FACE DETECTION DEVICE, IMAGING APPARATUS AND FACE DETECTION METHOD

• US 20120114179A1
• Filed: 01/05/2012
• Published: 05/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Okada, Miyuki, Nakajima, Ken
• Granted Patent: US 9,495,578 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/103
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/161 Detection; Localisation; Normalisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/611 where the recognised objects include parts of the human body

Abstract

A face detection device for detecting the face of a person in an input image may include the following elements: a face detection circuit including a hardware circuit configured to detect a face in an input image; a signal processing circuit configured to perform signal processing based on an input image signal in accordance with a rewritable program including a face detection program for detecting a face in an input image; and a controller configured to allow the face detection circuit and the signal processing circuit to perform face detection on an image of a frame or on respective images of adjacent frames among consecutive frames, and to control face detection by the signal processing circuit on the basis of a face detection result obtained by the face detection circuit.

Claims

1. An image processing apparatus, comprising:

a face detection circuit including a dedicated hardware circuit configured to detect a face in an input image;

a signal processing circuit configured to perform signal processing based on an input image signal in accordance with a program including a face detection program for detecting a face in an input image; and

a controller configured to control face detection by the signal processing circuit on the basis of a face detection result obtained by the face detection circuit.

2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the face detection circuit detects a face in the entirety of an input image,

wherein the controller sets a partial area of an image, the partial area including a face area detected by the face detection circuit, as a face detection area in the signal processing circuit, and

wherein the signal processing circuit detects a face only in the face detection area of the input image set by the controller.

3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the signal processing circuit performs face detection such that the position and size of a face area can be detected more accurately than by the face detection circuit.

4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the face detection circuit performs face detection focused on avoiding omissions in face detection, and wherein the signal processing circuit performs face detection focused on avoiding errors in face detection.

5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the controller resets a parameter for controlling the face detection operation of the face detection circuit on a next input image on the basis of a face detection result obtained by the signal processing circuit.

6. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the signal processing circuit detects the position of a facial part in the face detection area of the input image set by the controller.

7. The image processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the signal processing circuit detects the state of the facial part detected in the face detection area.

8. The image processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the signal processing circuit determines a facial expression on the basis of the state of the facial part detected in the face detection area.

9. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the face detection circuit performs general face detection, and wherein the signal processing circuit performs detection of the face of a specific person.

10. The image processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the signal processing circuit detects the face of a specific person to be detected using feature-point information regarding the face of the specific person, and, under control of the controller, changes the feature-point information used, thereby changing the specific person to be detected.

11. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the face detection circuit performs general face detection, and wherein the signal processing circuit performs detection of a face with a specific feature.

12. The image processing apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the signal processing circuits uses feature-point information regarding a face with a specific feature to be detected to detect the face, and, under control of the controller, changes the feature-point information used, thereby changing the specific feature of the person to be detected.

13. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller allows the face detection circuit to start performing face detection on a next input image while the signal processing circuit is performing face detection.

14. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller allows the face detection circuit to perform face detection on a plurality of consecutive input images while the signal processing circuit is performing face detection on one input image on the basis of a most-recent face detection result obtained by the face detection circuit, the controller outputs a face detection result obtained by the face detection circuit as a final detection result, and the controller corrects the face detection result obtained by the face detection circuit on the basis of a most-recent face detection result obtained by the signal processing circuit.

15. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller selectively outputs one of a face detection result obtained by the face detection circuit and a face detection result obtained by the signal processing circuit as a final face detection result as necessary, and, in the case where the face detection result obtained by the face detection circuit is output as the final detection result, the controller stops face detection performed by the signal processing circuit.

16. An image processing method, comprising:

detecting a face in an input image by a face detection circuit including a dedicated hardware circuit configured to perform face detection;

using a signal processing circuit to perform signal processing based on an input image signal in accordance with a program including a face detection program for detecting a face in an input image; and

controlling face detection by the signal processing circuit on the basis of a face detection result obtained by the face detection circuit.