JP5346140B1 - Recording / reproducing apparatus and method - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a recording / reproducing apparatus and method by which a user can quickly and easily find a target chapter or scene.
A recording / reproducing apparatus capable of recording / reproducing video information of a scene obtained by photographing on a predetermined first recording medium and setting one or a plurality of chapters for each scene, and recording / reproducing in the recording / reproducing apparatus In the method, face recognition processing is performed on the captured video based on the video information, the importance for each chapter is set based on the processing result of the face recognition processing for the important person, and the correspondence is based on the importance for each chapter. The chapter of the importance level to be played is selectively played back.
[Selection] Figure 6

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording / reproducing apparatus and method, and is suitably applied to, for example, a video camera.

  2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, recording / reproducing apparatuses compatible with recording media capable of random access, such as DVDs (Digital Versatile Discs), semiconductor memories, and hard disk devices (HDD: Hard Disc Drives), are becoming popular. In such a recording / reproducing apparatus, it is possible to easily and quickly cue up the captured video recorded on the recording medium.

  Of this type of recording / playback device, for example, a general-purpose video camera normally manages video information of captured video in units of scenes, and can cue each scene using such management information for each scene. It has been made possible. Also, with this type of video camera, a plurality of chapters can be set in one scene, and cueing can be performed for each chapter.

  Here, the scene refers to a series of images recorded from when the user presses the record button to start shooting and then presses the record button again to finish shooting. The number of scenes increases each time the recording button is pressed to perform shooting. A chapter refers to a segment of video in one scene.

  Therefore, in such a video camera, the user can quickly grasp the contents of the scene by reproducing the video information recorded on the recording medium while sequentially cueing each chapter.

  However, in such a video camera, when the number of chapters set in the scene is large, in order to confirm the contents up to the end of the scene, the user performs cueing operation for each chapter by the number of chapters set in the scene. There is a problem that requires much labor and time.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for calculating the priority of a frame from the type of button operation at the time of shooting, and reproducing the frame with a high priority when performing reproduction so as to efficiently grasp the contents of the scene. It is disclosed.

JP-A-6-165209

  In recent years, the capacity of video camera recording media has increased, and it has become possible to shoot for a long time at once or to store scenes shot in multiple batches on a recording medium. For this reason, it has become difficult for a user to quickly find a target scene from a vast number of scenes recorded on a recording medium.

  Some conventional recording / playback devices have a function for displaying a list of thumbnail images for each scene, but with such a function, only one thumbnail image can be associated with one scene. In some cases, it is difficult for the user to remember the entire scene for a long time from one thumbnail image. Also, when a long time has passed since shooting, it was difficult for the user to remember the entire scene from only one thumbnail image associated with the scene.

  Further, usually, when the contents of a scene cannot be grasped even by looking at a thumbnail image, the user reproduces the scene and confirms the contents of the scene. Therefore, when confirming the contents of a long-time scene, a function is required to quickly confirm the contents of the entire scene while searching for chapters, but such a function has not been proposed at present.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for calculating a frame priority from the type of button operation at the time of shooting and reproducing a frame with a high priority when performing digest reproduction for grasping the contents of a scene. However, according to this technique, priority cannot be set for a scene shot without a button operation by the user, and it cannot be said that it is easy to use.

  The present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to propose a recording / reproducing apparatus and method by which a user can quickly and easily find a target chapter or scene.

  In order to solve this problem, in the present invention, in a recording / reproducing apparatus for recording / reproducing information on / from a recording medium, a recording unit for recording video information on the recording medium, and video information recorded on the recording medium by the recording unit A reproduction unit that reproduces image information, a face recognition execution unit that performs face recognition processing on the video information, an output unit that outputs a list display screen of face images of persons registered in advance by a user, and the output unit Based on the specific person setting unit that sets a person corresponding to the face image selected by the user from the face images on the list display screen that has been output as a specific person, and the face recognition processing of the face recognition execution unit And a control unit that controls the reproduction unit so as to selectively reproduce video information including the specific person set by the specific person setting unit from the recording medium. To.

  As a result, the recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention can selectively reproduce specific chapters according to user settings, for example, chapters in which many important persons appear.

  According to the present invention, in a recording / reproducing method for recording / reproducing information on / from a recording medium, a first step of executing face recognition processing on video information, and a list display of face images of a person registered in advance by a user A second step of outputting a screen; and a third step of setting a person corresponding to the face image selected by the user from the face images of the list display screen output in the second step as a specific person And a fourth step of selectively reproducing video information including the specific person set in the third step from the recording medium based on the face recognition process of the first step. It is characterized by.

  As a result, according to the recording / reproducing method of the present invention, it is possible to selectively reproduce specific chapters according to user settings, for example, chapters in which many important persons appear.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the recording / reproducing apparatus and method which a user can find the target chapter and scene quickly and easily can be provided.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the video camera by 1st and 2nd embodiment. It is a conceptual diagram which shows an example of chapter management information. It is a figure conceptual diagram which shows an example of face recognition management information. It is a conceptual diagram which shows an example of the picked-up image when face recognition is validated. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of a picked-up video recording process. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of a chapter importance level setting process. It is a basic diagram which shows the example of a screen structure of an important person determination screen. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of importance determination processing. It is a table | surface which shows an example of the chapter structure in a target scene, and the chapter importance set to each chapter, respectively. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of a chapter selection reproduction | regeneration process. It is a basic diagram which shows the example of a screen structure of a chapter list screen. It is a basic diagram which shows the example of a screen structure of a scene list screen. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of an important person setting process. It is a basic diagram which shows the example of a screen structure of the important person setting screen before imaging | photography. It is a basic diagram which shows the example of a screen structure of an important person imaging | photography screen.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

(1) First Embodiment (1-1) Configuration of Recording / Reproducing Device In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a video camera according to the present embodiment as a whole. The video camera 1 is a hybrid video camera including a DVD drive (not shown) and a built-in hard disk device 2. There are a plurality of types of DVDs 3 installed in the DVD drive, such as DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD-RAM, DVD + R, DVD + RW, and HD (High Definition) -DVD. The types of possible DVDs 3 are not particularly limited.

  In the video camera 1, the user interface unit 4 includes various operation buttons and a touch panel attached to the display surface of the display unit 6 described later. The system control unit 5 executes corresponding control processing in response to a user operation command input via the user interface unit 4, so that a captured video is recorded on the hard disk device 2 or the DVD 3 mounted on the DVD drive. The captured video recorded or recorded on the hard disk device 2 or DVD 3 can be reproduced and displayed on the display unit 6.

  In practice, the system control unit 5 is configured as a microcomputer including a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and an internal memory. When the user interface unit 4 is operated and the recording mode is selected and then the recording button in the user interface unit 4 is pressed, the system control unit 5 selects a charge coupled device (CCD) or a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS). ) Is driven.

  At this time, an optical image of the subject is condensed on the light receiving surface of the image sensor 7 by the lens 8. Thus, the image sensor 7 photoelectrically converts the optical image and sends the obtained captured video signal to the analog / digital converter 9. The analog / digital conversion unit 9 performs analog / digital conversion processing on the supplied captured video signal, and sends the obtained video information to a CODEC (Compressor / Decompressor) unit 10.

  The CODEC unit 10 transfers the supplied video information as it is to the display unit 6 via the bus 11. The display unit 6 includes a liquid crystal display, an organic EL display, or the like, for example, and displays a captured video (through video) based on supplied video information.

  The CODEC unit 10 performs encoding processing on the supplied video information by a predetermined compression encoding method such as MPEG (Moving Picture Expert Group) method, and the obtained encoded video information and the encoding processing The video information not subjected to the processing is stored in a RAM (Random Access Memory) 12 via the bus 11.

  The encoded video information stored in the RAM 12 is then read from the RAM 12 by the hard disk device control unit 13 or the DVD drive control unit 14 under the control of the system control unit 5 and stored in the hard disk device 2 or DVD 3. To be recorded.

  The video information stored in the RAM 12 is read by the face recognition execution unit 15. Then, the face recognition execution unit 15 performs a predetermined face recognition process on the photographed video based on this video information, and controls the hard disk device in which the encoded video information is stored as the recognition result as face recognition management information described later. To the unit 2 or the DVD drive control unit 14. Thus, the face recognition management information is recorded on the hard disk device 2 or the DVD 3 in association with the encoded video information.

  On the other hand, when the playback mode in the user interface unit 4 is pressed after the user interface unit 4 is operated and the playback mode is selected, the system control unit 5 selects the corresponding hard disk device control unit 13 or DVD drive control unit. 14, the encoded video information is read from the hard disk device 2 or the DVD 3 and transmitted to the CODEC unit 10 via the bus 11.

  The CODEC unit 10 performs predetermined decoding processing on the encoded video information supplied from the hard disk device control unit 13 or the DVD drive control unit 14 under the control of the system control unit 5, and the reproduced video obtained Information is transmitted to the display unit 6 via the bus 11. Thus, a playback video based on this playback video information is displayed on the display unit 6.

  An image size conversion unit 16 is also connected to the bus 11. Then, the image size conversion unit 16 is read out from the video information stored in the RAM 12 or the hard disk device 2 or the DVD 3 and decoded in the CODEC unit 10 under the control of the system control unit 5 during, for example, a photographing operation. The video information of the first frame of each scene and the video information of the first frame of each chapter are extracted from the obtained video information. Then, the image size conversion unit 16 converts the extracted video information into image information of thumbnail images of a predetermined size, and the image information of the thumbnail images of the first frame of the scene and the first frame of each chapter thus obtained is In association with the scene, it is stored in the hard disk device 2 or DVD 3 in which the encoded video information of the scene is stored.

  In addition, the video camera 1 has other general features such as an LED (Light Emitting Diode) that is turned on during power-on, charging, access to the hard disk device 2 or the DVD 3, and a battery that supplies power to each circuit. Assume that all typical video camera hardware and features are installed.

  Further, in the following, a description will be given assuming a usage method in which a shot video is recorded on the hard disk device 2 during shooting, and this shot video is dubbed to the DVD 3 after shooting. However, during shooting, the shot video is recorded on the DVD 3, There may be a usage method in which the captured video is dubbed to the hard disk device 2 after shooting.

(1-2) Scene Management Information In the case of this video camera 1, the hard disk device 2 records management information for each scene (hereinafter referred to as scene management information) together with encoded video information at the time of shooting. Is done. This scene management information includes information for managing a scene such as chapter management information and face recognition management information. The chapter management information includes information such as the position, length, importance, and outline of the first frame for each chapter. The face recognition management information includes information such as the position of the frame where the face recognized by the face recognition execution unit appears during shooting, the facial expression in the frame, and the size of the face in the frame.

  FIG. 2 shows an example of chapter management information. The chapter management information 20 shown in FIG. 2 includes chapter ID information 21, start frame position information 22, and chapter importance level information 23 for each chapter set in the scene.

  The chapter ID information 21 is information representing a unique ID (hereinafter referred to as a chapter ID) assigned to each chapter, and the start frame position information 22 is the position (time, (Minute, second and frame number). The chapter importance level information 23 is information representing the importance level set for the corresponding chapter (hereinafter referred to as chapter importance level). Details of the chapter importance will be described later. The chapter management information 20 is stored in the hard disk device 2 by the system control unit 5 in association with the encoded video information of the scene.

  FIG. 3 shows an example of face recognition management information. The face recognition management information 24 shown in FIG. 3 includes face ID information 25, path / file name information 26, and frame position information 27 for each face recognized in the corresponding scene.

  The face ID information 25 is information representing a unique ID (hereinafter referred to as a face ID) assigned to each face recognized by the face recognition execution unit 15, and the path / file name information 26 is This is information indicating a path to an image file of a corresponding face image (hereinafter referred to as a face image) or a file name of the image file. The face image stored in the image file may be an image captured when the person is recognized for the first time in the frame, or a good facial expression such as a smile is identified during the face recognition process, and the face image is stored in the scene. It may be an image that captures the best facial expression of a person.

  The frame position information 27 is information representing the frame position (hour, minute, second, and frame number) at which the corresponding face is recognized. The frame position information 27 includes all frame positions where the corresponding face appears. Therefore, the number of frame positions included in the frame position information 27 increases as the face (person) appears more frequently in the scene. The type of facial expression in the frame may be recorded in association with each frame position.

  The face recognition management information 24 is stored in the hard disk device 2 by the face recognition execution unit 15 as described above in association with the encoded video information of the captured video recorded at that time.

(1-3) Setting Method of Chapter Importance FIG. 4 shows an example of a captured image displayed on the display unit 6 when shooting is performed with the face recognition function set to “valid”. In the present video camera 1, when the face recognition function is set to “valid”, a rectangular frame surrounding the human face detected by the face recognition function in the captured image 30 displayed on the display unit 6. 31 is displayed. When the face recognition function is set to “invalid”, the frame 31 is not displayed.

  FIG. 5 shows a system control unit 5 related to a process of recording a captured video on the hard disk device 2 (hereinafter referred to as a captured video recording process) when shooting is performed with the face recognition function set to “valid”. The processing content is shown. The system control unit 5 executes the captured video recording process shown in FIG. 5 based on a corresponding control program stored in the internal memory.

  That is, when the recording button of the user interface unit 4 is pressed after the recording mode is selected, the system control unit 5 starts this captured video recording process. First, the analog / digital converter 9 and the CODEC unit 10 are connected. By controlling each of them, the video information of the captured video and the encoded video information obtained by encoding the video information are stored in the RAM 12, and the encoded video information for one frame is stored from the RAM 12 by controlling the hard disk device control unit 13. The data is read and recorded in the hard disk device 2 (SP1).

  Subsequently, the system control unit 5 controls the face recognition execution unit 15 to read video information of the same frame as the frame from which the encoded video information is read from the RAM 12 by the hard disk device control unit 13 in step SP1. And face recognition processing is performed on the captured video based on the video information (SP2).

  At this time, the face recognition execution unit 15 executes face recognition processing by a method such as template matching using an average face, for example. However, if the user has created an important person list in which important persons are registered in advance before shooting, the face recognition process may be performed by template matching using the important person list. Then, when the face recognition processing is completed, the face recognition execution unit 15 reflects the processing result of the face recognition processing in the face recognition management information described above with reference to FIG. 3 (updates the face recognition management information).

  Next, the system control unit 5 determines whether or not the encoded video information of all the frames obtained by shooting has been recorded on the hard disk device 2 (SP3). If the system control unit 5 obtains a negative result in this determination, it returns to step SP1, and thereafter repeats the same processing (SP1 to SP3-SP1).

  Then, when the system control unit 5 finishes recording the encoded video information of all the frames obtained by shooting in the hard disk device 2 and obtains an affirmative result in step SP3, the system control unit 5 ends the shot video recording process.

  Note that the face recognition process in step SP2 of the photographed video recording process may be performed for each frame as described above, or may be performed once every several frames. By performing the processing once every several frames, the processing load on the face recognition execution unit 15 can be reduced.

  In addition, even when shooting with the face recognition function set to “invalid”, a function that can perform face recognition processing on recorded scenes by menu operations after shooting (hereinafter referred to as post-shooting face recognition function). In this way, face recognition management information similar to that shown in FIG. 3 can be created. With this post-photographing face recognition function, chapter importance can be set using the face recognition function as described later for scenes shot with other video cameras that do not have a face recognition function. Very convenient.

  Next, a method for determining the chapter importance for each chapter in one scene based on the processing result (face recognition management information 24 (FIG. 3)) of the face recognition process obtained as described above will be described. .

  In the following, it is assumed that at least one chapter is set in one scene. For chapter creation, the user manually determines the position of the chapter, creates the chapter automatically in the scene where the luminance change is large, and automatically every few minutes to several tens of minutes. Although there is a method of creating chapters at equal intervals, the chapters may be set by any method in the present embodiment.

  FIG. 6 shows the processing contents of the system control unit 5 regarding the chapter importance setting function for setting the chapter importance for each chapter in one scene. When the user interface unit 4 is operated and the first screen display request is input, the system control unit 5 performs the chapter importance level setting process shown in FIG. 6 according to a corresponding control program stored in an internal memory (not shown). Run.

  That is, when the first screen display request is given, the system control unit 5 firstly stores chapter management information 20 of a scene (hereinafter referred to as a target scene) stored in the hard disk device 2 at that time. (FIG. 2) and face recognition management information 24 (FIG. 3) are read, and the important person determination screen 40 shown in FIG. 7 is displayed on the display unit 6 using these chapter management information 20 and face recognition management information 24 (SP10). .

  The important person determination screen 40 is a screen for the user to determine an important person in the target scene. On the important person determination screen 40, face images 41 of all persons whose face recognition has been successfully performed at the time of shooting the target scene are displayed. Each face image 41 is displayed based on the image data read from the image file specified by the corresponding path / file name information 26 (FIG. 3) included in the face recognition management information 24 described above with reference to FIG. It is a thing.

  Then, based on the face image 41 of each person displayed on the important person determination screen 40, the user can select a person to be an important person from these persons. It is also possible to select a plurality of persons as important persons. Further, faces of persons who are frequently used as subjects such as family members may be registered in the video camera 1 as an important person list in advance, and only the registered person faces may be displayed on the important person determination screen 40. . By doing so, the face of a person who is not related to the subject reflected in the background is not displayed, so that the user can easily determine an important person.

  Then, the user selects the face image 41 of the person desired to be set as an important person by a predetermined operation, and then presses the “OK” button 42. As a result, the person selected at this time is registered as an important person. It should be noted that in order to cancel the operation of determining the chapter importance, the “cancel” button 43 may be pressed. In addition, by allowing the user to set whether or not to always use such an important person list, the usability of the video camera 1 can be improved.

  Subsequently, the system control unit 5 waits for an important person to be determined using the important person determination screen 40 (SP11). When an important person is determined by the user, the system controller 5 determines whether the important person is determined in the target scene based on the determination result. The chapter importance of each chapter is determined (SP12).

  Then, the system control unit 5 reflects the chapter importance for each chapter determined in step SP11 in the chapter management information 20 described above with reference to FIG. 2 (SP13), and thereafter ends this chapter importance setting processing.

  FIG. 8 shows the specific processing contents of the system control unit 5 in step SP12 of the chapter importance level setting processing.

  When the system control unit 5 proceeds to step SP12 of the chapter importance level setting process, the system control unit 5 starts this importance level determination process. First, the system controller 5 uses the above-described important person determination screen 40 (FIG. 7) to determine the important person determined by the user. The number of appearances is counted for each chapter of the target scene (SP14).

  Specifically, the system control unit 5 prepares counters in the internal memory for the number of chapters present in the scene in the system. The system control unit 5 reads out the frame positions of all frames in which the important person appears from the face recognition management information 24 (FIG. 3) from the face ID of the important person determined by the user using the important person determination screen 40. Which chapter these frames belong to is determined for each such frame with reference to the chapter management information 20 (FIG. 2). Based on the determination result, the system control unit 5 increments the count value of the counter associated with the chapter to which the frame belongs by 1 for each frame in which the important person appears. The system control unit 5 performs this process for all important persons determined by the user using the important person determination screen 40.

  Subsequently, the system control unit 5 normalizes the count value of each counter to a range of 1 to 5 (SP15), and subtracts the numerical value obtained by the normalization from 6 for each chapter corresponding to the counter. The chapter importance is determined (SP16).

  Through the above processing, “1”, which is the highest chapter importance level, is set for the chapter where the most important characters appear, and “5”, which is the lowest chapter importance level, is set for the chapter where the most important characters appear. Is set. Then, the system control unit 5 ends the importance level determination process and returns to the chapter importance level setting process.

  In addition, when the user selects a plurality of important persons on the important person determination screen 40, if the weight of chapter importance is weighted so that a person to be emphasized can be set, the usability of the video camera 1 is further improved. Will improve.

(1-4) Reproduction Method Using Chapter Importance Next, a reproduction method of the target scene based on the chapter importance for each chapter set as described above will be described. In the following description, the chapter importance is set in five stages, where “1” is the highest chapter importance and “5” is the lowest chapter importance. Further, in the following, for the sake of convenience, the chapter importance is “1”, the chapter importance is “3”, and the chapter importance “5” is called “slow”.

  FIG. 9 shows an example of the chapter configuration in the target scene and the chapter importance set for each chapter. In the case of FIG. 9, the target scene is divided into nine chapters having chapter IDs “001” to “009”, respectively. Then, for the two chapters whose chapter IDs are “002” and “005”, the chapter importance is set to “1”, respectively, and for the two chapters whose chapter IDs are “004” and “009”, the chapter importance is set. Is set to “3”, and the chapter importance is set to “5” for the remaining chapters (chapter IDs of “001”, “003”, and “006” to “008”).

  By the way, in the case of the present video camera 1, when playback is performed after selecting the “slave playback mode” from the menu as a playback mode under such circumstances, all of the chapter importance levels are set for each chapter. The chapters are sequentially reproduced in order from the smallest chapter ID. That is, in the “slow playback mode”, chapters having a chapter importance level of “5” or less (chapter levels having chapter importance levels of “1” to “5” and all chapters in the present embodiment) are played back.

  On the other hand, when the user selects “Express Playback Mode” as the playback mode and then starts scene playback, the video camera 1 first has the chapter ID “002” with the chapter importance set to “1”. The chapter is played, the chapter with the chapter importance set to “3” is played back with the chapter ID “004”, and the chapter ID with the chapter importance set to “1” is set to “005”. Play chapters. Thereafter, the video camera 1 reproduces the chapter whose chapter ID is “009”, and ends the scene reproduction when the reproduction of the chapter is completed. That is, in the “express playback mode”, only chapters with chapter importance “3” or less (chapter with chapter importance “1” to “3”) are played back. Therefore, if skip to the beginning is performed during playback in this “express playback mode”, playback starts from the beginning of the next chapter with a chapter importance of “3” or less.

  On the other hand, when the user selects “Express Playback Mode” as the playback mode and starts scene playback, the video camera 1 first plays back from the chapter with chapter importance “1” and chapter ID “002”. Starts, and after reproducing the chapter whose chapter ID is “005”, the scene reproduction is finished. That is, in the “express playback mode”, chapters having a chapter importance of “1” or less (chapter having a chapter importance of “1”) are reproduced.

  Therefore, in this video camera 1, chapters whose chapter importance level is set to “1” are always played back regardless of which playback mode is selected, and other chapters have the same chapter importance level as that chapter or It is played back only when a playback mode for playing back chapters with smaller chapter importance is selected.

  Using this function (hereinafter referred to as the chapter selection playback function), the rough content of the target scene is confirmed in express mode playback, and the slow playback mode is entered when approaching the video portion for which more detailed content is desired. This is convenient because the contents of the target scene can be confirmed efficiently by switching to. The express mode playback is very convenient for a user who wants to grasp the contents of a scene in a shorter time.

  FIG. 10 shows specific processing contents of the system control unit 5 regarding such a chapter selection / playback function. The system control unit 5 executes the chapter selection reproduction process shown in FIG. 10 based on the control program stored in the internal memory.

  That is, the system control unit 5 starts the chapter selection reproduction process when the “slow reproduction mode”, “express reproduction mode”, or “express reproduction mode” is selected as the reproduction mode and a reproduction operation start command is input. First, the chapter management information of the target scene is read from the corresponding hard disk device 2 or DVD 3 (SP20).

  Subsequently, the system control unit 5 selects the first chapter (for example, the chapter with the smallest chapter ID) based on the chapter ID information included in the chapter management information (SP21), and the chapter importance of the chapter is It is determined whether or not the threshold value is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value according to the playback mode that has been set (SP22). The threshold value is “5” when “slow playback mode” is set as the playback mode, “3” when “express playback mode” is set as the playback mode, and “express playback mode” as the playback mode. Is set to “1”.

  When the system control unit 5 obtains a negative result in step SP22, the system control unit 5 proceeds to step SP24. When the system control unit 5 obtains an affirmative result, the CODEC unit 10 is controlled to reproduce the chapter and reproduce it. The video is displayed on the display unit (SP23).

  Next, the system control unit 5 refers to the chapter management information and determines whether there is a chapter next to the chapter selected in step SP21 (SP24). If the system controller 5 obtains a positive result in this determination, it returns to step SP21, and thereafter repeats the same processing while sequentially switching the chapter selected in step SP21 to the next chapter (SP21 to SP24-SP21). .

  And the system control part 5 will complete | finish this chapter selection reproduction | regeneration process, if a negative result is obtained in step SP24 by finishing the process of step SP21-step SP24 about all the chapters eventually.

  Next, a means for the user to easily confirm the chapter importance set for each chapter in the scene will be described.

  FIG. 11 shows a chapter list screen 50 that can be displayed on the display unit 6 by a user through a menu operation. In this chapter list screen 50, thumbnail images 51 set for each chapter in the target scene and management information 52 of the chapter such as the elapsed time from the beginning of the scene and the importance of the chapter are displayed.

  In practice, when the user interface unit 4 is operated and a display command for the chapter list screen 50 is input, the system control unit 5 controls the corresponding hard disk device control unit 13 or DVD drive control unit 14 to control The chapter management information 20 (FIG. 2) of the target scene and the image information of the thumbnail image 51 of the first frame of each chapter stored in association with the target scene are read from the hard disk device 2 or the DVD 3. Then, the system control unit 5 displays the thumbnail image 51 of the first frame of each chapter based on the image information on the chapter list screen 50, while corresponding to each of the thumbnail images 51, each chapter based on the chapter management information 20. Management information 52 is displayed on the chapter list screen 50.

  Thereby, since the user can know the chapter with high chapter importance based on the chapter list screen 50, the user can quickly find the important part.

  Next, means for allowing the user to easily confirm a scene in which chapter importance is set will be described.

  FIG. 12 shows a scene list screen 53 that can be displayed on the display unit by a user through a menu operation. On the scene list screen 53, thumbnail images 54 of the respective scenes recorded on the hard disk device 2 or the DVD 3 are displayed.

  In practice, when the user interface unit 4 is operated and a display command for the scene list screen 53 is input, the system control unit 5 controls the hard disk device control unit 13 or the DVD drive control unit 14 to control the user. For all scenes stored in the designated hard disk device 2 or DVD 3, the image information of the thumbnail image 54 of the first frame of the scene is read from the hard disk device 2 or DVD 3. Then, the system control unit 5 displays on the scene list screen 53 a thumbnail image 54 of the first frame of each scene based on the image information.

  At this time, the system control unit 5 refers to the chapter management information 20 (FIG. 2) of each scene, and for a scene for which chapter importance is set, an icon 55 having a predetermined shape on the thumbnail image 54 of the scene. Is displayed.

  Thus, for example, since the user can determine whether or not the chapter importance level is set for the scene to be reproduced based on the presence / absence of the icon 55, the chapter importance level as described above is immediately applied to the scene where the icon 55 is displayed. By performing a playback operation using the playback method used, the contents of the scene can be confirmed efficiently. In addition, a scene in which no icon is displayed can be reproduced by the above-described reproduction method by performing an operation of setting chapter importance before the reproduction operation.

(1-5) Processing at the time of scene dubbing Next, processing at the time of dubbing encoded video information recorded on the hard disk device 2 onto the DVD 3 will be described.

  In the case of the present video camera 1, the system control unit 5, when dubbing a scene with chapter importance set from the hard disk device 2 to the DVD 3, encodes video information and scene management information (chapter management information) of the corresponding scene. 20 (FIG. 2) and face recognition management information 24 (FIG. 3)), as well as an image file of a face image registered in the face recognition management information 24 included in the scene management information is copied to the DVD 3. As a result, even after the encoded video information in the hard disk device 2 is erased, playback using chapter importance and resetting of chapter importance can be immediately performed using the DVD 3.

(1-6) Effects of this Embodiment As described above, the video camera according to this embodiment can set the chapter importance of a chapter based on the processing result of the face recognition process performed at the time of shooting. The user can quickly find a chapter in which many target persons (important persons) appear. Also, according to the chapter priority of chapters, the chapters with the corresponding chapter importance are selectively reproduced, so that the user can easily grasp the contents of the entire scene in a short time and quickly find the target scene. it can. As a result, the usability of the video camera 1 can be significantly improved.

(2) Second Embodiment In FIG. 1, reference numeral 60 denotes a video camera according to the second embodiment. The video camera 60 according to the second embodiment is configured in the same manner as the video camera 1 according to the first embodiment, except that the chapter importance setting method is different.

  That is, in the first embodiment, after shooting, the user determines an important person using the important person determination screen 40 (FIG. 7), and sets the chapter importance of each chapter based on the determination result. Was. On the other hand, in the second embodiment, face recognition processing is performed only on an important person determined by the user before shooting, and the chapter importance of each chapter is determined based on the processing result of the face recognition processing. Set.

  FIG. 13 shows the processing contents of the system control unit 61 relating to the important person setting process in which the user sets an important person before shooting, in the chapter importance setting method according to the second embodiment. The system control unit 61 executes this important person setting process based on a control program stored in an internal memory (not shown).

  That is, when the user interface unit 4 is operated and the important person setting mode is selected, the system control unit 61 starts this important person setting process. First, the pre-photographing important person setting screen 70 as shown in FIG. 14 is displayed. It is displayed on the display unit 6 (SP30).

  Subsequently, the system control unit 61 waits for any one of the first and second important person determination method selection buttons 71 and 72 displayed on the pre-photographing important person setting screen 70 to be pressed (SP31). Here, the first important person determination method selection button 71 is a button corresponding to a mode in which an important person is to be photographed from now on, and the second important person determination method selection button 72 is the same as in the first embodiment. This button corresponds to a mode in which an important person is determined from the persons recognized in the shooting that has already been performed.

  When one of the first and second important person determination method selection buttons 71 and 72 is pressed, the system control unit 61 determines whether the pressed button is the first important person determination method selection button 71. It is determined whether or not (SP32).

  When the system control unit 61 obtains a positive result in this determination, it drives the image sensor 7, the analog / digital conversion unit 7, and the CODEC unit 10 to display the captured video at that time as shown in FIG. 15 on the display unit 6. It is displayed (SP34). Thus, at this time, the user photographs the important person to be registered with the video camera 60.

  Next, the system control unit 61 drives the face recognition processing unit 15 during shooting of the important person, and executes face recognition processing for the important person being shot at that time (SP35). Alternatively, when the face recognition process is completed, the system control unit 61 causes the face recognition execution unit 15 to create the face recognition management information 24 (FIG. 3) based on the face recognition process result and store it in the hard disk device 2 (SP38). . Then, the system control unit 61 thereafter ends this important person setting process.

  On the other hand, if the system control unit 61 obtains a negative result in the determination at step SP32 (that is, when the second important person determination method selection button 72 is pressed), the important person display screen 40 described above with reference to FIG. It is displayed on the display unit 6 (SP36).

  Subsequently, the system control unit 61 waits for an important person to be selected using the important person display screen 40 (SP37), and when an important person is eventually selected, only information on the important person selected at this time is obtained. The registered face recognition management information 24 shown in FIG. 3 is generated by the face recognition processing unit 15 (SP38). Then, the system control unit 61 thereafter ends this important person setting process.

  After that, the system control unit 61 controls the face recognition execution unit 15 at the time of shooting, and only the processing result of the face recognition processing related to the important person registered as described above is stored in the face recognition management information 24 (FIG. 3). ). The system control unit 61 determines the chapter importance level of each chapter set in the scene by executing the importance level setting process described above with reference to FIG. Based on this, the chapter management information 20 (FIG. 3) is updated.

  As described above, in the video camera 60 according to the present embodiment, face recognition processing is performed only for important persons that have been determined by the user before moving image shooting, and each chapter is recorded based on the processing result of the face recognition processing. Since the chapter importance is set, the chapter importance of the chapter can be easily set. In addition, the video camera 60 pre-registers an important person as described above, so when performing autofocus or autoexposure using face recognition, it recognizes the face of another person who happens to be reflected together, making it ideal for that person. This makes it possible to avoid the phenomenon that the target person who wanted to take a picture does not appear well because the focus / exposure settings are set appropriately.

(3) Other Embodiments In the above-described first and second embodiments, the case where the present invention is applied to the video cameras 1 and 60 configured as shown in FIG. 1 has been described. The present invention is not limited to this, and can be widely applied to video cameras having various other configurations, DVD recorders other than video cameras, electronic still cameras equipped with moving image shooting functions, mobile phones, and the like. it can.

  In the first and second embodiments described above, the case where the hard disk device 2 and the DVD 3 are applied as recording media for recording captured images has been described. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the DVD and the hard disk device are used. Other recording media such as BD (Blu-ray Disc), CD (Compact Disc), MD (Mini Disc), and semiconductor memory can be widely applied.

  Further, in the first and second embodiments described above, the video cameras 1 and 60 incorporate the hard disk device 2 and the DVD drive as a recording / reproducing unit that records and reproduces video information of a scene obtained by photographing on a recording medium. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and an external type drive connected by USB (Universal Serial Bus) or eSATA (External Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) is used as the recording / reproducing unit. Anyway.

  Furthermore, in the first and second embodiments described above, an importance setting unit that sets chapter importance for each chapter based on the processing result of face recognition processing for an important person set by the user, and for each chapter Of the face images listed on the display unit 6 and the control unit that controls the hard disk device 2 and the DVD drive so as to selectively reproduce the chapters with the corresponding chapter importance based on the chapter importance, the user selects Although the case where the important person setting unit that sets the subject corresponding to the selected face image as the important person is configured by one system control unit 5, 61 has been described, the present invention is not limited thereto, The importance level setting unit, the control unit, and the important person setting unit may be configured separately.

  The present invention can be widely applied to various recording / playback apparatuses such as a DVD recorder in addition to a video camera.

  The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described with reference to the drawings. According to the present invention, specific chapters according to user settings can be selectively reproduced, so that the user can quickly find a chapter in which a desired person appears. In addition, since specific chapters according to user settings can be selectively reproduced, the user can easily grasp the contents of the entire scene in a short time.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1,60 ... Video camera, 2 ... Hard disk device, 3 ... DVD, 4 ... User interface part, 5, 61 ... System control part, 6 ... Display part, 15 ... Face recognition execution part, 20 …… Chapter management information, 24 …… Face recognition management information, 30 …… Captured video, 31 …… Frame, 40 …… Important person determination screen, 41 …… Face image, 50 …… Chapter list screen, 51, 54… ... Thumbnail image, 53 ... Scene list screen, 55 ... Icon, 70 ... Important person setting screen before shooting.

Claims (2)

In a recording / reproducing apparatus for recording / reproducing information on / from a recording medium,
An imaging unit that images a subject and generates video information;
A recording unit that records the video information generated by the imaging unit on a recording medium;
A face recognition execution unit that executes face recognition processing on the video information generated by the imaging unit and recorded on the recording medium by the recording unit;
A reproducing unit for reproducing video information recorded on the recording medium by the recording unit;
Face image list display screen of persons registered in advance by the user based on the video information generated by the imaging unit and subjected to face recognition processing by the face recognition execution unit in a person registration mode for imaging and registering a person An output unit for outputting
A specific person setting unit for setting a person corresponding to the face image selected by the user from the face images of the list display screen output from the output unit as a specific person;
An importance level setting unit that sets the importance level of the video information recorded on the recording medium based on the face recognition processing of the face recognition execution unit for the specific person set by the specific person setting unit;
A control unit that controls the reproduction unit to selectively reproduce the video information of the corresponding importance level from the recording medium based on the importance level of the video information set by the importance level setting unit. ,
When a display command for video information is input, the control unit outputs a display screen of video information recorded on the recording medium. For video information for which importance is set on the display screen, A recording / reproducing apparatus, wherein the output unit is controlled so as to display a display corresponding to the degree of importance on a display screen of video information. In a recording / reproducing method for recording / reproducing video information obtained by imaging on / from a recording medium,
A first step of performing face recognition processing on video information obtained by imaging;
A second step of outputting a list display screen of face images of persons registered in advance by a user based on video information that has been captured and registered in a person registration mode for capturing and registering a person;
A third step of setting as a specific person a person corresponding to the face image selected by the user from the face images of the list display screen output in the second step;
A fourth step of setting the importance of the video information recorded on the recording medium based on the face recognition processing of the first step for the specific person set in the third step;
A fifth step of selectively reproducing the video information of the corresponding importance level from the recording medium based on the importance level of the video information set in the fourth step;
When a display instruction for video information is input, a display screen for video information recorded on the recording medium is output. For video information for which importance is set on the display screen, the display screen for the video information is displayed. A sixth step for displaying corresponding to the importance on the top;
A recording / reproducing method comprising:

Images