Image display method, program, and image display apparatus

• US 7,600,191 B2
• Filed: 06/18/2004
• Issued: 10/06/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Aratani, Shuntaro, Ohno, Tomoyuki, Miyamoto, Katsuhiro, Yoshikawa, Tomoyasu
• Primary Examiner(s): Ye; Lin
• Assistant Examiner(s): Cowan; Euel K
• Application Number:
  US10/869,919
• Publication Number:
  US 20050001933A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,936 Days
• Field of Search: 348/333.01, 348/333.05, 348/333.07, 715/790, 715/791, 715/794, 345/665, 345/629, 345/421, 382/214, 382/190
• US Class Current: 715/790
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/16 Human faces, e.g. facial parts, sketches or expressions
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4184 providing storage capabilities, e.g. memory stick
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4221 Dedicated function buttons, e.g. for the control of an EPG, subtitles, aspect ratio, picture-in-picture or teletext
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4312 involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44008 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in the video stream arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8153 comprising still images, e.g. texture, background image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/45 Picture in picture , e.g. displaying simultaneously another television channel in a region of the screen

Abstract

A table is allocated indexes corresponding to display positions on a monitor screen, respectively, and data indicating an unexposed part at each of the display positions is stored in each index of the table. Focal position information is acquired from Exif header information on image data of an image, and a location of one of the indexes in the table at which no image data is registered is searched in an ascending order of the indexes. According to the table, the images are arranged so that the focal position of each image differs from the unexposed part at the display position of the image.

Claims

1. An image display method of displaying a plurality of images on a screen while overlapping each other, the method comprising the steps of:

detecting a face area of a person contained in each of the plurality of images;

determining an order of overlapping of the plurality of images and a display position on the screen of each of the plurality of images, so that the detected face area of each image is not hidden by other images; and

displaying the plurality of images on the screen while overlapping each other in accordance with the determined order of overlapping and the determined display position.

2. An image display method according to claim 1, wherein, said determining step determines the order of overlapping so that the plurality of images overlap in a descending order of magnitudes of the detected face areas.

3. An image display method according to claim 1, further comprising a registering step of reading a focal position information from an image in which a face area is not detected in said detecting step and registering an area including the focal position as a region-of-interest, wherein

said determining step determines the order of overlapping and the display position on the screen so that the region-of-interest of each image is not hidden by other images.

4. An image display method according to claim 3, wherein,

said registering step registers an area including a central position of the image as the region-of-interest when said registering step fails to read the focal position information from the image.

5. A computer-readable medium storing a computer-executable program for implementing a method according to claim 1.

6. An image display apparatus for displaying a plurality of images on a screen while overlapping each other, comprising:

a face detection unit that detects a face area of a person contained in each of the plurality of images;

a determination unit that determines an order of overlapping the plurality of images and a display position on the screen of each of the plurality of images, so that the detected face area of each image is not hidden by other images; and

a displaying unit that displays the plurality of images on the screen while overlapping each other in accordance with the determined order of overlapping and the determined display position.

7. An image display apparatus according to claim 6, wherein, said determination unit determines the order of overlapping so that the plurality of images overlap in a descending order of magnitudes of the detected face areas.

8. An image display apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising a registering unit that reads a focal position information from an image in which a face area is not detected by said detection unit and registers an area including the focal position as a region-of-interest, wherein

said determination unit determines the order of overlapping and the display position on the screen so that the region-of-interest of each image is not hidden by other images.

9. An image display apparatus according to claim 8, wherein,

said registering unit registers an area including a central position of the image as the region-of-interest when said registering unit fails to read the focal position information from the image.