JP2005260355A - Significance imparting device, significance information creating method, electronic album creating device, method and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To facilitate arrangement of images while paying attention to the significance thereof. <P>SOLUTION: The significance imparting device comprises: a section 11 for storing an image file; a section 12 for reading out the stored image file and displaying image data included therein; a section 13 for directing print of that image data; a section 14 for transferring that image data; a section 15 for editing that image data; a section 16 for checking the time when that image data is displayed; a section 17 for calculating and holding the cumulative value of these file manipulations; a significance decision rule storage section 18 for storing a rule determining a file manipulation significance index based on the cumulative value; and a file manipulation significance creating section 19 for creating a file manipulation significance index with reference to the rule. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an importance adding device that determines and adds importance to an image such as a photograph.

In recent years, images such as photographs are overflowing around us. One of the factors is the rapid spread of digital cameras (including so-called camera-equipped mobile phones).
In a silver salt camera, since an image is recorded on a film using silver halide as a photosensitive agent, an image once taken cannot be deleted later. On the other hand, since a digital camera records an image as digital data, even if there is a possibility of shooting failure, it is possible to take a picture for the time being and delete it later if it fails. In addition, images that are confused about whether to permanently store them are often transferred to a PC (Personal Computer) or the like for the time being, and it is often determined whether to delete or save them later. In this way, our consciousness is also very different from the case of using a silver halide camera. As a result, many images are scattered in the digital camera, in the recording medium, in the PC hard disk, etc. It is.

By the way, when images are scattered like this, it becomes necessary to organize them. In that case, for example, a failed image is deleted, and a work that is particularly well taken from the remaining images is picked up and included in an electronic album.
However, in such a work, it is necessary to determine each of the scattered images to be included in the electronic album while checking each one. Although the advantages of being able to handle images as digital data are great, it takes a long time to view images, which is a disadvantage brought about by handling them as digital data.
Therefore, in order to efficiently perform an image classification operation such as picking up an image to be included in an electronic album from a large number of images, predetermined incidental information about the image is added to the image, and the incidental information is It has been used to automatically classify images (see, for example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2).

JP-A-7-123307 (6th, 7th page, FIG. 10-23) JP 2002-344867 (page 6-8, FIGS. 2, 3)

However, the invention of Patent Document 1 adds a shooting year, a shooting month, a shooting date, a shooting time, and the like, and the invention of Patent Document 2 adds position information, subject information, and the like to the image as supplementary information. Yes, the importance of the image is not added to the image as incidental information. Therefore, there has been a problem that it is impossible to classify an image focusing on the importance of the image.
For example, for images to be included in an electronic album, there is generally a desire to select important images (for example, favorite images, photos taken in commemoration, etc.). It took a great deal of work to select.

The present invention has been made to solve the technical problems as described above, and an object thereof is to make it easy to organize images by paying attention to their importance.
Another object of the present invention is to improve the efficiency of preferentially including important images in an electronic album.

For this purpose, the present invention adds importance level information indicating the importance level to image data. That is, the importance adding device of the present invention includes an importance determination rule storage unit that stores a rule for determining the importance of an image based on the attribute information of the image, and an attribute for acquiring attribute information of a specific image. Importance information indicating importance of a specific image is generated by applying a rule stored in the importance determination rule storage unit to the information acquisition unit and the attribute information acquired by the attribute information acquisition unit An importance level information generation unit and an importance level information addition unit that adds importance level information generated by the importance level information generation unit to a specific image are provided.
Department.

  The present invention can also be understood as an importance information generation method for generating importance information indicating the importance of image data. In this case, the importance level information generation method of the present invention reads a rule for determining the importance level of the image based on the attribute information of the image from a predetermined storage device, and acquires the attribute information of the specific image. And a step of generating importance information indicating the importance of a specific image by applying a read rule to the acquired attribute information.

  Furthermore, the present invention can also be understood as an electronic album creating apparatus that creates an electronic album using image data to which importance level information is added. In that case, the electronic album creating apparatus of the present invention includes an image file acquisition unit that acquires image data including image data and importance information indicating the importance, a number specification unit that specifies the number of images included in the electronic album, An image selection unit for selecting an image file including importance information satisfying a predetermined condition within the range of the number of images specified by the number specification unit from the image files acquired by the image file acquisition unit; An image data acquisition unit that acquires image data included in the image file as image data to be included in the electronic album.

  Furthermore, the present invention can also be understood as a method for creating such an electronic album. In this case, the electronic album creating method of the present invention includes a step of acquiring an image file including image data, identification information thereof, and importance information indicating the importance, and identification of the image data included in the acquired image file. Storing the information in association with the storage device, identifying the identification information of the image data included in the electronic album based on the importance information included in the acquired image file, and based on the identified identification information Reading image data stored in the storage device as image data to be included in the electronic album.

  On the other hand, the present invention can also be understood as a computer program for causing a computer to realize the importance level information generation function. In that case, the program of the present invention has a function of reading a rule for determining the importance of the image based on the attribute information of the image from a predetermined storage device and a function of acquiring the attribute information of the specific image. And a function for generating importance information indicating the importance of a specific image by applying a read rule to the acquired attribute information.

  According to the present invention, it becomes easy to organize images by paying attention to their importance.

The best mode for carrying out the present invention (hereinafter referred to as “embodiment”) will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a digital camera according to the present embodiment. The digital camera includes a controller 10, a lens 20, an image sensor 30, an A / D conversion circuit 40, a liquid crystal display 50, operation keys 60, a built-in memory 70, and an auxiliary storage device 80. . Note that this diagram is an outline, and even a configuration generally required for a digital camera may be omitted for components that are not directly related to the present invention.

The controller 10 has a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and controls signal input from the A / D conversion circuit 40, display control on the liquid crystal display 50, input control from the operation keys 60, and output to the built-in memory 70. This is a part that performs various controls such as control and output control to the auxiliary storage device 80.
The lens 20 forms an image of the subject on the image sensor 30. The imaging element 30 is an element that converts light that has entered through the lens 20 into an electrical signal, and is, for example, a CCD (Charge Coupled Diode) or a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor). The A / D conversion circuit 40 is a circuit for converting a signal of image data input as an analog signal into a digital signal.

  The liquid crystal display 50 is a display for displaying an image stored in the built-in memory 70 and a menu screen for performing various settings for the digital camera. The operation key 60 is a key for performing various setting operations on the digital camera. The built-in memory 70 is a memory for storing captured images, data for performing various settings, and the like. The auxiliary storage device 80 is a recording medium for recording captured images, and is, for example, a flash memory. Normally, the auxiliary storage device 80 is configured to be detachable from the digital camera body, but in FIG. 1, for convenience, the auxiliary storage device 80 is shown in a form connected to the controller 10.

In this embodiment, importance information (for example, importance index) is added to image data in such a digital camera.
Here, the importance level information is generated based on image attribute information. In the following, as attribute information of an image, information on an operation on an image file (a file made up of image data and its accompanying information) and information on the meaning of the image being shot (in what event the image was shot) are considered. Specific embodiments will be described.
The importance level information may be automatically added immediately after shooting, or may be added according to a user instruction at an arbitrary time after shooting.

(First embodiment)
In the first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2A, in addition to information such as a file name and a shooting date and time as ancillary information, an index representing an importance level focusing on an operation on an image file is added to the image data. A file operation importance index is added. In the present embodiment, as the file operation importance index, for example, as shown in FIG. 2 (b), the individual importance index a obtained from the browsing count cumulative value and the individual importance index calculated from the browsing time cumulative value, for example. b, the individual importance index c obtained from the accumulated number of printing times, the individual importance index d obtained from the accumulated number of transfer times, and the individual importance index e obtained from the accumulated number of editing times. Assume something.
When such a file operation importance index is added at the time of shooting, the controller 10 saves the file directly to the image data acquired from the image sensor 30 via the A / D conversion circuit 40 or after storing it in the built-in memory 70. The operation importance index is added and stored in the auxiliary storage device 80. In addition, when adding such a file operation importance index at an arbitrary time after shooting, the controller 10 reads image data from the auxiliary storage device 80, adds the file operation importance index, and adds it to the auxiliary storage device 80. Write back.

Next, the functional configuration of the controller 10 will be described with reference to FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, the controller 10 includes an image file storage unit 11, an image display unit 12, a print instruction unit 13, an image transfer unit 14, an image editing unit 15, a time measuring unit 16, and a file operation cumulative total. A value calculation unit 17, an importance determination rule storage unit 18, and a file operation importance generation unit 19 are provided.

  The image file storage unit 11 is a part that assigns an image ID (for example, a file name) to the image acquired from the A / D conversion circuit 40 and stores it in the built-in memory 70 or the auxiliary storage device 80 as an image file. In addition, the image display unit 12 is a part that displays the stored image on the liquid crystal display 50 and passes an operation on the image to each processing unit. The print instruction unit 13 is a part that instructs to print the displayed image, the image transfer unit 14 is a part that transfers the displayed image, and the image editing unit 15 displays the displayed image. The part to edit. The timer unit 16 corresponds to a timer, and measures the time from the start of image display to the end.

The file operation cumulative value calculation unit 17 is a part that calculates a cumulative value of operations performed on the image file and holds it as a file operation cumulative value table. FIG. 4 shows an example of the file operation cumulative value table.
In FIG. 4, the file operation cumulative value table stores correspondences between image IDs, browse count cumulative values, browse time cumulative values, print count cumulative values, transfer count cumulative values, and edit count cumulative values. The For example, for an image with the image ID “P0001”, at a certain point in time, the cumulative number of browsing times is 3, the browsing time cumulative value is 5 minutes, the printing frequency cumulative value is 2, the transfer frequency cumulative value is 0, and the editing frequency cumulative value is 0. It is shown that the value is once. Note that information other than these, such as the number of copies, may be used as the information indicating the operation on the image file.

The importance determination rule storage unit 18 is a part that stores a rule for determining the file operation importance. FIG. 5 shows an example of an individual importance index table storing rules for determining individual importance indices a to e among the rules.
In FIG. 5, the individual importance index table includes correspondences between the individual importance index, the browse count cumulative value, the browse time cumulative value, the print count cumulative value, the transfer count cumulative value, and the edit count cumulative value. Remembered. The individual importance index is expressed in four stages from “1” to “4”, and is an index indicating that the larger the numerical value, the more important. For each of the cumulative number of browsing times, cumulative number of printing times, and cumulative number of transfer times, the value of the individual importance index increases as the cumulative number of times increases. The larger the value is, the larger the value of the individual importance index is set. In other words, it is considered that important (favorite) images will inevitably increase the number of times these file operations are performed, so such rules are prepared so that the more the number of file operations, the more important the image can be determined. It is.
The importance determination rule storage unit 18 may also store a rule for obtaining the file operation importance index by summing the individual importance indices a to e. Alternatively, such a rule may be stored when the file operation importance index is obtained by weighting and summing the individual importance indices a to e instead of simply summing them.
Further, the file operation importance generation unit 19 is a part that generates a file operation importance index by referring to the rules stored in the importance determination rule storage unit 18.

Each of these functional units can be realized only by hardware, but can also be realized by a combination of hardware and software. In the latter case, each function is realized by the CPU of the controller 10 reading and executing a program stored in the built-in memory 70, for example.
The program may be installed in advance at the time of shipment of the digital camera including the controller 10, or may be downloaded and installed using a wired or wireless communication unit after shipment. .

Next, the operation of the controller 10 in the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation until the controller 10 detects an operation on the image file and creates a file operation total value table held by the file operation total value calculation unit 17.
First, the image display unit 12 reads out the data corresponding to the designated image ID from the image data stored in the built-in memory 70 or the auxiliary storage device 80 and displays it on the liquid crystal display (step 101). As a result, the time counting unit 16 starts measuring time, and the file operation cumulative value calculation unit 17 receives the notification that the image ID and the image are displayed from the image display unit 12, whereby the file operation cumulative value of FIG. 1 is added to the cumulative number of browsing times corresponding to the image ID in the value table (step 102).

With the image displayed in this manner, the image display unit 12 waits for an instruction from the user.
First, the image display unit 12 determines whether or not there is a print instruction (step 103). If it is determined that there is an instruction for printing, the image display unit 12 instructs printing by transmitting the displayed image to the image forming apparatus by wireless or wired communication, and the file operation cumulative value calculation unit 17. Receives an image ID and a notification that printing of the image has been instructed from the image display unit 12, and thereby adds 1 to the print count cumulative value corresponding to the image ID in the file operation cumulative value table of FIG. (Step 104).

  If it is not determined that there is a print instruction, the image display unit 12 determines whether there is an image transfer instruction (step 105). If it is determined that there is an image transfer instruction, the image display unit 12 transfers the displayed image to a device designated by wireless or wired communication, and the file operation cumulative value calculation unit 17 displays the image display. By receiving an image ID and a notification that the image has been transferred from the unit 12, 1 is added to the transfer count cumulative value corresponding to the image ID in the file operation cumulative value table of FIG. 4 (step 106).

  If it is not determined that there is an image transfer instruction, the image display unit 12 determines whether there is an image editing instruction (step 107). Here, when it is determined that there has been an instruction to edit the image, the image display unit 12 performs an editing process on the displayed image, and the file operation cumulative value calculation unit 17 receives the image ID and its image from the image display unit 12. Upon receipt of the notification that the image has been edited, 1 is added to the edit count cumulative value corresponding to the image ID in the file operation cumulative value table of FIG. 4 (step 108).

  Thereafter, the image display unit 12 determines whether or not there is an end instruction (step 109). If there is no end instruction, the process returns to step 103 and repeats the update process of the file operation cumulative value table based on each operation. On the other hand, if there is an end instruction, the image is erased from the liquid crystal display 50 and the time measuring unit 16 stops the time counting, and the file operation cumulative value calculating unit 17 displays the image ID and the image from the time measuring unit 16. By receiving the notification of the time, the time is added to the browse time cumulative value corresponding to the image ID in the file operation cumulative value table of FIG. 4 (step 110).

Then, the file operation importance generation unit 19 responds to the calculation instruction of the file operation importance index for a specific image, using the image ID included in the instruction as a key, the browse count cumulative value, the browse time cumulative value, and the print count. The cumulative value, the transfer count cumulative value, and the edit count cumulative value are extracted, and the individual importance index a to e for each cumulative value is obtained with reference to the individual importance index table of FIG. Then, the file operation importance index is calculated by summing up these individual importance indices.
Finally, the image file storage unit 11 receives the calculated file operation importance index from the file operation importance generation unit 19 and writes it in the incidental information of the image data. In addition to the method of adding the file operation importance index to the image data, in addition to the method of writing in the accompanying information, the method of directly embedding in the image data, the correspondence between the image ID and the file operation importance index in a predetermined storage device Various methods such as a method of storing the data can be considered.

In the present embodiment, the processing for adding the importance index to the image data is performed by the digital camera, but the same processing can be performed by the PC or the like. In this case, each function described above is realized by a CPU (not shown) such as a PC reading and executing a program stored in the auxiliary storage device. In addition, this program may be installed in advance at the time of shipment of a PC or the like, or may be downloaded and installed using wired or wireless communication means after shipment.
Alternatively, the processing up to the file operation cumulative value table creation process may be performed by a digital camera, and the calculation of the file operation importance and the addition of the file operation importance index to the image data may be performed by a PC or the like. . However, in this case, it is necessary to transfer the file operation total value table in which the file operation total value is recorded from the program operating on the digital camera to the program operating on the PC or the like. is there.

As described above, in the present embodiment, by adding the file operation importance index to the image data, the image data can be organized by paying attention to the file operation.
Here, an electronic album creating apparatus for actually creating an electronic album from such image data will be described. The electronic album creating apparatus may be a device dedicated to creating an electronic album, or may be realized by installing electronic album creating software on a computer such as a PC.
First, the functional configuration of the electronic album creating apparatus will be described with reference to FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7, the electronic album creating apparatus 90 includes an image file acquisition unit 91, an image storage folder specification unit 92, an image selection unit 93, a number specification unit 94, and an image data acquisition unit 95.

  The image file acquisition unit 91 is a part that acquires an image file composed of image data and accompanying information (including a file name and a file operation importance index), and the image storage folder specifying unit 92 determines whether an image file to be acquired is This is the part that identifies the stored folder. The image selection unit 93 is a part for selecting an image to be included in the electronic album based on the file operation importance index, and the number specifying unit 94 is a part for specifying the number of images to be included in the electronic album. The image data acquisition unit 95 is a part that acquires data of a selected image.

The electronic album creating apparatus 90 operates as follows.
That is, first, the image storage folder specifying unit 92 specifies the folder in which the target image file to be read exists. Next, the image file acquisition unit 91 reads all the image files existing in the folder, and stores the image data included in the image file in the image data storage area so that the image data can be extracted by the file name. Further, the image file acquisition unit 91 passes the file name and the file operation importance index included in the image file to the image selection unit 93.

On the other hand, the number specifying unit 94 specifies the number of images to be included in the electronic album, whereby the image selecting unit 93 delivers the image from the image file acquiring unit 91 within the range of the number specified by the number specifying unit 94. The image to be included in the electronic album is selected based on the file operation importance index. For example, according to the individual importance index table shown in FIG. 5, when the total of the individual importance indices a to e is used as the file operation importance index, the larger the index, the more important. Images are selected from those having a large file operation importance index within the number specified by the section 94.
Then, the image selection unit 93 transmits the file name corresponding to the image data included in the electronic album to the image data acquisition unit 95, and the image data acquisition unit 95 extracts the image data from the image data storage area using the file name as a key. .

(Second embodiment)
In the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8A, in addition to information such as a file name, a shooting date, a shooting position, a photographer ID, and a subject ID as ancillary information for the image data, the image An event importance index, which is an index representing the importance of paying attention to the meaning of shooting, is added. Note that latitude and longitude information acquired by the GPS function of the digital camera can be used as the shooting position, and the photographer ID and subject ID can be registered from, for example, the liquid crystal display 50 before and after shooting. In this embodiment, as the event importance index, for example, as shown in FIG. 8B, the individual importance index a obtained from the distance from the home and the meaning (location) of the shooting position are shown. Individual importance index b obtained from the location index, individual importance index c obtained from the event index indicating the meaning (event) of the shooting date and time, and individual importance index obtained from the smile index indicating the degree of smile of the subject Assume what is obtained by summing d.
When such an event importance index is added at the time of shooting, the controller 10 stores the event importance directly in the image data acquired from the image sensor 30 via the A / D conversion circuit 40 or after it is stored in the built-in memory 70. The degree index is added and stored in the auxiliary storage device 80. Further, when adding such an event importance index at an arbitrary time after shooting, the controller 10 reads image data from the auxiliary storage device 80, adds the event importance index, and writes it back to the auxiliary storage device 80. .

Next, the functional configuration of the controller 10 will be described with reference to FIG.
As shown in FIG. 9, the controller 10 includes an image file storage unit 21, an image file reading unit 22, a distance calculation unit 23, a place estimation unit 24, an event estimation unit 25, an expression recognition unit 26, A degree determination rule storage unit 27 and an event importance level generation unit 28 are provided.

  The image file storage unit 21 is a part that assigns an image ID (for example, a file name) to the image acquired from the A / D conversion circuit 40 and stores it in the built-in memory 70 or the auxiliary storage device 80 as an image file. The image file reading unit 22 is a part for reading the stored image.

The distance calculation unit 23 is a part that calculates the distance from the subject's home to the shooting position, and the place estimation unit 24 is a part that estimates the shooting place. Here, the information referred to by the distance calculation unit 23 and the location estimation unit 24 in FIG. 10 will be described.
FIG. 10A is a general location table that stores the location of a position where an image is often taken. For example, it is memorized that a specific longitude / latitude is a theme park, a sightseeing spot, or a date spot.
FIG. 10B is a unique place table that stores the place where the image is frequently taken for each subject. For example, it is stored that the specific longitude / latitude for the subject with the subject ID “H0001” is a home, a company, or a friend's house. Such information can be registered by each user from the liquid crystal display 50 or the like.
Furthermore, FIG. 10 (c) groups all or a part of the locations stored in FIGS. 10 (a) and 10 (b) with the same degree of importance of images taken at each location. This is a location index table that stores location indexes in association with each other.

On the other hand, the event estimation part 25 is a part which estimates the event at the time of imaging | photography. In general, the term “event” means a ritual or event that is held on a specific day. However, in this specification, even if no ritual or event is held, a specific day is socially or privately. If it is recognized as having a special meaning, it shall also be used to include that special meaning. Here, the information referred to in the event estimation part 25 in FIG. 11 is demonstrated.
FIG. 11A is a general event table that stores what events correspond to the time when images are generally often taken. For example, it is stored that January 1st to 3rd is the New Year, December 24th to 25th is Christmas, and December 31 is New Year's Eve.
FIG. 11B is a unique event table that stores what event it corresponds to when the image is often taken for each subject. For example, for the subject with the subject ID “H0001”, it is stored that May 29 is the birthday, August 8 to 14 is the summer vacation, and November 5 is the wedding anniversary. Such information can be registered by each user from the liquid crystal display 50 or the like.
Further, FIG. 11 (c) groups all or a part of the events stored in FIGS. 11 (a) and 11 (b) with the same level of importance of images taken at each event. 3 is an event index table that stores event indexes in association with each other.

The facial expression recognition unit 26 is a part that recognizes the facial expression of the subject included in the image.
Furthermore, the importance determination rule storage unit 27 is a part that stores a rule for determining the event importance. FIG. 12 shows an example of the individual importance index table storing rules for determining the individual importance indices a to d among the rules.
In FIG. 12, the individual importance index table stores the correspondence between the individual importance index, the distance from the home, the place index, the event index, and the smile index. The individual importance index is expressed in four stages from “1” to “4”, and is an index indicating that the larger the numerical value, the more important. The distance from the home is set so that the value of the individual importance index increases as the value increases. This is because an image at a location far from home, such as an image taken at a travel destination, is considered to be more important. In addition, in the place index table of FIG. 10 (c) and the event index table of FIG. 11 (c), the values of the place index and the event index are set larger for the place and event groups. 12, the value of the individual importance index is set to increase as the numerical values of the place index and the event index increase. Also, the smile index is set so that the smile index value increases as the degree of smile increases, and the individual importance index value increases as the smile index increases. This is because there is a desire to preferentially select a photograph taken with a smile as a photograph to be included in an electronic album or the like over a photograph that does not.
The importance determination rule storage unit 27 may also store a rule for obtaining the event importance index by summing the individual importance indices a to d. Alternatively, such a rule may be stored when the file operation importance index is obtained by weighting and summing the individual importance indices a to d instead of simply summing them.
Further, the event importance generation unit 28 is a part that generates an event importance index by referring to the rules stored in the importance determination rule storage unit 27.

Each of these functional units can be realized only by hardware, but can also be realized by a combination of hardware and software. In the latter case, each function is realized by the CPU of the controller 10 reading and executing a program stored in the built-in memory 70, for example.
The program may be installed in advance at the time of shipment of the digital camera including the controller 10, or may be downloaded and installed using a wired or wireless communication unit after shipment. .

Next, the operation of the controller 10 in the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing an operation when the controller 10 adds an event importance index to image data.
First, the image file reading unit 22 reads the one corresponding to the specified image ID from the image files stored in the internal memory 70 or the auxiliary storage device 80 (step 201). As shown in FIG. 8, the image file includes image data and incidental information. Therefore, incidental information (shooting date and time, shooting position, subject ID, etc.) is also read at the same time.
Next, the distance calculation unit 23 calculates the distance from the subject's home to the shooting position (step 202). Specifically, the subject's home position is obtained by searching the unique location table of FIG. 10B using the subject ID read in step 201 as a key. Then, the distance is obtained from the obtained home position and the photographing position.

  Further, the place estimation unit 24 estimates the meaning of the shooting position, and obtains a place index for the place (step 203). Specifically, from the position information stored in the general place table of FIG. 10A and the position information related to the subject of interest among the position information stored in the unique place table of FIG. A search is made for the smallest distance to the shooting position, and if the minimum distance is equal to or smaller than a certain threshold, the searched place is estimated as the shooting place. Then, if the estimated place is set in the place index table of FIG. 10 (c), the place index corresponding to the set place is obtained, and if not set, it corresponds to “impossible to estimate”. “1” is obtained as a location index. On the other hand, if the minimum distance is not equal to or smaller than a certain threshold, “1” corresponding to “impossible to estimate” is obtained as the location index.

  Further, the event estimation unit 25 estimates what event the shooting date / time corresponds to (step 204). Specifically, from the time information stored in the general event table of FIG. 11A and the time information related to the subject of interest among the time information stored in the unique event table of FIG. Time information including the shooting date and time is searched and estimated as an event at the time of shooting. Then, if the estimated event is set in the event index table of FIG. 11 (c), an event index corresponding to the set event is obtained, and if it is not set, it corresponds to “estimation impossible”. “1” is obtained as an event index. On the other hand, if there is no time information including the shooting date and time, “1” corresponding to “impossible to estimate” is obtained as the event index.

Furthermore, the facial expression recognition unit 26 recognizes the facial expression of the subject in the image and obtains, for example, a smile index (step 205). For example, the method described in the specification of Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-040159 can be used to determine whether the degree of smile is high.
Then, the event importance generation unit 28 acquires the distance from the home, the place index, the event index, and the smile index obtained as described above, and refers to the individual importance index table of FIG. Find ad. Then, the event importance index is calculated by summing up these individual importance indices (step 206).
Finally, the image file storage unit 21 receives the calculated event importance index from the event importance generation unit 28 and writes it in the incidental information of the image data (step 207). In addition to the method of adding the event importance index to the image data, in addition to the method of writing in the incidental information, the method of directly embedding in the image data, the correspondence between the image ID and the event importance index is stored in a predetermined storage device. Various methods are conceivable, such as a storage method.

  In the present embodiment, the processing for adding the importance index to the image data is performed by the digital camera, but the same processing can be performed by the PC or the like. In this case, each function described above is realized by a CPU (not shown) such as a PC reading and executing a program stored in the auxiliary storage device. In addition, this program may be installed in advance at the time of shipment of a PC or the like, or may be downloaded and installed using wired or wireless communication means after shipment.

In this embodiment, the importance of an image is determined by paying attention to the subject in the image (distance from the subject's home, location for the subject, meaning of date and time, etc.), and the photographer ID is also determined from the accompanying information. As can be seen, it is possible to determine the importance of an image by paying attention to the photographer of the image.
Furthermore, in the present embodiment, even if an event is held at a specific place (school) such as a graduation ceremony or entrance ceremony, the event is estimated based on the shooting date and event table. The event may be estimated with reference to the table. That is, if the shooting location is a school and the shooting date is a graduation ceremony season in March, it is estimated that it is a graduation ceremony. If the shooting location is a school and the shooting date is an entrance ceremony season in April, Estimate that it is an entrance ceremony. It is also possible to determine whether or not it is appropriate for the subject to attend a graduation ceremony or entrance ceremony in the shooting year based on the date of birth of the subject.

As described above, in the present embodiment, by adding the event importance index to the image data, the image data can be organized by paying attention to the event at the time of shooting.
The electronic album creating apparatus for creating an electronic album from the image data to which the event importance index is added in this way is the “file operation importance index” in the electronic album creating apparatus described in the first embodiment. Is simply replaced with “event importance index”, and the description is omitted.

It is the block diagram which showed the hardware constitutions of the digital camera with which embodiment of this invention is applied. It is the figure which showed the structure of the image file preserve | saved by the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is the block diagram which showed the function structure of the controller in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed an example of the memory content of the file operation total value table hold | maintained in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed an example of the memory content of the separate importance index table referred in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is the flowchart which showed operation | movement of the controller in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is the block diagram which showed the function structure of the electronic album production apparatus in the 1st and 2nd embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the structure of the image file preserve | saved by the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is the block diagram which showed the function structure of the controller in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the example of the various tables referred at the time of the location estimation in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the example of the various tables referred at the time of event estimation in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed an example of the memory content of the separate importance index table referred in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is the flowchart which showed the operation | movement of the controller in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Controller 11, 21 ... Image file storage part, 12 ... Image display part, 13 ... Print instruction | indication part, 14 ... Image transfer part, 15 ... Image editing part, 16 ... Time measuring part, 17 ... File operation cumulative value calculation part , 18, 27 ... Importance determination rule storage unit, 19 ... File operation importance generation unit, 20 ... Lens, 22 ... Image file reading unit, 23 ... Distance calculation unit, 24 ... Location estimation unit, 25 ... Event estimation unit, DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 26 ... Expression recognition part, 28 ... Event importance generation part, 30 ... Image pick-up element, 40 ... A / D conversion circuit, 50 ... Liquid crystal display, 60 ... Operation key, 70 ... Built-in memory, 80 ... Auxiliary storage device, 90 ... Electronic album creating apparatus, 91 ... Image file acquisition unit, 92 ... Image storage folder specifying unit, 93 ... Image selecting unit, 94 ... Number specifying unit, 95 ... Image data acquiring unit

Claims (15)

An importance determination rule storage unit for storing a rule for determining the importance of the image based on the attribute information of the image;
An attribute information acquisition unit for acquiring attribute information of a specific image;
Importance that generates importance information indicating the importance of the specific image by applying the rule stored in the importance determination rule storage unit to the attribute information acquired by the attribute information acquisition unit A degree information generator,
An importance level addition apparatus, comprising: an importance level information addition unit that adds the importance level information generated by the importance level information generation unit to the specific image.   The importance adding device according to claim 1, wherein the attribute information acquisition unit acquires information regarding an operation performed on the specific image as the attribute information.   The importance adding device according to claim 1, wherein the attribute information acquisition unit acquires event information indicating a meaning that the specific image is captured as the attribute information.   The said attribute information acquisition part produces | generates the said event information based on the information of the imaging | photography date or imaging position of the said specific image, and the information which defined the meaning of the date / time or a position. Importance device.   The attribute information acquisition unit is based on the information on the shooting date or position of the specific image, the information on the parties related to the specific image, and the information defining the meaning of the date or position on the parties concerned, 4. The importance adding device according to claim 3, wherein the event information is generated.   2. The importance adding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the attribute information acquisition unit acquires information relating to a facial expression of the subject in the specific image as the attribute information. Reading from a predetermined storage device a rule for determining the importance of the image based on the attribute information of the image;
Obtaining attribute information of a specific image;
Generating importance information indicating the importance of the specific image by applying the read rule to the acquired attribute information. A method for generating importance information, comprising:   In the reading step, as the rule, a first rule for determining an individual importance that is an importance focused on each attribute information of the image based on each attribute information of the image, and the individual importance 8. The importance information generation method according to claim 7, wherein a second rule for determining the importance of the image is read based on the second rule. A step of creating a file operation cumulative value table in which information on the operation is recorded each time an operation is performed on the specific image;
8. The importance information generation method according to claim 7, wherein in the step of acquiring the attribute information, the created file operation cumulative value table is acquired as the attribute information. Identifying the shooting date and / or shooting position of the particular image;
Reading an event table defining the meaning of the date and time and / or a location table defining the meaning of the position from a predetermined storage device;
Estimating the meaning of the specified shooting date and / or shooting position by referring to the read event table and / or the location table,
8. The importance information generation method according to claim 7, wherein in the step of acquiring the attribute information, the estimated date and / or the meaning of the shooting position is acquired as the attribute information. An image file acquisition unit that acquires image data including image data and importance information indicating the importance;
A number specifying unit for specifying the number of images to be included in the electronic album;
An image selection unit that selects, from the image files acquired by the image file acquisition unit, an image file that includes the importance information that satisfies a predetermined condition within a range of the number of sheets specified by the number of sheets specification unit. When,
An electronic album creation apparatus comprising: an image data acquisition unit that acquires the image data included in the selected image file as image data included in the electronic album. Obtaining an image file containing image data, its identification information and importance information indicating its importance;
Storing the image data and the identification information included in the acquired image file in association with each other in a storage device;
Identifying identification information of image data to be included in the electronic album based on the importance information included in the acquired image file;
Reading the image data stored in the storage device as image data to be included in the electronic album based on the identified identification information. On the computer,
A function of reading a rule for determining the importance of the image based on the attribute information of the image from a predetermined storage device;
A function to acquire attribute information of a specific image,
A program for realizing the function of generating importance information indicating the importance of the specific image by applying the read rule to the acquired attribute information.   The program according to claim 13, wherein the function of acquiring the attribute information is a function of acquiring information regarding an operation performed on the image as the attribute information.   14. The program according to claim 13, wherein the function of acquiring the attribute information is a function of acquiring event information indicating the meaning that the image has been captured as the attribute information.

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