INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS AND INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD

• US 20160195926A1
• Filed: 06/30/2014
• Published: 07/07/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/13/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: IMOTO, Maki, NODA, Takuro, YASUDA, Ryouhei
• Granted Patent: US 10,120,441 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: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0304 Detection arrangements using opto-electronic means constructional details of pointing devices not related to the detection arrangement using opto-electronic means G06F3/033; optical digitisers G06F3/042
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback

Abstract

There is provided an information processing apparatus including an image acquisition unit configured to acquire a captured image of users, a determination unit configured to determine an operator from among the users included in the acquired captured image, and a processing unit configured to conduct a process based on information about user line of sight corresponding to the determined operator.

Claims

1. An information processing apparatus comprising:

an image acquisition unit configured to acquire a captured image of users;

a determination unit configured to determine an operator from among the users included in the acquired captured image; and

a processing unit configured to conduct a process based on information about user line of sight corresponding to the determined operator.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the determination unit determines the operator based on a size of a face region including a face portion of a user detected from the captured image.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

the determination unit determines the operator to be a single user corresponding to the face region having the largest face region size.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein

in a case in which a plurality of the face regions having the largest face region size exists, the determination unit determines the operator to be a user corresponding to the face region detected earlier.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein

when a first difference value, which indicates a difference of the size of the face region corresponding to a user determined to be the operator from the size of the face region corresponding to another user who is a user not determined to be the operator from among the users included in the captured image, is equal to or greater than a configured first threshold value, or when the first difference value is greater than the first threshold value,

the determination unit determines that the user who had been determined to be the operator is not the operator.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

the determination unit determines the operator to be users up to a configured number of people in order of largest face region size.

7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the determination unit determines the operator based on a distance from a display screen of a user corresponding to a face region including a face portion of a user detected from the captured image.

8. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein

the determination unit determines the operator to be a single user corresponding to the face region having the shortest distance corresponding to the face region.

9. The information processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein

in a case in which a plurality of distances corresponding to the face region having the shortest distance corresponding to the face region exists, the determination unit determines the operator to be a user corresponding to the face region detected earlier.

10. The information processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein

when a second difference value, which indicates a difference of a distance corresponding to the face region corresponding to another user who is a user not determined to be the operator from among the users included in the captured image from a distance corresponding to the face region corresponding to a user determined to be the operator, is equal to or greater than a configured second threshold value, or when the second difference value is greater than the second threshold value,

the determination unit determines that the user who had been determined to be the operator is not the operator.

11. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein

the determination unit determines the operator to be users up to a configured number of people in order of shortest distance corresponding to the face region.

12. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the determination unit determines the operator based on a predetermined gesture detected from the captured image.

13. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

when a position of line of sight of a user on a display screen indicated by the information about user line of sight based on the captured image is included in a configured region on the display screen, the determination unit determines the operator to be the user corresponding to the line of sight.

14. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the determination unit identifies a user included in the captured image based on the captured image, and determines the operator based on a ranking associated with the identified user.

15. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the determination unit configures an operation level for a user determined to be the operator, and

the processing unit dynamically changes available processes based on the operation level configured for the user determined to be the operator.

16. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

when predetermined speech spoken by another user who is a user not determined to be the operator from among the users included in the captured image is recognized as a result obtained by conducting speech recognition on an acquired speech signal,

the processing unit conducts a process based on information about user line of sight corresponding to the other user.

17. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

when it is not possible to acquire the information about user line of sight corresponding to a user determined to be the operator from the captured image, the determination unit determines that the user who had been determined to be the operator is not the operator.

18. The information processing apparatus according to claim 17, wherein

when it is not possible to acquire the information about user line of sight corresponding to a user determined to be the operator from the captured image, but a head of the user determined to be the operator is detected from the captured image,

the determination unit does not determine that the user who had been determined to be the operator is not the operator.

19. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

when a predetermined combination of gestures by a user determined to be the operator and another user who is a user not determined to be the operator from among the users included in the captured image is detected,

the determination unit changes the operator from the user who had been determined to be the operator to the other user.

20. An information processing method executed by an information processing apparatus, the information processing method comprising:

a step of acquiring a captured image of users;

a step of determining an operator from among the users included in the acquired captured image; and

a step of conducting a process based on information about user line of sight corresponding to the determined operator.