KR101981997B1 - Skin diagnosis system and diagnosis method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

The skin diagnosis system includes an image acquisition unit capable of acquiring a skin image of a subject; And an image processor for processing the image information obtained from the image acquiring unit, wherein the image processor comprises: a first image picked up by the first polarization environment; And a second image picked up by the second polarization environment. According to the skin diagnosis system and the diagnosis method thereof, the possibility of occurrence of wrinkles or the like in the future can be known at the time of observing the skin, so that it can be utilized as useful information for managing the skin of the subject.

Description

[0001] Description [0002] SKIN DIAGNOSIS SYSTEM AND DIAGNOSIS METHOD THEREFOR [0003]

The present invention relates to a skin diagnosis system and a diagnosis method thereof, and more particularly, to a skin diagnosis system and a diagnostic method thereof that can diagnose a skin condition by comparing images obtained under two different polarizing conditions .

Figs. 1A and 1B are explanatory diagrams of the parallel polarized light and the cross polarized light, respectively.

As shown in FIG. 1A, when the axes of two polarizing plates are parallel to each other, they are referred to as parallel polarized light. When two polarizing plates are vertical as shown in FIG. Examples of using these two polarizers are polarizing microscopes, LCD TVs, polarized sunglasses, and the like.

These parallel and cross polarizations are also used for skin analysis. For example, in the case of parallel polarized light, it has been used for observing and analyzing the gloss, gloss, etc. of the facial skin by passing horizontal polarized light generated from the skin surface. In addition, in the case of cross polarization, it has been used to observe and analyze various colors of the skin surface through observation and photographing, eliminating the horizontal polarization produced on the skin surface. In addition, when a polarizing plate is not used or only one polarizing plate is used, it has been used for observation and analysis through images taken for the skin bending of pores and wrinkles.

However, if the possibility of occurrence of wrinkles or the like in the future can be known at the time of observing the skin, it can be used as more useful information for managing the skin of the subject.

Korean Patent Laid-Open No. 10-2008-0069730: Multifunctional Digital Skin Imaging Device and Image Analysis Method (published on July 29, 2008).

An object of the present invention is to solve the technical problem as described above, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a skin diagnosis method and a skin diagnosis method which can be used as useful information for skin management of a subject, System and a diagnostic method thereof.

A skin diagnosis system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes an image acquiring unit capable of acquiring a skin image of a subject; And an image processor for processing the image information obtained from the image acquiring unit, wherein the image processor comprises: a first image picked up by the first polarization environment; And a second image picked up by the second polarization environment.

Specifically, the first polarization environment is an environment in which a polarizing plate is inserted into a rear end of a light source to irradiate polarized light to the subject, and a polarizing plate is not inserted in the front end of the image obtaining unit to pick up an image that is not polarized. Or an environment in which no polarizer is inserted between the light source and the image acquiring unit.

The second polarizing environment is an environment in which the first polarizing plate is inserted into the rear end of the light source to irradiate the subject with polarized light and the second polarizing plate is inserted into the front end of the image obtaining unit to pick up the polarized image, It is preferable that the axis of the first polarizing plate and the axis of the second polarizing plate are parallel to each other.

Also, the image processing unit extracts shadowed portions from the first image and the second image, and uses the shadowed portion of the extracted first image and the shadowed portion of the second image, . The image processing unit may calculate a first ratio that is a ratio of the number of pixels of the entire or selected region of the first image to the number of pixels of the shadowed portion of the first image, And a ratio of the number of pixels of the second image to the number of pixels of the shadow portion of the second image.

The image processing unit may calculate at least one of a difference value between the first ratio and the second ratio or a ratio value between the first ratio and the second ratio. In addition, the image processor may classify the skin condition using the difference value or the ratio value.

A skin diagnosis method according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention is a method for diagnosing skin by processing a first image picked up by a first polarization environment and a second image picked up by a second polarization environment, Extracting a shadowed portion from one image; And extracting a shadowed portion from the second image, wherein the second polarized light environment irradiates the subject with the light polarized by the first polarizing plate, and the skin image of the subject is detected by the second polarizing plate It is preferable that the axis of the first polarizing plate and the axis of the second polarizing plate are parallel to each other.

Specifically, the first polarization environment is an environment for irradiating the subject with polarized light and picking up the skin image of the subject without polarizing it; Or an environment for irradiating the subject with unpolarized light and picking up the skin image of the subject without polarizing it.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of diagnosing skin comprising the steps of: calculating a first ratio of the number of pixels of the entire or selected region of the first image to the number of pixels of the shadowed portion of the first image; Calculating a second ratio of the number of pixels of the entire or selected region of the second image to the number of pixels of the shadowed portion of the second image; Calculating at least one of a difference value between the first ratio and the second ratio or a ratio value between the first ratio and the second ratio; And classifying the skin condition using the difference value or the ratio value.

According to the skin diagnosis system and the diagnostic method of the present invention, it is possible to know the occurrence of wrinkles or the like in the future at the time of observing the skin, so that it can be utilized as useful information for managing the skin of the subject.

Figs. 1A and 1B are explanatory diagrams of parallel polarized light and cross polarized light, respectively. Fig.
FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a skin diagnosis system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. FIG.
3 is an exemplary view of processing by the image processing unit;
4 is a flowchart of an image processing method according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Hereinafter, a skin diagnosis system and a diagnostic method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

It should be understood that the following embodiments of the present invention are only for embodying the present invention and do not limit or limit the scope of the present invention. It will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

2 is a block diagram of a skin diagnosis system 100 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

2, the skin diagnosis system 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a light source 110, a polarization unit 120, an image acquisition unit 130, a storage unit 140, And an image processor 150.

The polarizing section 120 includes a first polarizer 121 and a second polarizer 122. That is, the polarizing section 120 allows the subject's skin to directly irradiate the light from the light source 110 or to irradiate the light polarized by the first polarizer 121. In addition, the polarizing unit 120 polarizes the image of the skin of the subject by the second polarizer 122 so that the image acquiring unit 130 can capture the image.

A polarizer may be inserted into the first polarizer 121 and the second polarizer 122. That is, it is needless to say that no polarizing plate may be inserted into the first polarizer 121 and the second polarizer 122, if necessary.

A case in which polarizing plates of the same axis, that is, a polarizing plate with axes aligned, are inserted into the first polarizer 121 and the second polarizing device 122, is referred to as parallel polarized light. In addition, a case where a polarizer perpendicular to the axis is inserted into the first polarizer 121 and the second polarizer 122 is referred to as cross polarization.

The image acquisition unit 130 can acquire a skin image of the subject. The image acquiring unit 130 may be, for example, a camera. It is preferable that the skin image obtained by the image acquisition unit 130 is stored in the storage unit 140 and processed by the image processing unit 150. [ The storage unit 140 may be implemented by various storage devices including a hard disk and / or a memory.

The image processing unit 150 may be implemented by a processor equipped with a computer program.

The image processing unit 150 of the present invention performs image processing using the first image and the second image.

The first image is an image captured by the image acquisition unit 130 by the first polarization environment and the second image is the image captured by the image acquisition unit 130 by the second polarization environment. The first polarization environment and the second polarization environment can be determined by inserting any polarizer into the first polarizer 121 and the second polarizer 122. That is, the first polarization environment and the second polarization environment can be determined by the polarization state between the light source 110 and the image acquisition unit 130 and the type of the polarization.

Specifically, in the first polarization environment, the polarizer is inserted into the first polarizer 121, which is the rear end of the light source 110, to irradiate the subject with polarized light, and the second polarizer 122, which is the front end of the image acquisition unit 130, An environment in which a polarizing plate is not inserted to pick up an image that is not polarized; Or an environment in which no polarizer is inserted between the light source 110 and the image acquisition unit 130. That is, in the first polarization environment, when the subject is irradiated with the light of the light source 110, the polarized light is irradiated or the light of the light source 110 is directly irradiated. In the former stage of the image acquisition unit 130, The environment.

The second polarized light environment is a state in which the first polarizer is inserted into the first polarizer 121 at the rear end of the light source 110 to irradiate the subject with polarized light and the second polarizer at the previous stage of the image acquisition unit 130 122 is an environment in which a second polarizing plate is inserted to pick up a polarized image. It is preferable that the axis of the first polarizing plate and the axis of the second polarizing plate are parallel polarized light environments in parallel.

The image processing unit 150 extracts shadowed portions from the first image and the second image and processes the shadowed portion of the extracted first image and the shadowed portion of the second image, do. Here, the shaded part leads to the shaded part where the skin is bent. Pores, wrinkles, and the like appear as shadows. In addition, the shadowed portion can be selected by selecting a pixel whose brightness level is below a certain reference value.

That is, in general, when we regularly check the bending of the skin to tell that the pores are large or have a lot of wrinkles, they have not been passed through the polarizer in the state of the general light source 110 or have been observed and analyzed through only one polarizer, It is judged that it is similar to the state that can be visually confirmed under the condition 110.

However, in the parallel polarized light, it is possible to recognize the hidden skin bending which is not seen in the conventional light source 110, so that it can be said that it is a hidden skin bend which can not be seen in the light source 110 but can be confirmed at any moment in the future. Therefore, subtracting the calculated value of the skin curvature (current skin curvature) in the light source 110 using only one polarizing plate from the calculated value of the skin curvature (present skin curvature + hidden skin curvature) that can be confirmed in the parallel polarized light, Can be known.

3 is an exemplary diagram of a process performed by the image processing unit 150. FIG.

As can be seen from FIG. 3, the image processing unit 150 can extract and display a shadowed portion of the image captured by the first environment and the second environment.

The image processing unit 150 calculates a first ratio of the number of pixels of the entire or selected region of the first image to the number of pixels of the shadowed portion of the first image, And the second ratio of the number of pixels of the shadowed portion of the second image. In addition, the image processing unit 150 preferably calculates at least one of a difference value between the first ratio and the second ratio, or a ratio value between the first ratio and the second ratio. Also, the image processing unit 150 can classify the skin condition using the difference value or the ratio value.

Table 1 below is an example of calculating the difference value for 20 subjects. [Table 1] calculates the difference value by the first ratio based on the total number of pixels of the first image and the second ratio based on the total number of pixels of the second image. In addition, the first ratio and the second ratio are calculated by dividing the number of pixels of the entire or selected region by the number of pixels of the shadowed portion.

number
age
First rate
Second ratio
The first non-second ratio
(Difference value) One
33
3.49
4.02
0.53
2
34
1.62
3.21
1.59
3
36
3.67
5.57
1.9
4
37
2.97
5.36
2.39
5
37
4.21
4.62
0.41
6
39
4.88
5.83
0.95
7
40
3.08
5.38
2.3
8
41
3.9
5.69
1.79
9
41
1.35
1.68
0.33
10
43
2.96
4.59
1.63
11
43
3.08
5.1
2.02
12
43
3.78
6.81
3.03
13
44
1.85
4.1
2.25
14
44
2.78
3.98
1.2
15
45
2.15
5.79
3.64
16
47
3.08
5.31
2.23
17
49
4.53
6.53
2
18
49
4.49
5.53
1.04
19
57
2.45
3.66
1.21
20
65
2.06
3.37
1.31
Average of difference values
1.69
Standard deviation of difference value
0.85

In the present invention, it is possible to predict the degree of the wrinkles that can occur after incense through the hidden skin bend which can not be confirmed by the general light source 110 but can be confirmed by the parallel light source 110 using the difference value.

Table 2 below is an example of skin classification according to the present invention. Specifically, the skin can be classified using the mean and standard deviation of the difference values. For example, using the mean (1.69) ± standard deviation / 3 (0.85 / 3), a group of 1.97 or more is classified as a grade 3 and a group having a good wrinkle in the future. As a group, between 1.40 and 1.97 can be categorized into an average group with a grade of 2.

number
Differential value
Rating One
0.53
One
2
1.59
2
3
1.9
2
4
2.39
3
5
0.41
One
6
0.95
One
7
2.3
3
8
1.79
2
9
0.33
One
10
1.63
2
11
2.02
3
12
3.03
3
13
2.25
3
14
1.2
One
15
3.64
3
16
2.23
3
17
2
3
18
1.04
One
19
1.21
One
20
1.31
One

FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of an image processing method according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Since the skin diagnosis method according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention is performed by the skin diagnosis system 100 of the present invention, all the features of the skin diagnosis system 100 of the present invention are included Of course.

4, the skin diagnosis method according to an embodiment of the present invention includes extracting a shadowed portion from a first image (S10), extracting a shadowed portion from a second image (S20), calculating a first ratio (S30) of the ratio of the number of pixels of the entire or selected region of the first image to the number of pixels of the shadowed portion of the first image (S30) And calculating a second ratio of the number of pixels of the second image to the number of pixels of the shadowed portion of the second image (S40).

Specifically, the first polarization environment is an environment for irradiating the subject with polarized light and picking up the skin image of the subject without polarizing it; Or an environment in which the subject is irradiated with the light which is not polarized and the skin image of the subject is picked up without polarizing.

The second polarizing environment is an environment for irradiating the subject with polarized light by the first polarizing plate and polarizing the skin image of the subject by the second polarizing plate to pick up the image. The axis is parallel.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of diagnosing skin comprising the steps of: calculating at least one of a difference value between a first ratio and a second ratio or a ratio between a first ratio and a second ratio; (S60) of classifying the skin condition using the ratio value or the ratio value.

As described above, the possibility of occurrence of wrinkles in the future can be confirmed by using the difference in skin curvature between the first image and the second image, and it is possible to more positively cope with improvement and / or treatment of pores and / or wrinkles . That is, according to the skin diagnosis system (100) and the diagnostic method of the present invention, it is possible to know the possibility of occurrence of wrinkles or the like in the future at the time of observing the skin, so that it can be utilized as useful information for managing the skin of the subject have.

100: Skin Diagnosis System
110: Light source
120:
130:
140:
150:
121: first polarizer
122: 2nd polarizer

Claims (12)

An image acquiring unit capable of acquiring a skin image of a subject; And
And an image processing unit for processing the image information obtained from the image obtaining unit,
Wherein the image processing unit comprises:
A first image picked up by a first polarization environment; And
And a second image picked up by the second polarization environment,
Wherein the image processing unit comprises:
Extracting a shadowed portion using the brightness level from the first image and the second image, and processing the extracted shadowed portion of the first image and the shadowed portion of the second image, .
Wherein the image processing unit comprises:
A ratio of the number of pixels of the entire or selected region of the first image to the number of pixels of the shadowed portion of the first image is calculated and the number of pixels of the entire or selected region of the second image, Wherein the second ratio is a ratio of the number of pixels of the shadowed portion of the image. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the first polarization environment comprises:
An environment in which a polarizing plate is inserted into a rear end of the light source to irradiate the subject with polarized light and an image in which a polarizing plate is not inserted in the front end of the image obtaining unit to pick up an image that is not polarized; or,
And an environment in which no polarizer is inserted between the light source and the image acquiring unit. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the second polarization environment is a polarization-
The first polarizing plate is inserted into the rear end of the light source to irradiate the subject with polarized light and the second polarizing plate is inserted into the front end of the image obtaining unit to pick up the polarized image,
Wherein the axis of the first polarizing plate and the axis of the second polarizing plate are parallel to each other. delete delete The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the image processing unit comprises:
And calculates at least one of a difference value between the first ratio and the second ratio or a ratio value between the first ratio and the second ratio. The method according to claim 6,
Wherein the image processing unit comprises:
And the skin condition can be classified using the difference value or the ratio value. A skin diagnosis method for diagnosing skin by processing a first image picked up by a first polarization environment and a second image picked up by a second polarization environment,
Extracting a shadowed portion by using a brightness level from the first image;
Extracting a shadowed portion by using a brightness level from the second image;
Calculating a first ratio that is a ratio of the number of pixels of all or a selected region of the first image to the number of pixels of a shadowed portion of the first image; And
And calculating a second ratio of the ratio of the number of pixels of the entire or selected region of the second image to the number of pixels of the shadowed portion of the second image. 9. The method of claim 8,
Wherein the first polarization environment comprises:
An environment in which the subject is irradiated with polarized light and images the skin image of the subject without polarizing; or,
And an environment in which the subject is irradiated with the light which is not polarized and the skin image of the subject is picked up without polarizing.
Wherein the second polarization environment is a polarization-
The first polarizing plate is inserted into the rear end of the light source to irradiate the subject with polarized light and the second polarizing plate is inserted into the front end of the image obtaining unit to pick up the polarized image,
Wherein the axis of the first polarizing plate and the axis of the second polarizing plate are parallel to each other. delete 9. The method of claim 8,
The skin diagnosis method comprises:
And calculating at least one of a difference value between the first ratio and the second ratio or a ratio value between the first ratio and the second ratio. 12. The method of claim 11,
The skin diagnosis method comprises:
Further comprising the step of classifying the skin condition using the difference value or the ratio value.

Images