JP4467231B2 - Image processing device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus that processes moving image (including “continuous still images”) data, and more particularly to an image processing apparatus that obtains an image centered on a subject of interest.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In recent years, it has become possible to shoot and record movies with digital cameras as well as with video cameras. However, when printing a recorded movie, it is possible to take out and print still images from the recorded movie at regular time intervals. Many. In particular, printing is often performed in the state of a divided photograph in which a plurality of image frames are displayed on one sheet. In this case, the subject to be noticed is often small in each image frame. It was difficult for the person to see.
[0003]
The following Patent Document 1 captures a moving picture with a shooting start switch, extracts a moving picture from a recorded moving picture at a fixed time interval, and prints it. In particular, the moving picture is extracted from a moving picture at a fixed time interval. An over-the-counter printing machine (so-called photo booth machine) is disclosed. This is related to printing when the shooting conditions of the photo booth are met, and if the frame of interest is extracted from an image shot with a normal video camera etc., the moving subject is too small or off the center of the screen. It was.
[0004]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-228561 discloses a technique that allows a subject of interest to be always displayed at a predetermined position on a screen during reproduction from moving image data recorded including a camera shake state with a video camera or the like. In this method, a part of a subject is specified, the amount of movement is detected by pattern matching, and blur correction is performed, and data lost by blur correction is brought from other frames.
[0005]
However, when shooting a child's figure at a kindergarten athletic meet, the user divides the target subject (my child) into a predetermined position on the screen, especially the center, and enlarges the target subject (my child). I have a strong desire to see prints of photographs.
[0006]
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-115866
[Patent Document 2]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-187303
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In consideration of the above circumstances, the present invention extracts a spatial portion (a part of a frame) centered on a subject of interest from a temporally noticeable frame section of continuously captured moving image data to make the subject of interest larger and easy to see. An object of the present invention is to provide an image processing apparatus for obtaining a processed image.
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
A first aspect of the present invention is an image processing apparatus that processes moving image data composed of a plurality of continuous images, and reads out the moving image data and takes out a frame constituting a moving image in a specified time range from the moving image data. Specifying a feature color of the subject from the configuration frame of the extracted video data, extracting a color approximate to the feature color from the configuration frame, and identifying the subject by superimposing the extracted portions; The portion in which the subject is specified by the specifying means in the extracted moving image data constituting frame is overlapped with all the extracted constituent frames, and the range in which the subject exists is the range in which the subject has moved. detecting means for detecting the extent to which the subject has moved by moving data of the range of images that the subject has moved And clipping means for cutting out the area portion data, the image processing apparatus comprising a consist.
[0010]
According to the first aspect of the present invention, the take-out means reads out the moving image data, extracts a frame constituting a moving image in a specified time range from the moving image data, that is, a moving image constituent frame from one time point to another certain time point, The specifying unit specifies a subject existing in the frame from the extracted moving image constituting frame. The detecting means detects a range in which the subject has moved in a plurality of frames constituting the moving image data. Clipping means cuts out the moving area portion of the data of the images, including the extent to which the subject is moved between a plurality of frames. The cut-out image is an image including a space portion centered on the subject, and is an image that is easier to see than a large subject. The “moving image” means “continuous still image”.
[0011]
According to a second aspect of the present invention , there is provided the image processing apparatus according to the first aspect , further comprising a synthesizing unit that synthesizes each frame of the extracted moving image data.
[0012]
According to the second aspect of the present invention, for example, a multiple exposure image or an index image can be obtained by synthesizing each frame of the clipped moving image data with a still image.
[0013]
According to a third aspect of the present invention , in the image processing apparatus according to the first aspect , the specifying unit specifies a subject color by specifying a feature color of the subject and extracting a color approximate to the feature color from the constituent frame. It consists of.
[0014]
According to the third aspect of the present invention , the specifying means specifies the feature color of the subject in the frame, extracts the same kind of color as the feature color from the constituent frame, specifies the subject, and this extraction step is performed for each frame. To do.
[0015]
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention , the specifying unit specifies a feature color of the subject, extracts a color approximate to the feature color from the constituent frame, and then specifies the subject by superimposing the extracted portions. An image processing apparatus on the first side .
[0016]
According to the fourth aspect of the present invention , the specifying means designates the feature color of the subject in the frame, extracts a color of the same type as the feature color from the constituent frame, and then superimposes the extracted portions to identify the subject. The identification process is performed for each frame.
[0017]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0018]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image processing apparatus 2 according to the present embodiment.
[0019]
When a recording medium is set in the recording medium slot 24, the recording medium controller 22 operates to read data stored in the recording medium. When instruction information is input from the operation unit 4 such as a keyboard or a mouse, the instruction information is sent to the CPU 12 via the interface 8, a control signal is sent from the CPU 12 to the recording medium controller 22, and the recording medium is sent via the recording medium controller 22. Necessary image data is extracted from the image data and stored in the RAM 20. The ROM 18 stores a control program. In the image processing unit 14, control-instructed image processing is performed on the image data stored in the RAM 20 by a control signal of the CPU 12 based on the instruction information from the operation unit 4, and the result is displayed via the display controller 10. Are displayed on the display 6. The user inputs necessary instruction information from the operation unit 4 while viewing the display 6.
[0020]
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic process until a still image obtained by enlarging a subject of interest from moving image data of a moving image file is synthesized.
[0021]
A moving image file composed of a plurality of continuous still images is read, and moving image frames in the moving image file are disassembled to extract frames within a specified time range. Then, it goes through three steps.
[0022]
The first step is subject feature color extraction processing 30 that performs subject feature color extraction processing. The subject feature color extraction process 30 designates a subject by pointing several points in the subject and creates a feature color list at each point.
[0023]
The second step is an area extraction process 32 for performing an image area extraction process. In this step, a color approximate to the characteristic color created in the first step is extracted, the subject is specified by superimposing the extracted portions, and the subject area of all frames is overlaid to obtain the moving area of the image. Detect the movement range of the subject.
[0024]
The third step is a region cutout process 34. In this step, the region is cut out based on the movement range of the subject detected in the second step, and a still image is synthesized.
[0025]
Details of each step will be described.
[0026]
Details of the first step will be described. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a feature color designation method in the first step, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a flow of the feature color extraction step in the first step.
[0027]
In FIG. 3, first, the feature color of the subject that the user wants to specify is specified in a specific still image frame n in the moving image frame. If the subject that the user wants to specify is a girl, the user points to a part of the subject, for example, point A that is hair, point B that is an arm, and point C that is a torso with the mouse that is the operation unit 4. By pointing, the x and y coordinates of points A, B and C are determined. Then, the R, G, and B values at the A point are taken as the feature color ref (1), the R, G, and B values at the B point are taken as the feature color ref (2), and the R, G, and B values at the C point. The value is taken in and set as the characteristic color ref (3).
[0028]
Referring to FIG. 4, a specific still image frame n is displayed on the display 6 (step 40), and it is determined whether the characteristic color extraction process has been repeated a required number of times (step 42). Points to a portion of the subject (step 44). The characteristic colors at points A, B, and C are extracted by taking in the R, G, and B values (step 46). Thereafter, the process returns to the determination of whether the feature color extraction process has been repeated a required number of times (step 42).
[0029]
The second step will be described. FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing the image area extraction processing step, and FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the image area extraction processing step.
[0030]
In FIG. 5, for the feature color ref (1), the feature color ref (2) of the point B, and the feature color ref (3) of the point C extracted in the first step, the colors approximated to each of them are shown. Extract.
[0031]
For the feature color ref (1) at point A, a portion within the color difference ΔC from the feature color ref (1) at point A is extracted. Since the still image frame n is composed of a bit plane, the difference between ref (i) and the pixel i is taken to check whether the portion is within the color difference ΔC, whether it is 0 or 1. When the value is 0, it is not applicable, and it is regarded as a portion where the colors do not match. When the value is 1, it corresponds and is regarded as a color-matched part. As a result, the characteristic color ref (1) at point A and the approximate color portion are extracted.
[0032]
For the feature color ref (2) at point B and the feature color ref (3) at point C, similar color portions are similarly extracted.
[0033]
The extracted characteristic color portions are superimposed on one still image frame n. The subject area of the still image frame n is defined. The process is performed for all the frames in the specified time range, and the defined subject area is overlapped for all the frames in the specified range. Then, a moving area of the subject image over a plurality of designated frames is obtained. The upper left x coordinate, upper left y coordinate (min_x, min_y), lower right x coordinate, lower right y coordinate (max_x, max_y) of the movement area are specified so that the movement area becomes a rectangle, and the movement area is finally The range of motion of the subject is detected.
[0034]
Referring to FIG. 6, first, the first still image frame to be processed is selected (step 50), it is determined whether or not the frame has been repeated until the end of the frame (step 52), and when the final frame is completed, the process proceeds to step 64. Otherwise, it is determined in step 54 whether or not the image area extraction for the feature color ref (i) is repeated, and if the extraction is completed, the process proceeds to step 60. If not completed, a color matching area within ref (i) and the color difference ΔC is extracted in the step 56 by the above method. Thereafter, the next characteristic color is set (step 58), and the process returns to step 54.
[0035]
In step 60, in the above-described example, the color matching areas for the characteristic colors of the points A, B, and C are overlapped, and the subject area of the frame n is extracted. When this is completed, the next frame is targeted (step 62), and the process returns to step 52.
[0036]
In step 64, the subject areas of all designated frames are overlapped to obtain a moving area of the subject image. Then, the process proceeds to step 66, and the upper left x coordinate, upper left y coordinate (min_x, min_y), lower right x coordinate, lower right y coordinate (max_x, max_y) is specified and the moving area is finally defined and the process ends.
[0037]
The third step will be described. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the region cutout process. In this step, the image area of the movement range of the subject detected in the second step is cut out and a still image is synthesized.
[0038]
First, a target frame in which a moving area is defined is specified (step 70). The corresponding frame is read, and the defined moving area portion is cut out (step 72). The clipped image is output (step 74). It is determined whether the target frame is completed (step 76). If not completed, the target frame in which another moving area is defined is specified (step 78), and the process returns to step 72. If yes in step 76, the process ends.
[0039]
After the image is cut out, for example, it is conceivable to combine the cut out still image as a divided photograph. As shown in FIG. 8, in the synthesized image, the subject in each frame of the still image constituting the moving image is an enlarged image than the normal divided photograph, so that the subject to be noticed can be seen larger and easier to see. Can do. Further, still images can be further synthesized from the divided photographs shown in FIG.
[0040]
Further, by superimposing the cut out still image images, it is possible to print a multi-exposure composite photograph or to combine it with an index-like image.
[0041]
As described above, according to this embodiment, it is possible to obtain an image centered on a subject to be noticed when, for example, a continuously photographed separated photograph image is printed.
[0042]
In addition, since the movement of the subject of interest is known during the attention frame period of the moving image, it is easy to cut out the frame area to be printed with the decomposed photograph.
[0043]
Further, even when the decomposed photo extraction region cannot be automatically cut out automatically by rect_min_x, rect_min_y, rect_max_x, rect_max_y, etc. that define the coordinates of the upper left corner and the lower right corner of the rectangle, the reference image R [x, y ], G [x, y], and B [x, y], it is possible to easily specify an area to be manually cut out.
[0044]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, it is possible to obtain an image that is easier to see than a large subject, and therefore, it is possible to obtain an image centered on a subject that is desired to be noticed when, for example, a continuously photographed separated photograph image is printed.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image processing apparatus.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic process until a still image in which a subject of interest is enlarged is synthesized from moving image data of a moving image file.
FIG. 3 is a view showing a feature color designation method in the first step.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a flow of a feature color extraction process in the first process.
FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing an image area extraction process.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an image area extraction processing step.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an area cutout process.
FIG. 8 is a diagram of a divided photograph in which an enlarged subject image is obtained from moving image data.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 2 ... Image processing apparatus, 4 ... Operation part, 6 ... Display, 12 ... CPU, 14 ... Image processing part, 18 ... ROM, 20 ... RAM, 22 ... Recording medium controller, 24 ... Recording medium slot, 30 ... Subject characteristic color Extraction processing, 32... Image area extraction processing, 34.

Claims (2)

An image processing apparatus for processing moving image data composed of a plurality of continuous images, reading out moving image data, and taking out a frame constituting a moving image in a specified time range from the moving image data;
A specifying means for specifying a subject color by designating a feature color of the subject from the configuration frame of the extracted moving image data, extracting a color approximate to the feature color from the configuration frame, and then superimposing the extracted portions;
By superimposing all of the extracted configuration frames on the portion of the extracted moving image data that has been identified by the specifying means, the range in which the subject exists is the range in which the subject has moved. Detecting means for detecting a range in which the subject has moved;
An image processing apparatus comprising: clipping means for cutting out an area portion of moving image data of an image in a range in which the subject has moved.   The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a synthesis unit that synthesizes each area portion of the clipped moving image data.

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