VIDEO IMAGE PROVIDING APPARATUS, VIDEO IMAGE UTILIZING APPARATUS, VIDEO IMAGE PROVIDING SYSTEM, VIDEO IMAGE PROVIDING METHOD AND RECORDING MEDIUM

• US 20130050522A1
• Filed: 08/21/2012
• Published: 02/28/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: MINESHITA, Satoshi
• Application Number:
  US13/590,295
• Publication Number:
  US 20130050522A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/222.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/10 Human or animal bodies, e.g. vehicle occupants or pedestrians; Body parts, e.g. hands
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19686 Interfaces masking personal details for privacy, e.g. blurring faces, vehicle license plates
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/188 Capturing isolated or intermittent images triggered by the occurrence of a predetermined event, e.g. an object reaching a predetermined position signal generation from motion picture films H04N5/253

Abstract

The present invention has been made for purpose of providing a video image providing apparatus which can provide a variety of users with a video image captured by a surveillance camera or the like, while paying careful attention to privacy information included in the video image.

The present invention comprises: an attribute characteristic information acquisition unit which acquires attribute characteristic information representing a visual characteristic of a human attribute from an attribute characteristic information storage apparatus; a video image data acquisition unit which acquires video image data captured by an image-capturing apparatus; a human area extraction unit which extracts a human area from the video image data; an attribute determination unit which determines whether or not an area matching the attribute characteristic information is included in the human area; a human video image information transmission unit which transmits human video image information to a video image utilizing apparatus.

Claims

1. A video image providing apparatus comprising:

an attribute characteristic information acquisition unit which acquires attribute characteristic information representing a visual characteristic of a human attribute from an attribute characteristic information storage apparatus;

a video image data acquisition unit which acquires video image data captured by an image-capturing apparatus;

a human area extraction unit which extracts a human area from the video image data;

an attribute determination unit which determines whether or not an area matching the attribute characteristic information is included in the human area; and

a human video image information transmission unit which transmits human video image information including an video image of at least a partial region of the human area to a video image utilizing apparatus which performs processing with respect to a video image of a person having the human attribute, when the human area is determined to include the area matching the attribute characteristic information.

2. The video image providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the attribute characteristic information acquisition unit acquires, as the attribute characteristic information, clothes characteristic information representing a characteristic of clothes related to the human attribute.

3. The video image providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the human video image information transmission unit transmits a face image included in the human area, by including at least it in the human video image information.

4. The video image providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the attribute characteristic information acquisition unit further acquires information representing a body region related to the attribute characteristic information, in addition to the attribute characteristic information; and

the attribute determination unit extracts an area of the body region from the human area, and determines whether or not an area matching the attribute characteristic information is included in the extracted area.

5. The video image providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein,

when the video image data acquisition unit acquires a plurality of frames constituting the video image data in accordance with their chronological order:

the human area extraction unit appends a human ID to a human area extracted from one of the frames, by determining whether or not the human area represents the same person as that in a human area extracted from another frame; and

,

when the human area is determined to include an area matching the attribute characteristic information, the human video image information transmission unit transmits the human video image information to the video image utilizing apparatus, on the basis of at least one of the human area of the corresponding frame and a human area of another frame to which the same human ID is appended.

6. A video image utilizing apparatus comprising:

a human video image information acquisition unit which acquires the human video image information about a person having a predetermined attribute from the video image providing apparatus according to any one of claims 1; and

a human video image information processing unit which performs processing with respect to the human image information.

7. The video image utilizing apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising an individual characteristic information storage unit which stores individual characteristic information representing a visual characteristic of a person having the predetermined attribute, for the purpose of individual identification of the person, wherein

the human video image information processing unit compares the human video image information and the individual characteristic information.

8. A video image providing system comprising:

the video image providing apparatus according to claim 1;

the video image utilizing apparatus according to claim 6; and

the attribute characteristic information storage apparatus.

9. A video image providing method comprising:

acquiring attribute characteristic information representing a visual characteristic of a human attribute from an attribute characteristic information storage apparatus;

acquiring video image data captured by an image-capturing apparatus;

extracting a human area from the video image data;

determining whether or not an area matching the attribute characteristic information is included in the human area; and

transmitting human video image information including an video image of at least a partial region of the human area to a video image utilizing apparatus which performs processing with respect to an video image of a person having the attribute, when the human area is determined to include an area matching the attribute characteristic information.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a program to cause a computer to execute:

an attribute characteristic information acquisition process to acquire attribute characteristic information representing a visual characteristic of a human attribute from an attribute characteristic information storage apparatus;

a video image data acquisition process to acquire video image data captured by an image-capturing apparatus;

a human area extraction process to extract a human area from the video image data;

an attribute determination process to determine whether or not an area matching the attribute characteristic information is included in the human area; and

a human video image information transmission process to transmit human video image information including an video image of at least a partial region of the human area to a video image utilizing apparatus which performs processing with respect to an video image of a person having the attribute, when the human area is determined to include an area matching the attribute characteristic information.