Method and apparatus for processing images of facial expressions
First Claim
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1. An image processing apparatus comprising:
- means for receiving a color facial image data stream in digital format;
a plurality of image data processing circuits interconnected for real time processing the image data in a pipelining manner to provide a real time output, the circuits comprising;
means for monitoring color values in the image data to identify image data pixels representing facial parts, and monitoring means comprising means for carrying out three-dimensional color histogram matching to monitor frequency of occurrence of pixel values in the image data and a backprojection means for comparing a generated histogram with a template histogram generated off-line, andmeans for determining states of the facial parts by monitoring positional coordinates of the identified pixels, said means for determining further comprising a counter for determining the area of the facial part or parts; and
an output device outputting the determined facial part state data in real time.
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Abstract
A real time output containing data relating to states of facial parts is generated. A facial area detection unit (11) has monitoring (51-57) and determining (59-61) processing circuits operating in a pipelining manner to determine position of the facial area. The monitoring circuits (51-57) monitor pixel value frequency using 3D histogram and backprojection processing. The generating facial area signal has masks applied by a unit (12) which supplies data to mouth area and eye area detection units (14,15). Each of these operate on similar principles to the facial area detection unit (11).
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. An image processing apparatus comprising:
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means for receiving a color facial image data stream in digital format; a plurality of image data processing circuits interconnected for real time processing the image data in a pipelining manner to provide a real time output, the circuits comprising; means for monitoring color values in the image data to identify image data pixels representing facial parts, and monitoring means comprising means for carrying out three-dimensional color histogram matching to monitor frequency of occurrence of pixel values in the image data and a backprojection means for comparing a generated histogram with a template histogram generated off-line, and means for determining states of the facial parts by monitoring positional coordinates of the identified pixels, said means for determining further comprising a counter for determining the area of the facial part or parts; and an output device outputting the determined facial part state data in real time. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method of processing facial image data, the method comprising the steps of:
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receiving a digital color image data stream; monitoring color values in the image data to identify image data pixels representing facial parts, said monitoring step comprising sub-steps of carrying out three-dimensional color histogram matching in which there is backprojection with comparison of a generated three-dimensional color histogram with a template histogram generated off-line; determining states of the facial parts by monitoring positional coordinates of the identified pixels and using a counter to determine the area of the facial parts, said monitoring and determining steps being carried out by processing circuits interconnected for real time processing the image data in a pipelining manner; and outputting in real time a signal representing the determined facial part state data. - View Dependent Claims (19)
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Specification