JP2000137791A - Image evaluating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image evaluating device which eliminates the need for troublesome operation and enables a user to immediately know an evaluation of an image such as a photograph that the user takes. SOLUTION: An evaluating means 18 evaluates images inputted by image input means (10, 11) for receiving plural images according to specific evaluation items. A scoring means 19 scores the images according to the evaluation results. A display means 17 displays the ranks of the inputted images according to the scoring results.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an image evaluation apparatus for evaluating an input image, and more particularly, to an image evaluation apparatus capable of displaying the evaluation results of the evaluated images with ranking.

Recently, there has been a tendency for more people to take pictures as a hobby. For these people, in addition to enjoying the individual viewing when a satisfactory photo is taken, there is a desire to obtain the evaluation of a third party and to know the relative level as compared with the photos of others. Occurs.

[0003] In such a case, an applicant for a photography contest sponsored by a magazine or camera maker is evaluated by a selection committee,
It is common practice to know the evaluation result by the announcement.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned method, the labor for applying is complicated, and a considerable period of time is required from the time of application to the announcement of the evaluation. At the time of presentation, my satisfaction and the desire to know what level my picture was compared to others' pictures had diminished, and the desire to take the next picture evoked from the evaluation result became better. There was a risk of lowering.

[0005] In view of the above problems, the present invention allows the user to immediately know the level of an image such as a photograph taken by himself / herself as compared with that of another person without any troublesome work. Increase the fun of photography,
It is an object to provide an image evaluation device that can be expected to develop in this field.

[0006]

Therefore, an image evaluation apparatus according to the present invention is an image evaluation apparatus which evaluates a plurality of images and displays an evaluation order, wherein an image input means for inputting a plurality of images, Evaluation means for evaluating the input image based on a predetermined evaluation item; scoring means for scoring the image based on the evaluation result; and a scoring means based on the scoring result. Display means for displaying the order of the items.

One of the features of the present invention is that a photographed image is automatically evaluated and scored based on a predetermined evaluation item, and the evaluation order is assigned. As a result, the evaluation result can be obtained immediately without the need for complicated work as in the related art, and the motivation for photographing can be increased. Further, since the ranking can be easily and immediately understood, the playability can be enhanced by using the photographed pictures by competing with a plurality of persons.

Although the evaluation of an image may be performed singly, there are various types of photographs such as a close-up photograph, a portrait photograph, a sports photograph, a commemorative photograph, and a night scene photograph. Is different. Therefore, a shooting mode setting means for setting a shooting mode is further provided, and if the ranking for each shooting mode set on the display means is displayed, it is possible to know an objective ranking within a more specialized range. it can.

Further, if an image is displayed together with the order, it is easy to understand. Therefore, it is preferable that the display means displays the corresponding image as well as the order.

Further, if the scoring means assigns weights to the evaluation results for each of the predetermined evaluation items in accordance with the set photographing mode, the points are distributed according to the photographing modes, so that more specialization is performed. Grading can be performed.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to specific examples shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a preferred embodiment of the image evaluation device according to the present invention, and is preferably set at a place such as a game center. In FIG. 1, an image evaluation apparatus main body 1 includes a display unit 2 for displaying ranks, images, and the like, an operation unit 3 operated by a user to set a mode, a charge throw unit 4 for charging a charge, and a digital camera (not shown). ), Etc., a card mounting unit 5 in which a card-shaped storage medium such as a smart media storing photograph data, and an output unit 6 for printing out data are stored.
And so on.

FIG. 2 shows a transition of a display example of the display unit 2, the details of which will be described later.

FIG. 3 shows the operation panel 3. In the figure,
Reference numeral 7 denotes a shooting mode setting unit for setting various shooting modes, 8 denotes a ranking display mode selection unit for selecting whether to display the ranking for each shooting mode or the entire display, and 9 for starting operation of the apparatus. Start key.

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram showing an operation control system of the entire apparatus. In the figure, reference numeral 10 denotes a card mounting unit that reads out image data from a loaded card-shaped storage medium.
The card mounting section 5 of FIG. 1 is shown as a functional block. 11 is a data conversion unit for converting the read image data into image data, 12 is an image processing unit for processing the image data and outputting the processing result, and 13 is printing out the image processed data to a hard copy or the like. An output unit 14 for storing image data of a plurality of pages; a RAM 15 for storing various management data of the image data stored in the memory unit 14;
Reference numeral 16 denotes an operation unit that shows the operation panel 3 of FIG. 3 as a functional block, and 17 denotes a display unit that shows the display unit 2 of FIG. 1 as a functional block.

FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram showing details of the image processing section 12 in FIG. In the figure, reference numeral 18 denotes an evaluation unit for evaluating input image data according to predetermined items, and reference numeral 20 denotes an evaluation item RO storing evaluation items.
M and 19 are scoring units for scoring according to the evaluation result of the evaluation unit 18. The scoring is weighted for each evaluation item according to the shooting mode set from the operation panel 3, and the weight is stored in the scoring weight ROM 21.

FIG. 6 shows an example of the evaluation items stored in the evaluation item ROM 20. In this example, as the evaluation items, how the focus of the main subject is in focus (the focus level of the main subject), the focus of the background image, Whether the subject is in focus (focus level of the background image), whether the exposure amount is too much or not enough (exposure amount), whether there is no blurring such as camera shake (blur amount), Whether the subject is large (the size of the main subject), the contrast is appropriate (contrast), the human face is appropriate in skin color, the graininess is good, and there are no red eyes (human face reproduction state). However, the present invention is not limited to these, and the number of evaluation items may be further increased, or the evaluation may be performed with other items.

The above evaluation items will be described more specifically. The focus level of the main subject can be determined by detecting the edge amount of the image located near the center of the photographic region. Contrary to the above, the focus level of the background image can be determined by detecting the edge amount of the image located around the photographic region. Further, it is possible to determine whether the exposure amount is appropriate by performing a predetermined calculation from the dynamic range of the image density and the minimum density point. The dynamic range refers to the difference between the maximum density point and the minimum density point of the density. If the dynamic range is less than the predetermined threshold, it can be determined that the minimum density point is less than the predetermined threshold, that the exposure is insufficient, and the maximum density point is the predetermined density. If it is equal to or more than the threshold value, it can be determined that overexposure has occurred. If the threshold is provided in a plurality of stages, a plurality of levels can be determined.

The blur amount can be calculated by obtaining the edge amount of the entire photographic image. The size of the main subject can be determined by extracting the outline of the image located near the center of the photographic region and determining the size of the extracted outline. The contrast can be obtained by dividing the inside of the photograph into a main subject and a background image, extracting the contour of the main subject, and determining the difference between the density of the contour and the background image. Furthermore, the face reproduction state of a person can be determined by extracting a face region by a known method and determining the granularity and skin color reproducibility of the image in that region.

FIG. 7 shows an example of weights stored in the scoring weighting ROM 21. In the figure, the shooting mode is set in the column, each evaluation item is set in the row, and the score distribution of each evaluation item when the perfect score is set to 100 is shown. That is, in the close-up mode, whether a small subject is
Whether the focus is on the entire small subject is an important item for evaluation, and the point distribution of these two items is large. In the portrait mode, the point is whether the person stands out clearly and three-dimensionally. However, the background image is set so that the person who is moderately blurred will stand out, and the score is higher when the background image is out of focus.

In the sports mode, the point is whether or not an image of a rapidly moving subject is captured without blurring, so that the amount of blurring is set high. Also,
In the commemorative shooting mode, it is important to be able to take clear pictures of both the main subject and the background you want to memorize, so the focus, face, and size of the main subject and the background are equal. Is assigned to In the night view mode, the point is whether not only the person but also the night view is captured with a natural feeling, so that the exposure amount and the contrast are set high.

FIG. 8 shows an example of the storage state of the image data in the memory unit 14. As shown in FIG. 8, the input image data is stored in each address 001, 002,.
Is stored in each area.

FIG. 9 shows an example of a management table in the RAM 15 for storing management data of the image data in the memory unit 14. The management table stores, for each address in the memory unit 14 of the image data, the shooting mode, the score of the scoring result, the total rank, and the rank for each mode. The order is updated each time new data is input.

FIG. 10 shows a main flowchart of the control operation of the control unit 22. In the figure, S10 is an input processing routine for controlling the input unit (card mounting unit 10, data conversion unit 11), S20 is an evaluation processing routine for controlling the evaluation unit 18, and S30 is a scoring for controlling the scoring unit 19. A processing routine, S40, is performed in parallel with the above processing by the operation unit 16.
S50 is a display processing routine for controlling the display unit 17 in parallel.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of the input processing routine S10 in FIG. Once the process is started, whether a coin has been inserted, a card has been loaded,
Each condition of whether the shooting mode is set or the start key is pressed is determined (steps S11 to S1).
4) If any of the conditions is not satisfied, the process is terminated. When all the conditions are satisfied, the image data is read and a format conversion process is performed (step S15), and the format-converted image data is stored in the image data memory unit 14 (step S16). The process ends.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of the evaluation process launch S20 in FIG. When the process starts,
The image data is read from the image data memory unit 14 and each evaluation item is read from the evaluation item ROM 20 (steps S21 and S22). Next, the input image data is evaluated in 10 steps according to the read evaluation items. That is, the best level is 10,
The worst level is set to 1, and the input image is evaluated. The evaluation results L of the ten grades evaluated are sent to the scoring unit 19 for each of the evaluation items to shown in FIG. 6 (step S23).

FIG. 13 shows a scoring process routine S30 of FIG.
It is a flowchart of FIG. When the processing is started, what is the shooting mode m set on the operation panel 3, that is, close-up Cl, portrait Po, sports S
It is determined whether it is p, commemorative photographing Me, or night view Ni (step S31), and the scoring distribution Smi for each photographing mode is read from the scoring weighting ROM 21 (step S32).
Next, the evaluation result Li for each item set by the evaluation unit 18
Is input (step S33), and the score is calculated by the following arithmetic expression (step S34).

[0027]

(Equation 1)

After the points are calculated, the overall ranking is calculated based on the calculated points (step S3).
5) Then, the ranking for each shooting mode is calculated (step S36). The operation result thus obtained is stored in the RAM 1
5 (step S37), and the process ends.

FIG. 14 shows the display processing routine S50 of FIG.
It is a flowchart of FIG. When the process is started, FIG.
The initial screen shown in (a) is displayed (step S5).
1) Next, it is determined whether or not image data has been input at the input unit (step S52). It waits until input of image data is performed, and when it is determined that image data is input, a screen indicating that determination is being performed as shown in FIG. 2B is displayed (step S53). It is determined whether or not the scoring in the scoring unit has been completed (step S5).
4) Wait until the grading is completed, and when the grading is completed,
It is determined whether the rank display mode set at that time is the total rank or the rank by mode (step S55). If the rank display mode is the rank by mode, data related to the set mode is read out from the RAM 15 and extracted. (Step S5
6) If the rank is the overall rank, all data is extracted from the RAM 15 (step S59), and a process of rearranging the read data in the order of points is performed (step S59).
57), the order of the input data and the data before and after it,
The score and the image are displayed (step S58).

FIG. 2C shows an example of a rank display screen for each mode, and FIG. 2D shows an example of a total rank display screen.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of the operation processing routine S40 in FIG. When the process starts,
When the process is started, it is determined whether or not the photographing mode key has been pressed (step S41). If it is determined that any key has been pressed, the key that has been pressed is set to a corresponding key. (Steps S42 to S4
6). Next, it is determined whether or not the rank mode key has been pressed (step S47). If it has been pressed, either the total rank display mode or the mode-specific rank display mode is set according to the pressed key (step S47). S48, S49),
The process ends. If the shooting mode key has not been pressed, it is determined whether or not the ranking mode key has been pressed. If the ranking mode key has not been pressed, the process ends.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a preferred embodiment of an image evaluation device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a transition of a display example of a display unit in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an operation panel in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram showing a control system in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram illustrating an image processing unit in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of evaluation items stored in an evaluation item ROM in the image processing unit.

FIG. 7 is a scoring weight ROM in the image processing unit.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of weights of evaluation items stored in the storage device.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a storage state of image data in a RAM in the image processing unit.

9 is a diagram showing an example of a management table stored in a RAM in FIG.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a main flow of a control process of a control unit in the embodiment.

11 is a diagram showing a flowchart of an input processing routine in FIG.

12 is a diagram showing a flowchart of an evaluation processing routine in FIG.

13 is a diagram showing a flowchart of a scoring process routine in FIG.

14 is a diagram showing a flowchart of a display processing routine in FIG.

FIG. 15 is a view showing a flowchart of an operation processing routine in FIG. 10;

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 display unit (display unit) 3 operation panel (shooting mode setting unit) 5 card mounting unit (image input unit) 10 card mounting unit (image input unit) 11 data conversion unit (image input unit) 12 image processing unit 13 output unit 14 memory unit 15 RAM 16 operation unit 17 display unit (display unit) 18 evaluation unit (evaluation unit) 19 scoring unit (scoring unit) 20 evaluation item ROM 21 scoring weighting ROM 22 control unit.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An image evaluation device for evaluating a plurality of images and displaying an evaluation order, comprising: an image input unit for inputting a plurality of images; and evaluating the input images based on predetermined evaluation items. Evaluation means, scoring means for scoring an image based on the evaluation result, and display means for displaying a rank among a plurality of input images based on the scoring result. Image evaluation device. 2. The image evaluation apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a photographing mode setting means for setting a photographing mode, wherein said display means displays a ranking of each of the set photographing modes. 3. The image evaluation device according to claim 1, wherein said display means displays an image corresponding to the order as well. 4. The image evaluation apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said scoring means assigns a weight to the evaluation result for each predetermined evaluation item in accordance with the set photographing mode.