JP2013135459A - Imaging apparatus and control method and program thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a mechanism for switching to continuous shooting when a person not in a shooting target group exists within a shooting range, and creating a photograph expected by a user by using a plurality of images obtained by continuous shooting.SOLUTION: The imaging apparatus capable of face recognition includes image determination means for determining whether or not a face image obtained by face recognition is an image to be processed, continuous shooting switching means for switching from a predetermined shooting mode to the continuous shooting mode when a determination is made that the face image is an image to be processed by the image determination means, continuous shooting means for performing a predetermined number of continuous shooting in the continuous shooting mode, and image creation means for creating a composite image by using images, out of a plurality of images obtained by the continuous shooting means, obtained from the corresponding to a face image determined to be processed by the image determination means, so as to delete the image of that area.

Description

  The present invention relates to a photographing apparatus that generates a composite image, a control method thereof, and a program.

  Various methods for obtaining a photograph expected by a photographer have been disclosed in an image photographing apparatus having a camera function such as a digital camera or a mobile phone.

  For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a method for taking a photograph with a good expression of all the persons who are subjects as a group photo.

  In Patent Document 1, the number of “faces” of a subject is detected, the single shooting mode and the continuous shooting mode are switched according to the number of detected faces, and continuous shooting is performed according to the number of detected “faces”. A mechanism is disclosed in which the number of images to be switched is switched to reduce the probability that a failed photo is taken in a group photo.

  This makes it possible to obtain a photograph expected by the photographer.

JP 2008-236482 A

  However, as a case where the expected photograph cannot be obtained, there is a case where a person who does not want to be photographed appears in the photographed image in addition to the case as in Patent Document 1, and thus the expected photograph cannot be obtained. .

  When dealing with the above case, it is necessary to wait for the person to move out of the shooting range and exit the shooting range, and then press the shutter when the person who wants to shoot within the shooting range or the timing when only the landscape is reached It takes a lot of time and effort to shoot only the person / landscape you want to shoot.

  Therefore, the present invention provides a mechanism for switching to continuous shooting when a person other than the shooting target group exists within the shooting range, and generating a photograph expected by the user using a plurality of images obtained by continuous shooting. The purpose is to do.

  In order to achieve the object of the present invention, the present invention is an imaging apparatus capable of performing face recognition, wherein image determination means for determining whether or not a face image obtained by face recognition is an image processing target image. And a continuous shooting switching unit that switches from a predetermined shooting mode to a continuous shooting mode when the image determining unit determines that the image is a face image of the image processing target image, and a continuous number of continuous shootings by the continuous shooting mode. An image obtained by the area so as to delete the image of the area corresponding to the face image determined as the image processing target image by the image determination means from the plurality of images obtained by the imaging means and the continuous imaging means. And an image generation means for generating a composite image using the.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to switch to continuous shooting when a person other than the shooting target group exists within the shooting range, and to generate a photograph expected by the user using a plurality of images obtained by continuous shooting. .

It is a schematic diagram which shows an example of schematic structure of the imaging device 100 which concerns on embodiment of this invention. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of the imaging apparatus 100. FIG. It is the whole flowchart in embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart of the process which registers imaging | photography object. It is a flowchart which shows the process of an unregistered member removal. It is a flowchart of an image processing process. It is a figure which shows an example of a user management table. It is a figure which shows an example of a group management table. It is a figure which shows an example of an administrator table. It is a screen image at the time of registering a photographing object user. It is an image figure which shows the image process process with respect to a to-be-photographed object face image. It is an image figure of the confirmation screen at the time of displaying the result image of image processing.

  First, a schematic configuration of the photographing apparatus 100 capable of performing face recognition according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of a photographing apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, a photographing apparatus 100 includes a so-called digital camera, a photographing lens 101, an imaging element (hereinafter referred to as “CCD”) 102, an analog-digital converter (hereinafter referred to as “ADC”) 103, Image processing unit 104, controller 110, buffer memory 111, flash ROM 112 (storage means), interface circuit (hereinafter referred to as "I / F circuit") 113, card holder 114, memory card 115 (storage means), display driver 116 USB driver 118 and operation unit 120 are provided.

  The photographing apparatus 100 generates an image in response to pressing of the photographing button 123 (shutter button). In this embodiment, the camera is configured to shoot when the shooting button 123 (shutter button) is pressed. However, there is no shooting button 123 (shutter button), and shooting is performed when a user gives a shooting instruction on the touch panel. It is also possible to do so.

  The lens 101 includes an objective lens, a zoom lens, and a focus lens. The zoom lens and the focus lens are driven in the optical axis direction by a driving mechanism (not shown). The CCD 102 is composed of a CCD image sensor that forms an optical image incident through the lens 101, converts it into an electrical signal (analog signal), and outputs the electrical signal. The ADC 103 has a function of converting an electrical signal (analog signal) output from the CCD 102 into a digital signal.

  The image processing unit 104 includes a preprocessing unit 105, a YC processing unit 106, an electronic zoom processing unit 107, a compression unit 108, and an expansion unit 109. The image processing unit 104 generates image data from a digital signal output from the ADC 103, and performs various image processing. It has a function to perform.

  The pre-processing unit 105 has a function of performing white balance processing for adjusting the white balance of an image based on input image data and image gamma correction processing. The white balance process is a process of adjusting the color of an image so as to be close to the actual color, or adjusting the color to an appropriate color that matches a light source (such as a fluorescent lamp or sunlight). The gamma correction process is a process for adjusting the contrast of an image. Note that the pre-processing unit 105 can also perform image processing other than white balance processing and gamma correction processing.

  The YC processor 106 separates an image based on input image data into luminance information “Y”, luminance signal and blue color difference information “Cb”, and luminance signal and red color difference information “Cr”. Have The electronic zoom processing unit 107 has a function of trimming a part of an image (for example, a central part) with a predetermined size and enlarging the trimmed image to the size of the original image by signal processing. The electronic zoom processing unit 107 can, for example, cut out a central 1024 × 768 dot image from a captured 1600 × 1200 dot image and enlarge it to a size of 1600 × 1200 dot while performing data interpolation.

  The compression unit 108 has a function of compressing image data in a compression format such as a JPEG (Joint Photographic Expert Group) method. The decompression unit 109 has a function of decompressing compressed image data. For example, when compressing image data using the JPEG method, first, a discrete cosine transform process is performed (DCT process) that digitizes the ratio of high-frequency components and low-frequency components of image data. Next, a quantization process is performed for expressing the gradation or gradation of the image by a numerical value (quantization bit number). Finally, the image data is compressed by the Huffman encoding process. Specifically, the signal character string of the image data is segmented every certain bit, and a shorter code is given to a character string having a high appearance frequency. In the case of a system that records image data without performing compression processing, the compression unit 108 and the expansion unit 109 can be omitted. Further, the image data compression format is not limited to the JPEG format, and the same processing can be performed even in a GIF (Graphical Interchange Format) format.

  The controller 110 is connected to the image processing unit 104, the buffer memory 111, the flash ROM 112, the I / F circuit 113, the display driver 116, the USB driver 118, and the operation unit 120. In addition, as a functional configuration, the controller 110 includes a control unit (not shown) that outputs a control signal for controlling the operation of each unit in accordance with an input signal from the operation unit 120, and an authentication unit (not shown) that performs authentication related to a user. (Not shown).

  The buffer memory 111 temporarily stores image data when the image processing unit 104 performs image processing. The flash ROM 112 stores various setting information of the photographing apparatus 100. The I / F circuit 113 converts the image data output from the controller 110 into a data format that can be recorded on the memory card 115. The I / F circuit 113 converts the image data read from the memory card 115 into a data format that can be processed by the controller 110.

  The card holder 114 includes a mechanism that allows the memory card 115 that is a storage medium to be attached to and detached from the photographing apparatus 100, and includes an electrical contact that enables data communication with the memory card 115. Further, the card holder 114 has a structure corresponding to the type of storage medium used in the photographing apparatus 100. The memory card 115 is a card-type storage medium that incorporates a semiconductor storage element such as a flash memory and is detachable from the card holder 114. The memory card 115 can record image data captured by the image capturing apparatus 100. In the present embodiment, the configuration of only the photographing apparatus 100 will be described. However, a storage unit provided in an information processing apparatus or the like that can communicate with the photographing apparatus 100 may be used in place of the memory card 115. The communication method between the imaging device 100 and the information processing device is not particularly limited. It may be wired or wireless. In this case, the photographing apparatus 100 includes a communication interface controller, and communicates with the information processing apparatus through the communication interface controller.

  The display driver 116 converts the image data output from the controller 110 into a signal that can be displayed on the liquid crystal display 117. Specifically, the display driver 116 performs processing for converting digital image data output from the controller 110 into an analog image signal, and then sets the image size to a size suitable for the size of the displayable area of the liquid crystal display 117. Perform the conversion process.

  The operation unit 120 includes a power switch 121, a mode dial 122, a shooting button 123 (shutter button), a cursor key 124, a zoom button 125, and a browse (playback) button 126. A signal corresponding to is output to the controller 110. The operation unit 120 includes operation buttons other than the illustrated operation buttons, but a description thereof is omitted.

  The mode dial 122 is a rotatable dial for switching a shooting operation mode. The user can rotate the mode dial 122 to perform a plurality of shooting operations including an administrator mode in which image data stored in the memory card 115 can be restricted and a shooting operation mode other than the administrator mode. It is possible to select a mode.

  The shooting operation mode other than the administrator mode is, for example, an Auto mode or a night view mode in which shooting settings (white balance, shutter speed, etc.) held in advance by the shooting apparatus 100 are easily displayed to the user, or the user can select any mode. There is a manual mode in which shooting settings can be set.

  The browsing button 126 is a button for switching to a browsing mode (image reproduction mode) for browsing captured image data. When the browse button 126 is pressed, the shooting mode is changed to the browsing mode. Note that the method for switching to the viewing mode is not limited to pressing the viewing button 126, and may be a transition method using a touch panel (not shown) on the liquid crystal display 117 or the like.

  In the browsing mode, the controller 110 reads setting information and image data from the memory card 115 attached to the card holder 114 via the I / F circuit 113. The setting information includes the number of images recorded on the currently installed memory card 115 and the capacity of the recorded image data. The read image data is, for example, image data or thumbnail data for one image. Note that the image data read from the memory card 115 is compressed in a predetermined compression format as described above.

  The image data read from the memory card 115 is input to the display driver 116 via the I / F circuit 113 and the controller 110. The display driver 116 displays the input image data on the liquid crystal display 117.

  The cursor key 124 is a key for the user to perform a predetermined instruction or function selection to the photographing apparatus. The user can perform operation inputs such as various setting information and user authentication information with respect to the imaging apparatus 100 with the cursor keys 124. In addition, the cursor key 124 can display a menu screen on the liquid crystal display 117 or select a predetermined function of the photographing apparatus 100.

  Next, an example of a functional configuration of the photographing apparatus 100 will be described. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of the imaging apparatus 100 illustrated in FIG.

  The image playback unit 201 plays back an image stored in the digital camera on the screen of the digital camera. The shooting target registration mode is a functional unit that reproduces an image after shooting and displays a shooting target group confirmation message. In addition, in the unregistered member removal shooting mode, after shooting, the image processed by the image processing unit 204 is displayed, and a save confirmation message and other images continuously shot (continuous images before image processing) are displayed. .

  The face authentication unit 202 is a functional unit that authenticates (recognizes) and identifies a human face from an image.

  The shooting target group registration unit 203 performs face authentication on the image stored in the shooting target registration mode by the face authentication unit 202 and registers each face authentication information in the user management table (FIG. 7). Further, this is a functional unit for registering data in the group management table (FIG. 8) with a plurality of face authentication information stored in the shooting target registration mode as the same group, with the shooting target flag 801 turned ON.

  The image processing unit 204 is a registered face image in which the shooting target flag 801 of the group management table (FIG. 8) is OFF from continuously shot images in shooting in the unregistered member removal shooting mode. This is a functional unit that removes a face image of a user who is not present from the processing image data.

  The imaging unit 205 is a functional unit that captures an image from a digital camera. The activation unit 206 is a functional unit that activates the digital camera. The end unit 207 is a functional unit that ends the digital camera.

  The table storage unit 208 is a functional unit that registers administrator information in the administrator table (FIG. 9). The image data storage unit 209 is a functional unit that registers images shot in the normal mode, the shooting target registration mode, and the unregistered member removal shooting mode.

  Next, the overall processing in this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  FIG. 3 is an overall flowchart in the embodiment of the present invention. Each step is executed by the controller 110. Note that it is desirable to use this function when a user who wants to take a picture using a self-portrait or a self-timer is determined and an image of the user is desired.

  In step S301, the imaging device 100 is activated.

  In step S302, it is confirmed whether the administrator information is registered. If the administrator information is not registered, administrator registration is performed in S303.

  In step S303, an administrator registration process is performed. In the administrator registration, face information is registered and used in the unregistered member removal process of FIG.

  In step S304, it is confirmed whether or not the administrator mode is selected in the current digital camera activation. In the case of the administrator mode, the process proceeds to step S305. If the mode is other than the administrator mode, the process proceeds to step S313.

  In step S305, an authentication screen is displayed to authenticate the administrator mode.

  In step S306, an administrator authentication process is performed. If the password can be authenticated on the authentication screen, the process proceeds to step S307. If the authentication has failed, the process proceeds to step S313.

  In step S307, an administrator menu screen is displayed.

  In step S308, an operation from the user is detected. If the shooting target registration mode is selected by user operation in step S309, the process proceeds to S310, and if not selected, the process proceeds to S311.

  In step S310, an imaging target registration process is performed. Details of the photographing target registration process will be described later with reference to FIG.

  In step S311, the photographing target is manually registered on the administrator screen. The information of the group management table in FIG. 8 is displayed, and the shooting target flag 801 of the corresponding group to be shot is set to 0N.

  In step S312, it is determined whether or not the photographing apparatus 100 is finished. If completed, the process proceeds to S317. Otherwise, the administrator mode is terminated, and the process proceeds to S313.

  In step S313, an operation from the user is detected. If the unregistered member removal shooting mode is selected by the user operation in step S314, the process proceeds to S315. Otherwise, the process proceeds to S316.

  In step S315, an unregistered member removal process is performed. Details of the unregistered member removal process will be described later with reference to FIG.

  In step S316, it is confirmed whether to end the series of processing for member removal photography without registration. If it ends, the process proceeds to S317, and if it does not end, the process proceeds to S313.

  In step S317, the activation of the digital camera that is the photographing apparatus is terminated.

  Next, a function of registering a shooting target using a face authentication (face recognition) function instead of manually registering a shooting target will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart of processing in the function of registering the imaging target (imaging target registration mode) in step S301. Each step is executed by the controller 110.

  In step S401, an image is taken by a user operation. The captured image is stored in the buffer memory 111 or the memory card 115.

  In step S402, the face of a person in the photographed image is specified. Using the identified face image, the feature is extracted from the identified face image data. Specifically, the tilt and position are detected and corrected from the photographed face image, and the position of the feature point (center of the eye, lip edge, etc.) and the distance between the points are measured. The feature data obtained by this measurement can identify an individual by collating with data stored in advance.

  In step S403, the photographed image and the face authentication (face recognition) result are displayed on the photographing object registration mode confirmation screen 1000 (see FIG. 10). In the confirmation screen 1000 for the photographing target registration mode, a confirmation message 1001, a YES button 1002, and a NO button 1003 are displayed, and a face authentication (face recognition) result 1004 is shown to the user.

  In step S404, it is determined whether the YES button 1002 has been pressed. If it has been pressed, the process proceeds to S405. When the NO button 1003 is pressed, the shooting target registration mode is terminated.

  In step S405, all the captured face images are registered in the user management table 700. If the face authentication (face recognition) has already been registered, the same face data is updated. At the time of registration, the face image and feature data are registered, but accompanying data such as a user name can be registered together. In other words, step S405 is a process of registering the user's face image (face image registration).

  In step S406, the photographed face images are newly registered in the group management table of FIG. 8 as one group. At that time, the photographing target flag 801 is turned ON and registered.

  Next, the unregistered member removal function will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the unregistered member removal process in step S315. Each step is executed by the controller 110.

  In step S501, the pressed state of the shutter button is detected. If the shutter button is fully pressed, the process proceeds to S502. Otherwise, the process proceeds to S501. Note that the shutter button may not be fully pressed, but a face image described later can be detected when half-pressed, and continuous shooting can be performed when fully pressed. In the case of shifting from half-press to full-press, a configuration may be adopted in which full-pressing is performed after notification (speech, in-frame message) of continuous shooting.

  Further, when the shutter is operated by the self-timer, the process may proceed to step S502.

  In step S502, a face image included in the current frame is detected.

  In step S503, it is determined whether there is an image for which the photographing target flag 801 in the group management table in FIG. 8 is OFF in the face image in the frame. When it exists, it progresses to S504. If it does not exist, the process proceeds to S507. That is, it is determined whether or not the detected face image includes a face outside the group that is ON. Note that if there is any unregistered face image, the process proceeds to step S503. If there is only a face image for which the shooting target flag 801 of the group management table is ON, the process proceeds to step S507 as shooting with preset shooting (single shooting) without shifting to continuous shooting. In other words, step S503 is processing for determining whether or not the face image obtained by face recognition is an image processing target image (image determination). More specifically, it is determined whether the face image registered as the face image matches the face image obtained by face recognition.

  In step S504, since the detected face image includes a face outside the group that is ON, switching to continuous shooting (for example, switching to continuous shooting mode). Continuous shooting is continued while the shutter button is fully pressed. The number of times of continuous shooting is continuous shooting for a preset number of times, but the number may be changed according to the number of faces according to the number of faces outside the group that is ON. In other words, step S504 is processing for switching from a predetermined shooting mode (for example, single shooting mode) to continuous shooting mode (continuous shooting switching) when it is determined that the face image is an image processing target image. Further, it is a process for continuously shooting a predetermined number of images in the continuous shooting mode (continuous shooting).

  In step S505, an operation of releasing the shutter button is detected. Continuous shooting ends when the shutter button release operation is detected. Note that even when an operation of releasing the shutter button is detected, if a predetermined number of times of shooting (continuous shooting) is not performed, a predetermined number of times of shooting is performed.

  In step S506, image processing is performed. The image processing will be described later with reference to FIG. In other words, in step S506, in order to delete the image of the area corresponding to the face image determined to be the image processing target image from the plurality of images obtained by the continuous shooting, the image obtained by the area is combined. This is a process of generating an image (image generation).

  In step S507, the result image of the image processing in S506 is acquired and a confirmation screen (see FIG. 12) is displayed. The confirmation screen in FIG. 12 displays a marking 1201 indicating a composite location, a save confirmation message 1202, an OK button 1203, a cancel button 1204, and a continuous shooting list image 1205. That is, it is a process for displaying the generated composite image. Further, the area of the synthesized image is displayed so as to be identifiable as in 1201.

  In the initial display, the image processed by the image processing in S506 is displayed on the selected image display unit. At that time, the synthesis source area is marked so that the target area can be identified. In the continuous shooting list image 1205, the image processed by the image processing in S506 is displayed in flashback (a format in which data is displayed along the time axis) or the like. If there is a portion that could not be combined by the image processing processing in S506, the corresponding portion is marked (1206), and a message indicating that is displayed. When an unprocessed image is saved instead of the image processed in the image processing process of S506, another image is selected from the continuous shooting list image 1205 on the touch panel and displayed on the selected image display unit. In this case, the processed image in the image processing process of S506 is displayed with flashback (1208), and the selected image is displayed with a thick frame (1209).

  In step S508, it is detected whether the OK button 1203 is pressed. If the button has been pressed, the process proceeds to S509. Otherwise, the process proceeds to S510.

  In step S509, the image displayed on the confirmation screen (upper part in FIG. 7) when the OK button 1203 is pressed is stored in the memory card 115. Note that the image stored in the memory card 115, such as saving both the processed image and the unprocessed image, storing only the unprocessed image, and storing only the processed image, varies depending on the image selected in FIG.

  In step S510, it is detected whether the cancel button 1204 has been pressed. If pressed, the process proceeds to S501. If not pressed, the process proceeds to S507 and a save confirmation screen is displayed.

  Next, the flowchart of the image processing process of step S506 is demonstrated using FIG.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the image processing process. Each step is executed by the controller 110.

  In step S601, the first image (A) among the images obtained by the continuous shooting is copied and stored so as to be an image to be processed. (Save as Copy A.)

  In step S602, in the first image (A), the four corner coordinates (A1 to An) for the non-photographed face image are acquired. Specifically, after detecting an image to be captured, a region of the human body with respect to the non-target face image is surrounded by a frame, and the four corner coordinates are acquired (see 1101 in FIG. 11). In other words, step S602 is a process of acquiring an area corresponding to a face image determined as an image processing target image from a first image that is an original image among a plurality of images that are continuously captured (area acquisition).

  In step S603, the four corner images for each non-photographed face image are stored in the composition coordinate variable and the confirmation coordinate variable. Specifically, the four corner coordinates for the area frame (A1) for the non-photographed face image are stored in the variable arrays A1 [0], A1 [1], A1 [2], and A1 [3].

  In step S604, the next image of the continuous image is acquired. In step S605, a face image in the next image is detected.

  In step S606, if the face image detection result indicates that there is a face of the group whose photographing target flag is OFF “0”, the process proceeds to S607, and if not, the process proceeds to S609. If there is a face in the group whose shooting target flag is ON “1”, the process proceeds to step S612. Note that the process moves to step S607 also when a face image not included in the group other than the OFF group is recognized. That is, the user other than the user who wants to leave the image is a process of erasing by a composition process described later. In other words, step S606 is processing for determining whether or not a face image obtained by face recognition from the second image is an image processing target image.

  In addition, it is assumed that the processes in steps S606 to S611 are repeatedly performed on all face images detected from the images. If all face images have been processed, the process proceeds to step S612. That is, the acquired first image area is compared with the second image area corresponding to the face image of the image processing target image, and the second image area does not overlap in the first image area. This is a process of specifying a region, acquiring an image of the specified non-overlapping region from the second image, and combining the image acquired from the second image with the first image according to the non-overlapping region.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the description is made so as to synthesize a face part, but when a face is detected, it is also possible to synthesize a whole person by estimating a body part corresponding to the face. . In this case, it is possible to allow the operator to designate a part to be erased other than the face.

  In step S607, four corner coordinates (B1 to Bn) are acquired for each non-photographed face image in the next image (see 1102 in FIG. 11).

  In step S608, for each non-photographed face image, a synthesizing coordinate variable is acquired, and the synthesizing coordinate variable is compared with the four corner coordinates acquired in S607 to confirm the region overlap state (see 1102 in FIG. 11).

  In step S609, the non-overlapping area confirmed in S608 is cut (obtained) from the next image (B) and pasted on the processing image data (copy A) (see 1103 in FIG. 11). ). That is, it is a process of acquiring an image from the second image according to the region acquired from the first image (image acquisition). Further, it is a process of combining the image acquired from the second image with the first image according to the region.

  In step S610, the processing image data (copy A) processed in step S609 is overwritten and saved.

  In step S611, the four corner coordinates of the non-photographed face image of the post-processing data (copy A) are acquired and overwritten and stored in the compositing coordinate variables (A1 to An).

  In step S612, it is confirmed whether there is a continuation of the continuous image. If there is a continuation, the process proceeds to S604.

If there is no continuation, the image processing process ends. Even when there are continuation of continuous images, the processing can be ended when pasting is completed for all the images in the four corner coordinates acquired in step S602.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a user management table stored in the flash ROM 112.

  In the user management table, face authentication numbers, user names, user management groups, and registration dates are registered. This is a table in which images registered in the shooting target registration mode (steps S310 and S311) and used for face authentication (face recognition) and bibliographic information of the face-recognized images are registered. Note that face authentication (face recognition) is a process in which a face is recognized by the face recognition function.

  The face authentication NO is information automatically given by the photographing apparatus, and the user name is information arbitrarily input by the operator. In the user management group, the group number of the group in which the operator is created is registered. The group numbers are managed in the group management table in FIG. The registration date is the date when the user was registered. Further, as described above in step S402, the facial feature information is also stored in association with each other. This makes it possible to recognize a face from the captured image and perform face authentication of the face-recognized image.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the group management table stored in the flash ROM 112. As shown in FIG.

  In the group management table, a group number, a group name, a shooting target flag 801, and a registration date are registered. The group number is information automatically given by the photographing apparatus, and the group name is information arbitrarily input by the operator. The shooting target flag is information that is turned ON in step S406. Note that the shooting target flag is initially OFF. Moreover, it is turned OFF when the photographing is completed.

  When ON, the flag is stored as “1”, and when OFF, the flag is stored as “2”. The user with the flag “1” is not deleted from the image.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of the administrator table stored in the flash ROM 112.

  The administrator table has a face authentication number, an administrator name, a password, and a registration date. This administrator table is a table for determining authentication by comparing the passwords received in step S305.

  In the present embodiment, the tables of FIGS. 7 to 9 are configured to be stored in the flash ROM 112, but may be stored in a server and used by communicating with the photographing apparatus 100.

  FIG. 10 is a screen image when registering a user to be photographed, which is displayed on the liquid crystal display 117 of the photographing apparatus 100. This is an example of a screen displayed in step S403, and on the confirmation screen 1000 for the photographing target registration mode, a confirmation message 1001, a YES button 1002, and a NO button 1003 are displayed, and a face authentication (face recognition) result 1004 is displayed.

  FIG. 11 is an image diagram showing image processing for a non-photographed face image.

  Reference numeral 1101 denotes an example in which the first image of continuous shooting (“D” is a group of “shooting target” flag: OFF, for example, the following processing is performed.

  The four corner coordinates of “d” (referred to as A1) are acquired and registered in the composition coordinate variable and the confirmation coordinate variable. In the example of 1101, A1 [0] (300, 280), A1 [1] (380, 280), A1 [2] (380, 200), and A2 [3] (300, 200) are obtained. Note that when there are a plurality of objects not to be photographed, A2, A3,.

  1102 is an image diagram showing processing of the next image of continuous shooting. For example, the following processing is performed.

  The four corner coordinates of “d” (B1) are acquired. In the example of 1102, B1 [0] (320, 300), B1 [1] (400, 300), B1 [2] (400, 220), and B1 [3] (320, 220) are obtained.

  If there are coordinates that do not overlap with the coordinate variables for synthesis (A1 [0] to A1 [3]), the image of the non-overlapping area is cut out. In the example of 1102, the shaded portion 1110 is an image of a non-overlapping area.

  1103 is an image diagram showing a process of pasting an image of a non-overlapping area on a processing image (copy A).

  The image of the non-overlapping area acquired in 1102 is pasted to the pasting destination 1111 in the processing image data (copy A), and is overwritten and saved.

  After overwriting, the four corner coordinates that are not subject to imaging are acquired again, and overwritten on the coordinate variable for composition. In the example of 1103, A1 [0] (320, 280), A1 [1] (380, 280), A1 [2] (380, 220), and A1 [3] (320, 220) are obtained. By performing this operation for all the images, the user “d” disappears from the image, and for example, an image pasted with an image serving as a background (landscape) is obtained.

  FIG. 12 is an image diagram of a confirmation screen when displaying a result image of the image processing.

  FIG. 12 is a confirmation screen for the unregistered member exclusion shooting mode, and the image that has been combined is displayed at the top. At that time, marking is performed according to the coordinates of the composition source area (1201). For example, the four corner coordinates acquired in 1101 of FIG. 11 are stored, and a dotted rectangle is displayed according to these coordinates. In addition, a list is displayed in order to make it possible to confirm and save the pre-processing image at the bottom (1205). In order to enable saving, 1202 is displayed, and an OK button 1203 and a cancel button 1204 are arranged. When the OK button 1203 is pressed, the synthesized image is stored in the memory card 115.

  1202 is a confirmation screen in the case where there are uncombined portions, where the portions that could not be combined are marked (1206), and a message to that effect is displayed (1207).

  Reference numeral 1203 denotes a confirmation screen when an unprocessed continuous image is selected. The unprocessed image 1209 selected in the list display is displayed at the top, and the processed composite image is also displayed in a list (1208).

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when a person other than the shooting target group exists in the shooting range, the user switches to continuous shooting and uses a plurality of images obtained by continuous shooting to expect the user. A photo can be generated.

  In particular, when shooting is performed using a self-timer, if a user who is not involved in shooting is captured, the user can be easily deleted from the image.

  It should be noted that the configuration and contents of the various data described above are not limited to this, and it goes without saying that the various data and configurations are configured according to the application and purpose.

  Although one embodiment has been described above, the present invention can take an embodiment as, for example, a system, apparatus, method, program, or recording medium, and specifically includes a plurality of devices. The present invention may be applied to a system including a single device.

  The program according to the present invention is a program that allows a computer to execute the processing methods of the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 3 to 6, and the storage medium according to the present invention is a program that allows the computer to execute the processing method according to FIGS. Is remembered. The program in the present invention may be a program for each processing method of each apparatus in FIGS.

  As described above, a recording medium that records a program that implements the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus, and a computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus stores the program stored in the recording medium. It goes without saying that the object of the present invention can also be achieved by executing the reading.

  In this case, the program itself read from the recording medium realizes the novel function of the present invention, and the recording medium storing the program constitutes the present invention.

  As a recording medium for supplying the program, for example, a flexible disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD-R, DVD-ROM, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM, EEPROM, silicon A disk, solid state drive, or the like can be used.

  Further, by executing the program read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an OS (operating system) operating on the computer based on an instruction of the program is actually It goes without saying that a case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by performing part or all of the processing and the processing is included.

  Furthermore, after the program read from the recording medium is written to the memory provided in the function expansion board inserted into the computer or the function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion board is based on the instructions of the program code. It goes without saying that the case where the CPU or the like provided in the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

  Further, the present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of a single device. Needless to say, the present invention can be applied to a case where the present invention is achieved by supplying a program to a system or apparatus. In this case, by reading a recording medium storing a program for achieving the present invention into the system or apparatus, the system or apparatus can enjoy the effects of the present invention.

  Furthermore, by downloading and reading a program for achieving the present invention from a server, database, etc. on a network using a communication program, the system or apparatus can enjoy the effects of the present invention.

  In addition, all the structures which combined each embodiment mentioned above and its modification are also included in this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Image pick-up apparatus 201 Image reproduction part 202 Face authentication part 203 Image | photographing target group registration part 204 Image processing part 205 Image | photographing part 206 Starting part 207 End part 208 Table memory | storage part 209 Image data memory | storage part

Claims (7)

An imaging device capable of face recognition,
Image determination means for determining whether a face image obtained by face recognition is an image processing target image;
Continuous shooting switching means for switching from a predetermined shooting mode to a continuous shooting mode when the image determining means determines that the face image is an image processing target image;
Continuous shooting means for continuously shooting a predetermined number of images by the continuous shooting mode;
In order to delete an image of a region corresponding to the face image determined as the image processing target image by the image determination unit from the plurality of images obtained by the continuous photographing unit, the image obtained by the region is used for synthesis. An imaging apparatus comprising: an image generation means for generating an image. It further comprises face image registration means for registering the user's face image,
The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image determination unit determines whether or not the face image registered by the face image registration unit matches the face image obtained by the face recognition. Area acquisition means for acquiring an area corresponding to a face image determined to be an image processing target image from a first image that is an original image among the plurality of images;
Image acquisition means for acquiring an image from the second image according to the area acquired by the area acquisition means;
The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image generation unit synthesizes the image acquired by the image acquisition unit with the first image according to the region acquired by the region acquisition unit. The image determination means determines whether a face image obtained by face recognition from the second image is an image processing target image;
The image generation means compares the area of the first image acquired by the area acquisition means with the area of the second image corresponding to the face image of the image processing target image determined by the image determination means, In the region of the first image, the region where the region of the second image does not overlap is identified, the image of the identified region that does not overlap is obtained from the second image, and according to the region that does not overlap, The imaging apparatus according to claim 3, wherein an image acquired from the second image is combined with the first image. Display means for displaying the composite image generated by the image generation means;
5. The photographing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display unit displays the region of the synthesized image so as to be identifiable. A method for controlling a photographing apparatus capable of recognizing a face,
The imaging device is
An image determination step for determining whether or not a face image obtained by face recognition is an image processing target image;
A continuous shooting switching step for switching from a predetermined shooting mode to a continuous shooting mode when the image determination step determines that the face image of the image processing target image;
A continuous shooting step for continuously shooting a predetermined number of images by the continuous shooting mode;
In order to delete the image of the area corresponding to the face image determined as the image processing target image in the image determination step from the plurality of images obtained in the continuous shooting step, the image obtained by the area is used for synthesis An image generation step for generating an image. A program for a photographing apparatus capable of recognizing a face,
The imaging device;
Image determination means for determining whether a face image obtained by face recognition is an image processing target image;
Continuous shooting switching means for switching from a predetermined shooting mode to a continuous shooting mode when the image determining means determines that the face image is an image processing target image;
Continuous shooting means for continuously shooting a predetermined number of images by the continuous shooting mode;
In order to delete an image of a region corresponding to the face image determined as the image processing target image by the image determination unit from the plurality of images obtained by the continuous photographing unit, the image obtained by the region is used for synthesis. A program which functions as an image generation means for generating an image.

Images