IMAGE PROCESSING DEVICE, IMAGING APPARATUS, IMAGE-PROCESSING METHOD, AND PROGRAM

• US 20100026842A1
• Filed: 07/29/2009
• Published: 02/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: ISHIZAKA, Toshihiro
• Granted Patent: US 8,269,857 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/231.200
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/51 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/58 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/70 of video data

Abstract

An image processing device includes a storage unit,a face detection unit, a face discrimination unit, and a control unit. The storage unit is provided for storing a content management file that stores a file entry for managing contents and a particular face entry for managing a particular face. Each of the file entry and the particular face entry is a hierarchical entry with a hierarchical structure. The face detection unit is provided for detecting a face contained in the contents. The face discrimination unit is provided for determining whether the detected face is the particular face by comparing the particular face with the detected face. The control unit is provided for performing control of correlating the particular face entry with the file entry when the detected face is identified as the particular face.

Claims

1. An image processing device, comprising:

a storage section for storing a content management file that stores a file entry for managing contents and a particular face entry for managing a particular face which is a face of a particularly person, where each of said file entry and said particular face entry is a hierarchical entry with a hierarchical structure;

a face detection unit for detecting a face contained in said contents;

a face discrimination unit for determining whether said detected face is said particular face by comparing said particular face with said detected face; and

a control unit for performing control of correlating said particular face entry with said file entry when said detected face is identified as said particular face.

2. The image processing device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a feature quantity extractor for extracting feature quantity of said detected face, wherein

a feature quantity entry, which is a hierarchical entry and contains feature quantity of said particular face, is linked to a lower layer of said particular face entry and stored in said content management file; and

said ace discrimination unit determines whether said detected face is said particular face by comparing said feature quantity contained in said feature quantity entry with said extracted feature quantity.

3. The image processing device according to claim 2, wherein

said content management file stores metadata which is a hierarchical entry containing face data corresponding to said detected face while said metadata is linked to a lower layer of said file entry;

and

said control unit stores said extracted feature quantity in said face data contained in said metadata entry when said detected face is identified as said particular face.

4. The image processing device according to claim 1, wherein

said particular face entry stores a particular person identifier that identifies said particular person;

said content management file stores metadata which is a hierarchical entry containing face data corresponding to said detected face while said metadata is linked to a lower layer of said file entry; and

Said control unit stores said particular person identifier in said face data contained in said metadata entry when said detected face is identified as said particular face.

5. The image processing device according to claim 1, wherein

each of said hierarchical entries is provided with an entry identifier for identifying said hierarchical entry, and

said control unit correlates said particular face entry with said file entry by storing an entry identifier of said file entry in said particular face entry when said detected face is identified as said particular face.

6. The image processing device according to claim 1, wherein

said content management file stores a particular face image containing at least a part of said particular face, and

said particular face entry stores a storage position of said particular face image on said content management file.

7. An image processing device, comprising:

a content storage unit for storing contents;

a content management file storage unit for storing a content management file with a hierarchical structure, which stores each of hierarchical entries provided with respective entry identifiers for identifying the corresponding hierarchical entries, where

said content management file includes

a file entry which is a hierarchical entry for managing said content,

a particular face entry provided as a hierarchical entry for managing a particular face which is a face of a particular person and provided for storing an entry identifier of a file entry corresponding to a content containing said particular face among contents stored in said content storage unit, and

a content management file storage unit that stores a content management file in which a particular face image provided as an image containing at least a part of said particular face and correlated with said particular face entry;

an operation input receiver for receiving a selection operation for selecting a desired particular face image from particular face images currently stored in said content management file;

a selector for selecting a particular face entry corresponding to said selected particular face image from particular face entries currently stored in said content management file;

an extractor for extracting a content corresponding to an entry identifier currently stored in said selected particular face entry from contents stored in said content storage unit; and

a display for displaying said extracted content.

8. An imaging apparatus, comprising:

a storage unit for storing a content management file that stores a file entry for managing a captured video and a particular face entry for managing a particular face which is a face of a particularly person, where each of said file entry and said particular face entry is a hierarchical entry with a hierarchical structure;

an imaging unit for capturing an image of a subject to generate captured video;

a face detection unit for detecting a face contained in said captured video;

a face discrimination unit for determining whether said detected face is said particular face by comparing said particular face with said detected face; and

a control unit that performs control of correlating said particular face entry with said file entry when said detected face is identified as said particular face.

9. An image processing method, comprising the steps of:

detecting a face contained in a content;

discriminating faces by determining whether said detected face is said particular face by comparing said particular face with said detected face; and

performing control of correlating a file entry which is a hierarchical entry for managing said content with a particular face entry which is a hierarchical entry for managing said particular face when said detected face is identified as said particular face.

10. A program to be executed by a computer, comprising:

a face-detecting procedure for detecting a face contained in a content;

a face-discriminating procedure for discriminating faces by determining whether said detected face is said particular face by comparing said particular face with said detected face; and

a control procedure for performing control of correlating a file entry which is a hierarchical entry for managing said content with a particular face entry which is a hierarchical entry for managing said particular face when said detected face is identified as said particular face.