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US6549644B1 Expired / Lapsed US ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Face-image processing apparatus

Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corp
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Filing: 1999-11-17
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Granted: 2003-04-15
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Expires: 2019-11-17
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Abstract

Abstract A means 9 for extracting the characteristic of the multi-value image causes an extracting filter to perform spiral retrieval so as to extract a nostril region from an image of the face input by a CCD camera 2 so as to cause the nostril region to be stored in the binarized image memory 10 . The eye retrieving range is specified by using, as a reference, the position of the nostrils which is an intermediate point of the positions of the centers of gravity of the nostrils in the binarized nostril region stored in the binarized image memory 10 . Then, an extracting filter is used to extract an eye region from the image of the face so as to store the eye region in the binarized image memory 10 . The opening/closing determining means 11 determines opening/closing of the eyes in accordance with the binarized eye region.

Inventors

  • 👤 Takayuki Yamamoto

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction US
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-11-09 17:13
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06V; G06V40/00; G06V40/10; G06V40/16; G06V40/168

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 4
Claim 1
Independent Claim 174 words
A face-image processing apparatus comprising: image input means for inputting an image of a face; multi-value image storing means for storing multi-value image obtained by said image input means; nostril-region extracting means for extracting a nostril multi-valued region from the multi-value image outputted by said multi-value image storing means; eye-region extracting means for extracting a multi-valued eye region extracted from a multi-value image outputted by said multi-value image storing means with using a nostril region extracted by said nostril-region extracting means as a reference point; binarized image storing means for storing a result outputted from said nostril-region extracting means and said eye-region extracting means as a binarized region; and opening/closing determining means for determining opening/closing of the eyes in accordance with a feature of a shape of the binarized eye-region outputted by said binarized image storing means, wherein said nostril-region extracting means extracts a nostril region at which a retrieval is started from a position of a center of gravity of a previous nostril by spirally retrieving a portion surrounding the retrieval start point.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 174 words
A face-image processing apparatus comprising: image input means for inputting an image of a face; multi-value image storing means for storing multi-value image obtained by said image input means; nostril-region extracting means for extracting a nostril multi-valued region from the multi-value image outputted by said multi-value image storing means; eye-region extracting means for extracting a multi-valued eye region extracted from a multi-value image outputted by said multi-value image storing means with using a nostril region extracted by said nostril-region extracting means as a reference point; binarized image storing means for storing a result outputted from said nostril-region extracting means and said eye-region extracting means as a binarized region; and opening/closing determining means for determining opening/closing of the eyes in accordance with a feature of a shape of the binarized eye-region outputted by said binarized image storing means, wherein said nostril-region extracting means extracts a nostril region at which a retrieval is started from a position of a center of gravity of a previous nostril by spirally retrieving a portion surrounding the retrieval start point.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 213 words
A face-image processing apparatus comprising: image input means for inputting an image of a face; multi-value image storing means for storing multi-value image obtained by said image input means; nostril-region extracting means for extracting a nostril multi-valued region from the multi-value image outputted by said multi-value image storing means; eye-region extracting means for extracting a multi-valued eye region extracted from a multi-value image outputted by said multi-value image storing means with using a nostril region extracted by said nostril-region extracting means as a reference point; binarized image storing means for storing a result outputted from said nostril-region extracting means and said eye-region extracting means as a binarized region; and opening/closing determining means for determining opening/closing of the eyes in accordance with a feature of a shape of the binarized eye-region outputted by said binarized image storing means, wherein said nostril-region extracting means extracts a nostril region at which a retrieval is started from a peak position of a projected histogram of the image of the face by spirally retrieving two regions apart from each other for the same distance between a right and a left nostrils surrounding the retrieval start point, if it is an initial extracting time or if there is no nostril-region at a previous position of a center of gravity.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 213 words
A face-image processing apparatus comprising: image input means for inputting an image of a face; multi-value image storing means for storing multi-value image obtained by said image input means; nostril-region extracting means for extracting a nostril multi-valued region from the multi-value image outputted by said multi-value image storing means; eye-region extracting means for extracting a multi-valued eye region extracted from a multi-value image outputted by said multi-value image storing means with using a nostril region extracted by said nostril-region extracting means as a reference point; binarized image storing means for storing a result outputted from said nostril-region extracting means and said eye-region extracting means as a binarized region; and opening/closing determining means for determining opening/closing of the eyes in accordance with a feature of a shape of the binarized eye-region outputted by said binarized image storing means, wherein said nostril-region extracting means extracts a nostril region at which a retrieval is started from a peak position of a projected histogram of the image of the face by spirally retrieving two regions apart from each other for the same distance between a right and a left nostrils surrounding the retrieval start point, if it is an initial extracting time or if there is no nostril-region at a previous position of a center of gravity.

References Cited (Backward Citations)

US5119439A Cited
JPH08175218A Cited
US6055323A Cited

USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows

Annuity Stage Window Opens Payment Deadline Surcharge Period Until Estimated Fee Status
3.5 Years (Year 4) 2006-04-14 2006-10-14 2007-04-15 $2000.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
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