Image pickup apparatus equipped with face-recognition function

• US 9,042,610 B2
• Filed: 11/19/2013
• Issued: 05/26/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Casio Computer Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Casio Computer Company Limited
• Inventors: Takano, Ryuji, Iwamoto, Kenji
• Primary Examiner(s): Park, Chan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Thomas, Mia M
• Application Number:
  US14/083,998
• Publication Number:
  US 20140078173A1
• Time in Patent Office: 553 Days
• Field of Search: 382/103, 382115-118, 382/190, 382/195, 340 552- 554, 340 582- 584, 348/77, 348/207.99, 348/222.1, 345/619, 345/62
• 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

An image pickup apparatus includes an image pickup unit to pick up an image of a subject which a user desires. The image pickup apparatus detects a face image area which includes a face of the subject person in the picked-up image based on the image information of the picked-up image, recognizes an expression of the face in the detected face image area, ranks the face image areas in order of good smile from among the recognized expressions, and displays the face image areas arranged in the order of ranking and the entire picked-up image on a same screen.

Claims

1. A display apparatus comprising:

an image acquisition device which sequentially acquires a plurality of images;

a face detection device which detects a plurality of face images based on at least one of the sequentially acquired plurality of images;

a face image evaluation device which evaluates a specific condition for the plurality of face images detected by the face detection device, wherein the specific condition includes at least one of a facial expression, a facial contrast, a facial brightness, and a facial size;

a selection device which selects a predetermined number of face images from among the plurality of face images detected by the face detection device, wherein a number of the selected predetermined number of face images is lower than a number of the plurality of face images detected by the face detection device, and wherein the selection device selects the predetermined number of face images based on the evaluation by the face image evaluation device; and

an image display control device which controls a display device to simultaneously display a live-view image corresponding to the sequentially acquired plurality of images and the selected predetermined number of face images.

2. The display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the selected predetermined number is a maximum number of face images displayable on the display device when the number of the detected face images is more than the maximum number of the face images displayable on the display device.

3. The display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the selection device selects the predetermined number of face images in decreasing order of values according to the evaluation of the face images.

4. The display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image display control device controls the display device to display the predetermined number of the face images such that the predetermined number of the face images are superimposed onto a part of the live-view image.

5. The display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image display control device controls the display device to display the predetermined number of the face images such that the predetermined number of the face images are displayed on an edge of the live-view image.

6. The display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image display control device controls the display device to display the predetermined number of the face images so that the predetermined number of the face images are displayed in an enlarged form.

7. The display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image display control device controls the display device to display the predetermined number of the face images in an order of respective values according to the evaluation by the face image evaluation device.

8. The display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image display control device controls the display device to display the live-view image and the predetermined number of the face images such that the live-view image and the predetermined number of the face images do not overlap one another.

9. The display apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an image pick-up device, wherein the image acquisition device sequentially acquires the plurality of images picked up by the image pick-up device.

10. An image display method for a display apparatus comprising a display device, the method comprising:

sequentially acquiring a plurality of images;

detecting a plurality of face images based on at least one of the sequentially acquired plurality of images;

evaluating a specific condition for the detected plurality of face images, wherein the specific condition includes at least one of a facial expression, a facial contrast, a facial brightness, and a facial size;

selecting a predetermined number of face images from among the detected plurality of face images, wherein a number of the selected predetermined number of face images is lower than a number of the detected plurality of face images, and wherein the predetermined number of face images are selected based on the evaluation of the specific condition; and

controlling the display device to simultaneously display a live-view image corresponding to the sequentially acquired plurality of images and the selected predetermined number of face images.