121 performs the same processing as S1602 to S1604 for other feature images until a search result is obtained for all the extracted feature images (S1605 / NO). When search results are obtained for all feature images (S1605 / YES), the situation classification unit 122 counts the number of times each keyword is duplicated from the obtained search results (S1606).

  As a result of the counting, the situation classification unit 122 sets the keyword with the largest number of duplications as the keyword of the photo information that is focused (S1607), and the electronic album creating apparatus 1 ends the image search and keyword setting processing.

  The images at this time are S1713 and S1714 shown in FIG. In the example shown in FIG. 17, the number of duplications is 1 for “AAA”, 3 for “BBB”, 2 for “CCC”, 2 for “DDD”, and 1 for “EEE”. It can be seen that it is. In the example shown in FIG. 17, since the keyword with the largest number of times of duplication is “BBB”, it can be seen that “BBB” is set as the keyword.

  Next, the process of S903 shown in FIG. 9, that is, the process of selecting the photo information used for the electronic album from the photo information classified according to the situation by the electronic album creating apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. . FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for calculating the importance of photo information classified by situation by the electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment. FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for selecting photo information to be used for an electronic album based on the importance calculated by the electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment.

  First, with reference to FIG. 18, a process for calculating the importance of photo information classified by situation by the electronic album creating apparatus 1 will be described. The importance calculation unit 113 adds importance as photo data to the photo information (S1801). At this time, the importance is assumed to be set to a common default value for all pieces of photo information.

  Next, the importance calculation unit 113 determines whether or not the photograph information of interest is designated as an essential photograph (S1802). Here, whether or not the photo is an essential photo is determined by designating it as an initial value on the screen shown in FIG. 3 by operating the display unit 140 when the user operates the electronic album.

  If the importance calculation unit 113 determines that the photograph information of interest is an essential photograph (S1802 / YES), the importance calculation unit 113 updates the importance of the photograph information to the maximum (S1803). On the other hand, when the importance level calculation unit 113 determines that the noticed photo information is not an essential photo (S1802 / NO), the importance level calculation unit 113 calculates the importance level based on the image quality of the photo information (S1804).

  Here, the importance calculation unit 113 will be described with reference to FIG. 19 for processing for calculating the importance based on the image quality of the photographic information. FIG. 19 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure in which the electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment calculates importance based on the image quality of photographic information.

  As shown in FIG. 19, in order for the electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment to calculate the importance based on the image quality of photo information, first, the image quality calculating unit 111 takes photo data of the photo information of interest. The number of pixels is acquired from (S1901), and it is determined whether or not the acquired number of pixels is greater than or equal to a certain value (S1902).

  If the image quality calculation unit 111 determines that the number of pixels is not equal to or greater than a certain value (S1902 / NO), the importance calculation unit 113 subtracts the importance of the photographic information of interest (S1903). Then, the image quality calculation unit 111 detects an edge from the photograph information of interest (S1904). On the other hand, if the image quality calculation unit 111 determines that the number of pixels is greater than or equal to a certain value (S1902 / YES), it directly performs the process of S1904.

  Then, based on the result of S1904, the image quality calculation unit 111 determines whether or not there is a certain edge or more (S1905). If it is determined that there is a certain edge or more (S1905 / YES), the electronic album creation is performed. The apparatus 1 ends the importance calculation process based on the image quality.

  On the other hand, if the image quality calculation unit 111 determines that there are no more than a certain number of edges (S1905 / NO), the importance calculation unit 113 subtracts the importance of the photographic information of interest (S1906). Then, the image quality calculation unit 111 determines whether or not the composition of the photograph information being noticed is good (S1907).

  Here, for determining whether the composition is good or bad, for example, there is a method of determining by using a three-part composition as shown in FIG. The three-part composition method is a method for determining that the composition of the photographic information is good if a feature image exists at the intersection of lines obtained by dividing the photographic information into three parts vertically and horizontally as shown in FIG. In addition, for determining whether the composition is good or bad, methods such as the triangular composition method, the Hinomaru composition method, and the curve composition method are used, but are not limited thereto.

  If the image quality calculating unit 111 determines that the composition is good (S1907 / YES), the importance calculating unit 113 adds the importance of the photo information (S1908), and the electronic album creating apparatus 1 sets the image quality to the image quality. Based on the importance calculation processing, the process ends.

  In FIG. 19, the processing for calculating the importance by focusing on the number of pixels, the edge, and the composition has been described. However, the importance is calculated based on other photo data related to image quality and other combinations. It may be configured as follows.

  When the importance level calculation processing based on image quality (S1804) is completed, the designated image detection unit 112 next determines whether or not a person designated in advance exists in the photograph information of interest (S1805). If the designated image detection unit 112 determines that the designated person exists (S1805 / YES), the importance calculation unit 113 adds the importance of the photo information (S1806) and proceeds to the next processing (S1807). To do.

  On the other hand, if it is determined that the designated person does not exist (S1805 / NO), the designated image detection unit 112 proceeds to the next processing (S1807) as it is. Here, whether or not the designated person exists in the photograph information of interest is determined by causing the face recognition system 150 to search for the face of the person by the designated image detecting unit 112 and searching for the face of the person and the designated person. The image similarity measurement system 160 is caused to measure the similarity of the face images. Then, the designated image detection unit 112 is performed by determining whether or not the detected face is a designated person based on the result of similarity measurement.

  When the importance calculation processing based on the presence or absence of the designated person (S1805, S1806) is completed, the designated image detection unit 112 determines whether or not a feature image designated in advance exists in the photograph information of interest ( S1807). When the designated image detecting unit 112 determines that the designated feature image exists (S1807 / YES), the importance calculating unit 113 adds the importance of the photo information (S1808) and performs the next process (S1809). ).

  On the other hand, when the designated image detection unit 112 determines that the designated feature image does not exist (S1807 / NO), the designated image detection unit 112 proceeds to the next processing (S1809) as it is. Here, whether or not the designated feature image exists is determined by extracting the feature image from the photographic information focused on by the feature image extracting unit 114, and the designated image detecting unit 112 using the extracted feature image and The image similarity measurement system 160 is caused to measure the similarity of the designated image. Then, the designated image detection unit 112 is performed by determining whether or not the extracted feature image is a designated image based on the result of similarity measurement.

  When the importance calculation processing based on the presence / absence of the designated image (S1807, S1808) is completed, the importance calculation unit 113 next determines whether or not a keyword designated in advance is included in the noticed photo information. (S1809). If the importance level calculation unit 113 determines that the designated keyword is included (S1809 / YES), the importance level of the photo information is added (S1810), and the process proceeds to the next process (S1811).

  On the other hand, when the importance level calculation unit 113 determines that the designated keyword is not included (S1809 / NO), the importance level calculation unit 113 proceeds to the next processing (S1811). Here, whether or not the specified keyword is included is determined in advance by the importance calculation unit 113 specifying the keyword obtained as a result of the image search in S1604 shown in FIG. 16 and S1710 to S1712 shown in FIG. This is done by comparing the generated keywords.

  When the importance level calculation process based on the presence / absence of the designated keyword (S1809, S1810) is completed, the importance level calculation unit 113 updates the importance level of the photograph information of interest based on the calculation processes so far (S1811). ). Then, the electronic album creating apparatus 1 repeats the same processing as S1802 to S1811 until the updating of the importance level for all pieces of photo information is completed (S1812 / NO), and when completed (S1812 / YES) Exit.

  When the importance level calculation process is completed, the electronic album creating apparatus 1 selects photo information to be used for the electronic album based on the importance level calculated in FIG. In order to select photo information to be used for an electronic album based on the importance calculated by the electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, first, as shown in FIG. One image is selected from a plurality of pieces of photograph information, and the similarity between the selected photograph information (hereinafter referred to as “focused photograph information”), the previous photograph information, and the subsequent photograph information is displayed as an image. The similarity measuring system 160 is measured (S2101). Here, the degree of similarity can be measured in the same manner as the processing of S1502 in FIG.

  Next, the image quality calculation unit 111 determines whether the noticed photo information is similar to the previous photo information and the subsequent photo information based on the similarity measured in S2101 (S2102). . When it is determined that the photo information that the image quality calculation unit 111 is interested in is not similar to the previous photo information and the subsequent photo information (NO in S2102), the importance calculation unit 113 It is determined whether or not the importance of the photograph information being processed is equal to or greater than a threshold (S2105).

  On the other hand, when it is determined that the photo information focused on by the image quality calculation unit 111 is similar to the previous photo information and the subsequent photo information (YES in S2102), the importance calculation unit 113 Then, it is determined whether or not the importance of the photograph information being noticed is higher than the importance of the preceding and subsequent photograph information (S2103). If the importance calculating unit 113 determines that the importance of the photograph information being noticed is not higher than the importance of the preceding and subsequent photograph information (S2103 / NO), the photograph being noticed It is determined whether or not the importance of information is equal to or greater than a threshold (S2105)

  On the other hand, if the importance calculation unit 113 determines that the importance of the photograph information being noticed is higher than the importance of the preceding and subsequent photograph information (S2103 / YES), the importance is calculated. The importance of the photo information is added, and the importance of the previous photo information and the subsequent photo information is subtracted (S2104). Then, the importance calculation unit 113 determines whether or not the importance of the photograph information being noticed is equal to or greater than a threshold (S2105).

  If the importance calculating unit 113 determines that the importance of the noticed photo information is greater than or equal to the threshold (S2105 / YES), the importance photo information is set as the photo information used for the electronic album. (S2106). On the other hand, if the importance calculating unit 113 determines that the importance of the noticed photo information is not equal to or higher than the threshold (S2105 / NO), the noticed photo information is set as the photograph information not used for the electronic album. (S2107).

  The electronic album creating apparatus 1 repeats the processing of S2101 to S2107 for other photo information (S2108) until setting processing for determining whether or not to use all the photo information for the electronic album is performed (S2109 / NO). . In the all photo information, when the above setting is completed for the combination with the previous and next photos (S2109 / YES), the importance calculation unit 113 selects the photo information set as the photo information used for the electronic album (S2110). . Then, the electronic album creating apparatus 1 ends the process of selecting photo information used for the electronic album.

  Next, the processing of S904 shown in FIG. 9, that is, processing in which the electronic album creating apparatus 1 assigns selected photo information to each page will be described. However, since this process is realized by the page classification unit 123 performing the same process as the situation classification shown in FIGS. 15 and 16 by the situation classification unit 122, the details are omitted.

  The process of assigning the selected photo information to each page by the page classification unit 123 is the same as the situation classification by the situation classification unit 122, but as described above, it is necessary to classify the pieces of photo information that are more similar to the situation classification. is there. Therefore, in this process, thresholds such as similarity measurement, shooting position, shooting date and time are set more finely than in the case of situation classification by the situation classification unit 122.

  Next, the process of S907 shown in FIG. 9, that is, the process in which the electronic album creating apparatus 1 inserts a comment into each piece of photo information will be described. The comment is inserted by setting a shooting position obtained by position search and a person name obtained by person search as keywords.

  First, processing for setting a shooting position obtained by position search as a keyword will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 22 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure in which the electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment performs a position search on photo information and sets a keyword in the photo information. FIG. 23 is a diagram schematically illustrating a processing procedure in which the electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment performs a position search on photo information and sets a keyword in the photo information.

  In order for the electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment to perform a position search on photo information and set a keyword for the photo information, first, the comment insertion unit 131 takes a photograph from photo data of the photo information of interest. The position information is extracted (S2201). The image at this time is S2301 shown in FIG. Next, the comment insertion unit 131 refers to the correspondence relationship in the position information DB 170 shown in FIG. 4 and performs a position search for the extracted shooting position information (S2202). The image at this time is S2302 shown in FIG.

  Next, the comment insertion unit 131 extracts a keyword corresponding to the extracted shooting position information from the position information DB 170, sets the extracted keyword as a search result of the position search (S2203), and sets it as a keyword by the position search (S2203). S2203). Then, the electronic album creating apparatus 1 ends the keyword setting process by position search. The images at this time are S2303 and S2304 shown in FIG.

  In the example shown in FIG. 23, since the shooting position information extracted from the photo data is “latitude: α longitude: β”, the keyword extracted from the position information DB 170 shown in FIG. It can be seen that it is. Then, it can be seen that “XXX head office” is set as a keyword.

  Next, processing for setting a person name obtained by person search as a keyword will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 24 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure in which the electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment performs a person search for photo information and sets a keyword in the photo information. FIG. 25 is a diagram schematically illustrating a processing procedure in which the electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment performs a person search for photo information and sets a keyword in the photo information.

  In order for the electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment to perform a person search on photo information and set a keyword in the photo information, first, the face recognition system 150 first detects the face image of the person from the photo information of interest. Is extracted (S2401). The image at this time is S2501 shown in FIG.

  Next, the comment insertion unit 131 causes the image similarity measurement system 160 to measure the similarity between the extracted face image and the face image stored in the image information DB 180, thereby searching for a person in the extracted face image. (S2402). The image at this time is S2502 shown in FIG.

  Based on the result of the similarity measurement in S2402, the comment insertion unit 131 identifies the face image with the highest similarity among the face images stored in the image information DB 180 as the true face image of the extracted face image. (S2403). The image at this time is S2503 shown in FIG. 25, and it can be seen that the extracted face image of the person is specified as face image 1.

  The comment insertion unit 131 refers to the correspondence relationship of the image information DB 180 illustrated in FIG. 6, extracts the person name corresponding to the face image specified in the processing of S2403, and extracts the extracted person name. This is used as the search result of the person search (S2404). The image at this time is S2504 shown in FIG. 25, and it can be seen that the search result of the person search is “Mr. A”.

  The comment insertion unit 131 performs the same processing as S2402 to S2404 for the other face images until the search result is obtained for the extracted all face images (S2405 / NO), and the search result is obtained for all the face images. (S2405 / YES), the comment insertion unit 131 sets the obtained search result as a keyword (S2406). Then, the electronic album creating apparatus 1 ends the keyword setting process by person search. The image at this time is S2505 shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 22 to FIG. 25, the example in which only the keyword based on the position search and the keyword based on the person search are used for inserting the comment. However, the keyword obtained by the image search described with reference to FIGS. You may do it.

  Based on the keyword set in this way, the comment insertion unit 131 inserts a comment into the photograph information of interest. As an image at this time, as shown in FIG. 26, it can be seen that “Mr.

  As described above, the electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to this embodiment calculates the importance of each piece of photo information based on the initial information and the photo data, and there are a plurality of photos based on the calculated importance. Photo information used for the electronic album can be automatically selected from the information. Thereby, the electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment can automatically create an electronic album using the photo information desired by the user.

  Furthermore, the electronic album creating apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment allocates selected photo information to each page and arranges assigned photo information based on the calculated importance, initial information, and photo data. You can automatically select a template and insert a comment into each photo information. This makes it possible to automatically create an electronic album that does not make the user feel a monotonous image and reflects the user's intention.

1 Electronic album creation device 10 CPU
20 RAM
30 ROM
40 HDD
50 I / F
60 LCD
70 Operation Unit 80 Bus 100 Photo Acquisition Unit 110 Photo Selection Unit 111 Image Quality Calculation Unit 112 Designated Image Detection Unit 113 Importance Calculation Unit 114 Feature Image Extraction Unit 120 Photo Grouping Unit 121 Image Search Unit 122 Situation Classification Unit 123 Page Classification Unit 124 Features Image extraction unit 130 Album creation unit 131 Comment insertion unit 132 Photo placement unit 133 Background selection unit 140 Display unit 141 Initial value setting unit 142 Viewing unit 143 Editing unit 150 Face recognition system 160 Image similarity measurement system 170 Location information database 180 Image information Database 190 Template database 200 Background database

JP 2007-272428 A JP 2006-108999 A JP 2006-185262 A

Claims (10)

An image processing apparatus for creating an electronic album from photograph information in which additional information including information regarding a captured situation and information regarding an image is added to captured image information,
A photo acquisition unit for acquiring the photo information;
A situation classification unit that classifies the acquired photo information according to the situation based on the information about the photographed situation;
An importance calculator that calculates the importance of the classified photo information based on the additional information;
A photo selection unit that selects photo information to be used for the electronic album based on the calculated importance;
A page classification unit that classifies the selected photo information into each page of the electronic album based on information about the captured state;
A photo placement unit for placing the classified photo information on each page;
An image processing apparatus comprising: An image search is performed for searching the feature image stored in the image information database in which the feature image and the keyword are associated with each other from the acquired photographic information, and a portion similar to the feature image is detected from the photographic information in the image search. An image search unit for acquiring a keyword associated with the feature image when hit,
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the situation classification unit classifies the acquired photographic information according to a situation based on the acquired keyword. The information related to the shooting situation includes shooting position information that is information related to the position where the image information was shot,
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the situation classification unit classifies the acquired photographic information according to a situation based on the shooting position information. The information related to the shooting situation includes shooting date and time information that is information related to the date and time when the image information was shot,
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the situation classification unit classifies the acquired photographic information according to the situation based on the shooting date and time information. The information about the image includes image quality information that is information about the image quality of the photographic information,
An image quality calculator that calculates the image quality of the classified photo information based on the image quality information;
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the importance calculation unit calculates the importance based on the calculated image quality. Before creating the electronic album, comprising an initial value setting unit for setting a specified keyword as an initial value by a user operation,
6. The importance calculation unit determines whether or not the set designated keyword is included in the classified photo information, and calculates the importance based on the determination result. The image processing apparatus according to any one of the above. The information about the image includes color information that is information about the color of each pixel of the photographic information,
7. A background selection unit that selects background information associated with color information of the selected photo information from a background database in which background information and the color information are associated with each other. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1. A position search is performed to search for a keyword corresponding to the shooting position information of the acquired photograph information from a position information database in which the shooting position information and the keyword are associated, and the shooting of the acquired photograph information in the position search is performed. A comment insertion unit that acquires a keyword associated with position information, and inserts a comment into the selected photo information based on the keyword searched for the image and the keyword searched for the position;
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: An image processing program for creating an electronic album from photograph information in which additional information including information regarding a captured situation and information regarding an image is added to captured image information,
Obtaining the photo information;
Classifying the acquired photo information according to the situation based on the information about the taken situation;
Calculating the importance of the classified photo information based on the additional information;
Selecting photo information to be used for the electronic album based on the calculated importance;
Categorizing the selected photo information into each page of the electronic album based on information about the captured situation;
Placing the categorized photo information on each page;
An image processing program characterized by executing An image processing system for creating an electronic album from photograph information in which additional information including information regarding a captured situation and information regarding an image is added to captured image information,
A photo acquisition unit for acquiring the photo information;
A situation classification unit that classifies the acquired photo information according to the situation based on the information about the photographed situation;
An importance calculator that calculates the importance of the classified photo information based on the additional information;
A photo selection unit that selects photo information to be used for the electronic album based on the calculated importance;
A page classification unit that classifies the selected photo information into each page of the electronic album based on information about the captured state;
A photo placement unit for placing the classified photo information on each page;
An image processing system comprising: