Methods And Apparatuses For Using Image Acquisition Data To Detect And Correct Image Defects

• US 20090189998A1
• Filed: 01/29/2009
• Published: 07/30/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: FotoNation Limited (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: FotoNation Ireland Limited (Adeia Inc.)
• Inventors: Stan, Cosmin Nicolae, Nanu, Florin, Corcoran, Peter
• Granted Patent: US 8,212,864 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/222.100
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30216 Redeye defect
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/90 Dynamic range modification of images or parts thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0002 Inspection of images, e.g. flaw detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/73 using feature-based methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/90 Determination of colour characteristics
• 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 23/81 for suppressing or minimising disturbance in the image signal generation

Abstract

A method and device for detecting a potential defect in an image comprises acquiring a digital image at a time; storing image acquisition data, wherein the image acquisition data includes at least one of a position of a source of light relative to a lens, a distance from the source of light to the lens, a focal length of the lens, a distance from a point on a digital image acquisition device to a subject, an amount of ambient light, or flash intensity; determining dynamic anthropometric data, wherein the dynamic anthropometric data includes one or more dynamically changing human body measurements, of one or more humans represented in the image, captured at the time; and determining a course of corrective action based, at least in part, on the image acquisition data and the dynamic anthropometric data.

Claims

1. A portable digital image acquisition device comprising:

a lens;

a digital imaging capturing apparatus;

a source of light for providing illumination during image capture;

logic for performing the following operations;

acquiring a digital image at a time;

storing image acquisition data describing a condition at the lime;

determining an eye gaze angle in the digital image;

determining a course of action based, at least in part, on the image acquisition data and the eye gaze angle.

2. The portable digital acquisition device of claim 1 wherein the logic includes one or more processors executing software instructions.

3. The portable digital image acquisition device of claim 1 further comprising logic for determining whether the eye gaze angle is greater than a value, wherein the course of action comprises performing at least one of the following operations responsive to determining that the eye gaze angle is greater than the value:

analyzing the image to identify yellow-eye defect candidates;

or

analyzing the image to identify golden-eye defect candidates.

4. The portable digital image acquisition device of claim 3, wherein:

the image acquisition data comprises

a distance from the portable image acquisition device to a subject, and

a separation between the source of light and a lens; and

the value is determined based, at least in part, on the distance and the separation.

5. The portable digital image acquisition device of claim 1 further comprising logic for determining whether the eye gaze angle is less than a value, wherein the course of action comprises analyzing the image to identify red-eye defect candidates responsive to determining that the eye gaze angle is less than the value.

6. The portable digital image acquisition device of claim 1 further comprising logic for determining whether the eye gaze angle is greater than a value, wherein the course of action comprises analyzing the image to identify flash-eye defect candidates other than red-eye defect candidates responsive to determining that the eye gaze angle is greater than the value.

7. The portable digital image acquisition device of claim 1, further comprising logic for:

identifying a pair of eyes in the image, the pair of eyes including a first eye and a second eye;

determining that the eye gaze angle of the first eye indicates that it is likely that a first type of defect exists;

determining that the eye gaze angle of the second eye indicates that it is likely that a second type of defect exists;

analyzing the image to determine whether the image contains the first type of defect; and

analyzing the image to determine whether the image contains the second type of defect.

8. The portable digital image acquisition device of claim 1 wherein:

storing image acquisition data describing a condition at the time includes;

detecting a value indicative of ambient light at the time; and

storing the value;

the portable digital image acquisition device includes logic for associating the value with the image;

determining a course of action at least in part based on the value.

9. The portable digital image acquisition device of claim 8 further comprising logic for determining whether the value is greater than a threshold value, wherein the course of action comprises not altering the digital image if the value is greater than the threshold value.

10. The portable digital image acquisition device of claim 8 further comprising logic for determining whether the value is less than a threshold value, wherein the course of action comprises analyzing the image to identify flash-eye defect candidates if the value is less than the threshold value.

11. The portable digital image acquisition device of claim 8, further comprising logic for:

determining a second value indicative of a distance between an image capture apparatus and a subject;

storing the second value;

using the value to determine an on-subject pupil size;

using the on-subject pupil size and the second value to determine a critical distance;

determining whether to perform connective action on the image based, at least in part, on the critical distance.

12. The portable digital image acquisition device of claim 8, further comprising logic for:

determining a second value indicative of a distance between an image capture apparatus and a subject;

determining a third value indicative of a lens focal length;

storing the second value and the third value;

using the value, the second value, and the third value to determine an in-image pupil size; and

identifying defects in the image based at least in part on the in-image pupil size.

13. The portable digital image acquisition device of claim 1, further comprising logic for:

storing a value indicative of a position of the source of light relative to the lens;

using the value to identify an expected orientation for a half-red eye defect; and

identifying defect candidates in the image based, at least in part, on the expected orientation.

14. One or more processor-readable media having embedded code therein for programming a processor to perform a method comprising:

acquiring a digital image at a time;

storing image acquisition data describing a condition at the time;

determining an eye gaze angle in the digital image; and

determining a course of action based, at least in part, on the image acquisition data and the eye gaze angle.

15. The one or more media of claim 14 further comprising embedded code therein for programming a processor to perform a method comprising determining whether the eye gaze angle is greater than a value, wherein the course of action comprises performing at least one of the following operations responsive to determining that the eye gaze angle is greater than the value:

analyzing the image to identify yellow-eye defect candidates;

or

analyzing the image to identify golden-eye defect candidates.

16. The one or more media of claim 15, wherein:

the image acquisition data comprises

a distance from the portable image acquisition device to a subject, and

a separation between a source of light and a lens; and

the value is determined based, at least in part, on the distance and the separation.

17. The one or more media of claim 14 further comprising embedded code therein for programming a processor to perform a method comprising:

determining whether the eye gaze angle is less than a value, wherein the course of action comprises analyzing the image to identify red-eye defect candidates responsive to determining that the eye gaze angle is less than the value.

18. The one or more media of claim 15, further comprising embedded code therein for programming a processor to perform a method comprising:

identifying a pair of eyes in the image, the pair of eyes including a first eye and a second eye;

determining that the eye gaze angle of the first eye indicates that it is likely that a first type of defect exists;

determining that the eye gaze angle of the second eye indicates that it is likely that a second type of defect exists;

analyzing the image to determine whether the image contains the first type of defect; and

analyzing the image to determine whether the image contains the second type of defect.

19. The one or more media of claim 14 wherein:

storing image acquisition data describing a condition at the time includes;

detecting a value indicative of ambient light at the time; and

storing the value;

the portable digital image acquisition device includes logic for associating the value with the image;

determine a course of action at least in part based on the value.

20. The one or more media of claim 19, further comprising embedded code therein for programming a processor to perform a method comprising:

determining a second value indicative of a distance between an image capture apparatus and a subject;

storing the second value;

using the value to determine an on-subject pupil size;

using the on-subject pupil size and the second value to determine a critical distance;

determining whether to perform corrective action on the image based, at least in part, on the critical distance.

21. The one or more media of claim 19, further comprising embedded code therein for programming a processor to perform a method comprising:

determining a second value indicative of a distance between an image capture apparatus and a subject;

determining a third value indicative of a lens focal length;

storing the second value and the third value;

using the value, the second value, and the third value to determine an in-image pupil size; and

identifying defects in the image based at least in part on the in-image pupil size.

22. The one or more media of claim 14, further comprising embedded code therein for programming a processor to perform a method comprising:

storing a value indicative of a position of a source of light relative to a lens;

using the value to identify an expected orientation for a half-red eye defect; and

identifying defect candidates in the image based, at least in part, on the expected orientation.

23. One or more processor-readable media having embedded code therein for programming a processor to perform a method comprising:

detecting a value indicative of ambient light at a time when the image is acquired;

storing the value in association with the image;

determining a course of action based, at least in part, on the value.

24. The one or more media of claim 23 further comprising embedded code therein for programming a processor to perform a method comprising:

determining whether the value is greater than a threshold value, wherein the course of action comprises not altering the digital image if the value is greater than the threshold value.

25. The one or more media of claim 23 further comprising embedded code therein for programming a processor to perform a method comprising:

determining whether the value is less than a threshold value, wherein the course of action comprises analyzing the image to identify flash-eye defect candidates if the value is less than the threshold value.

26. The one or more media of claim 23, further comprising embedded code therein for programming a processor to perform a method comprising:

determining an on-subject pupil size based, at least in part, on the value;

determining whether to perform a corrective action based, at least in part, on the on-subject pupil size.

27. The one or more media of claim 23, further comprising embedded code therein for programming a processor to perform a method comprising:

determining an on-subject pupil size based, at least in part, on the value;

determining a second value indicative of a distance between an image capture apparatus and a subject;

storing the second value;

determining a critical distance based, at least in part, on the on-subject pupil size and the second value;

determining whether to perform corrective action on the image based, at least in part, on the critical distance.

28. The one or more media of claim 23, further comprising embedded code therein for programming a processor to perform a method comprising:

determining a second value indicative of a distance between an image capture apparatus and a subject;

determining a third value indicative of a lens focal length;

storing the second value and the third value;

determining an in-image pupil size based, at least in part, on the value, the second value, and the third value;

identifying defects in the image based, at least in part, on the in-image pupil size.

29. The one or more media of claim 28, wherein the step of identifying defects includes searching the image only for defects that are the same size as, or smaller, than the in-image pupil size.

30. One or more processor-readable media having embedded code therein for programming a processor to perform a method of detecting a potential defect in an image, the method comprising:

storing a value indicative of a position of a source of light relative to a lens;

using the value to identify an expected orientation for a half-red eye defect;

identifying defect candidates in the image at least in part based on the expected orientation.

31. One or more processor-readable media having embedded code therein for programming a processor to perform a method of detecting a potential defect in an image, the method comprising:

acquiring a digital image at a time;

storing image acquisition data, wherein the image acquisition data includes at least one of a position of a source of light relative to a lens, a distance from a source of light to the lens, a focal length of the lens, a distance from a point on a digital image acquisition device to a subject, an amount of ambient light, or flash intensity;

determining dynamic anthropometric data, wherein the dynamic anthropometric data includes one or more dynamically changing human body measurements, of one or more humans represented in said image, captured at said time;

determining a course of corrective action based, at least in part, on the image acquisition data and the dynamic anthropometric data.

32. The one or more media of claim 31, wherein the anthropometric data comprises an eye gaze angle determined from content of the digital image.

33. The one or more media of claim 31, wherein the anthropometric data comprises pupil size, wherein the pupil size is derived from the image acquisition data, and wherein the image acquisition data comprises a value indicative of ambient light.

34. A portable digital image acquisition device comprising:

a lens;

a digital imaging capturing apparatus;

a source of light for providing illumination during image capture;

logic for performing the following operations;

detecting a value indicative of ambient light at a time when the image is acquired;

storing the value in association with the image;

determining a course of action based, at least in part, on the value.

35. The portable digital image acquisition device of claim 34 further comprising logic for determining whether the value is greater than a threshold value, wherein the course of action comprises not altering the digital image if the value is greater than the threshold value.

36. The portable digital image acquisition device of claim 34 further comprising logic for determining whether the value is less than a threshold value, wherein the course of action comprises analyzing the image to identify flash-eye defect candidates if the value is less than the threshold value.

37. The portable digital image acquisition device of claim 34 further comprising logic for:

determining an on-subject pupil size based, at least in part, on the value;

determining whether to perform a corrective action based, at least in part, on the on-subject pupil size.

38. The portable digital image acquisition device of claim 34 further comprising logic for:

determining an on-subject pupil size based, at least in part, on the value;

determining a second value indicative of a distance between an image capture apparatus and a subject;

storing the second value;

determining a critical distance based, at least in part, on the on-subject pupil size and the second value;

determining whether to perform corrective action on the image based, at least in part, on the critical distance.

39. The portable digital image acquisition device of claim 34 further comprising logic for:

determining a second value indicative of a distance between an image capture apparatus and a subject;

determining a third value indicative of a lens focal length;

storing the second value and the third value;

determining an in-image pupil size based, at least in part, on the value, the second value, and the third value;

identifying defects in the image based, at least in part, on the in-image pupil size.

40. The portable digital image acquisition device of claim 39, wherein the step of identifying defects includes searching the image only for defects that are the same size as, or smaller, than the in-image pupil size.

41. A portable digital image acquisition device comprising:

a lens;

a digital imaging capturing apparatus;

a source of light for providing illumination during image capture;

logic for performing the following operations;

storing a value indicative of a position of a source of light relative to a lens;

using the value to identify an expected orientation for a half-red eye defect;

identifying defect candidates in the image at least in part based on the expected orientation.

42. A portable digital image acquisition device comprising:

a lens;

a digital imaging capturing apparatus;

a source of light for providing illumination during image capture;

logic for performing the following operations;

acquiring a digital image at a time;

storing image acquisition data, wherein the image acquisition data includes at least one of a position of a source of light relative to a lens, a distance from a source of light to the lens, a focal length of the lens, a distance from a point on a digital image acquisition device to a subject, an amount of ambient light, or flash intensity;

determining dynamic anthropometric data, wherein the dynamic anthropometric data includes one or more dynamically changing human body measurements, of one or more humans represented in said image, captured at said time;

determining a course of corrective action based, at least in part, on the image acquisition data and the dynamic anthropometric data.

43. The one or more media of claim 42 wherein the anthropometric data comprises an eye gaze angle determined from content of the digital image.

44. The one or more media of claim 42, wherein the anthropometric data comprises pupil size, wherein the pupil size is derived from the image acquisition data, and wherein the image acquisition data comprises a value indicative of ambient light.