Hitachi, Ltd.

Hiroshi Sako

Anthony Smith

Masahiro Abe

Alistair Ian Sutherland

Mark Whitehouse

A camera (10) captures a subject facial image. A unit (30) generates a tracking signal containing feature extraction data. In conjunction with a memory store (40), the unit (30) generates an output signal representing a substitute face having the features of the subject face. To generate the tracking signal, the facial area is detected (3103, 3107-8) initially and used in location of the mouth (3102, 3110-3114) and eyes (3104-6, 3115-3118). Only the H and S components are used for detecting the facial area; and only the S and V components for the mouth within the facial area. A face vector may be generated (50) using the tracking signals.

Facial image processing

A real time output containing data relating to states of facial parts is generated. A facial area detection unit (11) has monitoring (51-57) and determining (59-61) processing circuits operating in a pipelining manner to determine position of the facial area. The monitoring circuits (51-57) monitor pixel value frequency using 3D histogram and backprojection processing. The generating facial area signal has masks applied by a unit (12) which supplies data to mouth area and eye area detection units (14,15). Each of these operate on similar principles to the facial area detection unit (11).

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County Dublin, Ireland

Hiroshi Sako