KR100855468B1 - Apparatus and method for measuring eyesight-age - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for measuring visual age, wherein the visual age measuring apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a storage module for storing at least one test image and response information according to age for each test image; And a control module configured to receive user adjustment information according to a change of a test image, and to determine a visual age of the user based on the user adjustment information and the response information, and an output module to output the determined visual age.

Visual Age, Landolt Ring

Description

Apparatus and method for measuring eyesight-age

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a device for measuring visual age according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of measuring visual age according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3A to 3C are diagrams for describing a method of measuring visual age according to a change in a test image, according to an exemplary embodiment.

4A and 4B illustrate contrast patterns of test images according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a diagram illustrating a test image for saturation control according to an embodiment of the present invention.

6A and 6B illustrate test images for measuring a user's preferred image according to an embodiment of the present invention.

7 is a block diagram showing the structure of a device for measuring visual age according to another embodiment of the present invention.

8 is a graph that may be used to perform image compensation by contrast enhancement according to an embodiment of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols on main parts of the drawings>

100: vision age measuring device

110: user input module

120: control module

130: output module

140: storage module

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for determining visual age, and more particularly, to measuring visual age of a user through an image displayed on a display element.

Recently, with the development of technology related to communication and digital signal processing, various types of display devices such as PC monitors, digital TVs, mobile phones, PDAs, and the like have been developed.

However, these display devices provide an entertainment function to the user in addition to the basic function of simply displaying images or characters, or convert and display the original image into an image suitable for the user's characteristics through interaction with the user. It also provides functionality.

As a representative example of such a function, a user's visual acuity is measured by using a display device, and the image is compensated based on the visual acuity, or the visual acuity decreases with age. There is a function to compensate the original image according to the method.

However, even with good visual acuity, image characteristics such as hue, saturation, or contrast of the displayed image may be different for each user, and the degree of visual acuity decreases as the age increases. There is a number.

Since the conventional method described above only considers the user who views the image without considering the characteristics of the image, it is difficult to see that the user correctly reflects the degree of recognition of the original image.

Accordingly, there is a need for a method of reflecting the user's perception of the original image in consideration of the characteristics of the image displayed on the display device.

An object of the present invention is to measure the visual age of a user reflecting the user's perception of the image through an image displayed on the display element.

In addition, the present invention aims to improve the original image by adjusting the hue, chroma or contrast based on the measured visual age.

The object of the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned object, and other objects that are not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

In order to achieve the above object, the apparatus for measuring the visual age according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises a storage module for storing at least one test image and response information according to age for each test image, and according to the change of the test image And a control module configured to receive user adjustment information, and to determine a visual age of the user based on the user adjustment information and the response information and to output the determined visual age.

In addition, in order to achieve the above object, the method of measuring the visual age according to an embodiment of the present invention (a) receiving the user adjustment information according to the change of the test image, the user adjustment information and the test image (B) determining the visual age of the user based on the response information according to the corresponding age, and outputting the determined visual age.

In addition, in order to achieve the above object, the method of measuring the visual age according to an embodiment of the present invention (a) receiving the user adjustment information according to the change of the test image, the user adjustment information and the test image (B) determining a visual age of the user based on the response information according to the age of the user; and (c) determining an image enhancement parameter based on the determined visual age and the image information of the input original image; (D) compensating the original image using the determined image enhancement parameter, and (e) outputting the compensated original image.

Specific details of other embodiments are included in the detailed description and the drawings.

Advantages and features of the present invention and methods for achieving them will be apparent with reference to the embodiments described below in detail with the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed below, but can be implemented in various different forms, and only the embodiments make the disclosure of the present invention complete, and the general knowledge in the art to which the present invention belongs. It is provided to fully inform the person having the scope of the invention, which is defined only by the scope of the claims.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to a block diagram or a process flow chart for explaining an apparatus and method for measuring visual age according to embodiments of the present invention. At this point, it will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and combinations of flowchart illustrations may be performed by computer program instructions. Since these computer program instructions may be mounted on a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing equipment, those instructions executed through the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing equipment may be described in flow chart block (s). It creates a means to perform the functions. These computer program instructions may be stored in a computer usable or computer readable memory that can be directed to a computer or other programmable data processing equipment to implement functionality in a particular manner, and thus the computer usable or computer readable memory. It is also possible for the instructions stored in to produce an article of manufacture containing instruction means for performing the functions described in the flowchart block (s). Computer program instructions may also be mounted on a computer or other programmable data processing equipment, such that a series of operating steps may be performed on the computer or other programmable data processing equipment to create a computer-implemented process that may be executed by the computer or other programmable data. Instructions for performing data processing equipment may also provide steps for performing the functions described in the flowchart block (s).

In addition, each block may represent a portion of a module, segment, or code that includes one or more executable instructions for executing a specified logical function (s). It should also be noted that in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the blocks may occur out of order. For example, the two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending on the corresponding function.

Meanwhile, the 'eyesight age' in the present invention is an index indicating the user's perception of the displayed image, which is distinguished from the absolute age of the user, and is a phenomenon caused by an eye refractive error. Is a distinct concept.

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a device for measuring visual age according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the apparatus for measuring visual age 100 according to the present invention includes a user input module 110 for receiving an input from a user, a storage module 140 for storing a test image for measuring visual age, and a test image. The control module 120 calculates the visual age of the user based on the user adjustment information according to the change of the output module 130, and outputs a test image, and outputs the visual age calculated by the control module 120 do.

The user input module 110 is provided with various input means to receive input from a user. In this case, as an example of the input means, a keypad, a button, a touch screen, a mouse, a keyboard, a joystick, a metal-dome switch ), And a wireless remote controller. The user may switch to a mode for visual age measurement or select a specific test image through the user input module 110.

The storage module 140 stores at least one test image and response information according to age for each test image.

The control module 120 changes the test image stored in the storage module 140 and determines the visual age of the user based on the user adjustment information input through the user input module 110. The control module 120 may determine the visual age by comparing the input user adjustment information with the response information stored in the storage module 140.

In this case, the term 'module' used in the embodiment of the present invention means a software component or a hardware component such as an FPGA or an ASIC, and the module plays a role. However, modules are not meant to be limited to software or hardware. The module may be configured to be in an addressable storage medium and may be configured to play one or more processors. Thus, as an example, a module may include components such as software components, object-oriented software components, class components, and task components, and processes, functions, properties, procedures, subroutines. S, segments of program code, drivers, firmware, microcode, circuits, data, databases, data structures, tables, arrays, and variables. The functionality provided within the components and modules may be combined into a smaller number of components and modules or further separated into additional components and modules.

Hereinafter, an operation between the modules shown in FIG. 1 will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 2.

First, when a user selects a mode for measuring visual age through the user input module 110 (S210), the control module 120 extracts a test image for visual age measurement from the storage module 140 and outputs the output module. Output through the 130 (S220).

At this time, the user selects any test image among the changed test images while changing the output test image by using an input means of the user input module 110, for example, a 4-way key or a specific numeric button. For example, in the test image illustrated in FIG. 3A, the color of the desktop 310 does not change and the color of the randol ring 320 changes, while the user determines that the randol ring 320 is well recognized. By pressing a specific button of the input module 110, a specific test image may be selected.

The user's selection is received by the control module 120 through the user input module 110 as user adjustment information (S230). In this case, the user adjustment information may include not only the user's selection for a specific test image, but also color information of the image that changes when the user changes the test image.

If a specific test image is selected by the user, the control module 120 checks whether the next test image exists (S240).

If the user wants to measure the visual age only for one test image, step S240 is omitted, and the control module 120 determines the visual age based on the user adjustment information (S250). A method of determining the visual age by the control module 120 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3A to 3C.

Referring to FIG. 3A, a test image 300 including a background screen 310 and a randol ring 320 is illustrated. Response information according to age of the test image 300 is stored in the storage module 140 in advance. It is. First, the method of determining the response information will be described in detail.

Meanwhile, in the present invention, the visual age of the user is measured by using the feature that the sense of blue becomes dull as the age of the person increases. Therefore, initially, the color information of the background screen 310 and the randol ring 320 is (R, G, B) = (160, 160, 160) (hereinafter, red, green, and blue are 8 bits of information, respectively). The background screen 310 and the randol ring 320 cannot be distinguished. Then, the color information of the background screen 310 and the color information of the R and G of the randol ring 320 are fixed and the value of B (Blue) of the color information of the randol ring 320 is changed from 161 to 255. When the blue landol ring slowly appears on a gray background. Hereinafter, the color information value of the changed B will be referred to as 'DAC'. Then, at any moment, the user can clearly distinguish the open direction of the randol ring and the randol ring. The open direction of the landol ring may change randomly as the DAC changes.

As the DAC gradually increases, the correct answer is regarded as a case in which the user recognizes the Randol ring 320 and adjusts the open direction, and when the above experiment is repeated for a plurality of people of the same age group, a specific DAC in a specific age group The probability of correct answer for can be expressed in the form of a graph, which is illustrated in FIG. 3B.

On the other hand, the DAC when the probability of correct answer is 50% depends on the age of the test subjects. In general, as the age increases, the DAC when the probability of correct answer is 50% increases, and the graph showing the relationship is shown in FIG. 3B. It may be generated based on graphs showing the probability of correct answer for the DAC in each age group as shown in FIG. 3C.

Therefore, the graph illustrated in FIG. 3C may be response information according to age with respect to the test image 300. For example, in FIG. 3B, the DAC when the correct answer probability is 50% is about 173. Referring again to FIG. 3C, the visual age corresponding to the case where the DAC having the correct answer probability is 0.5 is 173 is 30 years old. In this case, the DAC value corresponding to the y-axis may be represented by luminance. In other words, the DAC difference between the background and the blue Landolt-C can be expressed as a luminance difference. Thus, the experimental results can be used in display devices having different luminance according to the experimental conditions and DAC values. For example, if DAC = 173 above, the age of the age is 30 years old, and the display device used at this time should be a display device having the same characteristics as the experimental results. However, if this is expressed as a luminance difference, the experimental result may be used in a display device having different luminance characteristics from the experimental conditions.

In the state in which the response information according to the age of the test image 300 is stored in the storage module 140 according to the above method, when the test image 300 is displayed through the output module 130 as in step S220, step S230 is performed. Similarly, user adjustment information is input from the user. For example, when a user having an absolute age of 30 sets the open direction by recognizing the Randol ring 320 while the DAC of the test image 300 is 175, referring to FIG. The age is 33 years older than the actual age.

When the visual age of the user is determined according to the above method, the control module 120 provides the determined visual age to the user through the output module 130.

On the other hand, when a plurality of test images are stored in the storage module 140, steps S220 to S240 are repeatedly performed with respect to a predetermined number of test images by a user's selection.

If the user wants to determine the visual age for the n test images, in operation S250, n visual ages may be determined for the n test images selected by the user. At this time. The control module 120 determines the final visual age by simply averaging the n visual ages, or weights the n visual ages, and averages the weighted n visual ages by the final visual ages. You can also decide.

Although FIG. 3A illustrates a test image for recognizing a blue Randol ring on a gray background, the present invention is not limited thereto. That is, an image capable of changing color, brightness, or saturation between the color of the background screen and the color of an object such as a character, a symbol, or a shape having a specific shape may be included in the test image according to the present invention. In addition, in FIG. 3A, the color of the object called the Randolt ring is changed while the color of the desktop is fixed. In another embodiment, the color of the desktop is changed while the color of the object is fixed, You can change them all.

Meanwhile, the test image stored in the storage module 140 may be a variety of images as well as the test image shown in FIG. 3A. Such examples are illustrated in FIGS. 4A, 4B, 5, 6A, and 6B.

4A and 4B are test images having a contrast pattern. Referring to FIG. 4A, the user adjusts the pointer 412 of the slide bar 410 to the left or right to have a desired contrast among the test images having the contrast pattern. Select a test image with a pattern. In FIG. 4A, a test image 420 when the pointer 412 is positioned at the leftmost side, a test image 440 when the rightmost position is positioned at the right side, and a test image 430 when positioned at the center are illustrated. FIG. 4B illustrates another embodiment of a test image having an evacuation pattern as shown in FIG. 4A.

5 is a test image for saturation adjustment, the user adjusts the slide bar 510 so that the test patch 530 has the same saturation as the reference patch 520, the test patch (test patch) The saturation of 530 is changed.

6A and 6B are test images for measuring a user's preferred image, which is a yellow image in FIG. 6A and a sharpness of the image in FIG. 6B.

In FIG. 6A, the user selects a favorite image by changing a hue of an image by adjusting a slide bar. In FIG. 6B, the user selects a favorite image by changing a sharpness of an image by adjusting a slide bar.

Meanwhile, the various test images as described above may also have response information according to age for each test image according to the above-described method. In addition, the response information may be previously stored in the storage module 140 and used to determine the visual age of the user together with the user adjustment information input through the user input module 110.

7 is a block diagram showing the structure of a device for measuring visual age according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 7, the apparatus 700 for measuring visual age includes a user input module 710, a control module 720, an output module 730, a storage module 740, and an image compensation module 750. . In this case, the user input module 710, the control module 720, the output module 730, and the storage module 740 of FIG. 7 are the user input module 110, the control module 120, and the output of FIG. 1. Corresponding to the module 130 and the storage module 140, the image compensation module 750 is an image enhancement parameter based on the visual age determined by the control module 120 and the image information on the input original image (image enhancement parameter) ), And compensates the original image by using the determined image enhancement parameter to provide the user with the optimal image for each visual age through the output module 730.

In more detail, when the original image is input, the image compensation module 750 determines an image enhancement parameter for providing an optimal image for each visual age based on the visual age determined by the control module 720. In this case, the image enhancement parameter is a parameter for improving the hue, saturation, or contrast of the image, and the enhancement amount such as hue shift, chroma increase, or contrast enhancement is used. The original image may be compensated by the image enhancement parameter to provide an optimal image to the user.

Hue shift means to increase the size in the direction of the user's preferred color on the color coordinates of the original image so that the user's preferred color can be more clearly displayed based on the user's visual age. , The increased size corresponds to the image enhancement parameter, and a test image as shown in FIG. 6A may be used to determine the visual age.

The chroma increase is to increase the saturation of the input image based on the visual age of the user. In this case, a test image as shown in FIG. 5 may be used to determine the visual age.

Contrast enhancement is to enhance the contrast of the original image input based on the visual age of the user, and may perform image compensation by contrast enhancement using the graph shown in FIG. 8.

Referring to FIG. 8, the first graph 800 indicates that the input image information is output image information as it is, and the second graph 810 increases the pixel value for the high luminance image and the pixel for the low luminance image. While decreasing the value, the second graph 810 can be used to enhance the contrast in the present invention. In this case, the compensation amounts 820a and 820b may be adjusted by the visual age determined by the control module 720.

Although embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains may implement the present invention in other specific forms without changing the technical spirit or essential features thereof. I can understand that. Therefore, it should be understood that the embodiments described above are exemplary in all respects and not restrictive.

According to the present invention, there is an effect of providing an entertainment function to the user by measuring the visual age of the user according to a simple operation of the user and displaying the measured visual age.

In addition, according to the present invention, there is an effect of improving the original image by adjusting hue, saturation, or contrast based on the measured visual age.

Claims (21)

A storage module for storing at least one test image and response information according to age for each test image; A control module configured to receive user adjustment information according to a change of the test image and determine a visual age of a user based on the user adjustment information and the response information; And An output module for outputting the determined visual age, And the user control information is color information of the test image that is changed when the user selects the test image or when the user changes the test image. The method of claim 1, And the response information is information indicating a relationship with a pixel value of the test image for each age layer based on a probability of correct answer for the test image. The method of claim 1, The test image is an image including an object having a shape with a background screen, the apparatus for measuring the visual age. The method of claim 3, And the object is a blue Randol ring. The method of claim 1, And the test image is an image having a contrast pattern. The method of claim 1, The test image includes a test patch and a reference patch, the apparatus for measuring the visual age is an image that allows the test patch to have the same chroma as the reference patch by the user's adjustment. The method of claim 1, The test image is a device for measuring the visual age, the image for measuring the user's preferred image. The method of claim 1, When the visual age is determined for n (n is a natural number of 2 or more) test images, the control module measures the visual age to determine the final visual age by averaging the visual ages determined for the n test images. Device. The method of claim 1, Determining an image enhancement parameter for compensating the original image based on the visual age determined by the control module and the image information of the input original image, and using the determined image enhancement parameter to compensate for the original image. Including more, And the output module outputs the compensated original image, wherein the image enhancement parameter is a parameter for enhancing hue, saturation, or contrast for the original image. delete (A) receiving user adjustment information according to the change of the test image; (B) determining a visual age of the user based on the user adjustment information and response information according to the age of the test image; And (C) outputting the determined visual age, And the user adjustment information is color information of the test image which is changed when the user selects the test image or when the user changes the test image. The method of claim 11, And the response information is information representing a relationship with pixel values of the test image for each age layer based on a probability of correct answering the test image. The method of claim 11, And the test image is an image including an object having a shape with a background screen. The method of claim 13, And said object is a blue landol ring. The method of claim 11, And the test image is an image having a contrast pattern. The method of claim 11, The test image includes a test patch and a reference patch, and the image is such that the test patch has the same saturation as the reference patch by the user's adjustment, the visual age. The method of claim 11, And the test image is an image for measuring a user's preferred image. The method of claim 11, When the visual age is determined for n (n is a natural number of 2 or more) test images, the step (b) determines that the final visual age is determined by averaging the visual ages determined for the n test images. A method of measuring visual age comprising steps. (A) receiving user adjustment information according to the change of the test image; (B) determining a visual age of the user based on the user adjustment information and response information according to the age of the test image; (C) determining an image enhancement parameter for compensating the original image based on the determined visual age and the image information of the input original image; (D) compensating for the original image using the determined image enhancement parameter; And (E) outputting the compensated original image, The image enhancement parameter is a parameter for improving color, saturation, or contrast for the original image. And the user adjustment information is color information of the test image that is changed when the user selects the test image or when the user changes the test image. The method of claim 19, And the response information is information indicating a relationship with a pixel value of the test image for each age layer based on a probability of correct answer for the test image. delete

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