Object extracting method using motion picture

Claim 2

An object extracting method using a motion picture, said method comprising: obtaining a difference image frame by getting a pair of still image frames separated by a predetermined time interval from a motion picture and obtaining a color image frame which satisfies color information defining a color of a particular object from one of the still image frames; performing a grid processing of a logic image frame, which is obtained from the difference image frame and the color image frame, at a predetermined grid size and obtaining connected components using direction connection information of the processed grids and defining minimum areas that each includes one of the connected components; comparing each of the minimum areas with predetermined conditions, thereby selecting the minimum areas which satisfy the conditions as object area candidates; and extracting an object by selecting and optimizing an object area candidate which has a prescribed size among the object area candidates, wherein predetermined conditions are one of the following: (1) a size of a variable RECT[i]>a threshold value of a size of the minimum area; (2) a minimum value<the row/column ratio of the variable RECT[i]<a maximum value; and (3) a density of the variable RECT[i]<a threshold value of a density, wherein the threshold value of the size of the minimum area, the minimum value and the maximum value of the row/column ratio of the variable RECT[i] are previously defined values in accordance with the object, and the density of the variable RECT[i] is a value of which the density of the connected grid components is divided by an area size of the variable RECT[i].

Claim 3

The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined time interval is a time that motion change of the particular object can be detected in the motion picture.

Claim 4

The method of claim 1 , wherein the difference image frame only represents an area where there is the motion change of the particular object between the two still image frames.

Claim 5

The method of claim 1 , wherein the particular object is a human face.

Claim 6

The method of claim 1 , wherein the color information is a color which a user arbitrarily defines by adjusting color condition of the object in specific color space.

Claim 7

The method of claim 1 , wherein the color information represents a skin color.

Claim 8

The method of claim 1 , wherein the color image frame is defined by RGB.

Claim 9

The method of claim 1 , wherein the color image frame is obtained from one of the still image frames.

Claim 10

The method of claim 1 , wherein the logic image frame is obtained by ANDing the difference image frame and the color image frame.

Claim 11

The method of claim 1 , wherein the direction connection information indicates a connection state of a grid to other grids with respect to eight directions.

Claim 12

The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the connected components is composed of grids which are gathered according to the direction connection information.

Claim 13

The method of claim 1 , wherein the minimum area is a rectangle which includes the connected components.

Claim 14

The method of claim 1 , wherein the prescribed size is a largest size among the object area candidates, and wherein the largest object candidate area is located nearest to a camera.

Claim 15

The method of claim 1 , wherein in the optimizing the selected object area candidate, each row or each column of the object area candidate obtains its density and each density is compared with the defined threshold value of the density and the row or column of which density is smaller than the threshold value is deleted.

Claim 16

The method of claim 14 , wherein the density is in the minimum area variable RECT[i] which includes the connected components the density is a value of which the number of grids in a row or a column of one of the connected components is divided by a length of the row or the column thereof.

Claim 17

The method of claim 1 , wherein the extracting the object comprises optimizing each of the object area candidates and selecting the largest area candidate thereamong.

Claim 18

The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined conditions are not based on pixel color.

Claim 19

The method of claim 1 , wherein the grid processing divides the logic image frame into a plurality of fixed size grids and compares a value representing pixels of each grid to a prescribed value to express said each grid that is larger than the prescribed value as a binary grid image.

Claim 20

An object extracting method using a motion picture, said method comprising: obtaining a difference image frame representing motion changes of a motion picture by getting a pair of still image frames separated by a predetermined time interval from the motion picture; obtaining a color image frame that satisfies color information defining a color of a particular object from one of the still image frames; obtaining a logic image frame from a comparison of the difference image frame and the color image frame; performing a grid processing of the logic image frame to determine grids of a predetermined grid size and obtaining a plurality of connected grid components using direction connection information of the grids and defining minimum areas that each includes one of the connected grid components; comparing each of the minimum areas with predetermined conditions, thereby selecting the minimum areas that satisfy the predetermined conditions as object area candidates; and extracting an object by selecting and optimizing an object area candidate which has a prescribed size among the object area candidates, wherein predetermined conditions are one of the following: (1) a size of a variable RECT[i]>a threshold value of a size of the minimum area; (2) a minimum value<the row/column ratio of the variable RECT[i]<a maximum value; and (3) a density of the variable RECT[i]<a threshold value of a density, wherein the threshold value of the size of the minimum area, the minimum value and the maximum value of the row/column ratio of the variable RECT[i] are previously defined values in accordance with the object, and the density of the variable RECT[i] is a value of which the density of the connected grid components is divided by an area size of the variable RECT[i] wherein minimum area is a rectangle which includes the connected components.

Claim 21

An object extracting method using a motion picture, said method comprising: obtaining a difference image frame representing motion changes of a motion picture by getting a pair of still image frames separated by a predetermined time interval from the motion picture; obtaining a color image frame that satisfies color information defining a color of a particular object from one of the still image frames; obtaining a logic image frame from a comparison of the difference image frame and the color image frame; performing a grid processing of the logic image frame to determine grids of a predetermined grid size and obtaining a plurality of connected grid components using direction connection information of the grids and defining minimum areas that each includes one of the connected grid components; comparing each of the minimum areas with predetermined conditions, thereby selecting the minimum areas that satisfy the predetermined conditions as object area candidates; and extracting an object by selecting and optimizing an object area candidate which has a prescribed size among the object area candidates, wherein predetermined conditions are one of the following: (1) a size of a variable RECT[i]>a threshold value of a size of the minimum area; (2) a minimum value<the row/column ratio of the variable RECT[i]<a maximum value; and (3) a density of the variable RECT[i]<a threshold value of a density, wherein the threshold value of the size of the minimum area, the minimum value and the maximum value of the row/column ratio of the variable RECT[i] are previously defined values in accordance with the object, and the density of the variable RECT[i] is a value of which the density of the connected grid components is divided by an area size of the variable RECT[i] wherein minimum area is a rectangle which includes the connected components.

Claim 22

An object extracting method using a motion picture, said method comprising: obtaining a difference image frame by getting a pair of still image frames separated by a predetermined time interval from a motion picture and obtaining a color image frame which satisfies color information defining a color of a particular object from one of the still image frames; performing a grid processing of a logic image frame, which is obtained from the difference image frame and the color image frame, at a predetermined grid size and obtaining connected components using direction connection information of the processed grids and defining minimum areas that each includes one of the connected components; comparing each of the minimum areas with predetermined conditions, thereby selecting the minimum areas which satisfy the conditions as object area candidates; and extracting an object by selecting and optimizing an object area candidate which has a prescribed size among the object area candidates, wherein in the optimizing the selected object area candidate, each row or each column of the object area candidate obtains its density and each density is compared with the defined threshold value of the density and the row or column of which density is smaller than the threshold value is deleted.

Claim 23

An object extracting method using a motion picture, said method comprising: obtaining a difference image frame by getting a pair of still image frames separated by a predetermined time interval from a motion picture and obtaining a color image frame which satisfies color information defining a color of a particular object from one of the still image frames; performing a grid processing of a logic image frame, which is obtained from the difference image frame and the color image frame, at a predetermined grid size and obtaining connected components using direction connection information of the processed grids and defining minimum areas that each includes one of the connected components; comparing each of the minimum areas with predetermined conditions, thereby selecting the minimum areas which satisfy the conditions as object area candidates; and extracting an object by selecting and optimizing an object area candidate which has a prescribed size among the object area candidates, wherein in the optimizing the selected object area candidate, each row or each column of the object area candidate obtains its density and each density is compared with the defined threshold value of the density and the row or column of which density is smaller than the threshold value is deleted.