Red-eye filter method and apparatus
First Claim
1. A digital image acquisition system having no photographic film, comprisinga portable apparatus for capturing digital images, a flash unit for providing illumination during image capture, and a red-eye filter for detecting red-eye phenomenon in a captured image based upon a comparison of said captured image anda reference image of nominally the same scene taken without flash, wherein the red eye filter further includes an alignment filter configured to align for aligning at least portions of the captured image and reference image prior to said comparison, and to match the pixel resolutions of the captured and reference images by up-sampling the preview image or sub-sampling the captured image, or a combination thereof,wherein the red eye filter detects said red-eye phenomenon by identifying a region in the captured image having a color indicative of a red-eye phenomenon and comparing said identified region with the corresponding region in the reference image,wherein the red eye filter further designates said region as indicative of a red-eye phenomenon if said corresponding region does not have a color indicative of a red-eye phenomenon.
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Abstract
A digital image acquisition system having no photographic film, such as a digital camera, has a flash unit for providing illumination during image capture and a red-eye filter for detecting a region within a captured image indicative of a red-eye phenomenon, the detection being based upon a comparison of the captured image and a reference image of nominally the same scene taken without flash. In the embodiment the reference image is a preview image of lower pixel resolution than the captured image, the filter matching the pixel resolutions of the captured and reference images by up-sampling the preview image and/or sub-sampling the captured image. The filter also aligns at least portions of the captured image and reference image prior to comparison to allow for, e.g. movement in the subject.
317 Citations
23 Claims
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1. A digital image acquisition system having no photographic film, comprising
a portable apparatus for capturing digital images, a flash unit for providing illumination during image capture, and a red-eye filter for detecting red-eye phenomenon in a captured image based upon a comparison of said captured image and a reference image of nominally the same scene taken without flash, wherein the red eye filter further includes an alignment filter configured to align for aligning at least portions of the captured image and reference image prior to said comparison, and to match the pixel resolutions of the captured and reference images by up-sampling the preview image or sub-sampling the captured image, or a combination thereof, wherein the red eye filter detects said red-eye phenomenon by identifying a region in the captured image having a color indicative of a red-eye phenomenon and comparing said identified region with the corresponding region in the reference image, wherein the red eye filter further designates said region as indicative of a red-eye phenomenon if said corresponding region does not have a color indicative of a red-eye phenomenon.
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2. A digital image acquisition system having no photographic film, comprising a portable apparatus for capturing digital images, a flash unit for providing illumination during image capture, and a red-eye filter for detecting red-eye phenomenon in a captured image based upon a comparison of said captured image and a reference image of nominally the same scene taken without flash, wherein the red eye filter further includes an alignment filter configured to align at least portions of the captured image and reference image prior to said comparison, wherein the red eye filter detects said red-eye phenomenon by identifying a region in the captured image having a color indicative of a red-eye phenomenon and comparing said identified region with the corresponding region in the reference image, wherein the red eye filter further designates said region as indicative of a red-eye phenomenon if said corresponding region does not have a color indicative of a red-eye phenomenon, and, wherein the decision as to whether a region has a color indicative of a red-eye phenomenon is determined on a statistical basis as a global operation on the entire region.
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3. A digital image acquisition system having no photographic film, comprising a portable apparatus for capturing digital images, a flash unit for providing illumination during image capture, and a red-eye filter for detecting red-eye phenomenon in a captured image based upon a comparison of said captured image and a reference image of nominally the same scene taken without flash, wherein the red eye filter is configured to detect said red-eye phenomenon by identifying a region in the captured image having a color indicative of a red-eye phenomenon and comparing said identified region with the corresponding region in the reference image, wherein the red eye filter further designates said region as indicative of a red-eye phenomenon if said corresponding region does not have a color indicative of a red-eye phenomenon, wherein the decision as to whether a region has a color indicative of a red-eye phenomenon is determined on a statistical basis as a global operation on the entire region.
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4. A digital image acquisition system having no photographic film, comprising a portable apparatus for capturing digital images, a flash unit for providing illumination during image capture, and a red-eye filter for detecting red-eye phenomenon in a captured image based upon a comparison of said captured image and a reference image of nominally the same scene taken without flash, wherein the red eye filter is configured to detect said red-eye phenomenon by identifying a region in the captured image having a color indicative of a red-eye phenomenon and comparing said identified region with the corresponding region in the reference image, wherein the red eye filter further designates said region as indicative of a red-eye phenomenon if said corresponding region does not have a color indicative of a red-eye phenomenon, wherein the decision as to whether a region has a color indicative of a red-eye phenomenon is determined on a statistical basis as a global operation on the entire region.
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5. A portable apparatus for capturing digital images, comprising
optics and a sensor, a flash unit, a processor and a red eye filter, wherein the apparatus comprises processor-readable code embedded in one or more media for programming the processor to detect a red-eye phenomenon within a digital image captured by the apparatus, and to identify a region within a captured image indicative of a red-eye phenomenon by comparing said captured image and at least one reference eye color characteristic and at least one reference eye shape characteristic, wherein the red eye filter detects said red-eye phenomenon by identifying a region in the captured image having a color indicative of a red-eye phenomenon and comparing said identified region with the corresponding reference eye color characteristic, wherein the red eye filter further designates said region as indicative of a red-eye phenomenon if said corresponding region does not have a said reference eye color characteristic indicative of said red-eye phenomenon.
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23. A portable apparatus for capturing digital images, comprising optics and a sensor, a flash unit, a processor and a red eye filter, wherein the apparatus comprises processor-readable code embedded in one or more media for programming the processor to detect a red-eye phenomenon within a digital image taken with flash and captured by the apparatus, and to identify a region within a captured image indicative of a red-eye phenomenon by comparing said captured image and at least one reference image taken without flash, and to detect said region indicative of a red-eye phenomenon by identifying a region in the captured image at least having a color indicative of a red-eye phenomenon and comparing said identified region with the corresponding region in the reference image, and designating said region as indicative of a red-eye phenomenon if said corresponding region does not have a color indicative of a red-eye phenomenon, and the one or more media further for programming the processor to determine whether a region has a color indicative of a red-eye phenomenon on a statistical basis as a global operation on the entire region.
Specification