EP1045586A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Image processing apparatus
Assignee: Canon Inc
•
Filing: 2000-03-24
•
Granted: —
•
Expires: 2020-03-24
Abstract
Abstract Image data from a plurality of cameras 2-1, 2-2, 2-3 showing the movements of a number of people, for example in a meeting, and sound data from a directional microphone array 4 is processed by a computer processing apparatus 24 to archive the data in a meeting archive database 60. The image data is processed to determine the three-dimensional position and orientation of each person's head and to determine at whom each person is looking. The sound data is processed to determine the direction from which the sound came. Processing is carried out to determine who is speaking by determining which person has his head in a position corresponding to the direction from which the sound came. Having determined which person is speaking, the personal speech recognition parameters for that person are selected and used to convert the sound data to text data. Image data to be archived is chosen by selecting the camera which best shows the speaking participant and the participant to whom he is speaking. Image data, sound data, text data and data defining at whom each person is looking is stored in the meeting archive database 60.
Inventors
- 👤 Michael James c/o Canon R. C. Europe Ltd. Taylor
- 👤 Simon Michael c/o Canon Res. C. Europe Ltd. Rowe
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-01 19:30
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N7/00; H04N7/14; H04N7/15
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 43
Claim 1
Independent Claim
95 words
Image processing apparatus, comprising: means for receiving image data recorded by a
plurality of cameras showing the movements of a plurality
of people; speaker identification means for determining which
of the people is speaking; means for determining at whom the speaker is
looking; means for determining the position of the speaker
and the position of the person at whom the speaker is
looking; and camera selection means for selecting image data from
the received image data on the basis of the determined
positions of the speaker and the person at whom the
speaker is looking.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
31 words
Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the camera
selection means is arranged to select image data in which
both the speaker and the person at whom the speaker is
looking appear.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
62 words
Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the camera
selection means is arranged to generate quality values
representing a quality of the views that at least some of
the cameras have of the speaker and the person at whom
the speaker is looking, and to select the image data on
the basis of which camera has the quality value
representing the highest quality.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
59 words
Apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the camera
selection means is arranged to determine which of the
cameras have a view of the speaker and the person at whom
the speaker is looking, and to generate a respective
quality value for each camera which has a view of the
speaker and the person at whom the speaker is looking.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
50 words
Apparatus according to claim 3 or claim 4, wherein
the camera selection means is arranged to generate each
quality value in dependence upon the position and
orientation of the head of the speaker and the position
and orientation of the head of the person at whom the
speaker is looking.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
69 words
Apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein
the camera selection means comprises: data storage means for storing data defining a
camera from which image data is to be selected for
respective pairs of positions; and means for using data stored in the data storage
means to select the image data in dependence upon the
positions of the speaker and the person at whom the
speaker is looking.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
63 words
Apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein
the means for determining at whom the speaker is looking
and the means for determining the positions of the
speaker and the person at whom the speaker is looking
comprise image processing means for processing the image
data from at least one of the cameras to determine at
whom the speaker is looking and the positions.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
37 words
Apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the image
processing means is arranged to determine the position of
each person and at whom each person is looking by
processing the image data from the at least one camera.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
28 words
Apparatus according to claim 7 or claim 8, wherein
the image processing means is arranged to track the
position and orientation of each person's head in three
dimensions.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
56 words
Apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein
the speaker identification means is arranged to receive
speech data from a plurality of microphones each of which
is allocated to a respective one of the people, and to
determine which of the people is speaking on the basis of
the microphone from which the speech data was received.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
40 words
Apparatus according to any preceding claim, further
comprising sound processing means for processing sound
data defining words spoken by the people to generate text
data therefrom in dependence upon the result of the
processing performed by the speaker identification means.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
54 words
Apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the sound
processing means includes storage means for storing
respective voice recognition parameters for each of the
people, and means for selecting the voice recognition
parameters to be used to process the sound data in
dependence upon the person determined to be speaking by
the speaker identification means.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
79 words
Apparatus according to claim 11 or claim 12, further
comprising a database for storing at least some of the
received image data, the sound data, the text data
produced by the sound processing means and viewing data
defining at whom at least the person who is speaking is
looking, the database being arranged to store the data
such that corresponding text data and viewing data are
associated with each other and with the corresponding
image data and sound data.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
22 words
Apparatus according to claim 13, further comprising
means for compressing the image data and the sound data
for storage in the database.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
31 words
Apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the means
for compressing the image data and the sound data
comprises means for encoding the image data and the sound
data as MPEG data.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
67 words
Apparatus according to any of claims 13 to 15,
further comprising means for generating data defining,
for a predetermined period, the proportion of time spent
by a given person looking at each of the other people
during the predetermined period, and wherein the database
is arranged to store the data so that it is associated
with the corresponding image data, sound data, text data
and viewing data.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
19 words
Apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the
predetermined period comprises a period during which the
given person was talking.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
95 words
Image processing apparatus, comprising: means for receiving image data recorded by a
plurality of cameras showing the movements of a plurality
of people; speaker identification means for determining which
of the people is speaking; means for determining at what the speaker is
looking; means for determining the position of the speaker
and the position of the object at which the speaker is
looking; and camera selection means for selecting image data from
the received image data on the basis of the determined
positions of the speaker and the object at which the
speaker is looking.
Claim 19
Independent Claim
100 words
A method of processing image data recorded by a
plurality of cameras showing the movements of a plurality
of people to select image data for storage, the method
comprising: a speaker identification step of determining which
of the people is speaking; a step of determining at whom the speaker is
looking; a step of determining the position of the speaker
and the position of the person at whom the speaker is
looking; and a camera selection step of selecting image data on
the basis of the determined positions of the speaker and
the person at whom the speaker is looking.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
31 words
A method according to claim 19, wherein, in the
camera selection step, image data is selected in which
both the speaker and the person at whom the speaker is
looking appear.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
62 words
A method according to claim 20, wherein, in the
camera selection step, quality values are generated
representing a quality of the views that at least some of
the cameras have of the speaker and the person at whom
the speaker is looking, and the image data is selected on
the basis of which camera has the quality value
representing the highest quality.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
62 words
A method according to claim 21, wherein, in the
camera selection step, processing is performed to
determine which of the cameras have a view of the speaker
and the person at whom the speaker is looking, and to
generate a respective quality value for each camera which
has a view of the speaker and the person at whom the
speaker is looking.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
50 words
A method according to claim 21 or claim 22, wherein,
in the camera selection step, each quality value is
generated in dependence upon the position and orientation
of the head of the speaker and the position and
orientation of the head of the person at whom the speaker
is looking.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
57 words
A method according to claim 19 or claim 20, wherein,
in the camera selection step pre-stored data defining a
camera from which image data is to be selected for
respective pairs of positions is used to select the image
data in dependence upon the positions of the speaker and
the person at whom the speaker is looking.
Claim 25
Independent Claim
60 words
A method according to any of claims 19 to 24,
wherein, in the steps of determining at whom the speaker
is looking and determining the positions of the speaker
and the person at whom the speaker is looking, image data
from at least one of the cameras is processed to
determine at whom the speaker is looking and the
positions.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
32 words
A method according to claim 25, wherein, the image
data from that at least one camera is processed to
determine the position of each person and at whom each
person is looking.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
27 words
A method according to claim 25 or claim 26, wherein
image data is processed to track the position and
orientation of each person's head in three dimensions.
Claim 28
Independent Claim
60 words
A method according to any of claims 19 to 26,
wherein speech data is received from a plurality of
microphones each of which is allocated to a respective
one of the people, and, in the speaker identification
step, it is determined which of the people is speaking on
the basis of the microphone from which the speech data
was received.
Claim 29
Independent Claim
45 words
A method according to any of claims 19 to 28,
further comprising a sound processing step of processing
sound data defining words spoken by the people to
generate text data therefrom in dependence upon the
result of the processing performed in the speaker
identification step.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
51 words
A method according to claim 29, wherein the sound
processing step includes selecting, from among stored
respective voice recognition parameters for each of the
people, the voice recognition parameters to be used to
process the sound data in dependence upon the person
determined to be speaking in the speaker identification
step.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
82 words
A method according to claim 29 or claim 30, further
comprising the step of storing in a database at least
some of the received image data, the sound data, the text
data produced in the sound processing step and viewing
data defining at whom at least the person who is speaking
is looking, the data being stored in the database such
that corresponding text data and viewing data are
associated with each other and with the corresponding
image data and sound data.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
22 words
A method according to claim 31, wherein the image
data and the sound data are stored in the database in
compressed form.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
19 words
A method according to claim 32, wherein the image
data and the sound data are stored as MPEG data.
Claim 34
Independent Claim
66 words
A method according to any of claims 31 to 33,
further comprising the steps of generating data defining,
for a predetermined period, the proportion of time spent
by a given person looking at each of the other people
during the predetermined period, and storing the data in
the database so that it is associated with the
corresponding image data, sound data, text data and
viewing data.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
20 words
A method according to claim 34, wherein the
predetermined period comprises a period during which the
given person was talking.
Claim 36
Independent Claim
30 words
A method according to any of claims 19 to 35,
further comprising the step of generating a signal
conveying information defining the image data selected in
the camera selection step.
Claim 37
Independent Claim
24 words
A method according to any of claims 31 to 35,
further comprising the step of generating a signal
conveying the database with data therein.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
23 words
A method according to claim 37, further comprising
the step of recording the signal either directly or
indirectly to generate a recording thereof.
Claim 39
Independent Claim
100 words
A method of processing image data recorded by a
plurality of cameras showing the movements of a plurality
of people to select image data for storage, the method
comprising: a speaker identification step of determining which
of the people is speaking; a step of determining at what the speaker is
looking; a step of determining the position of the speaker
and the position of the object at which the speaker is
looking; and a camera selection step of selecting image data on
the basis of the determined positions of the speaker and
the object at which the speaker is looking.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
29 words
A storage device storing instructions for causing a
programmable processing apparatus to become configured as
an apparatus as set out in at least one of claims 1 to
18.
Claim 41
Dependent Claim
30 words
A storage device storing instructions for causing a
programmable processing apparatus to become operable to
perform a method as set out in at least one of claims 19
to 39.
Claim 42
Dependent Claim
28 words
A signal conveying instructions for causing a
programmable processing apparatus to become configured as
an apparatus as set out in at least one of claims 1 to
18.
Claim 43
Dependent Claim
29 words
A signal conveying instructions for causing a
programmable processing apparatus to become operable to
perform a method as set out in at least one of claims 19
to 39.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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