APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR COUNTING NUMBER OF OBJECTS

• US 20090220123A1
• Filed: 02/27/2009
• Published: 09/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/03/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Yashiro, Satoshi, Tojo, Hiroshi, Guo, Muling
• Granted Patent: US 8,284,991 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/103
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/52 Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/10 Human or animal bodies, e.g. vehicle occupants or pedestrians; Body parts, e.g. hands
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/161 Detection; Localisation; Normalisation

Abstract

An image processing apparatus includes a first detecting unit configured to detect an object based on an upper body of a person and a second detecting unit configured to detect an object based on a face of a person. The image processing apparatus determines a level of congestion of objects contained in an input image, selects the first detecting unit when the level of congestion is low, and selects the second detecting unit when the level of congestion is high. The image processing apparatus counts the number of objects detected by the selected first or second detecting unit from the image. Thus, the image processing apparatus can detect an object and count the number of objects with high precision even when the level of congestion is high and the objects tend to overlap one another.

Claims

1. An image processing apparatus comprising:

a plurality of detecting units configured to detect an object using different detection processes;

a determining unit configured to determine a level of congestion of objects contained in an input image;

a selecting unit configured to select at least one detecting unit from among the plurality of detecting units in accordance with the determined level of congestion; and

a control unit configured to cause a result of detection of an object from the input image detected by the at least one selected detecting unit to be output.

2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to cause only the at least one selected detecting unit from among the plurality of detecting units to detect the objects from the input image.

3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to cause the plurality of detecting units to detect the objects contained in the input image and cause the result of detection of the object detected by the detecting unit selected by the at least one selecting unit to be selected and output.

4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an integrating unit, wherein, when the selecting unit selects a plurality of detecting units, the integrating unit is configured to integrate results of detections detected by the plurality of selected detecting units.

5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a counting unit configured to count a number of objects detected by the at least one detecting unit selected by the selecting unit.

6. The image processing apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising an object tracking unit configured to find a trail of the object from the detection within a predetermined period of time, the detection being performed by the detecting unit selected by the selecting unit,

wherein the counting unit is configured to count a number of objects whose trails found by the object tracking unit satisfy a predetermined condition.

7. The image processing apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a display unit configured to display the number of objects counted by the counting unit.

8. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an image pickup unit configured to obtain an image.

9. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the determining unit is configured to obtain a difference between the input image and a background image and determine the level of congestion based on the obtained difference.

10. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of detecting units includes a first detecting unit configured to detect an object based on an upper body of a person and a second detecting unit configured to detect an object based on a face of a person, and

the selecting unit is configured to select the first detecting unit when the level of congestion is low and select the second detecting unit when the level of congestion is high.

11. The image processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the second detecting unit is configured to detect the object based on the face of the person and a difference between the input image and a background image.

12. The image processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the second detecting unit is configured to detect the object based on the face of the person and an oval edge.

13. An image processing method comprising:

determining a level of congestion of objects contained in an image;

selecting a detection process in accordance with the determined level of congestion; and

detecting an object from the image using the selected detection process.

14. A computer-readable storage medium that stores a program for instructing a computer to implement the image processing method according to claim 13.