CAPTURED IMAGE RECOGNITION DEVICE, CAPTURED IMAGE RECOGNITION SYSTEM, AND CAPTURED IMAGE RECOGNITION METHOD

• US 20130308825A1
• Filed: 12/21/2011
• Published: 11/21/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/17/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Yamazaki, Ryuji
• Granted Patent: US 9,842,259 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/103
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/52 Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast

Abstract

Provided is a captured image recognition device that enables the performance of an image recognition function to be sufficiently evinced. A field-of-view splitting estimation unit (31) estimates the splitting of the field of view of a camera unit (20) using a captured image (S1). On the basis of the estimated splitting of the field of view, a candidate application selection unit (32) selects, from among a plurality of image recognition applications, candidates for an image recognition application that is favorable or able to execute processing with respect to a current captured image. An image recognition processing unit (40) executes the image recognition application selected by a user from among the candidate applications. As a result, the performance of an image recognition function can be sufficiently evinced as a result of it being possible to execute an image recognition application that is suitable to the current captured image.

Claims

1-10. -10. (canceled)

11. A captured-image recognition apparatus comprising:

a visual-field-ratio estimation section that estimates a visual field ratio of a target in a captured image using at least two kinds of detecting sections that detect different kinds of targets;

a candidate application selection section that selects at least one candidate of an image recognition application corresponding to the estimated visual field ratio, from among a plurality of image recognition applications that recognize different kinds of targets; and

an image recognition processing section that executes an image recognition application selected from among the candidate applications.

12. The captured-image recognition apparatus according to claim 11, wherein

the visual-field-ratio estimation section extracts a target in the captured image by the detecting sections and estimates the visual field ratio based on a visual field angle of a camera and a positional relationship between the target and the camera.

13. The captured-image recognition apparatus according to claim 11, wherein

the visual-field-ratio estimation section includes:

a person detecting section that detects a person from the captured image; and

a face detecting section that detects a face from the captured image, and

the visual-field-ratio estimation section estimates the visual field ratio based on a person detection result and a face detection result.

14. The captured-image recognition apparatus according to claim 11, wherein:

the image recognition applications are set with proper visual field ratios, respectively; and

the candidate application selection section selects the image recognition application based on the proper visual field ratio set for each of the image recognition applications and the visual field ratio estimated by the visual-field-ratio estimation section.

15. The captured-image recognition apparatus according to claim 11, wherein

the application candidate selection section selects an application in consideration of a zoom range of an imaging apparatus configured to take the captured image.

16. The captured-image recognition apparatus according to claim 11, wherein

the candidate application selection section selects, as the candidate of the image recognition application, at least one of a congestion detection application, a person detection application, a movement-recognition application, a facial-recognition application, a visual-line estimation application, a movement-line detection application, a cloth search application, a sex estimation application, an age estimation application, and a facial-expression estimation application.

17. A server apparatus comprising a captured-image recognition apparatus according to claim 11.

18. A captured-image recognition system comprising:

a server apparatus that includes a database storing a plurality of image recognition application programs therein; and

a network camera to be connected to the server apparatus in a network;

wherein;

the server apparatus selects a candidate of an image recognition application corresponding to the visual field ratio, from among the plurality of stored image recognition application programs that recognize different kinds of targets, based on a visual field ratio estimated by a size of a target detected by at least two kinds of detecting sections, and by the kinds of the detecting sections, the at least two kinds of detecting sections detecting different kinds of the targets in an image captured by the network camera;

the server apparatus presents information on the selected candidate of the image recognition application to a user of the network camera; and

the server apparatus transmits a program for the image recognition application selected by the user to the network camera.

19. A captured-image recognition method comprising:

a visual-field-ratio estimation step of estimating a visual field ratio of a target size in a captured image using at least two kinds of detecting sections that detect different kinds of targets;

a candidate application selection step of selecting at least one candidate of an image recognition application corresponding to the estimated visual field ratio, from among a plurality of image recognition applications that recognize different kinds of targets; and

an image recognition processing step of executing an image recognition application selected from among the candidate applications.

20. A program that causes a computer to execute a process comprising:

estimating a visual field ratio of a target in a captured image using at least two kinds of detecting sections that detect different kinds of targets;

selecting a candidate of an image recognition application corresponding to the estimated visual field ratio, from among a plurality of image recognition applications that recognize different kinds of targets; and

executing an image recognition application selected from among the candidate applications.