Image Processing Apparatus for Best Shot Extraction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing image processing methods require excessive computational resources and memory when continuously capturing images, leading to unnecessary storage of identical facial expressions, which wastes memory capacity.
Innovation Solution
An image processing apparatus that detects faces and calculates expression change amounts between frames, storing only images with significant facial expression changes, thereby reducing processing load and conserving memory by avoiding storage of unchanging images.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If image processing is performed on every continuously captured image to judge whether it includes a suitable face image or desired facial expression, then the quality of stored images is improved, but the computational load and processing time increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the continuous image sequence into discrete target frames for processing, rather than analyzing every frame. This selective sampling approach reduces the total number of images requiring full expression judgment processing, thereby lowering computational load while still capturing sufficient visual information to identify high-quality images for storage.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies partial action by performing simplified preprocessing on all frames (such as face detection) and reserving full expression judgment and storage operations only for selected target frames. This hierarchical processing strategy ensures that computational resources are concentrated on critical decision points rather than being uniformly distributed across all frames.
2Reliability
If every captured image containing a suitable face image or desired expression is stored, then no desired images are missed, but memory capacity is wasted due to storage of identical or redundant images
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and stores only the essential information - specifically, images from target frames where facial expression changes are detected - rather than storing all captured images. This extraction approach maintains the reliability of capturing desired expressions while eliminating redundant storage of identical or highly similar images.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent monitors changes in facial expression parameters between consecutive frames and uses these parameter changes as the basis for selecting which images to store. By focusing on parameter changes rather than absolute image content, the system identifies meaningful variations in facial expressions while avoiding duplication of static or unchanged states.
3Measurement precision
If full expression judgment is performed on every frame, then accurate facial expression recognition is achieved, but processing time and computational resources are excessively consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary face detection and frame selection operations on all captured images before conducting full expression judgment. This preliminary filtering identifies target frames that are more likely to contain meaningful expression changes, allowing the system to skip or simplify expression analysis on non-target frames and thereby reduce overall processing time while maintaining accuracy on critical frames.
Data Source
AI summary
Frame images captured in a continuous manner are acquired, and temporarily stored. Characteristic points of faces in the acquired frame images are extracted. A sum (expression change amount) of distances between characteristic points of the face (face parts) in a current frame and the characteristic points of a preceding frame is calculated. The target frame image in which the expression change amount is largest, and m frame images preceding and following the target frame image in which the expression change amount is largest are extracted as best image candidates. A best shot image is extracted from the best image candidates and stored in a storage medium. Thus, only an image (best shot image) which contains a face which a user wishes to record can be efficiently extracted from among images captured in a continuous manner, and stored.