KR101467871B1 - Digital image processing apparatus comprising auto zooming fuction and the controlling method of the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a digital image processing apparatus that performs an automatic zoom function. According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a face recognition apparatus comprising a lens and including an imaging unit for capturing an image of a subject and converting the image into an electrical signal, a video signal processing unit for receiving the electrical signal to generate a video signal, A zoom controller for generating a lens drive signal according to the recognized face position, and a lens driver for adjusting the position of the lens in accordance with the lens drive signal, to provide a digital image processor, It is possible to prevent the person from being included in the image.

Digital image processing device, auto zoom

Description

Technical Field [0001] The present invention relates to a digital image processing apparatus having an automatic zoom function and a control method thereof,

The present invention relates to a digital image processing apparatus, and more particularly, to a digital image processing apparatus and a control method thereof for recognizing a face of a person and performing an automatic zoom function.

Today, digital image processing devices such as digital cameras and camcorders are combined with various functions such as an image stabilization function, a face recognition function, and an auto focusing function, so that they are being developed for convenient use by the user. On the other hand, the digital image processing devices developed for user's convenience can be easily ported and many people can pose for taking pictures with a digital camera.

However, it is not easy to take a picture of yourself only in a crowded area like a sightseeing spot. In other words, in order to take a picture, it is necessary to wait for the people to pass around or to take photographs in which the people nearby are included in the image. In particular, if someone else is included in the center of the photo, you can wait for the person to move and then shoot, but even if someone else is included at the edge of the photo, impossible. In the end, people who are not related to themselves can be included in the photographs that they want to leave as good memories, and their feelings can be reduced. Therefore, it is required to develop a method of automatically controlling a digital image processing apparatus so that a face of a person, which is not desired by the user, is not included in the image such as a photograph to be photographed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a digital image processing apparatus and a control method thereof for eliminating a person from a video image that the user does not intend to capture.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing apparatus comprising: an image pickup unit including a lens and capturing an image of a subject and converting the image into an electrical signal; a video signal processing unit receiving the electrical signal to generate a video signal; There is provided a digital image processing apparatus comprising a face recognition unit for recognizing a face from a video signal, a zoom control unit for generating a lens drive signal in accordance with the recognized face position, and a lens driving unit for adjusting the position of the lens in accordance with the lens drive signal to provide.

In the present invention, the zoom control unit may include a position determination unit for determining the position of the recognized face in the captured image, and a signal generation unit for generating a lens driving signal according to the recognized face position. At this time, the lens driving signal may be a driving signal for performing the zoom-in function to remove the recognized face from the captured image.

Further, in the present invention, the signal generating unit may further include an area setting unit for setting an area for generating the lens driving signal.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for detecting a face of a person, comprising the steps of: a) capturing an image of a subject; b) recognizing a face of the person included in the captured image; c) And d) generating a lens driving signal for adjusting a lens position according to the position.

In the present invention, the lens driving signal may be a driving signal for removing the recognized face from the captured image.

The digital image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment generates a lens driving signal so that a face of a person located in an edge area is removed from the captured image and automatically performs a zoom-in operation, The face of the person can be easily removed.

In addition, by setting an area for automatically generating a lens driving signal according to the position of the face, the automatic zoom-in operation can be performed only when necessary.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments will be described in more detail with reference to Figs. 1 (a) to 4.

Fig. 1 (a) is a perspective view showing the outer shapes of the front and top surfaces of the digital image processing apparatus according to the present invention. On the other hand, Fig. 1 (b) is a rear view showing the outer shape of the rear surface of the digital image processing apparatus of Fig. 1 (a).

The external components of the digital image processing apparatus 10 according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 (a) and 1 (b) A shutter-release button 171 and a power button 172 on the front and top surfaces. In addition, various buttons as a user input unit are provided on the back of the digital image processing apparatus 10, and a display unit 180 is also provided.

The lens 101 is a portion for passing the image light of the object to image the image light to the image pickup element.

The flash 103 illuminates bright light instantaneously when photographed in a dark place. The flash 103 uses an automatic flash mode, a forced flash mode, a flash inhibition mode, a red-eye reduction mode, a slow synchro mode, have.

The auxiliary light emitting means 104 supplies auxiliary light to the subject so that the digital image processing apparatus 10 can automatically and quickly catch the focus when the amount of light is insufficient or at night.

The shutter-release button 171 generates an image photographing signal by the input of the photographer. When the photographer inputs the half-shutter signal by pressing the shutter-release button 171 halfway, the digital image processing apparatus 10 adjusts the amount of light by focusing. Then, when the focus is adjusted and the amount of light is adjusted, the photographer can press the shutter-release button 171 completely to capture the image to be captured.

The power button 172 is a key input button disposed in the upper portion of the digital image processing apparatus 10 to supply power to the digital image processing apparatus 10 to operate.

The user input unit is composed of various key buttons, and is used by the user to operate necessary functions of the digital image processing apparatus 10. [ The user input unit includes a wide angle zoom button 173W, a telephoto-zoom button 173T, a mode button 174, an effect button 175, a function button 176, Button 177, and the like. The buttons are illustrative and may be configured in various configurations and shapes.

A display screen as the display unit 180 is formed of a liquid crystal display (LCD), and not only performs a function of displaying an image of a subject to be imaged in real time, but also displays status information of the digital image processing apparatus 10 . In this embodiment, the display screen is formed of a liquid crystal display, but the present invention is not limited thereto. That is, the display screen according to the present invention may include an organic light-emitting diode (OLED), a field emission display (FED), or the like.

1 (a) and 1 (b), a compact digital camera (i.e., a digital camera in which a lens is integrally formed with a main body) is shown as the digital image processing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment . However, the present invention is not limited thereto. That is, the digital image processing apparatus according to the present invention may be a single-lens reflex camera capable of attaching and detaching a lens.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of the digital image processing apparatus shown in Fig. 1 (a) and Fig. 1 (b). The digital image processing apparatus 10 includes an image pickup unit 100, a video signal processing unit 110, a storage unit 120, a face recognition unit 130, a zoom control unit 140, an area setting unit 150, A user input unit 170, a display unit 180, a control unit 190, and the like.

The imaging section 100 is a section for photographing a subject and converting the image of the subject into an electrical signal. The imaging unit 100 includes a lens 101 for passing image light from a subject and an imaging device 102 for converting the passed light into an electrical signal. As the image pickup device 102, a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) or a charge coupled device (CCD) can be used.

The image signal processing unit 110 converts an electrical signal applied from the image sensing unit 100 into a digital signal and then converts the digital signal into a displayable image signal through image signal processing. Since the signal applied from the image sensing unit 100 is an analog signal, it may include an A / D converter to convert it into a digital signal. On the other hand, the video signal processing refers to a series of signal processing such as white balance processing, noise removal, and color correction. The video signal processing unit 110 applies the converted video signal to the RAM 121. [

Meanwhile, an image file generating unit (not shown) generates an image file using a video signal generated by a shutter-release button signal input. The image file is compressed and generated in the JPEG format according to the Exif file format which is the image file standard.

The storage unit 120 may store various signals, data, and algorithms for the operation of the digital image processing apparatus 10, and the like. The storage unit 120 may include a RAM 121 and a storage medium 122.

The RAM 121 temporarily stores various control signals from the control unit 190 and data such as video signals from the video signal processing unit 110, which will be described later, as temporary storage media. The RAM 121 as the temporary storage medium may be a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) or the like.

The storage medium 122 is a long-term storage medium for storing data and the like for a long period of time. The storage medium 122 may store user setting data related to shooting conditions and the like. Also, an algorithm used by the controller 190 to control the digital image processing apparatus can be stored. The storage medium 122 may be an electrically erasable and programmable read only memory (EEPROM).

Also, image files captured and generated by the image pickup unit 100, attribute information on the image files, and the like can be stored. As the storage medium 122 for storing the image file or the like, a memory card or the like may be used, and the storage medium 122 may be an internal or removable external type.

The face recognition unit 130 receives the image signal generated by the image signal processing unit 110 and recognizes the face of the person included in the image signal. When a plurality of characters are included in the input video signal, face recognition is performed on all of the plurality of characters.

Meanwhile, a method of recognizing a face of a person may be performed by a known face recognition algorithm. The face recognition algorithm can be implemented by various algorithms such as a method of detecting and recognizing human eyes, nose, and mouth, and a method of detecting and recognizing a difference between skin color and surrounding color of a face.

The zoom control unit 140 generates a lens driving signal according to the position of the face recognized by the face recognition unit 130. [ The zoom control unit 140 may include a position determination unit 141 and a signal generation unit 142.

The position determination unit 141 determines which portion of the image captured by the image pickup unit 100 is located at the face recognized by the face recognition unit 130. [ At this time, the face to be judged as the position is the face of the person (third person) who is not the object to be photographed by the user. That is, when a photograph is to be photographed, the position of the face of the person to be removed is determined in the image. In general, a person who is a main subject is framed so as to be positioned at the center of the image, so that the position of the person in the edge area of the image is determined as a person to be removed.

The signal generating unit 142 generates a lens driving signal in accordance with the position of the face recognized by the position determining unit 141. For example, when the position of the recognized third person's face is located at the end of the captured image, the third person's face can be removed from the image even with a slight zoom-in operation, A small lens driving signal will be generated. On the other hand, when the position of the recognized third person's face is biased toward the center of the captured image, a lens driving signal having a larger moving distance of the lens as compared with the previous case will be generated.

The area setting unit 150 sets an area for generating the lens driving signal in the signal generating unit 142 of the zoom control unit 140. That is, the signal generating unit 142 may be configured to generate the lens driving signal when the recognized face is included in the set area. The area to be set may be displayed on the display unit 180 by an OSD (On Screen Display) method. It is also possible to determine whether or not to generate the lens driving signal with the information about the area set in the signal generating unit 142 without displaying it on the display unit 180. [

The lens driving unit 160 receives the lens driving signal generated by the signal generating unit 142 of the zoom control unit 140 and adjusts the position of the lens according to the lens driving signal.

For example, if there are a plurality of faces recognized from the video signal, it is determined whether or not there is a face positioned in the edge region of the recognized face among the recognized faces. The edge area may be an area set by the area setting unit 150. [ If at least one of the recognized faces is included in the edge area, a zoom-in operation is performed so that the faces included in the edge area are not included in the image. Therefore, the lens driving signal may be a signal for performing a zoom-in function to remove a recognized face from the captured image.

The user input unit 170 may include a shutter-release button, a wide angle-zoom button, a telephoto-zoom button, a function button, and a zoom button, as described with reference to FIGS. 1A and 1B, A play button, and the like.

The display unit 180 displays a UI, a preview image in a preview mode, a playback image in a playback mode, and the like, which are provided according to the operation of a subject, buttons by a user. The display unit 180 may include a display driver for performing a function to reproduce images such as image data and image files, and a display screen for displaying the reproduced image so that the user can confirm the reproduced image.

The control unit 190 performs overall control of the digital image processing apparatus 10 according to the present invention. A user can input an input signal from the user input unit 170 and generate a control signal corresponding to the input signal to apply the control signal to the portion to which the control signal is applied.

As described above, the digital image processing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment performs face recognition on the image captured by the face recognition unit 130, and controls the zoom control unit 140 to position the image on the edge area of the recognized face The lens driving signal is generated so that the face of the person is removed from the captured image and the zoom-in operation is automatically performed, so that the user can easily remove the face of the third person included in the image.

Also, the area setting unit 150 is used to set an area for automatically generating a lens driving signal according to the face position, so that the automatic zoom-in operation can be performed only when necessary.

FIG. 2 illustrates the movement of signals or data for convenience of explanation, and is not limited thereto. Accordingly, the digital image processing apparatus 10 of the present invention can move data and various control signals through a data bus, or can be illustrated and described in various forms.

3 (a) to 3 (c) are views showing an automatic zoom-in function in a captured image. Referring to FIG. 3 (a), the main character 300 to be captured by the user is located at the center of the image. Meanwhile, a third person 310 irrelevant to the main person 300 is positioned at the upper right corner of the image. 3 (a), it is possible to detect that each person is included in the image.

Referring to FIG. 3B, a rectangular solid line 320 is formed in the image, and the outer region of the solid line 320 is set to perform an automatic zoom-in function. If the recognized face is located only inside the solid line 320, the automatic zoom-in function is not executed. 3 (b), when the third person 310 is located in the area set by the solid line 320, that is, outside the solid line 320, a lens driving signal is generated to remove the third person . In order to remove the third party 310 from the image within the same composition, a zoom-in operation must be performed. That is, the lens driving signal is a signal that performs a zoom-in function.

When the position of the lens is adjusted by the lens driving signal, characters other than the main character 300 are removed from the setting area as shown in FIG. 3 (c). In FIG. 3 (c), the solid line 320 indicating the area setting is continuously displayed after the automatic zoom-in operation, but the present invention is not limited thereto. It is also possible to remove the solid line 320 after the automatic zoom-in operation is completed.

4 is a flowchart showing a control method of the digital image processing apparatus according to the present invention. A method of performing the automatic zoom-in operation will be described with reference to FIG.

When the user directs the digital image processing apparatus to the subject, the image of the subject is captured by the digital image processing apparatus (S400).

The captured image is converted into a digital signal by an A / D converter, and the digital signal is converted into a displayable image signal through image signal processing such as noise reduction, white balance adjustment, and the like (S401).

The face recognition is performed to determine whether the face of the person is included in the captured image using the image signal (S402). The face recognition can be performed by various known face recognition algorithms.

It is determined whether the face of the person exists in the captured image by performing the face recognition (S403). Here, whether or not a face exists is to determine whether or not a face of a third person other than the face of the person who is the main subject exists.

When there is no face of the third person in the captured image, it is not necessary to perform the automatic zoom-in function, so that the normal photographing method can be used.

If there is a face of the third party in the captured image, it is determined whether the face of the recognized third party is included in the set area (S404). The set area may be an area preset by a user to perform an automatic zoom-in function.

If the face of the third person is not included in the set area, the automatic zoom-in function is not performed, so that the normal shooting method can be used. That is, the photographing can be performed by the user's intended composition and zoom magnification.

On the other hand, if the face of the third person is included in the set area, a lens driving signal is generated (S405). The lens driving signal may be generated such that the degree of driving the lens varies depending on the position of the face of the third person.

The position of the lens is adjusted according to the generated lens driving signal, and a zoom-in operation is performed (S406).

After the zoom-in operation is performed, it is determined whether the face of the third party included in the set area is removed (S407). Whether or not the face has been removed may be performed by the same method as that performed in S402 to S403.

If it is determined that the face of the third person is not removed from the captured image, the lens driving signal is generated again and the zoom-in operation is performed. On the other hand, when the third person's face is determined to have been removed from the captured image, the automatic zoom-in function is terminated and an image file is generated according to the shutter input signal from the user.

As described above, in the control method of the digital image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment, it is determined whether or not a face is included in the captured image, and when the face is located in the edge area, And automatically performs the zoom-in operation, so that the user can easily remove the face of the third person included in the image.

In addition, by automatically setting an area for automatically generating a lens driving signal according to the position of the face, the automatic zoom-in operation can be performed only when necessary.

The foregoing description and drawings are merely illustrative of the present invention and are used for the purpose of illustrating the present invention only and not for limiting the scope of the present invention described in the claims or the claims. Accordingly, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. Therefore, the technical protection scope of the present invention should not be limited to the contents described in the detailed description of the specification, but should be defined by the claims.

Fig. 1 (a) is a perspective view showing the outer shapes of the front and top surfaces of the digital image processing apparatus according to the present invention.

1 (b) is a rear view showing the outer shape of the rear surface of the digital image processing apparatus shown in Fig. 1 (a).

Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of the digital image processing apparatus shown in Fig. 1 (a) and Fig. 1 (b).

3 (a) is a view showing a face recognition performed on a captured image.

FIG. 3 (b) is a view showing a setting of an area for performing an automatic zoom-in operation in the image of FIG. 3 (a).

Fig. 3 (c) is a diagram showing an image in which the zoom-in operation is completed with respect to the image of Fig. 3 (a).

4 is a flowchart showing a control method of the digital image processing apparatus according to the present invention.

Description of the Related Art

10: Digital image processing apparatus 100:

101: lens 110: video signal processor

120: storage unit 130: face recognition unit

140: zoom control unit 141: position determination unit

142: signal generator 150: area setting unit

160: Lens driver 170: User input

180: display unit 190: control unit

Claims (6)

An imaging unit having a lens and capturing an image of a subject and converting the captured image into an electrical signal; A video signal processor for receiving the electrical signal and generating a video signal; A face recognition unit for recognizing a face of a third person other than the subject from the image signal; A position determination unit for determining a position of the face of the recognized third person in the captured image; An area setting unit for setting an area for generating a lens driving signal; Generating a lens driving signal in accordance with a position of a face of the third person to remove the third person's face from the set area when the recognized face of the third person is in the set area, ; And And a lens driving unit for adjusting a position of the lens in accordance with the lens driving signal. delete 2. The method of claim 1, And a zoom-in function to remove the recognized third party's face from the captured image. delete a) capturing an image of a subject; b) recognizing a face of a third party other than the subject included in the captured image; c) determining a position of the face of the recognized third party; d) setting an area for generating a lens drive signal; And and e) generating a lens drive signal for adjusting the lens position according to the position to remove the face of the third person from the set area. delete

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