IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD AND APPARATUS AND DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHING APPARATUS USING THE SAME

• US 20100220208A1
• Filed: 02/26/2010
• Published: 09/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Samsung Group)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Digital Imaging Company Limited (Samsung Group)
• Inventors: Lee, Byoung-kwon, Kim, Soon-ea, Park, Su-jung, Lee, Seung-yun, Lee, I-saac
• Granted Patent: US 8,570,429 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/222.100
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 13/36 Autofocus systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20012 Locally adaptive
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30201 Face
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/20 using local operators
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/70 Denoising; Smoothing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00326 with a data reading, recognizing or recording apparatus, e.g. with a bar-code apparatus arrangements for the associated working of recording or reproducing apparatus with related apparatus G11B31/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00336 with an apparatus performing pattern recognition, e.g. of a face or a geographic feature image or video recognition or understanding of scenes G06V20/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2101/00 Still video cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/611 where the recognised objects include parts of the human body

Abstract

Provided are a digital photographing apparatus and method of performing different degrees of image processing on one or more faces in an image according to the distances of faces from the digital photographing apparatus or whether auto-focusing has been performed on the faces. Also provided are a digital photographing apparatus and method of performing different degrees of image processing which assist in preventing faces at farther distances from appearing more processed, for example, more blurred, than faces at closer distances and which assist in preventing faces that have not been auto-focused from appearing more processed, for example, more blurred, than faces that have been auto-focused.

Claims

1. An image processing method comprising:

detecting a first face area in an input image;

calculating a distance to the first face area; and

performing image processing on the first face area based on the distance to the first face area.

2. The image processing method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting a second face area in the input image at a distance different from the distance to the first face area;

calculating the distance to the second face area; and

performing image processing on the second face area differently from the first face area due to the difference in the distance to the second face area from the distance to the first face area.

3. The image processing method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether auto-focusing has been performed on the first face area; and

performing image processing on the first face area to a different degree if auto-focusing has been performed on the first face area than if auto-focusing has not been performed on the first face area.

4. The image processing method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting a second face area in the input image; and

performing image processing on the first face area to a different degree than on the second face area.

5. The image processing method of claim 1, further comprising, before detecting the first face area from the input image, selecting one of an image processing mode and an image processing degree.

6. The image processing method of claim 1, wherein the image processing performed is blurring.

7. An image processing method comprising:

detecting at least two face areas in an input image;

calculating distances to each of the at least two face areas;

performing auto-focusing on one of the at least two face areas; and

performing image processing on each of the at least two face areas at different degrees based on whether auto-focusing has been performed on each of the at least two face areas and the calculated distance to each of the at least two face areas.

8. An image processing apparatus comprising:

a face region detector detecting a first face area in an input image;

a distance calculator calculating a distance to the first face area; and

a controller controlling an image processor to process the first face area according to the calculated distance.

9. The image processing apparatus of claim 8, wherein the face region detector detects a second face area in the input image at a distance different from the distance to the first face area, and

the controller controls the image processor to perform processing on the second face area differently from the processing performed on the first face area due to the difference in the distance to the second face area from the distance to the first face area.

10. The image processing apparatus of claim 8, further comprising:

an auto-focusing performing unit performing auto-focusing on the first face area,

wherein the controller controls the image processor to perform processing on the first face area to a different degree than if auto-focusing had not been performed on the first face area.

11. The image processing apparatus of claim 8 wherein,

the face region detector detects a second face area in the input image, and

the controller controls the image processor to process the first face area at a different degree than the second face area

12. The image processing apparatus of claim 8, further comprising:

an image processing mode selector selecting one of an image processing mode and an image processing degree for the input image.

13. The image processing apparatus of claim 8, wherein the image processing is blurring.

14. An image processing apparatus comprising:

a face region detector detecting a first face area and a second face area in an input image;

a distance calculator calculating a first distance from the image processing apparatus to the first face area and a second distance from the image processing apparatus to the second face area;

an auto-focusing performing unit performing auto-focusing on one of the first face area and the second face area;

an image processor performing image processing on the first face area and the second face area at different image processing degrees; and

a controller controlling the image processor to process the first face area according to the first distance and whether auto-focusing has been performed on the first face area and to process the second face area according to the second distance and whether auto-focusing has been performed on the second face area.

15. An image processing method comprising:

detecting at least two face areas in an input image;

obtaining photographing distances of the detected face areas;

determining whether the obtained photographing distances are similar to each other;

calculating the number of correction pixels for each face area according to the determination result; and

correcting each face area according to the calculated number of correction pixels.

16. The image processing method of claim 15, wherein the degree of the correcting is determined according to the number of correction pixels.

17. The image processing method of claim 15, further comprising:

if it is determined that the photographing distances are similar to each other, obtaining size information about the detected face areas,

wherein the number of correction pixels is calculated according to the obtained size information.

18. The image processing method of claim 17, wherein the calculating of the number of correction pixels comprises:

calculating the number of correction pixels of a smaller face area of the detected face areas based on the number of correction pixels of a larger face area of the detected face areas.

19. The image processing method of claim 15, wherein, if it is determined that the photographing distances are not similar to each other, the number of correction pixels is calculated according to the photographing distance of each face area.

20. The image processing method of claim 19, further comprising:

calculating a focal depth based on an AF lens position value of a face area of the detected face areas at a near distance, an AF lens position value of a face area of the detected face areas at a far distance, and a focal depth value,

wherein the number of correction pixels is calculated to be inversely proportional to the calculated focal depth.

21. The image processing method of claim 15, wherein the correcting of the each face area comprises:

correcting a skin color area of each face area by the calculated number of correction pixels.

22. The image processing method of claim 15, wherein the determining comprises:

determining whether a difference value in the photographing distances between the detected face areas exceeds a predetermined threshold value.

23. An image processing apparatus comprising:

a face area detector detecting at least two face areas in an input image;

an AF performing unit obtaining photographing distances of the detected face areas;

a controller determining whether the obtained photographing distances are similar to each other;

a correction pixel calculator calculating the number of correction pixels for each face area according to the determination result; and

an image correcting unit correcting each face area according to the calculated number of correction pixels.

24. The image processing apparatus of claim 23, wherein the degree of the correcting is determined according to the number of correction pixels.

25. The image processing apparatus of claim 23, further comprising:

a size information obtaining unit, if it is determined that the photographing distances are similar to each other, obtaining size information about the detected face areas,

wherein the correction pixel calculator calculates the number of correction pixels according to the obtained size information.

26. The image processing apparatus of claim 25, wherein the correction pixel calculator calculates the number of correction pixels of a smaller face area of the detected face areas based on the number of correction pixels of a larger face area of the detected face areas.

27. The image processing apparatus of claim 23, wherein the correction pixel calculator calculates a focal depth based on an AF lens position value of a face area of the detected face areas at a near distance, an AF lens position value of a face area of the detected face areas at a far distance, and a focal depth value, and calculates the number of correction pixels to be inversely proportional to the calculated focal depth.

28. The image processing apparatus of claim 23, wherein the image correcting unit corrects a skin color area of each face area by the calculated number of correction pixels.

29. The image processing apparatus of claim 23, wherein the controller determines whether a difference value in the photographing distances between the detected face areas exceeds a predetermined threshold value.