Digital image acquisition control and correction method and apparatus

• US 7,804,983 B2
• Filed: 07/26/2006
• Issued: 09/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/24/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: FotoNation Limited (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: FotoNation Vision Limited (Adeia Inc.)
• Inventors: Steinberg, Eran, Bigioi, Petronel, Corcoran, Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): Le; Vu
• Assistant Examiner(s): LIEW, ALEX KOK SOON
• Application Number:
  US11/460,225
• Publication Number:
  US 20070201725A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,525 Days
• Field of Search: 382115-118, 382/141, 382124-128
• US Class Current: 382/118
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/98 Detection or correction of errors, e.g. by rescanning the pattern or by human intervention; Evaluation of the quality of the acquired patterns
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/993 Evaluation of the quality of the acquired pattern
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/161 Detection; Localisation; Normalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/175 Static expression
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/611 where the recognised objects include parts of the human body
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/64 Computer-aided capture of images, e.g. transfer from script file into camera, check of taken image quality, advice or proposal for image composition or decision on when to take image

Abstract

An unsatisfactory scene is disqualified as an image acquisition control for a camera. An image is acquired. One or more mouth regions are determined. The mouth regions are analyzed to determined whether they are frowning, and if so, then the scene is disqualified as a candidate for a processed, permanent image while the mouth is completing the frowning.

Claims

1. A method of disqualifying an unsatisfactory scene as an image acquisition control for a camera, comprising:

acquiring a present image of a scene including a face region;

detecting the face region;

identifying one or more groups of pixels corresponding to a face feature region within the face region, including a mouth or one or both eyes or combinations thereof;

determining whether the face feature region has an unsatisfactory configuration; and

if so, then

disqualifying the scene as a candidate for full resolution capture while the face feature region has the unsatisfactory configuration, and

wherein the present image comprises a subsampled version of a same scene as a full resolution image, wherein the present image comprises a reduced number of pixels compared with said full resolution image, such that said present image comprises a relatively low resolution preview image, and the disqualifying comprises delaying capture of a full resolution image of the scene for one or both of a predetermined or a calculated period for the unsatisfactory configuration to change.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining comprises determining whether a mouth is frowning, and further comprises determining a degree to which one or both lips are turned downward at the edges.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing a shape analysis of a mouth and analyzing pixels corresponding to one or both lips, dimple, crease, tongue, teeth, gums, or combinations thereof.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises assembling a combination image including pixels from the present image and non-frowning mouth pixels from a different image corresponding to a mouth that has a frowning configuration within the present image.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising aligning the present image and the different image, including matching a non-frowning mouth pixel region to a frowning mouth region in the present image.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying comprises identifying a mouth region which comprises identifying the face region, and analyzing the face region to determine the mouth region therein.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a warning signal regarding the unsatisfactory configuration.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein unsatisfactory configuration comprises a first mouth region that is frowning, and the method further comprising identifying a second mouth region of a second face within the scene;

determining whether the second mouth region is in a frowning process; and

if so, then disqualifying the scene as a candidate for a processed, permanent image while the second mouth is completing the frowning.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising delaying capturing a full resolution image until the mouth regions of each face region within the scene comprise no frowning mouth.

10. One or more processor readable storage devices having processor readable code embodied thereon, said processor readable code for programming one or more processors to perform a method of disqualifying an unsatisfactory scene as an image acquisition control for a camera, comprising:

acquiring a present image of a scene including a face region;

detecting the face region;

identifying one or more groups of pixels corresponding to a face feature region within the face region, including a mouth or one or both eves or combinations thereof;

determining whether the face feature region has an unsatisfactory configuration; and

if so, then

disqualifying the scene as a candidate for full resolution capture while the face feature region has the unsatisfactory configuration, and

wherein the present image comprises a subsampled version of a same scene as a full resolution image, wherein the present image comprises a reduced number of pixels compared with said full resolution image, such that said present image comprises a relatively low resolution preview image, and the disqualifying comprises delaying capture of a full resolution image of the scene for one or both of a predetermined or a calculated period for the unsatisfactory configuration to change.

11. The one or more storage devices of claim 10, wherein the determining comprises determining whether the mouth is frowning which comprises determining a degree to which one or both lips are turned downward at the edges.

12. The one or more storage devices of claim 11, the method further comprising performing a shape analysis of a mouth and analyzing pixels corresponding to one or both lips, dimple, crease, tongue, teeth, gums, or combinations thereof.

13. The one or more storage devices of claim 10, wherein the one or both of a predetermined or a calculated period, comprises a predetermined period.

14. The one or more storage devices of claim 10, the method further comprising performing an analysis of a mouth and differentiating pixels corresponding to a lip from pixels corresponding to a dimple, a crease, a tongue, teeth, or gums, or combinations thereof.

15. The one or more storage devices of claim 10, wherein the method further comprises assembling a combination image including pixels from the present image and non-frowning mouth pixels from a different image corresponding to a mouth that has a frowning configuration within the present image.

16. The one or more storage devices of claim 15, the method further comprising aligning the present image and the different image, including matching a non-frowning mouth pixel region to a frowning mouth region in the present image.

17. The one or more storage devices of claim 10, wherein the identifying comprises identifying a mouth region which comprises identifying the face region, and analyzing the face region to determine the mouth region therein.

18. The one or more storage devices of claim 10, wherein the one or both of a predetermined or a calculated period, comprises a calculated period based on a predetermined period and information obtained from the present image.

19. The one or more storage devices of claim 10, the method further comprising providing a warning signal regarding a mouth that is frowning.

20. The one or more storage devices of claim 10, wherein the unsatisfactory configuration comprises a mouth region that is frowning, and the method further comprising identifying a second mouth region of a second face within the scene;

determining whether the second mouth region is in a frowning process; and

if so, then disqualifying the scene as a candidate for a processed, permanent image while the second mouth is completing the frowning.

21. The one or more storage devices of claim 20, the method further comprising delaying capturing a full resolution image until a mouth region of each face region within the scene comprises no frowning mouth.

22. A digital image acquisition device comprising a lens and image sensor for capturing digital images, a processor, and one or more computer readable media as in any of claims 10, 11-13, 14, 15, and 16-21.