Image processing apparatus

Claim 2

An image processing apparatus, comprising: an input image storing section for storing an original image to be processed; a designating section for enabling a user to approximately designate an arbitrary image region contained in the original image or an arbitrary image position of an image contained in the original image, without designating a contour of an object region which is present in the user designated image region or position: a specifying section for specifying the object region which is present in the user designated image region or position, and which can additionally be in and around a vicinity of the user designated image region or position, from pixel information in the user designated image region or position and pixel information which can additionally be in and around the vicinity of the user designated image region; a determining section for determining an image region to be cut out from the original image, based on the specified object region and centered around the center of gravity of the object region; and a cutting section for cutting out the determined image region from the original image.

Claim 3

An image processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the determining section includes a section for adjusting a size of the image region to a prescribed size.

Claim 4

An image processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the determining section includes a correcting section for entirely correcting the user designated image region or correcting only a part of the user designated image region.

Claim 5

An image processing apparatus, comprising: an input image storing section for storing an original image to be processed; a designating section for enabling a user to designate an arbitrary image region contained in the original image or an approximately arbitrary image position of an image contained in the original image, without designating a contour of a face image region which is present in the user designated image region or position; an analyzing section for analyzing a color distribution in the user designated image region or position and in a vicinity of the user designated region or position: an adjusting section for adjusting a condition for specifying the face image which is present in the image, according to a result of an analysis performed by the analyzing section; a specifying section for specifying the face image region which is present in the user designated image region or position, and which can additionally be in and around the vicinity of the user designated image region or position, based on the adjusted condition; a determining section for determining an image region to be cut out from the original image, based on the specified face image region and centered around the center of gravity of the object region; and a cutting section for cutting out the determined image region from the original image.

Claim 6

An image processing apparatus, comprising: an input image storing section for storing an original image to be processed; a designating section for enabling a user to designate an arbitrary image region contained in the original image or an approximately arbitrary image position of an image contained in the original image, without designating a contour of a face image region which is present in the user designated image region or position; an analyzing section for analyzing a color distribution in the user designated image region or position and in a vicinity of the user designated region or position: an adjusting section for adjusting a condition for specifying the face image which is present in the image, according to a result of an analysis performed by the analyzing section; a specifying section for specifying the face image region which is present in the user designated image region or position, and which can additionally be in and around the vicinity of the user designated image region or position, based on the adjusted condition; a determining section for determining an image region to be cut out from the original image, based on the specified face image region and centered around the center of gravity of the object region; and a cutting section for cutting out the determined image region from the original image.

Claim 7

An image processing apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the determining section includes a section for adjusting a size of the image region, using the user designated image region or the user designated image position as a reference.

Claim 8

An image processing apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the specifying section includes: a section for applying noise elimination or labelling to the specified face image region to produce a face mask; a section for vertically scanning the produced face mask to obtain a sum of vertical differential luminance values of pixels in the image corresponding to the face mask to produce a histogram; and a section for detecting a central axis of a face from a profile of the produced histogram.

Claim 9

An image processing apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the specifying section includes: a section for applying noise elimination or labelling to the specified face image region to produce a face mask; a section for vertically scanning the produced face mask to obtain a mean luminance value of pixels in the image corresponding to the face mask to produce a histogram; and a section for detecting a vertical nose position from a profile of the produced histogram.

Claim 10

An image processing apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the specifying section includes: a section for applying noise elimination or labelling to the specified face image region to produce a face mask; a section for horizontally scanning the produced face mask to obtain a mean luminance value of pixels in the image corresponding to the face mask to produce a histogram; and a section for detecting a vertical eye position from a profile of the produced histogram.

Claim 11

An image processing apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the specifying section includes a section for applying noise elimination or labelling to the specified face image region to produce a face mask; a section for horizontally scanning the produced face mask to obtain a mean luminance value of pixels in the image corresponding to the face mask to produce a histogram; and a section for detecting a vertical mouth position from a profile of the produced histogram.

Claim 12

An image processing apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the specifying section further includes a section for detecting a vertical eye position from the profile of the produced histogram; and a section for obtaining a middle position of a region between the detected vertical eye position and the detected vertical mouth position to detect a width of the face mask at the middle position.

Claim 13

An image processing apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the determining section includes a section for adjusting a position of the image region, based on the face image region, a central axis of a face in the face image, a vertical nose position of the face in the face image, a vertical eye position of the face in the face image, a vertical mouth position of the face in the face image, and a width of a face mask of the face image.

Claim 14

An image processing apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the determining section includes a section for adjusting a size of the image region, based on the face image region, a central axis of a face in the face image, a vertical nose position of the face in the face image, a vertical eye position of the face in the face image, a vertical mouth position of the face in the face image, and a width of a face mask of the face image.

Claim 15

An image processing apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the determining section includes a correcting section for entirely correcting the user designated image region or correcting only a part of the user designated image region.

Claim 16

An image processing method, comprising the steps of: inputting an original image to be processed; a user approximately designating an arbitrary image region contained in the original image or an arbitrary image position of an image contained in the original image without designation of a contour of an object region which is present in the user designated image region or position; specifying the object region which is present on the user designated image region or position, and which can additionally be in and around a vicinity of the user designated image region or position, from pixel information in the user designated image region or position and pixel information which can additionally be in and around the vicinity of the user designated image region; determining an image region to be cut out from the original image, based on the specified object region and the center of gravity of the object region; and cutting out the determined image region from the original image.

Claim 17

An image processing method, comprising the steps of: inputting an original image to be processed; a user approximately designating an arbitrary image region contained in the original image or an arbitrary image position of an image contained in the original image without designation of a contour of an object region which is present in the user designated image region or position; specifying the object region which is present on the user designated image region or position, and which can additionally be in and around a vicinity of the user designated image region or position, from pixel information in the user designated image region or position and pixel information which can additionally be in and around the vicinity of the user designated image region; determining an image region to be cut out from the original image, based on the specified object region and the center of gravity of the object region; and cutting out the determined image region from the original image.

Claim 18

The image processing method of claim 14 , wherein the step of determining the image region to be cut out from the image section includes the step of adjusting a size of the image region to a prescribed size.

Claim 19

The image processing method of claim 14 , wherein the step of determining the image region to be cut out from the image section includes the step of entirely correcting the user designated image region or correcting only a part of the user designated image region.

Claim 20

An image processing method, comprising the steps of: inputting an original image to be processed; a user approximately designating an arbotrary image region contained in the original image or an arbitrary image position of an image contained in the original image without designating a contour of a face image region which is present in the user designated image region or position; analyzing a color distribution in the user designated image region or position and in a vicinity of the user designated image region or position: adjusting a condition for specifying the face image which is present in the image, according to a result of the analyzing step; specifying the face image region which is present in the user designated image region or position, and which can additionally be in and around the vicinity of the user designated image region or position, based on the adjusted condition; determining an image region to be cut out from the original image, based on the specified face image region and the center of gravity of the object region; and cutting out the determined image region from the original image.

Claim 21

An image processing method, comprising the steps of: inputting an original image to be processed; a user approximately designating an arbotrary image region contained in the original image or an arbitrary image position of an image contained in the original image without designating a contour of a face image region which is present in the user designated image region or position; analyzing a color distribution in the user designated image region or position and in a vicinity of the user designated image region or position: adjusting a condition for specifying the face image which is present in the image, according to a result of the analyzing step; specifying the face image region which is present in the user designated image region or position, and which can additionally be in and around the vicinity of the user designated image region or position, based on the adjusted condition; determining an image region to be cut out from the original image, based on the specified face image region and the center of gravity of the object region; and cutting out the determined image region from the original image.

Claim 22

The image processing method of claim 17 , wherein the step of determining the image region to be cut out from the image section includes the step of adjusting a size of the image region, using the user designated image region or the user designated image position as a reference.

Claim 23

The image processing method of claim 17 , wherein the step of specifying the face image region includes the steps of: applying noise elimination or labeling to the specified face image region to produce a face mask; vertically scanning the produced face mask to obtain a sum of vertical differential luminance values of pixels in the image corresponding to the face mask to produce a histogram; and detecting a central axis of a face from a profile of the produced histogram.

Claim 24

The image processing method of claim 17 , wherein the step of specifying the face image region includes the steps of: applying noise elimination or labeling to the specified face image region to produce a face mask; vertically scanning the produced face mask to obtain a mean luminance value of pixels in the image corresponding to the face mask to produce a histogram; and detecting a vertical nose position from a profile of the produced histogram.

Claim 25

The image processing method of claim 17 , wherein the step of specifying the face image region includes the steps of: applying noise elimination or labeling to the specified face image region to produce a face mask; horizontally scanning the produced face mask to obtain a mean luminance value of pixels in the image correspinding to the face mask to produce a histogram; and detecting a vertical eye position from a profile of the produced histogram.

Claim 26

The image processing method of claim 17 , wherein the step of specifying the face image region includes the steps of: applying noise elimination or labeling to the speified face image region to produce a face mask; horizontally scanning the produced face mask to obtain a mean luminance value of pixels in the image corresponding to the face mask to produce a histogram; and detecting a vertical mouth position from a profile of the produced histogram.

Claim 27

The image processing method of claim 22 , wherein the step of specifying the face image region further includes the steps of: detecting a vertical eye position from the profile of the produced histogram; and obtaining a middle position of a region between the detected vertical eye position and the dectected vertical mouth position to detect a width of the face mask at the middle position.

Claim 28

The image processing method of claim 17 , wherein the step of determining the image region to be cut from the image section includes the step of adjusting a position of the image region, base on the face image region, a central axis of a face in the face imge, a vertical nose position of the face in the face image; a vertical eye position of the face in the face image, a vertical mouth position of the face in the face image, and a width of a face mask of the face image.

Claim 29

The image processing method of claim 17 , wherein the step of determining the image region to be cut out from the image section includes the step of adjusting a size of the image region, based on the face image region, a central axis of a face in the face image, a vertical nose position of the face in the face image, a vertical eye position of the face in the face image, a vertical mouth position of the face in the face image, and a width of a face mask of the face image.

Claim 30

The image processing method of claim 17 , wherein the step of determining the image region to be cut out from the image section inlcudes the step of entirely correcting the user designated image region or correcting only a part of the user designated image region.