Image processing method and apparatus
First Claim
1. An image processing method comprising:
- using a processor-based image acquisition device;
acquiring a main image of a scene and two or more further images approximately of a same scene within a time period including said acquiring of said main image;
determining one or more facial regions in said main image and said two or more further images, including temporarly storing two or more subsampled resolution images in a temporary storage directly from an image sensor, locating said one or more facial regions within each of said two or more subsampled resolution images and predicting said one or more facial regions within said main image based on the locating within the two or more temporarily stored subsampled resolution images;
analyzing said one or more facial regions to determine if any one of said facial regions includes a defect, including(i) applying a model to each facial region,(ii) analyzing one or more parameters of said model for each facial region to provide an indication of facial expression; and
(iii) segmenting from said set one or more facial regions indicative of a defective facial expression;
combining defect free facial regions form at least two of said two or more subsampled resolution images to provide a high quality defect free facial region; and
replacing at least a portion of a defective facial region of said main image with image information from a corresponding region of said high quality defect free facial region.
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Abstract
An image processing technique includes acquiring a main image of a scene and determining one or more facial regions in the main image. The facial regions are analyzed to determine if any of the facial regions includes a defect. A sequence of relatively low resolution images nominally of the same scene is also acquired. One or more sets of low resolution facial regions in the sequence of low resolution images are determined and analyzed for defects. Defect free facial regions of a set are combined to provide a high quality defect free facial region. At least a portion of any defective facial regions of the main image are corrected with image information from a corresponding high quality defect free facial region.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. An image processing method comprising:
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using a processor-based image acquisition device; acquiring a main image of a scene and two or more further images approximately of a same scene within a time period including said acquiring of said main image; determining one or more facial regions in said main image and said two or more further images, including temporarly storing two or more subsampled resolution images in a temporary storage directly from an image sensor, locating said one or more facial regions within each of said two or more subsampled resolution images and predicting said one or more facial regions within said main image based on the locating within the two or more temporarily stored subsampled resolution images; analyzing said one or more facial regions to determine if any one of said facial regions includes a defect, including (i) applying a model to each facial region, (ii) analyzing one or more parameters of said model for each facial region to provide an indication of facial expression; and (iii) segmenting from said set one or more facial regions indicative of a defective facial expression; combining defect free facial regions form at least two of said two or more subsampled resolution images to provide a high quality defect free facial region; and replacing at least a portion of a defective facial region of said main image with image information from a corresponding region of said high quality defect free facial region. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. An image acquisition and processing apparatus for providing images with enhanced facial regions in digital images, including a lens and image sensor, a processor and a memory having code embedded therein for programming the processor to control the apparatus to perform an image processing method that comprises:
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a) acquiring a main image of a scene and two or more further images approximately of a same scene within a time period including said acquiring of said main image; b) determining one or more facial regions in said main image and said two or more further images, including temporarily storing two or more subsampled resolution images in a temporary storage directly from an image sensor, locating said one or more facial regions within each of said two or more subsampled resolution images and predicting said one or more facial regions within said main image based on the locating within the two or more temporarily stored subsampled resolution images; c) analyzing said one or more facial regions to determine if any one of said facial regions includes a defect, including (i) applying a model to each facial region, (ii) analyzing one or more parameters of said model for each facial region to provide an indication of facial expression; and (iii) segmenting from said set one or more facial regions indicative of a defective facial expression; d) combining defect free facial regions form at least two of said two or more subsampled resolution images to provide a high quality defect free facial region; and e) replacing at least a portion of a defective facial region of said main image with image information from a corresponding region of said high quality defect free facial region. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. One or more non-transitory, processor-readable media having code embedded therein for programming a processor to control an image acquisition and processing apparatus to perform an image acquisition and processing method that comprises:
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a) determining one or more facial regions within a main image of a scene and within two or more further images approximately of said same scene acquired within a time period including said acquiring of said main image, including temporarily storing two or more subsampled resolution images in a temporary storage directly from an image sensor, locating said one or more facial regions within said two or more subsampled resolution images and predicting said one or more facial regions within said main image based on the locating within the two or more temporarily stored subsampled resolution images; b) analyzing said one or more facial regions to determine if any one of said facial regions includes a defect, including (i) applying a model to each facial region, (ii) analyzing one or more parameters of said model for each facial region to provide an indication of facial expression; and (iii) segmenting from said set one or more facial regions indicative of a defective facial expression; c) combining defect free facial regions from at least two of said two or more subsampled resolution images to provide a high quality defect free facial region; and d) replacing at least a portion of a defective facial region of said main image with image information from a corresponding region of said high quality defect free facial region. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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Specification