IMAGE PICKUP APPARATUS EQUIPPED WITH FACE-RECOGNITION FUNCTION

• US 20080240563A1
• Filed: 03/28/2008
• Published: 10/02/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Casio Computer Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Casio Computer Company Limited
• Inventors: Iwamoto, Kenji, Takano, Ryuji
• Granted Patent: US 8,615,112 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/00 2D [Two Dimensional] image generation
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/174 Facial expression recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/175 Static expression
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2101/00 Still video cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/61 based on recognised objects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/611 where the recognised objects include parts of the human body
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/635 Region indicators; Field of view indicators

Abstract

The image pickup apparatus 100 comprises the image pickup unit 1 to pick up an image of the subject which a user desires, a detecting of the face image area which includes the face of the subject person in the picked-up image based on the image information of the picked-up image, a recognizing of the expression of the face in the detected face image area, a ranking of the face image areas in the order of good smile of the recognized expressions and a displaying of the face image areas F arranged in the order of ranking and the entire picked-up image G on the same screen.

Claims

1. An image pickup apparatus, comprising:

an image pickup unit to pick up an image of a subject;

a display unit to display a picked-up image which is picked up by the image pickup unit;

a face detection device to detect a face area which includes a face of the subject within the picked-up image based on image information of the picked-up image; and

an image display control device to make the display unit display a face image of the face area detected by the face detection device along with the picked-up image, the face image being enlarged so as to be larger than the face of the subject in the picked-up image which is displayed in the display unit.

2. The image pickup apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein

the image display control device displays the face image in the display unit by superimposing the face image onto at least a part of the picked-up image.

3. The image pickup apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein

the image display control device enlarges the face image of the face area detected by the face detection device, and displays the face image so as to superimpose the face image on a predetermined position corresponding to the face area in the picked-up image, the face area being detected by the face detection device.

4. The image pickup apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein

the image display control device makes the display unit display the picked-up image and the face image so that the picked-up image and the face image do not overlap one another.

5. The image pickup apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein

the face detection device detects a plurality of the face areas, and

the image display control device includes an multiple face image display control device which makes the display unit display the face images of the plurality of face areas detected by the face detection device along with the picked-up image, the face images being enlarged by the image display control device.

6. The image pickup apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein

the image display control device comprises a face image one-line display control device which makes the display unit display the face images of the plurality of face areas detected by the face detection device by respectively enlarging the face images and by arranging the face images in approximately one line.

7. The image pickup apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein

the image display control device comprises a scroll display control device which makes the display unit perform a scroll display of the plurality of face areas detected by the face detection device.

8. The image pickup apparatus as claimed in claim 5, further comprising a face image area selection device to select the predetermined number of face areas among the plurality of face areas detected by the face detection device, wherein

the image display control device comprises a selection enlarged display control device which makes the display unit display the predetermined number of face areas selected by the face image area selection device along with the picked-up image, the face areas being respectively enlarged.

9. The image pickup apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a face image evaluation device to carry out an evaluation by a specific condition for the face images based on face image information of a plurality of face areas detected by the face detection device, wherein

the image display control unit displays an image based on a result of the evaluation carried out by the face image evaluation device.

10. The image pickup apparatus as claimed in claim 9, further comprising an expression recognition device to recognize an expression of the face in the face image of the face area detected by the face detection device, wherein

the face image evaluation device carries out an evaluation regarding the expression of the face which is recognized by the expression recognition device.

11. The image pickup apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein

the image display control device makes the display unit display the face images of the plurality of face areas detected by the face detection unit in an order of the evaluation carried out by the face image evaluation device.

12. The image pickup apparatus as claimed in claim 11, further comprising an image recording unit to record the image information, wherein

the image display control device comprises a different condition order display control device to make the display unit display the face images of the plurality of face areas detected by the face detection device in an order of evaluation carried out by the face image evaluation device by specific conditions which are different from one another between a case that a through image which is picked up by the image pickup unit is displayed in the display unit and a case that a recorded image based on the image information recorded in the image recording unit is displayed in the display unit.

13. The image pickup apparatus as claimed in claim 9, further comprising a display order switching device to orderly switch a display order of the face images of the face areas according to a result of the evaluation carried out by the face image evaluation device, wherein

the face image evaluation device orderly carries out an evaluation by the specific conditions.

14. The image pickup apparatus as claimed in claim 9, further comprising an evaluation display control device to display the face images of the face areas by associating with a numerical value according to the evaluation so as to correspond to a result of the evaluation carried out by the face image evaluation device.

15. The image pickup apparatus of claim 9, further comprising:

a face image registration device to register the plurality of face images by associating with a priority level; and

a face registration determination device to determine whether the face image of the face area detected by the face detection device matches with any one of the plurality of face images registered in the face image registration device or not, wherein

the face image evaluation device carries out an evaluation by the priority level for the face image which is determined by the face registration determination device so as to match with either one of the registered face images among the face images of the plurality of face areas detected by the face detection device.

16. The image pickup apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein

the image display control device makes the display unit display the plurality of face images which are determined by the face registration determination device so as to match with any of the plurality of registered face images in an order of higher priority level.

17. The image pickup apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein

the image display control unit makes the display unit display an indication indicating that the face images are registered in the face image registration device by associating with the face images which are determined so as to match with any of the plurality of registered face images by the face registration determination device.

18. The image pickup apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein

the image display control device makes the display unit to display an indication indicating the priority level of the face images by associating with the face images which are determined so as to match with any of the plurality of registered face images by the face registration determination device.

19. The image pickup apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising an image recording unit to record the image information, wherein

the image display control device is executed when a through image which is picked up by the image pickup unit is displayed.

20. The image pickup apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising an image recording unit to record the image information, wherein

the image display control device is executed when a recorded image based on the image information recorded in the image recording unit is displayed.

21. The image pickup apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising an image recording unit to record the image information, wherein

the image display control device is executed when the image information stored in the image recording unit is displayed.

22. An image display apparatus, comprising:

a display unit to display an entire image;

a face detection device to detect a face area which includes a face in the entire image based on image information of the entire image; and

an image display control device to make the display unit display the face area which is detected by the face detection device along with the entire image, a face image being enlarged so as to be larger than the face in the entire image which is displayed in the display unit.

23. An image display method, comprising:

detecting a face area which includes a face in the entire image based on image information of the entire image; and

displaying the entire image and the detected face area by enlarging a face image larger than the face in the entire image which is displayed.

24. A storage medium for storing a program realizing function of:

detecting a face area which includes a face in the entire image based on image information of the entire image; and

displaying the entire image and the detected face area by enlarging a face image larger than the face in the entire image which is displayed.