JP2004326281A - Image distributing server - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a user to easily distribute an image without performing a complicated operation in distributing an image in which a person is photographed to the person who is the object. <P>SOLUTION: A user database 34 stores the face image of a person whose image distribution is desired by the user and the electronic mail address of the transmission destination of the person for each user. When a person image where one or more persons are photographed is uploaded from a first user terminal 10, a person recognizing part 36 specifies the person of the distribution destination by comparing the face image of the person projected in the received person image with the face image being the target of recognition registered in the user database 34. A central processing part 38 acquires the electronic mail address corresponding to the person specified by the person recognizing part 36 from the user database 34, and generates electronic to which mail the person image is attached or an electronic mail to which a URL for downloading the person image is attached with the electronic mail address as the destination. This electronic mail is transmitted by a mail communicating part 32. Therefore, the person image uploaded by the user is easily distributed to the person photographed in the person image. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an image distribution server, and more particularly to an image distribution server that recognizes a person copied in an image requested by a user and distributes the image to that person.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In recent years, there have been increasing opportunities for users to distribute e-mails with images attached, and it has been required that images can be interactively exchanged with a plurality of partners. As the background, camera-equipped mobile phones are increasing, and such camera-equipped mobile phones are provided with a function of transmitting an image-attached mail. In addition, since the photographing performance of a camera added to a mobile phone has been improved, the case of taking a group photo with a mobile phone with a camera is increasing.
[0003]
On the other hand, techniques for recognizing a person by image processing have been proposed. For example, a technique has been proposed in which a feature amount is extracted from a person's face image and the feature amount is used for human recognition (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
[0004]
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-259834
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
Despite the improved shooting performance of mobile phones with cameras, with a mobile phone with a camera that has limited resources and does not have a person recognition function, it is It took a lot of time and effort.
[0006]
In particular, many mobile phones do not have a recording media slot, and generally, the means for retrieving a captured image is limited to the transmission of an electronic mail with an image. When attaching a plurality of captured images to such an e-mail and sending them to a plurality of persons, generally, the owner of the mobile phone visually confirms each of the plurality of persons as subjects, Each e-mail must be sent by specifying a different destination. In a mobile phone that cannot specify a plurality of destinations at a time, it is necessary to send an e-mail specifying the destinations by the number of subjects. Alternatively, the owner of the mobile phone must visually confirm a plurality of persons as subjects, attach different images for each person, specify an address for each person, and send an e-mail. In a mobile phone that cannot attach a plurality of images at a time, it is necessary to send e-mails by the number of images.
[0007]
The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an image distribution server that can easily distribute an image of a person to a person who is the subject without complicated operations by a user. The purpose is to provide.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is an image distribution server that distributes a person image uploaded by a user to a person imaged in the person image, and A user database in which a face image of a person who wishes to deliver a person image and an e-mail address of the person's transmission destination are registered, a receiving unit for receiving a person image from a user terminal, and a copy to the received person image. A person recognition unit that identifies a person to be distributed by comparing the face image of the person that has been identified and the face image to be recognized registered in the user database, and an e-mail address corresponding to the person identified by the person recognition unit Is obtained from the user database, and the e-mail address is attached to the e-mail with the person image attached or a URL for downloading the person image. A control unit for generating an email with attached, is characterized in that a transmission unit that transmits the generated electronic mail.
[0009]
According to the present invention, when a person image is uploaded from a user terminal, the person to be distributed is specified by comparing the face image of the person copied in the person image with the face image to be recognized registered in the user database. Since the person image is distributed based on the destination e-mail address registered in the user database, the person image is easily distributed to the person who is the subject. Further, the distribution destination of the person image is limited to the person whose face image is registered in the user database.
[0010]
The invention according to claim 2 is the invention according to claim 1, wherein the face image and the e-mail address of the transmission destination are received from the user terminal by the reception unit and registered in the user database. It becomes the composition.
[0011]
With this configuration, the user can freely register the recognition target.
[0012]
The invention according to claim 3 is the invention according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the user database includes the face image, a face part image extracted from the face image, and a plurality of face images on the face image. The positional relationship information indicating the positional relationship between the feature points of each person is stored for each person, and the person recognition unit recognizes the person imaged in the person image based on the face part image and the positional relationship information together with the face image. It is the composition to do.
[0013]
With this configuration, a person shown in a person image is recognized efficiently.
[0014]
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first, second, or third aspect of the invention, the transmission unit displays a recognition result indicating a recognized person and a result of transmitting a person image to the recognized person. The transmission result shown is notified to the user terminal by electronic mail.
[0015]
With this configuration, even when a person shown in a person image cannot be recognized for some reason or when a person image cannot be transmitted, the user can accurately grasp the result.
[0016]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
A preferred embodiment of an image distribution server according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0017]
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a system including an image distribution server according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0018]
In FIG. 1, a first user terminal 10 and a second user terminal 20 are communication terminals such as a personal computer and a mobile phone used by a user. Or it is a digital camera provided with a communication function. The server 30 distributes the person image uploaded by the user using the first user terminal 10 or the second user terminal 20 to the person imaged in the person image.
[0019]
Here, the person image is an image in which a part or all of the person is copied, and at least the face of the person is copied. The background etc. may be copied with the person. One person or a plurality of persons may be copied.
[0020]
The first user terminal 10 and the second user terminal 20 are respectively addressed to the server 30 by a camera 12 that captures a human image, an image storage unit 14 that stores the captured human image, and a simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP). A mail communication unit 16 that transmits an e-mail and receives an e-mail from the server 30 by POP (Post Office Protocol), and a control unit 18 that controls each unit of the user terminals 10 and 20 are provided. Note that a user terminal that does not provide a person image but only receives a person image distribution may not have the camera 12 and the image storage unit 14.
[0021]
The server 30 receives e-mails from the user terminals 10 and 20 by POP, and transmits a mail communication unit 32 to the user terminals 10 and 20 by SMTP, and person image recognition and person image transmission for each user. A user database 34 for storing information and the like, a person recognition unit 36 for recognizing a person imaged in a person image, and a central processing unit 38 that supervises the processing of each unit of the server 30.
[0022]
Here, each part of the server 30 will be described in more detail.
[0023]
The mail communication unit 32 of the server 30 receives an e-mail attached with a person image (hereinafter referred to as “person image attached mail”) transmitted from the user terminals 10 and 20. Further, a person image attached mail is transmitted to the user terminals 10 and 20 in accordance with an instruction from the central processing unit 38. Prior to the person recognition and the person image distribution, the mail communication unit 32 of the server 30 displays the face image of the person (also referred to as “recognition target”) that the user desires to distribute the person image and the electronic destination of the person. The mail address is received from the user terminals 10 and 20. Further, after the person recognition or the person image distribution, the recognition result indicating the recognized person and the transmission result indicating the result of transmitting the person image to the recognized person are sent to the user terminals 10 and 20 that are the person image transmission sources. Notify by email.
[0024]
In the user database 34 of the server 30, as shown in FIG. 2, for each user who provides a person image, the user's e-mail address 210 and a person (recognition target) that the user desires to distribute the person image. Recognition target data 220 is registered. Specifically, the recognition target data 220 includes a recognition target e-mail address 222, a recognition target face image 224, and face part images 232, 234 such as eyes, nose, and mouth extracted from the recognition target face image 224. 236 and a ratio 240 (positional relation information) indicating the positional relation of the plurality of feature points on the face image. The ratio 240 includes, for example, a value indicating a ratio between the distance between the center points of both eyes and the position of the nose or mouth with respect to a line connecting the center points of both eyes. Information indicating the positional relationship of other feature points may be registered. For example, the positional relationship information indicating the distance of the face part from the face outline or the position of the mole when there is a mole may be registered.
[0025]
The person recognition unit 36 of the server 30 compares the face image of the person captured in the person image with the face image to be recognized registered in the user database 34, and identifies the person to whom the person image is distributed. Preferably, the person shown in the person image is recognized based on the face image and the positional relationship between the plurality of feature points together with the face image.
[0026]
The central processing unit 38 of the server 30 acquires an e-mail address corresponding to the person specified by the person recognizing unit 36 from the user database 34, and generates an e-mail with the person image attached using the e-mail address as a destination. . Alternatively, an e-mail attached with a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) for downloading a person image is generated.
[0027]
The operations of the user terminals 10 and 20 and the server 30 configured as described above will be described below using the flowchart of FIG.
[0028]
Here, it is assumed that the user's e-mail address 210 and the recognition target data 220 are registered in the user database 34 in advance. For convenience of explanation, it is assumed that the first user terminal 10 is used for uploading human images and the second user terminal 20 is dedicated to receiving human images.
[0029]
In FIG. 3, first, at the first user terminal 10, a person image in which one or a plurality of persons are copied is attached to an electronic mail, and this electronic mail (person image attached mail) is transmitted to the server 30 (S2). .
[0030]
The server 30 that has received the person image attached mail extracts the person image from the e-mail (S4), and based on the e-mail address 210 of the user who sent the person image attached mail, the recognition target data 220 corresponding to this user is stored in the user database. (S6). The acquired recognition target data 220 includes a recognition target e-mail address 222, a recognition target face image 224, a recognition target face part image 232, 234, 236, and a plurality of features on the face image. A ratio 240 indicating the positional relationship of the points is included.
[0031]
The server 30 that has acquired the person image and the recognition target data performs person recognition by comparing the face image of the person copied in the person image with the face image of the recognition target acquired from the user database 34, and the person image A distribution destination person is specified (S8). More specifically, based on the face part images 232, 234, 236 and the ratio 240 together with the face image, the person shown in the person image is recognized.
[0032]
The server 30 determines whether or not a person has been recognized (S10). If there is a recognized person, the server 30 acquires an e-mail address 222 corresponding to the recognized person from the user database 34, and this e-mail address. A person image attached mail is transmitted with 222 as a destination (S12). Alternatively, an e-mail attached with a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) for downloading a person image is transmitted. Therefore, the person's user terminal (for example, the second user terminal 20) captured in the person image can acquire the person image. For example, an image showing the member is distributed to the members of the alumni association in which the user has participated.
[0033]
Furthermore, the server 30 sends the recognition result indicating the recognized person and the transmission result indicating the result of transmitting the person image to the recognized person to the first user terminal 10 that is the person image transmission source, the user who is the transmission source. Notification is made by e-mail to the address (S14). For example, it is notified of which person image is recognized by which person image, no person is recognized by which person image, which person image is transmitted to whom, who has failed to transmit the person image.
[0034]
For convenience of explanation, the case where a person image is transmitted from the first user terminal 10 and the second user terminal 20 receives a person image has been described with reference to FIG. 20 may be used to upload the person image, and any or all of the user terminals 10 and 20 may receive the person image. That is, a plurality of users can exchange person images interactively and freely.
[0035]
Hereinafter, an example of registration of the recognition target data 220 will be described.
[0036]
For example, a recognition target data registration page for the user to perform registration operation of the recognition target data is transmitted from the server 30 to the user terminal 10 and displayed on the user terminal 10, and the user terminal 10 uses the user terminal 10 according to the form in this page. Inputs the recognition target data, the user terminal 10 transmits the recognition target data to the server 30, and the server 30 registers in the user database 34. In this way, the recognition target data 220 is registered in the user database.
[0037]
As another method, there is a method of using an address book registered in the user terminal 10.
[0038]
The address book generally includes an e-mail address of an e-mail transmission destination. Also registered in this address book are facial images of each e-mail destination. The face image may be registered by the user of the user terminal 10 in the address book by photographing the face with the camera 12 of the user terminal 10. Alternatively, when an e-mail with a face image is received, the face image may be registered in the address book. In general, specific members are grouped among e-mail transmission destinations registered in the address book.
[0039]
Thus, in a state where the email addresses and face images of the members of the specific group are registered in the user terminal 10, the email addresses and face images of the members of the specific group are recognized from the user terminal 10 to the server 30. Send as data. For example, from the user terminal 10 of the first user (user1), recognition target data of three members (member1, member2, member3) of a specific group is attached to an e-mail and transmitted to the server 30. As shown in FIG. 2, the server 30 registers the user's (user1) email address 210 and the recognition target members (member1, member2, member3) email addresses 222 and face images 224 in the user database 34. To do.
[0040]
A part of the address book may be uploaded to the server 30 as recognition target data, or there is a method of uploading the address book itself to the server 30.
[0041]
Further, the server 30 extracts facial part images such as an eye image 232, a nose image 234, and a mouth image 236 from the face images 224 of members of a specific group, and the positional relationship of a plurality of feature points on each face image. Is extracted and registered in the user database 34.
[0042]
The processing in the server 30 is executed by a microcomputer constituting a part of the server 30 according to a program installed in the server 30 in advance. These programs are recorded on a recording medium (not shown).
[0043]
According to the server 30 described above, the face image of the person for whom the user wants to distribute the person image and the e-mail address of the person's transmission destination are registered in the user database 34 for each user. When a person image is uploaded from 20, a person to be distributed is identified by comparing the face image of the person copied in the received person image with the face image to be recognized registered in the user database 34, and the e-mail address Since the person image is distributed based on the image, the image of the person can be easily distributed to the person who is the subject without complicated operations by the user.
[0044]
In the embodiment described above, a case where a person image is uploaded using an e-mail has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a page for transferring a person image is transmitted from the server 30 to the user terminals 10 and 20, the page is displayed on the user terminals 10 and 20, and an FTP (File transfer Protocol) is performed by a user operation according to the display content. The person image may be uploaded from the user terminals 10 and 20 to the server 30 using file transfer such as the above. Further, the example in which the user's e-mail address 210 is registered in the user database 34 has been described. However, the user ID is not limited to an e-mail address as long as the information can identify the user, and a user ID consisting of letters, numbers, and symbols is registered. The recognition target data may be extracted based on the user ID.
[0045]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, the person image uploaded by the user is subjected to processing similar to so-called extra printing, and the same person image is easily distributed to the person imaged in the person image.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a system including an image distribution server according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of data registered in a user database. General flow chart for explanation [Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... 1st user terminal, 20 ... 2nd user terminal, 30 ... Server (image delivery server), 32 ... Mail communication part (reception part, transmission part), 34 ... User database, 36 ... Person recognition part, 38 ... Center Processing unit (control unit)

Claims (4)

An image distribution server that distributes a person image uploaded by a user to a person photographed in the person image,
A user database in which a face image of a person that the user desires to deliver a person image for each user and an e-mail address of the person's transmission destination are registered;
A receiving unit for receiving a person image from the user terminal;
A person recognizing unit that identifies a person to be distributed by comparing a face image of a person copied in the received person image with a face image to be recognized registered in the user database, and identified by the person recognizing unit An e-mail address corresponding to a person is acquired from the user database, and an e-mail attached with the person image or an e-mail attached with a URL for downloading the person image is generated with the e-mail address as a destination. A control unit;
A transmission unit for transmitting the generated e-mail;
An image delivery server comprising: The image distribution server according to claim 1, wherein the face image and the e-mail address of the transmission destination are received from the user terminal by the receiving unit and registered in the user database. The user database stores, for each person, positional relationship information indicating a positional relationship between a facial part image extracted from the facial image and a plurality of feature points on the facial image, together with the facial image,
The image distribution server according to claim 1, wherein the person recognition unit recognizes a person copied in the person image based on the face part image and positional relationship information together with the face image. The transmission unit notifies the user terminal of a recognition result indicating a recognized person and a transmission result indicating a result of transmitting a person image to the recognized person by e-mail. Or the image delivery server of 3.

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