JP2003087442A - Image evaluation method and apparatus, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make it possible to inform a user about the quality of an image photographed by the user. SOLUTION: An image storage server 40 stores image data acquired by the user through photographing. An image evaluation section 45 of the image storage server 40 evaluates the quality of a photographing image represented by the image data on the basis of an instruction by the user using a communication terminal 20 and transmits the result of evaluation to the communication terminal 20. The communication terminal 20 displays the evaluation result and the user can recognize the quality of the photographing image acquired by the photographing on the basis of the evaluation result. Further, including an advice of the photographing technology to the evaluation result allows the user to improve its photographing technology.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image evaluation method and apparatus for evaluating image quality such as an exposure state and composition of a photographic image obtained by photographing, and a program for causing a computer to execute the image evaluation method. It is a thing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A print using a conventional silver halide photographic film is used to see how the image is reflected, to show it to a friend for communication, to print it again and send it to an acquaintance.
It is used in various ways, such as by enlarging it greatly and decorating it, or pasting it on an album. However, a large number of prints using a silver halide photographic film will be accumulated if not arranged, and if the prints or the negative film are lost, it will be difficult to arrange them. In addition, if you arrange them carefully, you can prevent the loss of prints and negative films, but it is very troublesome to sort them by shooting date and time or by theme when organizing them. Furthermore, even if the prints or the negative film are taken out even if they are organized, if it is forgotten to put them back, it becomes difficult to maintain the organized state.

For this reason, photographic images are stored by using image data obtained by reading an image recorded on a negative film or image data obtained by a digital camera. However,
Such digital image data is often stored in the hard disk of a personal computer, and it is very troublesome to transfer the image data when the personal computer is replaced. Image data may be stored in a medium such as a CD-R, but since the medium itself deteriorates, there is a risk of image data loss in storing image data for a long period of time. Further, due to the obsolescence of technology, there may be a case where a device that reproduces a specific medium disappears, and in such a case, even image data cannot be reproduced.

Therefore, an image storage system has been proposed in which image data is transmitted to an image storage server for storing image data via a network such as the Internet and the image storage server stores the image data.

When image data is stored in such an image storage system, image processing for optimizing image quality is performed on the image data. Therefore, by downloading the image stored in the image storage server in the image storage system to the personal computer, a high quality image can be observed on the personal computer.

[0006]

By the way, in the case where the image data acquired by the image capturing by the user reflects the image capturing technique of the user and a plurality of image data of the user are stored as in the image storage system described above. It is possible to know the tendency of the user's photographing technique from the quality of the photographic image represented by each image data. Further, if the user is informed of the quality of the photograph image of the user, it is very preferable for the user to improve the photographing technique.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to make it possible to inform the user of the quality of an image taken by the user.

[0008]

According to the image evaluation method of the present invention, the image quality of the photographic image is evaluated based on the image data representing the photographic image acquired by photographing, and the result of the evaluation is output. It is characterized by.

As the image quality evaluation items, the exposure state, color tone, composition of the photographic image, the degree of blurring due to focus and camera shake, the shooting state of night view shooting, and the like can be used. By displaying the evaluation results for each of these evaluation items, the user can easily know what kind of items to take note of when taking an image.
It is possible to improve the photographing technique of the user more reliably.

The "evaluation result" may be output in any form such as a numerical value or a graph. The "output" mode may be displayed on a monitor or may be printed out from a printer.

In the image evaluation method according to the present invention, the image quality may be evaluated based on a plurality of the image data.

In this case, the plurality of image data may be stored in image storage means on the network.

The "image storage means" is provided with a large-capacity hard disk and can store a large amount of image data for a long period of time.

In the image evaluation method according to the present invention, the image quality is evaluated based on a plurality of image data representing a predetermined type of photographic image selected from the plurality of image data. Good.

The "predetermined type of photographic image" is, for example, a photographic image of one person, a photographic image of a plurality of persons, a group photo, a landscape photographic image of a mountain, the sea, a town, etc., a photographic image of a flower,
Examples include a photographic image of a pet, a photographic image of a star, a photographic image of a night view, and the like.

When the image quality is evaluated based on a plurality of image data representing a predetermined type of photographic image, the number of image data is small if only one user's image data is used. It may not be possible to accurately evaluate the image quality. On the other hand, the photographic images of a predetermined type tend to have substantially the same image quality. Therefore, when it is not possible to appropriately evaluate the image quality only with the image data of one user, the image quality of another user may be used to evaluate the image quality.

Further, in the image evaluation method according to the present invention, the image quality is evaluated based on a plurality of image data acquired from a digital camera of a specific model selected from the plurality of image data. May be.

The "digital camera" includes not only a digital still camera but also a digital video camera capable of taking a still image.

Further, in the image evaluation method according to the present invention, when image processing is performed on the image data to obtain processed image data, the image data before the image processing,
The image data after the image processing and the contents of the image processing may be output.

The image evaluation apparatus according to the present invention comprises an evaluation means for evaluating the image quality of the photographic image based on the image data representing the photographic image acquired by photographing, and an output means for outputting the result of the evaluation. It is characterized by having.

In the image evaluation apparatus according to the present invention, the evaluation means may be means for evaluating the image quality based on a plurality of the image data.

In this case, the plurality of image data may be stored in the image storage means on the network.

In the image evaluation apparatus according to the present invention, the evaluation means evaluates the image quality based on a plurality of image data representing a predetermined type of photographic image selected from the plurality of image data. It may be used as a means.

Further, in the image evaluation apparatus according to the present invention, the evaluation means evaluates the image quality based on a plurality of image data acquired by a digital camera of a specific model selected from the plurality of image data. It may be based on the means.

Further, in the image evaluation apparatus according to the present invention, when the image data is subjected to the image processing to obtain the processed image data, the output means is provided with the image data before the image processing and the image data after the image processing. It may be a means for outputting the image data and the contents of the image processing.

The image evaluation method according to the present invention may be provided as a program for causing a computer to execute it.

[0027]

According to the present invention, the image quality of a photographic image is evaluated based on the image data representing the photographic image, and the evaluation result is output. Therefore, the user can know the image quality of the photographic image captured and acquired by the user based on the output evaluation result, and can further know the degree of the user's own photographing technique based on the image quality. .
Therefore, based on the evaluated image quality, it is possible to encourage the user to obtain the best evaluation result and improve the photographing technique of the user.

By evaluating the image quality based on a plurality of image data, the accuracy of the image quality evaluation can be improved.

Since the plurality of image data are stored in the image storage means on the network, the image quality can be evaluated based on a larger amount of the image data. The accuracy can be improved. Further, since the image data is stored in the image storage means for a long period of time, the evaluation result based on the plurality of image data acquired in the past certain period and the plurality of image data acquired in the latest certain period are stored. By making a comparison with the evaluation result based on this, it is possible to know the degree of change in the photographing technique of the user.

Further, the image quality is evaluated based on a plurality of image data representing a predetermined type of photographic image selected from the plurality of image data, so that the photographic image represented by the predetermined type of image data. The image quality evaluation result can be obtained only for Therefore, it is possible to know what kind of points should be noted when taking a predetermined type of photographic image, and to more surely improve the shooting technique when taking a predetermined type of photographic image. You can

Further, the image quality is evaluated based on a plurality of image data acquired by a digital camera of a specific model selected from the plurality of image data,
It is possible to obtain an image quality evaluation result of a photographic image acquired by a digital camera of a specific model. Therefore,
Based on the evaluation result, it is possible to perform image processing that compensates for the defects of the photographic image acquired by the digital camera, and as a result, it is possible to obtain image data capable of reproducing a higher quality image.

Further, when image processing is performed on a plurality of image data to obtain processed image data, by displaying the image data before and after the image processing and the contents of the image processing, the user can determine how It is possible to see at a glance how the image is corrected by performing various image processing.

[0033]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of an image storage system to which an image evaluation apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention is applied. As shown in FIG. 1, the image storage system 1 according to the present embodiment includes a plurality of image forming apparatuses 10 installed in a so-called minilab store, a plurality of communication terminal apparatuses 20 used by general users, and the Internet 30. The image storage server 40 stores and manages the transmitted image data. Communication terminal device 20
The image forming apparatus 10 and the image forming apparatus 10 are connected to the image storage server 40 via the Internet 30, and various kinds of information can be transmitted to and received from the image storage server 40 by mutual communication.

The image forming apparatus 10 is installed in a mini-lab store, reads an image recorded on a film to obtain image data, and obtains a print from the image data. Image data obtained by recording or reading can be registered in the image storage server 40. Further, the image data acquired by the digital camera and recorded in the medium such as a memory card can be printed, recorded in the CD-R, and registered in the image storage server 40.

As shown in FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus 10 specifically includes a scanner 11 for reading an image recorded on a film to obtain image data, and a floor for the image data obtained by the scanner 11. An image processing unit 12 that performs image processing such as tone processing, brightness correction processing, and color correction processing;
A printer 13 that prints out the processed image data obtained in the image processing unit 12, and an input / output port 14 that outputs the image data obtained in the image processing unit 12 to the Internet 30 and inputs / outputs various data.
A hard disk 15 for storing the image data obtained in the image processing unit 12, a CD-R drive 16 for recording the image data on a CD-R, and a user ID in which a user ID is recorded as a bar code as described later. Card 7
A bar code reader 17 for reading the user ID from the device, a control unit 18 for controlling the operation of the entire image forming apparatus 10, an input unit 19 including a mouse, a keyboard, and the like, and a bus 9 for connecting the respective units.

The control unit 18 reads an image from the developed negative film by the scanner 11 according to an instruction from the input unit 19 by the operator of the minilab store, performs image processing by the image processing unit 12, print output by the printer 13, and input. Image data is transmitted from the output port 14, image data is stored in the hard disk 15, a user ID is read from the user ID card 7 by the bar code reader 17, and CD-R of the image data by the CD-R drive 16.
Various controls such as recording to R are performed for each unit of the image forming apparatus 10.

The communication terminal device 20 is composed of, for example, a personal computer connectable to the Internet 30. The communication terminal device 20 stores the image data acquired by the user's digital camera in the image storage server 40 by the user himself, registers the user information in the image storage server 40, or stores the image stored in the image storage server 40. It is used when browsing data, ordering prints, creating albums, instructing image quality evaluation, and displaying evaluation results. The communication terminal device 20 is a dedicated terminal connected to the image storage server 40 via a dedicated line, a mobile phone, a PD.
It may be a mobile terminal such as A.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the communication terminal device 20 stores an input / output port 21 for inputting / outputting data via the Internet 30, a mouse 22 which is a pointing device, numerical values, characters and the like. A keyboard 23 for inputting, a monitor 24 for performing various displays, a control unit 25 for controlling the operation of the entire communication terminal device 20, a memory card drive 26 for reading image data recorded in a memory card, data and A hard disk 27 that stores a program and a bus 28 that connects each unit are provided.

The mouse 22 is used to select an image displayed on the website or to specify a character input position. The keyboard 23 is used when inputting user information, image attribute information and the like. Instead of the mouse 22 and the keyboard 23, a dedicated input device having a function of a pointing device and a function of inputting characters and the like may be used.

As the monitor 24, for example, a liquid crystal monitor,
A CRT monitor, an EL display, a plasma display, a television receiver can be used. Furthermore, a so-called touch panel having the functions of the mouse 22, the keyboard 23, and the monitor 24 may be used.

The control unit 25 includes a mouse 22 and a keyboard 2.
3 based on the input from the user information, image attribute information,
Further, the image data read by the memory card drive 26 is transmitted to the image storage server 40 via the input / output port 21. Further, the control unit 25 also has a function of displaying the image data transmitted from the image storage server 40 on the monitor 24, and a screen for making a reprint order or the like on the monitor 24 as described later. In addition, the display of the image data, the screen for ordering, etc. is displayed by the communication terminal device 2.
Although it may be performed by dedicated software installed in 0, it may be performed by a general-purpose web browser.

The image storage server 40 is used for the image forming apparatus 10.
The image data transmitted from the communication terminal device 20 is stored for each user. Note that the image data is transmitted from the image forming apparatus 10 in units of film rolls from which image data is obtained or in units of media in which image data is recorded.
Further, it is stored in the image storage server 40 in film roll units or media units. In addition, the image storage server 4
0 is for uploading the stored image data on a website, transmitting predetermined image data to another communication terminal device 20 based on an instruction from the communication terminal device 20, or storing it in a predetermined minilab store. It is possible to place a print order for the selected image data.

Specifically, the image storage server 40, as shown in FIG. 4, has an input / output port 41 for inputting / outputting data via the Internet 30, an input unit 42 composed of a mouse, a keyboard, and the like. A monitor 43 that displays various results such as input results, a hard disk 44 that stores image data, various databases, and programs, an image evaluation unit 45 that evaluates image quality of a photographic image represented by a plurality of image data, The image storage server 40 includes a control unit 46 that controls the overall operation and a bus 47 that connects the units to each other.

When the control unit 46 receives new user information, for example, it issues a user ID and password, associates image data stored in the hard disk 44 with various kinds of information, and the like.

The hard disk 44 has a large capacity so that a large amount of image data transmitted from the plurality of image forming apparatuses 10 and the plurality of communication terminal apparatuses 20 can be stored. It should be noted that the hard disk 44 also stores text data for giving advice to the user according to the evaluation result of an image to be described later.

The image evaluation unit 45 evaluates the image quality of the photographic image acquired by the user based on the user's instruction from the communication terminal device 20 and the plurality of image data of the user stored in the hard disk 44. To do. In addition,
The image quality is evaluated for predetermined evaluation items. In the first embodiment, as the image quality evaluation items, the exposure, the position of the subject, the balance, and the degree of image blurring due to out-of-focus or camera shake are used. It should be noted that the position and balance of the subject may be one evaluation item called “composition”. The evaluation result is transmitted to the communication terminal device 20 and displayed on the monitor 24 together with text data for giving advice corresponding to the evaluation result. The text data has a plurality of contents stored in the hard disk 44 so that a plurality of types of advice can be given according to the evaluation result.

Instead of the image evaluation section 45, software for performing the same processing as that performed by the image evaluation section 45 may be installed in the hard disk 44, and the image quality may be evaluated using this software.

Here, the exposure is an item for evaluating whether the brightness of the image is appropriate, the position of the subject and the balance are
The item for evaluating whether or not the size and balance of the subject included in the image are appropriate, and the degree of blurring are items for evaluating whether or not the position of focusing is appropriate and whether or not there is camera shake.

Next, the evaluation of the image quality performed by the image evaluation unit 45 of the image storage server 40 in the first embodiment will be described. In this embodiment, the image data is registered in the image storage server 40 from the image forming apparatus 10, and the user instructs the image storage server 40 from the communication terminal device 20 to evaluate the image quality. It is assumed that the image evaluation unit 45 evaluates the image quality of a plurality of image data.

In the image forming apparatus 10, the processing information indicating the processing amount when the image processing unit 12 performs the image processing on the image data (for example, if the brightness is changed, the changing amount and the color are changed). If the taste has been changed, the change amount of the tint, etc.) is added to the image data, and the image data to which the processing information is added is stored in the image storage server 40. The processing information may be added to the image data as tag information of the image data. Further, processing information of a file different from the image data may be generated, and this may be associated with the image data and transmitted to and stored in the image storage server 40.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the operation of this embodiment. The user uses the communication terminal device 20 to access the website of the image storage server 40 (step S1) and gives an instruction to evaluate the image quality (step S).
2). At this time, the user gives an instruction as to which image data the image quality is to be evaluated. Note that, here, it is assumed that the evaluation of all the image data stored in the user's directory is instructed.

When the image storage server 40 receives the instruction, the image evaluation unit 45 evaluates the image quality based on all the image data stored in the user's directory.
First, regarding the exposure, based on the processing information added to the image data, it is determined how much the brightness is changed when the image processing is performed, and the score representing the evaluation result is determined. Specifically, the case where the brightness correction amount is zero is regarded as a perfect score, and the larger the correction amount is, the more the deduction points are increased, and the evaluation result is expressed as a score. In this embodiment, the maximum score is 5.
It is a point.

Regarding the position of the subject, the subject included in the image represented by the image data is extracted, and it is determined how much the position of the extracted subject deviates from the center position of the image, and the score representing the evaluation result is obtained. To decide.

As a method of extracting a subject, the center point of a region of a predetermined size is moved to the position of the predetermined subject based on the movement of the image, the inclination and / or color of the contour line of the predetermined subject, and The predetermined subject is extracted according to the size and / or shape of the predetermined subject with the center point as a reference, or a map of the potential field of the entire image is created, and the predetermined subject is determined with the minimum point of the potential in the map as a reference. A method such as extraction (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-210739), a neural network is made to learn a plurality of characteristic patterns for a plurality of characteristic portions of a predetermined subject such as a face, such as eyes and mouth, and the predetermined subject candidate and the characteristic portions are learned. Is included in a plurality of learned feature patterns, and the positional relationship of the characteristic parts of the predetermined subject candidate is determined to be the positional relationship of the characteristic parts of the predetermined subject. And by determining whether or not to match the predetermined object candidate or the like can be used a method of determining whether a predetermined object (JP-A-5-282457).

When the subject is a face, the image is divided into a plurality of regions, the non-human region is excluded, and then the shape pattern representing the contour of the head of the person is detected, and the face is detected according to the detected pattern. The candidate patterns are detected, and the shape pattern representing the outline of the person's face, the shape pattern representing the internal structure of the face, and the shape pattern representing the outline of the body of the person are detected. Is determined and the region with the highest accuracy that is the region corresponding to the face of the person is determined, and the face region is extracted (JP-A-8-122944). The image is divided into a plurality of regions for photometry. , The data obtained by photometry is converted into hue and saturation, and these two-dimensional histograms are created, and this histogram is decomposed for each single peak, and each pixel of the image is Determining whether it belongs to the mountain of deviation, dividing the pixels into groups corresponding to the divided mountains, dividing the image for each group and extracting face candidate areas, the image size of the extracted area and the main image size The face may be extracted from the image by a method of comparing the image size obtained from the information and extracting the most coincident region as the face region (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-100328).

Regarding the balance, it is judged how much the size of the subject extracted by the above extraction method or the like deviates from the optimum size in view of the size of the entire image, and the score representing the evaluation result is calculated. decide.

Regarding the degree of blurring, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 57-57
By applying the method described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 192941, the degree of blurring of the image is determined and the score representing the evaluation result is determined. The degree of blurring is detected as follows. That is, the image data is filtered by a small size (for example, 1 × 1 or 3 × 3) average value filter and a large size (for example, 5 × 5 or 7 × 7) average value filter to obtain a small size. Obtain average image data and large size average image data. In addition,
The 1 × 1 size filter is not an average value filter,
Here, for convenience, it is referred to as an average value filter. Then, based on the relationship between the frequency distribution of the difference between the corresponding pixels of each image data and the contrast value obtained by statisticizing the local contrast of the image represented by the original image data over the entire surface of the image, Detect the degree of.

After the image quality is evaluated in this way, the evaluation result is transmitted to the communication terminal device 20 together with the advice corresponding to the evaluation result (step S4). The communication terminal device 20 displays the evaluation result on the monitor 24 (step S5), and ends the process.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display screen of the evaluation result displayed on the monitor 24 in the first embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 6, on this display screen, a line graph 5 of evaluation results of exposure, position, balance, and degree of blurring is displayed.
1, the comprehensive determination 52, a typical image example 53 corresponding to the comprehensive determination, the evaluation method 54, the evaluation target 55, and the advice 56 are displayed.

The user can recognize what is wrong with the image taken by himself by looking at the evaluation result. Also,
By improving the photographing technique based on the advice, it is possible to perform photographing so as to obtain a higher evaluation next time.

Further, since the image data for which the image quality is evaluated is stored in the image storage server 40, the image quality can be evaluated based on a larger amount of the image data. The accuracy of evaluation can be improved. Further, since image data is stored in the image storage server 40 for a long period of time, an evaluation result based on a plurality of image data acquired in a certain past period and a plurality of image data acquired in a recent certain period. By making a comparison with the evaluation result based on, it is possible to know the degree of change in the photographing technique of the user.

In the first embodiment, the exposure is evaluated based on the processing information added to the image data. However, the image data before the image processing is obtained from the image forming apparatus 10 The exposure may be evaluated by comparing the image data after the image processing stored in the storage server 40 with the image data before the image processing.

In the first embodiment, the image quality is evaluated based on all the image data stored in the user's directory. However, the image quality is evaluated based on one image data selected by the user. You may make it evaluate the image quality of the photographic image represented by the selected image data.

Further, evaluation may be performed for each type of photograph. This can be performed by the user designating the type of photograph to be evaluated when giving an evaluation instruction. Hereinafter, evaluation of each type of photograph will be described as a second embodiment.

The types of photographs include a photograph image of one person, a photograph image of a plurality of persons, a group photograph, a landscape photograph image of a mountain, the sea, a town, etc., a flower photograph image, a pet photograph image, and a star photograph. An image and a photographic image of a night view can be designated.

The image evaluation unit 45 of the image storage server 40
Based on the user's evaluation instruction, first, the image data representing the designated type of photographic image is selected from all the image data stored in the user's directory. The selection of the image data is performed by determining the subject included in the image based on the image data. For example, the subject included in the image represented by the image data is extracted by the subject extraction method described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 5-210739 and 5-282457, and the extracted subject is typically used. An image including a subject that substantially matches a typical subject as a result of comparison with a template of a different subject (person, flower, star, etc.), and representing the photograph image as a photo image including the typical subject Select image data.

When the subject is a face, the number of the extracted faces is detected, and a photographic image of one person, a plurality of persons (up to about 6 to 7 persons) are detected according to the detected number of faces. )
It is possible to select a photographic image and a group photo of each person. Further, it is possible to compare the brightness of the image with a predetermined threshold value and select an image having a brightness smaller than the predetermined threshold value as the photographic image of the night view. In addition, the colors included in many images are detected, and depending on the colors, the mountain image if there is more green, the sea image if there is more blue, the city image if there is more gray, and so on. A landscape photo image of a city or the like can be selected.

When a photographic image including a person is selected, the image quality depends on the position, balance, and facial expression of the person, and therefore these may be included in the evaluation items. Further, when the group photograph is selected, the image quality depends on the arrangement of the persons and whether or not the person is within a predetermined frame. Therefore, these may be included in the evaluation items. further,
When a flower photographic image is selected, the image quality depends on the size of the subject and the balance with the background, so these may be included in the evaluation items. Further, when a photographic image of a night view is selected, it is difficult to set the exposure, and camera shake is likely to occur. Therefore, the exposure and camera shake may be included in the evaluation items.

Then, evaluation is performed based on the selected image data as in the first embodiment, and the evaluation result is transmitted to the communication terminal device 20 together with the advice and displayed on the monitor 24.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a display screen of the evaluation result of a specific type of photograph displayed on the monitor 24. As shown in FIG. 7, this display screen is for a case where a group photo is designated and an evaluation instruction is given, and the layout, size, sharpness, and balance are included as evaluation items. Line graph 61, comprehensive judgment 62, example 63 of main image of designated photographic image, evaluation method 64, designated photographic image type 65, evaluation target 66
And the advice 67 is displayed. It should be noted that the evaluation target indicates that out of 100 images registered in the image storage server 40, the number of images in the group photo was 10.

By looking at the evaluation result, the user can recognize what is wrong with a particular type of image taken by the user. Further, by improving the photographing technique based on the advice, it is possible to perform photographing so that a higher evaluation will be obtained next time.

Here, in the second embodiment, the evaluation is performed for each type of photograph, but if only the image data of one user is used, the number of image data is small and the image quality of the photograph image is small. May not be evaluated accurately. On the other hand, in the same type of photographic image, any user tends to have substantially the same image quality. Therefore, in the second embodiment, when the appropriate image quality cannot be evaluated only by the image data of one user, the image quality of another user may be used to evaluate the image quality. Good.

Although the exposure item, the position of the subject, the balance, and the degree of blur are used as the evaluation items in the first embodiment, the evaluation items are not limited to these, and the tint of the image and the aperture are evaluated items. May be added to. The hue may include hue, saturation, brightness, color balance, and contrast in detail. Further, the evaluation item may be designated when the evaluation is instructed. In addition to the evaluation items, the designation of the photo type may be accepted. Here, since the evaluation item evaluates the imaging technique, when the evaluation is instructed, "imaging technique" is set as the evaluation method, and after specifying the imaging technique, the individual evaluation items are specified. do it. Hereinafter, this will be described as a third embodiment.

The image evaluation section 45 of the image storage server 40
Based on the user's evaluation instruction, the evaluation item designated at the time of the evaluation instruction is evaluated based on all the image data stored in the user's directory. Then, the evaluation result is transmitted to the communication terminal device 20 together with the advice,
It is displayed on the monitor 24.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a display screen of the evaluation result displayed on the monitor 24 for a specific evaluation item.
As shown in FIG. 8, this display screen is for a case where the exposure, balance, and size are specified as evaluation items and an evaluation instruction is given, and the exposure, balance, and size are included as evaluation items. A line graph 71 of these evaluation results, a comprehensive judgment 72, an example 73 of main images corresponding to the designated evaluation item, an evaluation method 74, an evaluation item 75, an evaluation target 76, and an advice 77 are displayed.

The user can see the evaluation result and recognize the evaluation of a specific evaluation item in the image taken by the user. Further, by improving the photographing technique based on the advice, it is possible to perform photographing so that a higher evaluation will be obtained next time.

In the third embodiment, in addition to the evaluation items, the evaluation may be performed according to the type of photographic image as in the second embodiment. In this case, the image evaluation unit 45 of the image storage server 40 selects the image data representing the specified type of photographic image, and further evaluates the specified evaluation item based on the selected image data. The evaluation result may be transmitted to the communication terminal device 20 together with the advice, and the evaluation result may be displayed on the monitor 24.

Image data acquired by a specific digital camera (including not only a digital still camera but also a digital video camera capable of shooting a still image) from a plurality of image data stored in the image storage server 40 is used. The image acquired by the digital camera may be evaluated based on the selected image data. In this case, when the evaluation is instructed, the camera model is evaluated by specifying "camera model" as the evaluation method and specifying the model name of the camera. Hereinafter, this will be described as a fourth embodiment.

When the image data is acquired by the digital camera, the tag information of the image data includes the information of the camera model. Therefore, by referring to the tag information of the image data, the tag information of the image data is acquired by the specified camera model. The selected image data can be selected. When a camera model is designated as the evaluation method, hue, contrast, brightness and saturation are included in the evaluation items.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a display screen of the evaluation result for a specific camera model displayed on the monitor 24. As shown in FIG. 9, this display screen includes hue, contrast, brightness, and saturation as evaluation items as these evaluation items, and a line graph 81 of the evaluation result, a comprehensive judgment 82, and a digital display of the designated model. Example image 83 captured by camera, evaluation method 84, camera model 8
5, the evaluation target 86 and the comment 87 are displayed. Note that the evaluation target indicates that, out of 100 images registered in the image storage server 40, 30 images were acquired by the camera of the designated model.

The user can see the evaluation result and know the tendency of the image quality of the image acquired by the digital camera. In addition, image processing can be performed on the image data based on the comment so as to compensate for the defects of the image acquired by the digital camera, and thus a higher quality image can be obtained.

In each of the above embodiments, the image storage server 40 evaluates the image quality and displays the evaluation result on the communication terminal device 20. It is also possible to install software that performs the same processing as the processing described above and use this software to evaluate the image quality in the communication terminal device 20.

In this case, any image data locally stored by the user, such as image data stored in the hard disk 27, image data recorded in a medium such as a CD-R, MO, or a memory card, can be used as an evaluation target. it can.

On the other hand, the user can access the image storage server 40 from the communication terminal device 20 and place a print order for the image data. When the print order is placed, the image after the image processing is displayed on the order screen. The order may be accepted by displaying the data and the image data before the image processing and displaying what kind of image processing has been performed.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of the order screen. As shown in FIG. 10, on the order screen, a thumbnail image 91 of image data before image processing, a thumbnail image 92 of image data after image processing, a point 93 of image processing indicating what kind of image processing has been performed, An order field 94 for inputting the print size and the number of prints for the image after the image processing, an order field 95 for inputting the print size and the number of prints for the image before the image processing, a "order" button 96 for confirming the order, and canceling the order. A cancel button 97 is displayed. Note that the image processing point 93 includes the image quality evaluation result.
A field for inputting the print size of the order fields 94 and 95 is a pull-down menu.
Further, at the image processing point 93, a link 99 is displayed in order to display the point regarding the subject included in the image for which the print order is placed. By clicking the link 99, the user can display the point of photographing the flower.

On the order screen, the user compares the thumbnail image 91 before the image processing and the thumbnail image 92 after the image processing and refers to the point 93 of the image processing to see what kind of image processing is performed and the result. You can see at a glance how the image has changed.
Further, it is possible to recognize what is wrong with the image captured by the user based on the image quality evaluation result. further,
By improving the shooting technology based on the evaluation results,
Next time, shooting can be performed so that a higher quality image can be obtained.

Then, in the order fields 94 and 95, by inputting the print size and the number of prints of the image after image processing or the image before image processing and clicking the order button 96, order information is generated, which is the image storage server 40. The image storage server 40 further sends the order information and the image data to be printed to the minilab store for printing. In the order information, user information such as user name, address, and telephone number, file name of image data depending on presence / absence of correction, print size, and number of sheets are described.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of an image storage system to which an image evaluation device according to a first embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an image forming apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a communication terminal device.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an image storage server.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of this embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display screen of evaluation results (No. 1)

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a display screen of evaluation results (No. 2)

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a display screen of evaluation results (part 3).

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a display screen of evaluation results (Part 4).

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an order screen

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Image storage system 10 image forming apparatus 11 scanner 12 Image processing unit 13 Printer 14 I / O ports 15, 27, 44 hard disk 16 CD-R drive 17 Bar Code Reader 18, 25, 46 Control unit 19,42 Input section 20 Communication terminal equipment 21,41 I / O port 22 mice 23 keyboard 24,43 monitors 26 memory card drive 30 Internet 40 image storage server 45 Image Evaluation Department

Claims (18)

[Claims] 1. An image evaluation method, characterized in that the image quality of the photographic image is evaluated based on image data representing the photographic image acquired by photographing, and the result of the evaluation is output. 2. The image evaluation method according to claim 1, wherein the image quality is evaluated based on a plurality of the image data. 3. The image evaluation method according to claim 2, wherein the plurality of image data are stored in an image storage unit on a network. 4. The image quality evaluation according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the image quality is evaluated based on a plurality of image data representing a predetermined type of photographic image selected from the plurality of image data. Image evaluation method. 5. The image quality evaluation is performed on the basis of a plurality of image data acquired by a digital camera of a specific model selected from the plurality of image data. The image evaluation method according to any one of items. 6. When image processing is performed on the image data to obtain processed image data, image data before image processing, image data after image processing, and contents of the image processing are output. The image evaluation method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, which is characterized. 7. An evaluation means for evaluating the image quality of the photographic image based on image data representing the photographic image acquired by photographing, and an output means for outputting the result of the evaluation. Image evaluation device. 8. The image evaluation apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the evaluation unit is a unit that evaluates the image quality based on a plurality of the image data. 9. The image evaluation apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the plurality of image data are stored in an image storage unit on a network. 10. The evaluation means is means for evaluating the image quality based on a plurality of image data representing a predetermined type of photographic image selected from the plurality of image data. The image evaluation device according to claim 8 or 9. 11. The evaluation means is means for evaluating the image quality based on a plurality of image data acquired from a digital camera of a specific model selected from the plurality of image data. The image evaluation device according to any one of claims 8 to 10. 12. When the image data is subjected to image processing to obtain processed image data, the output means includes image data before image processing, image data after image processing, and contents of the image processing. 12. The image evaluation apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the image evaluation apparatus is a means for outputting. 13. A program for causing a computer to execute a procedure of evaluating the image quality of a photographic image based on image data representing a photographic image acquired by photographing, and a procedure of outputting a result of the evaluation. 14. The program according to claim 13, wherein the procedure of evaluating the image quality is a procedure of evaluating the image quality based on a plurality of the image data. 15. The plurality of image data are stored in an image storage unit on a network.
4. The program described in 4. 16. The step of evaluating the image quality is a step of performing the image quality evaluation based on a plurality of image data representing a predetermined type of photographic image selected from the plurality of image data. The image evaluation method according to claim 14. 17. The step of evaluating the image quality is a step of performing the image quality evaluation based on a plurality of image data acquired by a digital camera of a specific model selected from the plurality of image data. A program according to any one of claims 14 to 16. 18. When image processing is performed on the image data to obtain processed image data, the output procedure includes image data before image processing, image data after image processing, and image processing after the image processing. The program according to any one of claims 13 to 17, which is a procedure for outputting contents.