ELECTRONIC MIRROR DEVICE

• US 20150154439A1
• Filed: 03/26/2014
• Published: 06/04/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Anzue, Naomi, Imamura, Norihiro, Yamagata, Michihiro, Noguchi, Yoshimitsu
• Granted Patent: US 10,198,622 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/012 Head tracking input arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/013 Eye tracking input arrangements G06F3/015 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/165 using facial parts and geometric relationships
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/00 Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/183 for receiving images from a single remote source

Abstract

An electronic mirror device 100 according to an aspect of the present disclosure displays a user'"'"'s facial mirror image, and can shift, according to the user'"'"'s facial orientation or line of sight, the location where the facial image is displayed to a location where he or she can view his or her own facial image easily. The electronic mirror device 100 according to an aspect of the present disclosure includes an image capturing section 102 which captures the user'"'"'s facial image, an image data generating section 120 which outputs image data representing the user'"'"'s facial mirror image based on image data representing the user'"'"'s facial image that has been captured, a display section 103 which displays the image data representing the user'"'"'s facial mirror image, and a display location shifting section 130 which shifts a location where the mirror image is displayed on the display section.

Claims

1. An electronic mirror device which displays a user'"'"'s facial mirror image, the device comprising:

an image capturing section which captures the user'"'"'s facial image;

an image data generating section which outputs image data representing the user'"'"'s facial mirror image based on image data representing the user'"'"'s facial image that has been captured;

a display section which displays the image data representing the user'"'"'s facial mirror image; and

a display location shifting section which shifts a location where the mirror image is displayed on the display section.

2. The electronic mirror device of claim 1, further comprising a user interface which accepts the user'"'"'s instruction to shift the location where the mirror image is displayed,

wherein the display location shifting section shifts the location where the mirror image is displayed in accordance with the user'"'"'s instruction.

3. The electronic mirror device of claim 1, further comprising an orientation estimating section which estimates the user'"'"'s facial orientation,

wherein the display location shifting section shifts the location where the mirror image is displayed according to the facial orientation that has been estimated.

4. The electronic mirror device of claim 3, further comprising a facial feature detecting section which detects a location and a distribution of a predetermined facial part of the image data representing the user'"'"'s facial image,

wherein the orientation estimating section estimates the user'"'"'s facial orientation based on the location and the distribution of the predetermined facial part that has been detected.

5. The electronic mirror device of claim 3, further comprising a distance estimating section which estimates a distance from the display section to the user'"'"'s face,

wherein the display location shifting section shifts the location where the mirror image is displayed according to the facial orientation and distance that have been estimated.

6. The electronic mirror device of claim 1, further comprising a line of sight detecting section which detects the direction of the user'"'"'s line of sight,

wherein the display location shifting section shifts the location where the mirror image is displayed to a location to which the user directs his or her line of sight.

7. The electronic mirror device of claim 1, wherein the image capturing section and the display section form integral parts of the device.

8. The electronic mirror device of claim 1, wherein before the display location shifting section shifts the location where the mirror image is displayed, the image data is displayed closer to the image capturing section than to a central area of the display section.

9. The electronic mirror device of claim 1, comprising a plurality of the display sections,

wherein the display location shifting section shifts the location where the mirror image is displayed from one of the plurality of display section to another.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a computer program which is defined to make an electronic device perform an operation of displaying a user'"'"'s facial mirror image, the operation comprising the steps of:

capturing the user'"'"'s facial image;

outputting image data representing the user'"'"'s facial mirror image based on image data representing the user'"'"'s facial image that has been captured;

displaying the image data representing the user'"'"'s facial mirror image; and

shifting a location where the mirror image is displayed.