Image pickup apparatus equipped with face-recognition function

• US 8,615,112 B2
• Filed: 03/28/2008
• Issued: 12/24/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Casio Computer Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Casio Computer Company Limited
• Inventors: Takano, Ryuji, Iwamoto, Kenji
• Primary Examiner(s): Park, Chan S
• Assistant Examiner(s): Thomas, Mia M
• Application Number:
  US12/057,753
• Publication Number:
  US 20080240563A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,097 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 382/118
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/00 2D [Two Dimensional] image generation
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/174 Facial expression recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/175 Static expression
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2101/00 Still video cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/61 based on recognised objects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/611 where the recognised objects include parts of the human body
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/635 Region indicators; Field of view indicators

Abstract

The image pickup apparatus 100 comprises the image pickup unit 1 to pick up an image of the subject which a user desires, a detecting of the face image area which includes the face of the subject person in the picked-up image based on the image information of the picked-up image, a recognizing of the expression of the face in the detected face image area, a ranking of the face image areas in the order of good smile of the recognized expressions and a displaying of the face image areas F arranged in the order of ranking and the entire picked-up image G on the same screen.

Claims

1. An image pickup apparatus, comprising:

an image pickup device which picks up an image of plural subjects;

a display device which displays the image that is picked up by the image pickup device;

a face detection device which detects a plurality of face images of the subjects within the picked-up image based on image information of the picked-up image;

a face image evaluation device which carries out an evaluation regarding a specific condition for the plurality of face images detected by the face detection device;

an image display control device which makes the display device display the picked-up image and the plurality of face images detected by the face detection device, wherein the plurality of face images are simultaneously displayed so as to be in an enlarged form and are arranged in an order of respective values obtained according to the evaluation carried out by the face image evaluation device; and

an image recording unit which records the image information;

wherein the image display control device comprises a different condition order display control device which makes the display device simultaneously display the plurality of face images detected by the face detection device in an order of evaluation carried out by the face image evaluation device based on specific conditions which are different from one another between a case that a through image which is picked up by the image pickup device is displayed in the display device and a case that a recorded image based on the image information recorded in the image recording unit is displayed in the display device.

2. An image pickup apparatus, comprising:

an image pickup device which picks up an image of plural subjects;

a display device which displays the image that is picked up by the image pickup device;

a face detection device which detects a plurality of face images of the subjects within the picked-up image based on image information of the picked-up image;

a face image evaluation device which carries out an evaluation regarding a specific condition for the plurality of face images detected by the face detection device;

an image display control device which makes the display device display the picked-up image and the plurality of face images detected by the face detection device, wherein the plurality of face images are simultaneously displayed so as to be in an enlarged form and are arranged in an order of respective values obtained according to the evaluation carried out by the face image evaluation device; and

an evaluation display control device which simultaneously displays the plurality of face images by respectively associating the plurality of face images with numerical values which correspond to a result of the evaluation carried out by the face image evaluation device.

3. An image pickup method comprising:

picking up an image of a plurality of subjects;

displaying the picked-up image on a display;

detecting a plurality of face images of the subjects within the picked-up image based on image information of the picked-up image;

evaluating the detected plurality of face images regarding a specific condition;

displaying the picked-up image and the detected plurality of face images on the display, wherein the plurality of face images are simultaneously displayed so as to be in an enlarged form and are arranged in an order of respective values obtained according to the evaluation; and

recording the image information;

wherein the plurality of face images are simultaneously displayed in an order of evaluation based on specific conditions which are different from one another between a case that a picked up through image is displayed and a case that a recorded image based on the recorded image information is displayed.

4. An image pickup method comprising:

picking up an image of a plurality of subjects;

displaying the picked-up image on a display;

detecting a plurality of face images of the subjects within the picked-up image based on image information of the picked-up image;

evaluating the detected plurality of face images regarding a specific condition;

displaying the picked-up image and the detected plurality of face images on the display, wherein the plurality of face images are simultaneously displayed so as to be in an enlarged form and are arranged in an order of respective values obtained according to the evaluation; and

wherein the plurality of face images are respectively associated with numerical values which correspond to a result of the evaluation.

5. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a program which is executable by a computer to perform functions comprising:

picking up an image of a plurality of subjects;

displaying the picked-up image;

detecting a plurality of face images of the subjects within the picked-up image based on image information of the picked-up image;

evaluating the detected plurality of face images regarding a specific condition;

displaying the picked-up image and the detected plurality of face images on the display, wherein the plurality of face images are simultaneously displayed so as to be in an enlarged form and are arranged in an order of respective values obtained according to the evaluation; and

recording the image information;

wherein the plurality of face images are simultaneously displayed in an order of evaluation based on specific conditions which are different from one another between a case that a picked up through image is displayed and a case that a recorded image based on the recorded image information is displayed.

6. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a program which is executable by a computer to perform functions comprising:

picking up an image of a plurality of subjects;

displaying the picked-up image on a display;

detecting a plurality of face images of the subjects within the picked-up image based on image information of the picked-up image;

evaluating the detected plurality of face images regarding a specific condition;

displaying the picked-up image and the detected plurality of face images on the display, wherein the plurality of face images are simultaneously displayed so as to be in an enlarged form and are arranged in an order of respective values obtained according to the evaluation; and

wherein the plurality of face images are respectively associated with numerical values which correspond to a result of the evaluation.