KR20100099559A - Photographing method and photographing apparatus capable of recognizing persons - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A photographing method and a photographing apparatus for efficiently taking a photograph of individual having a special relationship are provided to automatically take a photograph of individuals by previously registering information about a subject. CONSTITUTION: An image pickup device converts an image of a subject into the electric signal. A face recognition unit(48) recognizes the face by the image pickup apparatus. A photographing determining unit(45) generates the photographing signal based on a relation of individuals by the face recognition unit. A photographing control unit(47) controls the image pickup device by receiving the photographing signal.

Description

Photographing method and photographing apparatus capable of recognizing persons}

The present invention relates to a photographing method and a photographing apparatus using plural person recognition, and automatically recognizes and photographs a face and a relationship of persons having a special relationship such as a couple, a lover, a family, a friend, or recognizes a couple having a different gender. A photographing method and a photographing apparatus using plural person recognition, which can photograph automatically.

A photographing device such as a digital camera automatically adjusts shooting conditions to suit the scene in which shooting is performed, recognizes a human face and adjusts the focus based on the recognized face, or changes a facial expression, for example, smiles. It is equipped with various functions such as automatically detecting and photographing a face. With these features in digital cameras, even ordinary users without professional skills and experience in photography can take pictures conveniently and accurately.

The most important category is portrait photography if the users of the camera classify the pictures according to the types of subjects to be photographed. As a result, technologies for effectively supporting portrait photography are continuously being developed in the camera field. The camera having a face recognition function, which is a function of recognizing a face of a person, may recognize each of the plurality of faces even when photographing a plurality of people. However, such a conventional camera has only a level of adjusting a shooting condition to recognize a face and is suitable for a portrait, and thus has a problem in that a photographer or a person who is a subject cannot effectively capture a desired shooting situation.

For example, when photographing a person having a special relationship such as a couple or a lover, the person who is the photographer or the subject wants to take a picture focusing on the person having a special relationship (hereinafter referred to as a 'couple picture'). However, when the photographer is working with the purpose of taking such a couple photo, the photographer had to capture the change in the distance and facial expressions between the person suitable for the composition of the shot has a problem that is difficult to shoot.

Furthermore, when photographing at a banquet place where a large number of people exist, such as a birthday feast or a wedding, for example, photographing a couple may be more difficult if the photographer does not know in advance the special relationships between the people.

An object of the present invention is to provide a photographing method and apparatus for photographing by plural person recognition, which can effectively photograph a person having a special relationship such as a couple, a lover, a family, a friend.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a photographing method and a photographing apparatus capable of automatically photographing a couple photograph by recognizing gender of persons.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a photographing method and a photographing apparatus capable of automatically photographing a couple photograph of a person having a special relationship by recognizing a relationship with a face of a person.

In addition, when a couple photo is taken, a beauty shot function may be appropriately applied according to a gender of a person in a single photo by executing a special image processing on a face region of a female.

The present invention provides a method for photographing by plural person recognition, which can automatically recognize and photograph faces and relationships of persons having a special relationship such as a couple, a lover, a family, a friend, or automatically recognize a couple having a different gender. Provide a photographing device.

The photographing apparatus according to the present invention includes an image pickup device for converting an image of a subject into an electrical signal, a face recognition unit for recognizing faces of people in an image acquired by the image pickup device, and a face recognition unit. And a photographing determining unit which generates a photographing signal based on the relationship, and a photographing control unit which receives photographing signals of the photographing determining unit and controls an image pickup device to perform photographing.

In the present invention, the photographing determination unit may generate a photographing signal when the genders of the persons are different.

In the present invention, the photographing determination unit may generate a photographing signal when the distance between the persons is within a predetermined range.

In the present invention, the photographing apparatus may further include an image processing unit which performs image processing on the image photographed by the image pickup device, and may brightly adjust the region of the female face among the faces recognized by the face recognition unit. .

In the present invention, the photographing apparatus may further include a database including standard data about the face.

In the present invention, the database may include gender data relating to the gender of the faces.

In the present invention, the database may include distance data relating to the relationship between the size of the faces and the distance from the image pickup device to the face.

In the present invention, the photographing judging unit can generate a photographing signal when the difference between the distances from the image pickup device to each face recognized by the face recognizing unit is within a predetermined range.

In the present invention, the photographing apparatus may further include a face registration unit that registers in advance images of faces and relationship information about faces that have a special relationship with each other, and the photographing determination unit has a face recognized by the face recognition unit. If it is determined that the relationship is registered by the registration unit, it is possible to generate a photographing signal.

In the present invention, the photographing determination unit may generate a photographing signal when the persons determined to have a special relationship with each other are within a predetermined number of people.

In the present invention, the photographing determination unit may execute photographing when the genders of the persons are the same.

The photographing method according to the present invention includes a condition setting step of setting shooting conditions of a plurality of person photographs to be photographed, a person recognition step of recognizing a plurality of persons in an image preliminarily picked up by the image pickup device, and a person recognition step. And a photographing step of performing photographing by controlling the image pickup device when the relations of the identified persons correspond to photographing conditions.

In the present invention, the photographing conditions may include a gender condition for photographing when the genders of the persons are different or a distance condition for photographing when the distance between the figures is within a predetermined range.

In the present invention, the condition setting step may include a face registration step of pre-registering the image of the faces and the relationship information about the faces having a special relationship with each other, the shooting step is a face registration by the person recognized in the person recognition step If the relationship is registered in the step, the shooting can be performed.

The photographing method and apparatus for recognizing a plurality of people of the present invention as described above automatically registers a plurality of people by pre-registering pictures and information on relationships of people having a special relationship, such as a couple, a lover, a family, or a friend. You can shoot.

In addition, when the couple recognizes a person on the preview screen and a couple having a different gender is recognized, the photographing is automatically performed, so that the photographing of the couple is convenient.

Hereinafter, the configuration and operation of a photographing method and a photographing apparatus using plural person recognition according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a relationship between components of a photographing apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

1 includes an imaging device 20 for converting an image of a subject into an electrical signal, a face recognition unit 48 for recognizing faces of persons in an image acquired by the imaging device 20, A photographing determination unit 45 that generates a photographing signal based on the relationship of the persons recognized by the face recognizing unit 48, and a photographing signal of the photographing determining unit 45 to receive the photographing signal 20 to control the photographing device 20 to photograph And a shooting control unit 47 that executes the operation.

The zoom lens unit 10 disposed in front of the image pickup device 20 includes a plurality of lenses 12 to perform the function of imaging external image light on the image pickup surface of the image pickup device 20. The lenses 12 are arranged to be variable in distance from each other. If the distance between the lenses 12 is changed, the magnification by the zoom lens unit 10 is changed.

The lenses 12 are driven by the zoom driver 11 having a driving means such as a zoom motor, so that the positions of the lenses 12 may vary. The zoom driver 11 is operated by receiving a control signal from the driving circuit unit 42 of the controller 40. Accordingly, the zoom driver 11 may drive the zoom lens unit 10 such that the zoom lens unit 10 has any one of a plurality of magnifications.

The imaging device 20 may include a photoelectric conversion device such as a charge coupled device (CCD) or a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS), and may transmit image light to a Pisa incident through the zoom lens unit 10. Convert to an electrical signal. The process of converting image light into an electrical signal may include detailed steps such as first converting an analog signal and converting an analog signal into a digital signal. The image conversion unit 41 converts the electrical signal of the image pickup device 20 into image data capable of performing image processing. The image data generated by the image conversion unit 41 may be stored in the memory 15 and used in the face recognition unit 48 and the photographing determination unit 45.

The controller 40 is electrically connected to the image pickup device 20, the zoom driver 11, the touch screen 50, and the like, and transmits and receives control signals or data to these components to control the operation of each component. It performs functions such as processing. The control unit 40 includes an image conversion unit 41, a driving circuit unit 42, a touch screen control unit 44, a memory control unit 43 that controls data storage for the memory 15, and a shooting control unit 47. ), A photographing determining unit 45, a face registering unit 49, a face recognizing unit 48, and the like.

The controller 40 may be implemented as a microchip or a circuit board including the microchip, and each component included in the controller 40 may be implemented by software or circuits included in the controller 40. .

The memory control section 43 controls the recording of the image data to the memory 15 and the reading of the image data and setting information recorded in the memory 15. The memory 15 is made of, for example, a semiconductor memory element such as SDRAM (synchronous DRAM) to store data of a captured image.

The photographing apparatus may include a touch screen 50 having a display unit 51 for displaying an image of image data and an input unit 52 for selecting a portion of the image displayed on the display unit 51. The touch screen 50 performs a function of displaying an image captured by the imaging device 20 and a function of sensing a touch on a surface and generating a signal corresponding to the detected position.

The touch screen 50 is an input device that replaces a keyboard and a mouse. Since the touch screen 50 can be directly touched with a hand or a pen to perform a desired task, an intuitive task can be performed under a graphical user interface (GUI) environment. It is a device that lets you. As the display unit 51 of the touch screen 50, a display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) or an organic light emitting diode (OLED) may be used.

The input unit 52 may be installed on the surface of the display unit 51 to sense a touch of the surface. The input unit 52 may use various types of technologies such as resistive sensing means, capacitive sensing means, surface acoustic wave use sensing means, infrared (IR) use sensing means, and optical use sensing means.

By touching the input unit 52 of the touch screen 50, the user may select and execute a menu from a portion of the image displayed on the display unit 51 or select a face region.

When the imaging device 20 captures an object to generate an electrical signal, and the electrical signal is converted into image data by the image conversion unit 41, the face recognition unit 48 includes a person included in the image from the image data. Can recognize their faces. The image data used by the face recognizing unit 48 for recognizing faces of people is captured by the image pickup device 20 for preliminary shooting, that is, execution of a preview mode before final shooting is performed. Image data relating to an image.

The face recognition unit 48 may include a face detection circuit that detects face regions corresponding to faces of a person from image data. Various known methods for detecting a face of a person may be used in the face detection circuit. For example, face recognition techniques using standard facial geometric features stored in database 60 may be used. Face recognition using geometric features is a technique for recognizing faces of individual individuals using geometric factors such as the location, size and distance between facial feature points such as eyes, nose and mouth.

In the database 60, not only data for detecting a face but also information on the detected face's gender and age may be recorded. In addition, the database 60 may record standard data on the relationship between the detected size (or area) of the face and the distance of the subject away from the photographing apparatus, that is, the imaging device 20.

The photographing determination unit 45 generates a photographing signal based on the relationship between the persons recognized by the face recognizing unit 48, and the photographing control unit 47 receives the photographing signal and controls the image pickup device 20 to capture photographing ( Main shooting).

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of a photographing determining unit of the photographing apparatus of FIG. 1.

The shooting determination unit 45 includes a gender determination unit 71 that determines the gender of the recognized persons, a distance determination unit 72 that determines the distance between the persons displayed in the image in the preview mode, and photographing the persons. Perspective determination unit 73 for determining the difference in the distance to the device and the relationship determination unit 74 for determining the relationship between the persons.

The relationship between the persons who generate the photographing signal by the photographing determiner 45, that is, the photographing conditions may be gender of the persons. The determination of the gender condition may be performed by the gender determining unit 71. That is, when the genders of the persons recognized by the face recognition unit 48 are different sexes, the photographing determination unit 45 may generate a photographing signal to automatically perform photographing. However, the photographing condition of the photographing apparatus of the present invention is not limited to such a rational condition. For example, photographing may be performed only when the recognized persons have the same gender.

3 is an exemplary diagram illustrating an operation state of recognizing and photographing a plurality of persons using the photographing apparatus of FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is an exemplary diagram illustrating a state of recognizing and photographing a plurality of persons in the photographing example shown in FIG. 3. to be.

The photographing condition in which the photographing determiner 45 generates the photographing signal may include a gender condition and a distance condition regarding a distance between the persons. The determination of the distance condition may be executed by the distance determiner 72. As shown in FIG. 4, when the distance D between the persons 101 and 102 is within a predetermined range in the preview image displayed on the display unit 51 of the photographing apparatus 1, the photographing determination unit 45 is performed. Can generate a shooting signal. When generating a photographing signal based on the distance of the people, the size of the faces of the people may be considered, not just the distance D. Accordingly, the photographing apparatus may automatically take a couple picture when the genders of the recognized persons in the preview mode are couples having different genders and are close to each other so as to be suitable for shooting.

Referring to FIG. 3, the photographing judging unit 45 determines the difference between the distances from the image pickup device 20 to each of the recognized faces (for example, the distance from the image pickup device 20 to the person a is Da, and the person b is the person b). When the distance to Db is Db, the difference between the distances is Da-Db), which can generate a photographing signal. The determination of the perspective condition may be performed by the perspective determination unit 73. When there are significant differences in the distance from the image pickup device 20 to the persons even when the recognized persons are the opposite sex and the distance between the recognized persons in the preview mode image (that is, the distance recognized on the screen) is close. You can set shooting conditions so that shooting is not performed.

In addition to the shooting conditions, the photographing determination unit 45 compares the information of the recognized person's face with the standard relationship data between the age and the face recorded in the database 60, even if the recognized persons have different genders. If the age difference of the people is too severe, it may include an age condition that does not perform the shooting. In other words, even if the perceived genders are different, if the age difference exists between parents and children (for example, if there is a difference in age over 20 years old), it is determined that the relationship between mother and son or father and daughter is executed. You can't. For this function, the photographing determiner 45 may include an age determiner (not shown).

The image processing unit 46 included in the control unit 40 receives a shooting signal from the shooting determining unit 45 and drives the image pickup device 20 to finally take a picture (that is, main shooting). This is the part which performs image processing on the image picked up by the imaging element 20 in this shooting. The image processing unit 46 can perform pixel defect correction, gain correction, white balance correction, gamma correction, and the like on the image of this photographing.

The image processor 46 may process the area of the female face brighter than the area of the male face among the faces recognized by the face recognizing unit 48. The present invention is not limited to the adjustment of the brightness in the image processing method for the female face region, and the processing for removing the blemishes and wrinkles of the female face by removing the noise present in the female face region may be performed. . This image processing function is called a so-called beauty shot.

As described above, the photographing condition used in the photographing determiner 45 is not limited to a condition in which the recognized people are heterosexual with each other. For example, the photographing apparatus may automatically perform photographing when the persons recognized by the face recognition unit 48 on the preview mode screen have a special relationship with each other, that is, when they have a relationship with a family, a lover, or a friend. In order to implement such a function, the controller 40 is provided with a face registration unit 49, and the photographing determination unit 45 is provided with a relationship determination unit 74.

5 is an operating state diagram illustrating a screen for registering faces in the photographing apparatus of FIG. 1.

The face register 49 performs a function of previously registering images of faces having a special relationship with each other and relationship information about the faces. The face register 49 may record images and relationship information of faces in the memory 15 or the database 60.

The user selects the face images 91, 92, 93, and 94 of the persons displayed on the touch screen 50 as shown in FIG. 5, and selects the menu buttons 131 and 132 of the relationship registration menu 130. The relationship information such as whether the relationship between the selected person is a lover, a friend or a family can be registered.

When the face registration unit 49 registers a face in advance, the user may select one of the person photographing button 121 and the file retrieving button 122 in the person registration method menu 120.

When the person photographing button 121 is executed, a specific person may be photographed using the photographing apparatus, and the face of the person may be selected from the photographed image.

When the file import button 122 is executed, the files stored in the photographing apparatus may be loaded and the face of the person included in the file may be selected on the touch screen 50.

When the person photographing button 121 or the file retrieving button 122 is executed, face images 91, 92, 93, and 94 to be registered on the touch screen 50 are displayed as shown in FIG. 5. The face image to be registered may be selected by executing the face selection button 140. As shown in FIG. 5, the selected face images may inform the user of the selected situation by displaying a bold border.

In this manner, the user may pre-register the image and the relationship information of the faces having a special relationship with each other through the face registration unit 49, and the photographing apparatus may set to automatically photograph the person having the registered faces. . In this case, the relationship determination unit 74 of the photographing determination unit 45 recognizes whether the faces recognized by the face recognition unit 48 are the same face as the face image registered by the face registration unit 49, and is registered. If the face is a plurality of people in a special relationship with each other can generate a shooting signal.

Therefore, if you have pre-registered the faces of people with special relationships, such as couples, lovers, family, and friends, the photographer will be able to Even if you don't know the relationship, you can take a picture of multiple people automatically.

6 is a flowchart illustrating steps of a photographing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The photographing method according to the embodiment shown in FIG. 6 includes a condition setting step (S199) of setting shooting conditions, a person recognition step (S220, S270) of recognizing a plurality of people in the captured image, and a relationship between the recognized people. If the photographing condition corresponds to a shooting step (S330) for performing the shooting.

The condition setting step (S199) is a step of presetting a shooting condition for performing shooting by recognizing a plurality of persons, and the shooting condition is, for example, a gender that causes shooting to be performed when the recognized persons have different genders. Conditions, distance conditions that cause shooting to take place when the distance between the recognized people is within a predetermined range, or relational conditions that cause shooting when people with faces having a special relationship registered in advance are recognized. It may include.

In the photographing condition setting step S199, when the photographing condition of the couple mode is set, the couple mode S200 may be executed, and subsequent steps of the couple mode S200 may be executed. In the couple mode (S200), when the recognized persons are different genders, for example, photographing may be automatically performed.

In the shooting condition setting step S199, when the shooting condition of the registered person mode is set, the registered person mode S250 may be executed, and subsequent steps of the registered person mode S250 may be executed. In the registered person mode S250, when the recognized person corresponds to the faces registered in advance by the user, the photographing may be automatically performed.

The preview photographing step S210 or S260 is a photoelectric conversion step in which an imaging device converts an image into an electrical image signal, and includes a photoelectric device such as a charge coupled device (CCD) or a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS). It can be performed by a conversion element. The preview photographing steps S210 and S260 are preliminary photographing steps, and the following steps of recognizing a person and determining photographing conditions may be performed from the preliminary images photographed in the preview photographing steps S210 and S260.

Looking at the case in which the couple mode (S200) is executed, a person recognition step (S220) for recognizing a plurality of people in the preview image taken in the preview shooting step (S210) is executed, and determining the relationship conditions of the recognized people S230, S240, S300, and S310 may be executed.

The person recognition step S220 may be performed by a face detection circuit that detects face regions corresponding to faces of a person from image data representing a preview image. Various known methods for detecting a face of a person may be used in the face detection circuit. For example, face recognition techniques using standard facial geometric features stored in a database can be used. Face recognition using geometric features is a technique for recognizing faces of individual individuals using geometric factors such as the location, size and distance between facial feature points such as eyes, nose and mouth.

In the database, not only data for detecting a face but also information on a detected face's gender and age may be recorded. In addition, the database may record standard data on the relationship between the detected size (or area) of the face and the distance of the subject away from the photographing apparatus.

In the determining of the gender (S230), it may be determined whether the recognized persons have different genders. The present invention is not limited to such a gender condition, and when the same sex is set as the shooting condition in the shooting condition setting step (S199), whether the recognized persons in the condition for determining the sex (S230) have the same sex as each other. You can judge.

In the step of determining the age (S240), operations such as determining the age of the persons recognized in the person recognition step (S220) and comparing the ages of the persons may be performed.

Even when it is determined in the step S230 that the genders of the persons are different from each other, the age difference of the persons is determined as a result of comparing the face information of the recognized persons with the standard relationship data between the age recorded in the database and the face. If it is too severe, shooting can be disabled. In other words, even if the perceived genders are different, when the age difference exists between parents and children (for example, when there is a difference in age over 20 years old), the couple is determined to have a relationship between mother and son or father and daughter. You may not run it.

In determining the perspective (S300), it may be determined whether a difference between distances to each face recognized by the imaging device is within a predetermined range. The determination of this perspective condition is not to perform couple photographing when there is a significant difference in the distance from the image pickup device to the people.

In the determining of the distance (S310), the distances of the people in the image photographed in the preview photographing step (S210) are determined. In addition to the gender condition, the couple photography can be performed only when the distance between the persons in the preview image is within a predetermined range. When the couple photographing is performed based on the distance of the persons, the size of the faces of the persons may be taken into account, not just the distance. Thus, when the genders of the people recognized in the preview mode image are different couples and are close to each other so as to be suitable for photographing, automatic couple pictures can be taken.

As a result of determining the distances of the persons in the preview image, when the distances between the persons are too great to be suitable for photographing, a step of outputting a message to move the persons closer to each other may be performed (S320). This makes it possible to take a picture of the couple more conveniently.

If it is determined that the distance of the people is close, the photographing step S330 is automatically executed. After the photographing step S330, an image processing step S340 of performing image processing on the finally captured image may be executed. In the image processing step S340, pixel defect correction, gain correction, white balance correction, gamma correction, and the like on the image can be executed.

The image processing step S340 may process the area of the female face brighter than the area of the male face among the faces recognized by the person recognition step S220. The present invention is not limited to the adjustment of the brightness in the image processing method for the female face region, and the processing for removing the blemishes and wrinkles of the female face by removing the noise present in the female face region may be performed. . This image processing function is called a so-called beauty shot.

After the image processing step S340, a step S350 of displaying and storing the final image in which image processing is completed is executed.

In the shooting condition setting step S199, when the shooting condition of the registered person mode is set, the registered person mode S250 is executed. In the registered person mode (S250), the conditions determined for the shooting are different from the couple mode (S220) described above, unlike the above-described special relationship between the person registered in advance by the user, for example, the person recognized in the preview screen is a family Or conditions for a particular relationship such as a lover or a friend.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a person registration step for the photographing method shown in FIG. 6.

In order to execute the registered person mode S250, the person registration steps may be performed in advance as illustrated in FIG. 7.

In the person registration step, an image having a face of a person may be prepared by executing the photographing step (S100) or the file selection step (S110) of selecting an image file stored in the photographing apparatus. The user may directly photograph a person who wants to register and then perform the following steps to select a face and specify a relationship, or may select a person's face from an already stored image.

When the image is prepared, step S120 of selecting a face is performed. In addition to specifying a face area, the user may select a plurality of faces having a special relationship with each other.

When the face selection is completed by the step S120 of selecting a face, a step of specifying a relationship S130 is performed. The relationship that can be specified can be assigned to special relationships such as family, friends, lovers, etc. The present invention is not limited by the relationship that can be specified for the faces, it is possible to specify various relationships to the faces. In addition, in the step of specifying the relationship (S130), it is also possible to specify the number of people to be photographed automatically.

After the selection of the face and the designation of the relationship are completed, a storing step (S140) for storing information about the image files and relationships of the face in a memory or a database is executed to complete the person registration step.

In the registered person mode (step S250 or less), the preview image is preliminarily captured in the preview photographing step S260, and the face corresponding to the faces of the person from the image data representing the preview image in the person recognition step S270. Steps S280 of detecting the areas, comparing the registered face registered in the above-described person registration step with the detected person's face and determining a relationship are performed.

In addition, when the number of people to be allowed to shoot in the person registration step is set, it is determined whether the number of people detected in the person recognition step (S270) is within the set number of people (S90).

Determining the perspective (S300), determining the distance (S310), photographing step (S330), image processing step (S340), and displaying and storing the final image (S350), as described above It may be executed in the same manner as in the couple mode (S200).

When the user registers images of the faces having a special relationship with each other and the relationship information in advance, the photographing apparatus may automatically perform photographing when people having the faces of the registered relationship are recognized.

Therefore, if you have pre-registered the faces of people with special relationships, such as couples, lovers, family, and friends, the photographer will be able to Even if you don't know the relationship, you can take a picture of multiple people automatically.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the above-described embodiments, these are merely exemplary, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications and equivalent other embodiments are possible. Therefore, the true technical protection scope of the present invention will be defined by the appended claims.

1 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a relationship between components of a photographing apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of a photographing determining unit of the photographing apparatus of FIG. 1.

3 is an exemplary diagram illustrating an operating state of recognizing and photographing a plurality of persons using the photographing apparatus of FIG. 1.

4 is an exemplary view illustrating a state in which a plurality of persons are recognized and photographed in the photographing example shown in FIG. 3.

5 is an operating state diagram illustrating a screen for registering faces in the photographing apparatus of FIG. 1.

6 is a flowchart illustrating steps of a photographing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a person registration step for the photographing method shown in FIG. 6.

DESCRIPTION OF THE REFERENCE NUMERALS

1: shooting device 50: touch screen

10: zoom lens unit 51: display unit

11: zoom drive unit 52: input unit

12: lenses 60: database

15: Memory 71: Gender Determination

20: imaging device 72: distance determining unit

40: control unit 73: perspective determination unit

41: image conversion unit 74: relationship determination unit

42: drive circuit section 91, 92, 93, 94: face image

43: memory controller 101, 102: people

44: touch screen controller 120: registration method menu

45: Shooting judgment unit 121: Portrait shooting button

46: image processing unit 122: file import button

47: shooting control unit 130: relationship registration menu

48: face recognition unit 131, 132: menu buttons

49: face register 140: register face selection button

Claims (16)

An imaging device for converting an image of the subject into an electrical signal; A face recognition unit for recognizing faces of persons in the image acquired by the imaging device; A photographing judging unit which generates a photographing signal based on the relationship of the persons recognized by the face recognizing unit; And And a photographing control unit which receives a photographing signal of the photographing determining unit and controls the image pickup device to perform photographing. The method of claim 1, And the photographing determination unit generates a photographing signal when the genders of the persons are different. The method of claim 2, And the photographing determination unit generates a photographing signal when the distance between the persons is within a predetermined range. The method of claim 2, And an image processing unit which performs image processing on the image captured by the image pickup device, and brightens an area of a female face among the faces recognized by the face recognizing unit. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, And a database containing standard data about the face. The method of claim 5, And the database includes gender data relating to the gender of the faces. The method of claim 5, And the database includes distance data relating to a relationship between the size of faces and the distance from the image pickup device to the face. The method of claim 7, wherein And the photographing determination unit generates a photographing signal when the difference between the distances from the image pickup device to each face recognized by the face recognition unit is within a predetermined range. The method of claim 1, And a face register for registering images of faces having a special relationship with each other and relationship information about the faces in advance. And the photographing determining unit generates a photographing signal when it is determined that the persons recognized by the face recognizing unit have a special relationship registered by the face registering unit. 10. The method of claim 9, And the photographing determination unit generates a photographing signal when the persons determined to have a special relationship with each other are within a predetermined number of people. The method of claim 1, And the photographing determining unit performs photographing when the genders of the people are the same. A condition setting step of setting shooting conditions of the plurality of portraits to be photographed; A person recognition step of recognizing a plurality of persons in the image preliminarily picked up by the image pickup device; And And a photographing step of performing photographing by controlling the image pickup device when the relationship between the persons recognized in the person recognition step corresponds to the photographing condition. The method of claim 12, The photographing condition includes a gender condition for photographing when the genders of the persons are different. The method of claim 13, And the photographing condition comprises a distance condition for photographing when the distance between the persons is within a predetermined range. The method of claim 13, And an image processing step of brightly adjusting an area of a female face in the image picked up by the image pickup device. The method of claim 12, The condition setting step includes a face registration step of registering in advance an image of the faces having a special relationship with each other and the relationship information for the faces, And the photographing step executes photographing when the persons recognized in the person recognition step are registered in the face registration step.

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