Image processing device and image processing method

Abstract

An image processing device (10) comprises: an acquisition unit (11) for acquiring an image including at least one body hair; and an analysis unit (12) for analyzing the acquired image to output information indicating the orientation of at least one body hair included in the image.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to an image processing device and an image processing method, and in particular to an image processing device and an image processing method for analyzing an image of body hair. Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, a technique for analyzing images of body hair has been proposed (see Patent Document 1). Patent Document 1 proposes a measurement method in which an image of the scalp is recorded and the hair growth rate, trichogram, hair diameter, etc. are measured based on the image.

[0003] Prior art literature

[0004] Patent Literature

[0005] Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-218735 Summary of the invention

[0006] Problems to be solved by the invention

[0007] However, although information on hair growth can be obtained in Patent Document 1, there is a problem that practical information on body hair, such as information for removing shaving residues when removing body hair with an electric shaver, cannot be obtained.

[0008] Therefore, an object of the present disclosure is to provide an image processing device and an image processing method capable of obtaining practical information related to body hair.

[0009] Means used to solve problems

[0010] In order to achieve the above object, an image processing device according to one technical solution of the present disclosure includes: an acquisition unit that acquires an image including at least one body hair; and an analysis unit that analyzes the image, wherein the analysis unit outputs information indicating the orientation of the at least one body hair included in the image.

[0011] In order to achieve the above-mentioned purpose, an image processing method according to a technical solution of the present disclosure includes: an acquisition step of acquiring an image containing at least one body hair; and an analysis step of outputting information indicating the orientation of at least one body hair contained in the image by analyzing the image.

[0012] Effects of the Invention

[0013] The image processing device and image processing method disclosed herein are effective in obtaining practical information related to body hair. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] Figure 1 This is a block diagram showing the structure of an image processing device according to an embodiment.

[0015] Figure 2 This is a flowchart showing the operation of a length determination unit of an analysis unit included in the image processing device according to the embodiment.

[0016] Figure 3 Yes means Figure 2 FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of image processing in each step of FIG.

[0017] Figure 4 This is a flowchart showing the operation of a direction specifying unit of an analyzing unit included in the image processing apparatus according to the embodiment.

[0018] Figure 5 Yes means Figure 4 FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of image processing in each step of FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] Hereinafter, the embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings as appropriate. However, there are cases where the detailed description required above is omitted. For example, there are cases where the detailed description of already known matters and the repeated description of substantially the same structure are omitted. This is to avoid the following description from becoming unnecessarily lengthy and to facilitate the understanding of those skilled in the art.

[0020] In addition, the inventor of the present disclosure provides the drawings and the following descriptions in order to enable those skilled in the art to fully understand the present disclosure, and does not intend that the subject matter described in the claims be limited by them.

[0021] (Implementation Method)

[0022] Below, use Figure 1 to Figure 5 The implementation method will be described.

[0023] [1.Structure]

[0024] Figure 1 1 is a block diagram showing the structure of the image processing device 10 according to the embodiment. In addition, in this figure, a camera 20 such as a digital camera connected to the image processing device 10 and used, and a presentation device 21 such as a display are also shown.

[0025] The image processing device 10 is a device that generates practical information related to body hair based on an input image, and includes an acquisition unit 11 and an analysis unit 12. The image processing device 10 can be realized not only by a device having a dedicated electronic circuit, but also by a general-purpose platform such as a PC (personal computer), a tablet terminal, or a smartphone, and a program executed by the platform.

[0026] The acquisition unit 11 acquires an image including at least one body hair growing on the body from the camera 20. The acquisition unit 11 is, for example, a communication interface such as HDMI (registered trademark) (High-Definition Multimedia Interface).

[0027] In addition, the image may include image data, image signals, or image information. Furthermore, the image may include at least one image of body hair, or may include images of multiple body hairs. Furthermore, the image may include at least one image of body hair, and may include information around the body hair, such as skin with body hair.

[0028] The analyzing unit 12 analyzes the image acquired by the acquiring unit 11, and outputs information indicating the length and direction of at least one body hair contained in the image to the presenting device 21. The analyzing unit 12 is implemented, for example, by a microcomputer having a processor, a program executed by the processor, a memory, an input / output circuit, etc. The analyzing unit 12 includes a length determining unit 12a and a direction determining unit 12b.

[0029] The length determination unit 12a determines the length of at least one body hair contained in the image by analyzing the image acquired by the acquisition unit 11, and outputs information indicating the determined length to the prompting device 21. More specifically, the length determination unit 12a performs a process of emphasizing contrast, extracting the contour of the body hair, and calculating a circumscribed rectangle on the acquired image to determine the length of each body hair.

[0030] The direction determination unit 12b analyzes the image acquired by the acquisition unit 11, and outputs information indicating the direction of at least one body hair included in the image to the prompting device 21. More specifically, the direction determination unit 12b determines the direction of each body hair by identifying at least one of the hair root and the tip of at least one body hair included in the acquired image. Specifically, the direction determination unit 12b analyzes the change in brightness of both ends including one end and the other end of the body hair for at least one body hair included in the image, and determines that the end with a larger change in brightness among the two ends is the tip of the body hair. At this time, the direction determination unit 12b analyzes the change in brightness of one end and the other end of the body hair using a high-pass filter, and identifies that the end with a larger value obtained by applying the high-pass filter among the two ends is the tip of the body hair. In addition, the direction determination unit 12b determines the direction of the body hair for the area surrounded by the circumscribed rectangle calculated by the length determination unit 12a.

[0031] Alternatively, the direction identifying unit 12b may analyze changes in brightness at both ends of the body hair and determine that the ends with smaller changes in brightness are the hair roots, thereby identifying the direction of the body hair.

[0032] [2.Action]

[0033] The operation of the image processing device 10 constructed as described above will be described below. Figure 3 In the example of body hair, the beard remaining after shaving is taken as an example to explain the analysis example of the image obtained by photographing the beard remaining after shaving. The operation of the length determination unit 12a and the direction determination unit 12b of the analysis unit 12 will be explained in detail below.

[0034] [2-1. Operation of the length determination unit]

[0035] First, the operation of the length specifying unit 12 a included in the analyzing unit 12 will be described.

[0036] Figure 2 This is a flowchart showing the operation of the length determination unit 12 a of the analysis unit 12 included in the image processing device 10 according to the present embodiment. Figure 3 Yes means Figure 2 FIG. 1 is a diagram of an example of image processing in each step of FIG. Figure 3 In FIG. 1 , an image of a beard is shown as an example of body hair. More specifically, Figure 3 (a) to (c) respectively represent the Figure 2 An example of an image obtained by performing contrast enhancement (S10), contour extraction (S11) and calculation of a circumscribed rectangle (S12) in FIG.

[0037] First, the length determination unit 12a performs a process of enhancing the contrast of the image of the body hair acquired by the acquisition unit 11 ( Figure 2 For example, the length determination unit 12a improves the brightness contrast by performing a grayscale transformation on the brightness of each pixel of the image so that the change of the output grayscale relative to the input grayscale becomes larger. As a result, the following can be obtained: Figure 3 The image with high contrast shown in (a) of FIG. 1 can also be subjected to a low-pass filter before or after the contrast enhancement to remove fine noise such as unevenness of the skin.

[0038] Next, the length determination unit 12a performs contour extraction on the image obtained in step S10 ( Figure 2 S11). In more detail, the length determination unit 12a performs binarization (white / black conversion) on the image obtained in step S10, outputting white pixels when the brightness difference with the surrounding pixels is greater than a threshold value, and outputting black pixels when it is less than the threshold value, and then performs expansion and contraction processing to remove fine noise. In addition, the expansion and contraction processing is an expansion processing that replaces the pixel of interest with white even if there is a white pixel around the pixel of interest, and a contraction processing that replaces the pixel of interest with black even if there is a black pixel around the pixel of interest. Through this contour extraction, the following can be obtained: Figure 3 (b) shows an image showing the contours of each beard region.

[0039] Next, the length determination unit 12a calculates a circumscribed rectangle ( Figure 2 S12). Specifically, the length determination unit 12a calculates a circumscribed rectangle for each area from which the contour is extracted, so that its four sides are respectively connected to the contour of the extracted body hair. However, the method for calculating the circumscribed rectangle is not limited to this method, and other methods may be used as long as a rectangle covering the contour of the body hair can be calculated in order to infer the length of the body hair. In addition, rectangles include not only long rectangles but also squares. In addition, in this step, a rectangle whose vertices are quadrilaterals with right angles is more convenient in determining the length and calculating the change in brightness, so although a rectangle is calculated, a shape different from a rectangle may be calculated as long as it is not excluded in determining the length and determining the direction. Through this processing, the following can be obtained: Figure 3 (c) shows an image of a rectangle circumscribing the region of each whisker.

[0040] Then, the length determination unit 12a determines the length of each body hair by calculating the length of the long side of the circumscribed rectangle for each circumscribed rectangle calculated in step S12 ( Figure 2 S13). Regarding the determination of the length of the long side, the lengths of the two orthogonal sides of a right triangle with the long side as the hypotenuse and containing the two sides in the orthogonal direction in which the pixels are arranged are calculated (the number of pixels × pixel interval, respectively), and the length of the long side as the hypotenuse is calculated using the Pythagorean theorem.

[0041] Thus, based on the captured images, the length of each remaining body hair shaved with an electric razor is determined as practical information related to the body hair. Therefore, the user who has obtained such practical information immediately knows where to shave the body first to efficiently shave the remaining body hair.

[0042] [2-2. Operation of the direction determination unit]

[0043] Next, the operation of the direction specifying unit 12 b included in the analyzing unit 12 will be described.

[0044] Figure 4 This is a flowchart showing the operation of the direction specifying unit 12 b of the analyzing unit 12 included in the image processing device 10 according to the present embodiment. Figure 5 Yes means Figure 4 More specifically, Figure 5 (a) to (d) respectively represent the image to be processed ("input image"), the brightness signal of the input image (on the straight line AB), Figure 4The result of high-pass filtering (S20) and the result of negative limiting (S21) in.

[0045] The direction determination unit 12b determines the direction of the body hair in the following order for the image enclosed by the circumscribed rectangle calculated by the length determination unit 12a (i.e., the image of the area enclosed by the circumscribed rectangle in the original image enclosed by the circumscribed rectangle). Figure 5 As shown in (a) and (b), at the hair root ("A"), there is a gradient that becomes darker toward the front end, and at the front end ("B") of the hair, there is a large brightness difference across the outline. That is, the hair root is different from the front end, and since it enters under the skin, the contrast between the hair and the skin is small. The direction determination unit 12b determines the direction of the hair using the characteristics of the hair root and the front end of the hair. In addition, Figure 5 (b) represents the brightness signal in the length direction of the hair (on the straight line AB).

[0046] Furthermore, the hair roots may include at least a portion of the body hair portion covered by the skin and the body hair portion exposed from the skin.

[0047] In addition, the direction determination unit 12b may determine the direction of the body hair by extending the determination range in the length direction of the circumscribed rectangle than the image enclosed by the circumscribed rectangle calculated by the length determination unit 12a. In the case where one side of the circumscribed rectangle calculated by the length determination unit 12a is located at the boundary between the tip or hair root of the body hair and the skin, the determination range may be extended in the length direction of the circumscribed rectangle to include the skin portion in addition to the tip or hair root of the body hair. Thus, the direction can be easily determined based on the characteristic of the gradual change in brightness at the hair root due to the body hair entering under the skin.

[0048] First, the direction determining unit 12b determines Figure 5 The original image enclosed by the circumscribed rectangle shown in (a) and (b) is subjected to a high-pass filter ( Figure 4 Specifically, the direction determining unit 12b determines Figure 5 The brightness signal on the AB line shown in (b) is applied by (1-2z －1 +z －2 ) / 4 represents the high-pass filter with a transfer function. As a result, we can get Figure 5 The output signal is shown in (c).

[0049] Next, the direction determining unit 12b is directed to Figure 5 The output signal shown in (c) is subjected to negative clipping (clip) processing ( Figure 4 Specifically, the direction determining unit 12b is Figure 5The output signal shown in (c) is processed by replacing negative values ​​with zero. As a result, we can get Figure 5 The output signal is shown in (d).

[0050] Next, the direction determining unit 12b is directed to Figure 5 The output signal shown in (d) is identified as the end with a higher peak (here "B") is the front end of the body hair, and the end with a lower peak (here "A") is the root of the body hair, thereby determining the direction of the body hair (here the beard) ( Figure 4 S22). And, the direction determining unit 12b is Figure 5 The end portion identified as the hair root of the image shown in (a) including one end and the other end is given information indicating that it is the hair root, and the end portion identified as the front end is given information indicating that it is the front end, and output to the prompt device 21. In addition, the direction determination unit 12b can also use the slope of the long side of the circumscribed rectangle to generate a vector from the hair root to the front end as information indicating the determined direction.

[0051] Thus, based on the captured image, the orientation of each body hair contained in the image is determined as practical information related to the body hair. Therefore, the user who has obtained such practical information can immediately know in which direction to shave in order to efficiently shave the remaining body hair.

[0052] [3. Effects, etc.]

[0053] As described above, the image processing device 10 according to the present embodiment includes the acquisition unit 11 that acquires an image including at least one body hair, and the analysis unit 12 that analyzes the acquired image and outputs information indicating the orientation of at least one body hair included in the image.

[0054] Thus, the direction of each body hair contained in the captured image is determined as practical information related to the body hair. For example, since the direction of each body hair remaining after shaving with an electric razor is known, it is possible to immediately know in which direction to shave the remaining body hair efficiently.

[0055] In addition, the analyzing unit 12 identifies at least one of the root and the tip of at least one body hair included in the image. To this end, the analyzing unit 12 analyzes the change in brightness of both ends, including one end and the other end of the at least one body hair included in the image, and determines that the end with a greater change in brightness among the two ends is the tip of the body hair. Thus, the direction of the body hair is determined with high accuracy using the features in the image of the root and the tip of the body hair.

[0056] In addition, the analysis unit 12 uses a high-pass filter to analyze the change in brightness at one end and the other end of the body hair, and identifies that the end with a larger value obtained by applying the high-pass filter is the tip of the body hair. Thus, the hair root and the tip of the body hair can be reliably identified through simple processing, and the direction of the hair root can be determined with high accuracy.

[0057] In addition, the analyzing unit 12 determines the length of at least one body hair included in the image, and outputs information indicating the determined length. Thus, as more practical information related to body hair, not only the orientation of each body hair but also the length of each body hair can be obtained. Therefore, for example, by photographing the body hair remaining after shaving with an electric razor, it is immediately known where on the body to shave first so that the remaining body hair can be efficiently shaved.

[0058] Furthermore, the analyzing unit 12 performs a process of enhancing contrast of the image, extracting the contour of the body hair, and calculating a circumscribed rectangle to identify the length of the body hair. Thus, the length of each body hair can be reliably identified.

[0059] Furthermore, the analyzing unit 12 determines the direction of the body hair for the area enclosed by the circumscribed rectangle of the image after the circumscribed rectangle calculation process. Thus, the circumscribed rectangle calculated to determine the length of the body hair is also used to determine the direction of the body hair, and the direction of the body hair is determined with a small processing load.

[0060] Furthermore, the image processing method according to the present embodiment includes: an acquisition step in which the acquisition unit 11 acquires an image; and an analysis step in which the analysis unit 12 analyzes the acquired image to output information indicating the orientation of at least one body hair included in the image.

[0061] Thus, based on the captured image, the direction of each body hair contained in the image is determined as practical information related to the body hair. For example, since the direction of each body hair remaining after shaving with an electric razor is known, it is immediately known in which direction to shave the remaining body hair efficiently.

[0062] (Other embodiments)

[0063] As described above, the embodiments are described as examples of the technology disclosed in this application. However, it is not limited to this, and changes, substitutions, additions, omissions, etc. can be appropriately applied to the embodiments. In addition, each component element described in the above embodiments can also be combined to form a new embodiment.

[0064] Therefore, other embodiments are summarized and described below.

[0065] For example, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the acquisition unit 11 acquires an image including at least one body hair from the camera 20. However, the acquisition unit 11 is not limited to this. The device from which the acquisition unit 11 acquires the image may be a storage device (storage) such as an external or internal memory or HDD that holds the image, or a server device connected via a communication such as the Internet.

[0066] In addition, in the above embodiment, Figure 3 The operation of the image processing device 10 is illustrated by taking an image obtained by taking an image of residual beard after shaving as an example. The example of body hair is not limited to residual beard after shaving, but can also be chest hair, calf hair, sweat hair, head hair, etc. as long as it is hair growing in various parts of the body.

[0067] Furthermore, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the analyzing unit 12 includes both the length determining unit 12a and the direction determining unit 12b, but may include only the direction determining unit 12b. Thus, based on the captured image, the direction of each body hair included in the image is determined as practical information related to the body hair. Therefore, for example, the direction of each body hair remaining after shaving with an electric razor is known, so it is immediately known in which direction the remaining body hair can be efficiently shaved.

[0068] Furthermore, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the analyzing unit 12 includes both the length determining unit 12a and the direction determining unit 12b, but it may include only the length determining unit 12a. Thus, based on the captured image, the length of each body hair included in the image is determined as practical information related to the body hair. Therefore, for example, the length of each body hair remaining after shaving with an electric razor is known, so it is immediately known which part should be shaved first so that the body hair remaining after shaving can be efficiently shaved.

[0069] In addition, in the above-mentioned embodiment, a microcomputer is described as an example of the analysis unit 12. If a programmable microcomputer is used as the analysis unit 12, the design freedom of the analysis unit 12 can be improved because the processing content can be changed by changing the program. In addition, the analysis unit 12 can also be implemented by hardware logic. If the analysis unit 12 is implemented by hardware logic, it is effective for improving the processing speed. The analysis unit 12 can be composed of one element or physically composed of multiple elements. In the case of being composed of multiple elements, each control (length determination unit and direction determination unit) described in the claims can also be implemented by different elements. In this case, it can be considered to constitute one analysis unit 12 with these multiple elements. In addition, the analysis unit 12 and components with other functions can also be composed of one element. In short, as long as the analysis unit 12 is a structure for processing an image, it can be physically constructed in any way.

[0070] Furthermore, the technology disclosed herein can be realized not only as an image processing device and an image processing method, but also as a program for causing a computer to execute the steps included in the image processing method, or as a computer-readable non-transitory recording medium such as a CD-ROM recording the program.

[0071] As described above, the embodiments are described as an illustration of the technology disclosed in the present invention. For this purpose, drawings and detailed descriptions are provided. Therefore, the components recorded in the drawings and detailed descriptions include not only components necessary for solving the problem, but also components that are not necessary for solving the problem in order to illustrate the above-mentioned installation. Therefore, it should not be directly determined that these non-essential components are necessary just because they are recorded in the drawings and detailed descriptions.

[0072] In addition, the above-mentioned embodiments are for illustrating the technology of the present disclosure, and therefore various changes, substitutions, additions, omissions, etc. can be made within the scope of the claims or their equivalents.

[0073] Industrial Applicability

[0074] The present disclosure can be applied to an image processing device that can obtain useful information related to body hair. Specifically, the present disclosure can be applied to a computer device, a smartphone, etc. that acquires and analyzes images from a digital camera.

[0075] Description of symbols

[0076] 10 Image processing device

[0077] 11 Acquisition Department

[0078] 12 Analysis Department

[0079] 12a Length determination unit

[0080] 12b Direction determination unit

[0081] 20 Camera

[0082] 21 Prompt device.

Claims

1. An image processing device, wherein: have: an acquiring unit that acquires an image including at least one body hair; and The analysis unit analyzes the above image. The analyzing unit outputs information indicating the orientation of at least one body hair included in the image. The analysis unit analyzes changes in brightness of at least one end and the other end of at least one body hair included in the image, and determines at least one of a hair root and a front end of the at least one body hair included in the image between the two ends based on the changes in brightness.

2. The image processing device according to claim 1, wherein: The analyzing unit determines, based on the change in brightness, that the end portion at which the change in brightness is greater among the two ends is the tip of the body hair.

3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein: The analyzing unit analyzes changes in brightness at one end and the other end of the body hair using a high pass filter, and recognizes that the end having a larger value obtained by applying the high pass filter is the tip of the body hair.

4. The image processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein: The analyzing unit further specifies the length of at least one body hair included in the image, and outputs information indicating the specified length.

5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein: The analyzing unit performs a process of enhancing contrast of the image, a process of extracting the outline of the body hair, and a process of calculating a circumscribed rectangle to determine the length of the body hair.

6. The image processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein: The analyzing unit specifies the direction of the body hair with respect to a region surrounded by a circumscribed rectangle of the image after the process of calculating the circumscribed rectangle has been performed.

7. An image processing method, wherein: include: An acquisition step of acquiring an image including at least one body hair; as well as an analysis step of analyzing the image to output information indicating the orientation of at least one body hair included in the image, In the above-mentioned analysis step, for at least one body hair included in the above-mentioned image, the analysis includes changes in brightness of at least two ends, one end and the other end of the above-mentioned body hair, and based on the above-mentioned brightness changes, at least one of the hair root and the front end of the at least one body hair included in the above-mentioned image is determined between the above-mentioned two ends.

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