DETECTING RED EYE FILTER AND APPARATUS USING META-DATA

• US 20080316341A1
• Filed: 08/15/2008
• Published: 12/25/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/1997
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: FotoNation Limited (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: FotoNation Vision Limited (Adeia Inc.)
• Inventors: Steinberg, Eran, Prilutsky, Yury, Bigioi, Petronel, Corcoran, Peter, Pososin, Alexei, DeLuca, Michael J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,804,531 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/239
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10024 Color image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30041 Eye; Retina; Ophthalmic
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30201 Face
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30216 Redeye defect
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/40 using histogram techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/77 Retouching; Inpainting; Scratch removal
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/94 based on local image properties, e.g. for local contrast enhancement
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0002 Inspection of images, e.g. flaw detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/90 Determination of colour characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/193 Preprocessing; Feature extraction
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/6086 by scene illuminant, i.e. conditions at the time of picture capture, e.g. flash, optical filter used, evening, cloud, daylight, artificial lighting, white point measurement, colour temperature
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/62 Retouching, i.e. modification of isolated colours only or in isolated picture areas only
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/624 Red-eye correction control of camera based on recognised facial parts H04N23/611
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/74 by influencing the scene brightness using illuminating means
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/81 for suppressing or minimising disturbance in the image signal generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/60 Noise processing, e.g. detecting, correcting, reducing or removing noise
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/68 applied to defects

Abstract

A method of filtering a red-eye phenomenon from an acquired digital image including a multiplicity of pixels indicative of color, the pixels forming various shapes of the image, includes analyzing meta-data information, determining one or more regions within the digital image suspected as including red eye artifact, and determining, based at least in part on the meta-data analysis, whether the regions are actual red eye artifact. The meta-data information may include information describing conditions under which the image was acquired, captured and/or digitized, acquisition device-specific information, and/film information.

Claims

1. A method of filtering a red-eye phenomenon from an acquired digital image comprising a multiplicity of pixels indicative of color, the pixels forming various shapes within the image, the method comprising:

(a) analyzing meta-data information including image acquisition device-specific information; and

(b) utilizing meta-data information of user preference device-specific setup information for said analyzing meta-data; and

(c) determining, based at least in part on said meta-data analysis, whether one or more regions within said digital image are suspected as including red eye artifact.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the user preference device specific setup information comprises linguistic preference information.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising analyzing pixel information within one or more regions suspected as including red eye artifact based on said meta-data analysis, and determining whether any of said one or more suspected regions continue to be suspected as including red eye artifact based on said pixel analysis.

4. The method of claim 2, said filtering being executed at least partially within a portable image acquisition device, having no photographic film.

5. The method of claim 2, said filtering being executed at least in part as a post-processing operation on an external computation device.

6. The method of claim 2, said determining operation including a probability determination process based upon a plurality of criteria.

7. The method of claim 2, further comprising adjusting a pixel color within regions wherein red eye artifact is suspected, and outputting an adjusted image to a printer.

8. The method of claim 2, said meta-data information comprising information describing conditions under which the image was acquired.

9. The method of claim 8, said meta-data information comprising an indication of whether a flash was used when the image was acquired.

10. A portable digital camera, including optics and a sensor for acquiring digital images, a processor and one or more processor-readable media having embedded code therein for programming the processor to perform a method of filtering a red-eye phenomenon from an acquired digital image that comprises a multiplicity of pixels indicative of color, the pixels forming various shapes within the image, the method comprising:

(a) analyzing meta-data information including image acquisition device-specific information; and

(b) utilizing meta-data information of user preference device-specific setup information for said analyzing meta-data; and

(c) determining, based at least in part on said meta-data analysis, whether one or more regions within said digital image are suspected as including red eye artifact.

11. The camera of claim 10, wherein the user preference device specific setup information comprises linguistic preference information.

12. The camera of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises analyzing pixel information within one or more regions suspected as including red eye artifact based on said meta-data analysis, and determining whether any of said one or more suspected regions continue to be suspected as including red eye artifact based on said pixel analysis.

13. The camera of claim 11, said filtering being executed at least partially within a portable image acquisition device, having no photographic film.

14. The camera of claim 11, said filtering being executed at least in part as a post-processing operation on an external computation device.

15. The camera of claim 11, said determining operation including a probability determination process based upon a plurality of criteria.

16. The camera of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises adjusting a pixel color within regions wherein red eye artifact is suspected, and outputting an adjusted image to a printer.

17. The camera of claim 11, said meta-data information comprising information describing conditions under which the image was acquired.

18. The camera of claim 17, said meta-data information comprising an indication of whether a flash was used when the image was acquired.

19. One or more processor-readable media having embedded code therein for programming a processor to perform a method of filtering a red-eye phenomenon from an acquired digital image that comprises a multiplicity of pixels indicative of color, the pixels forming various shapes within the image, the method comprising:

(a) analyzing meta-data information including image acquisition device-specific information; and

(b) utilizing meta-data information of user preference device-specific setup information for said analyzing meta-data; and

(c) determining, based at least in part on said meta-data analysis, whether one or more regions within said digital image are suspected as including red eye artifact.

20. The one or more media of claim 19, wherein the user preference device specific setup information comprises linguistic preference information.

21. The one or more media of claim 20, wherein the method further comprises analyzing pixel information within one or more regions suspected as including red eye artifact based on said meta-data analysis, and determining whether any of said one or more suspected regions continue to be suspected as including red eye artifact based on said pixel analysis.

22. The one or more media of claim 20, said filtering being executed at least partially within a portable image acquisition device, having no photographic film.

23. The one or more media of claim 20, said filtering being executed at least in part as a post-processing operation on an external computation device.

24. The one or more media of claim 20, said determining operation including a probability determination process based upon a plurality of criteria.

25. The one or more media of claim 20, wherein the method further comprises adjusting a pixel color within regions wherein red eye artifact is suspected, and outputting an adjusted image to a printer.

26. The one or more media of claim 20, said meta-data information comprising information describing conditions under which the image was acquired.

27. The one or more media of claim 26, said meta-data information comprising an indication of whether a flash was used when the image was acquired.