Patent Description:
With the growing popularity of shooting photographs, it becomes a point of interest for a user to evaluate an appearance value when shooting photographs. A facial appearance value will be calculated by an appearance value evaluation algorithm after a face of the user is recognized, so as to ensure that the user may be shot at such an angle that a higher appearance value is obtained. In the related art, the user finds such angle by trying at different angles when shooting photographs and then manually triggers a photograph-shooting operation, which however easily results in an angle change of the face of the user within a photograph-shooting range, thus missing a scene where a high appearance value may be obtained.

<CIT> discloses a digital still camera which includes a CCD image sensor for photographing an object image by photoelectric conversion, to obtain image data A face detector determines a face feature value of a human face at an object image by image recognition according to the image data, and detects the face. A stability checker monitors the face feature value, and outputs stable result information when the face feature value is within a prescribed range consecutively for a predetermined length or consecutively for a predetermined number of times. A controller automatically starts image pickup of the CCD image sensor when the stable result information is output by the first stability checker.

In order to overcome the problems existing in the related art, embodiments of the present invention provide a method and a device for automatically capturing a photograph, and an electronic device, so as to ensure a face photograph shot is of a high appearance value.

According to a first aspect of embodiments of the present invention, there is provided a method for automatically capturing a photograph, as defined in independent claim <NUM>.

According to a second aspect of embodiments of the present invention, there is provided a device for automatically capturing a photograph, as set out in independent claim <NUM>.

According to a third aspect of embodiments of the present invention, there is provided an electronic device, as defined in claim.

The technical solutions provided in embodiments of the present invention may include the following beneficial effects. A photograph-shooting quality is quantized by the facial appearance value, which avoids a subjective evaluation of the user for obtaining a photograph with a higher appearance value from photographs shot at different shooting angles. If the facial appearance value is greater than the preset threshold, the photograph on the display interface is acquired and stored, which avoids a change of shooting angle due to a manual trigger of a shutter button and thus avoids missing a scene where a high appearance value may be obtained, thereby leaving more exciting moments for the user.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only, and shall not be construed to limit the present invention.

Example embodiments will be described in detail herein, and examples thereof are illustrated in accompanying drawings. The implementations set forth in the following description of example embodiments do not represent all implementations consistent with the invention. Instead, they are merely examples of apparatuses and methods consistent with aspects related to the invention as recited in the appended claims.

<FIG> is a flow chart showing a method for automatically capturing a photograph according to an example embodiment, <FIG> is a schematic diagram showing a first scene in which a method for automatically capturing a photograph is implemented according to an example embodiment, and <FIG> is a schematic diagram showing a second scene in which a method for automatically capturing a photograph is implemented according to an example embodiment. The method for automatically capturing a photograph may be applied in an electronic device (for example, smart phone, tablet computer etc.) and may be achieved by installing an application on the electronic device. As shown in <FIG>, the method for automatically capturing a photograph includes steps S101-S103 as follows.

In step S101, a facial feature in the photograph on a current display interface is determined and a facial appearance value corresponding to the facial feature is calculated, if it is determined to trigger an appearance value calculation.

In an embodiment, with respect to how to determine a condition for triggering an appearance value calculation, reference can be made to the following description of an embodiment shown in <FIG>, which will not be elaborated here. In an embodiment, the facial feature in the photograph on the current display interface may be obtained by a face detection algorithm in the related art, and the facial appearance value corresponding to the facial feature may be calculated according to an appearance value algorithm in the related art, which will not be elaborated herein.

In step S102, it is determined whether the facial appearance value is greater than a preset threshold corresponding to the facial feature. If the facial appearance value is greater than the preset threshold, step S103 is executed, if the facial appearance value is lower than or equal to the preset threshold, step S101 is re-executed.

Z p According to the invention, with respect to a method for determining the preset threshold, reference can be made to the following description of an embodiment shown in <FIG>, which will not be elaborated here.

In step S103, if the facial appearance value is greater than the preset threshold, the photograph on the display interface is acquired and stored.

As an example scene, as shown in <FIG>, when a user A needs to take a selfie with an electronic device <NUM>, a front camera <NUM> of the electronic device <NUM> captures image information of the user at different shooting angles. If a facial feature of the user A in a photograph on a current display interface of the electronic device <NUM> is detected, a facial appearance value corresponding to the facial feature of the user A is calculated. If the facial appearance value of the user A is greater than a preset threshold corresponding to the user A, the photograph on the display interface <NUM> of the electronic device <NUM> is acquired and stored, which may ensure that a higher facial appearance value may be achieved in the shot photograph.

As another example scene, as shown in <FIG>, when a user B plays a video file (such as Les Miserables) with an electronic device <NUM>, facial features of users C and D in a photograph on a current display interface of the electronic device <NUM> may be detected, and a facial appearance value corresponding to the facial feature of the user C and a facial appearance value corresponding to the facial feature of the user D are calculated. If both the facial appearance value of the user C and the facial appearance value of the user D are greater than a same preset threshold, or if the facial appearance value of the user C is greater than a preset threshold corresponding to the user C and the facial appearance value of the user D is greater than a preset threshold corresponding to the user D, the photograph on the display interface <NUM> of the electronic device <NUM> is acquired and stored, such that the photograph of users C and D with highest appearance values in the video file may be obtained.

In this embodiment, a photograph-shooting quality is quantized by the facial appearance value, which avoids a subjective evaluation of the user for obtaining a photograph with a higher appearance value from photographs shot at different shooting angles. If the facial appearance value is greater than the preset threshold, the photograph on the display interface is acquired and stored, which avoids a change of shooting angle due to a manual trigger of a shutter button and thus avoids missing a scene where a high appearance value may be obtained, thereby leaving more exciting moments for the user.

Specifically, with respect to how to automatically acquire the photograph, reference can be made to embodiments hereinafter.

To the end, the above method provided in embodiments of the present disclosure may avoid a subjective evaluation of the user for obtaining a photograph with a higher appearance value from photographs shot at different shooting angles, and avoid a change of shooting angle due to a manual trigger of a shutter button and thus avoid missing a scene where a high appearance value may be obtained, thereby leaving more exciting moments for the user.

In the following, the technical solution provided by embodiments of the present disclosure will be explained by means of specific embodiments.

<FIG> is a first flow chart showing determining whether to trigger an appearance value calculation according to a first example embodiment, and <FIG> is a second flow chart showing determining whether to trigger an appearance value calculation according to a first example embodiment. As shown in <FIG>, the following steps are included.

In step S201, it is determined whether an appearance value calculating period is reached according to a preset calculating frequency.

In an embodiment, the preset calculating frequency may be lower than an image capturing frequency of a camera of an electronic device. For example, if the camera captures <NUM> images per second, the preset calculating frequency may be set as calculating <NUM> facial appearance values per second. It will be appreciated to those skilled in the art that, number values of <NUM> or <NUM> in the present disclosure is exemplary and explanatory only, and shall not be construed to limit the technical solution of the present disclosure.

In step S202, it is determined to trigger the appearance value calculation if the appearance value calculating period is reached.

As the camera of the electronic device captures images in real time, the photograph on the current display interface of the electronic device will change with a movement or angle change of the electronic device. If the appearance value calculating period is reached, it is determined to trigger the appearance value calculation, which may ensure updating the facial appearance value of the photograph on the current display interface in time.

As shown in <FIG>, the following steps are included.

In step S211, it is determined whether the photograph on the current display interface changes.

In an embodiment, whether the photograph on the current display interface changes may be determined by detecting whether a reference feature of the photograph on the current display interface changes, in which the reference feature may be, for example, a light intensity value, the facial feature, or a shooting angle of the face of the same user.

In step S212, it is determined to trigger the appearance value calculation, if it is determined that the photograph on the current display interface changes.

As an example, if a change of the light intensity value exceeds a threshold, it indicates that illumination in environment where the electronic device is changes, in this case, the facial appearance value will change, and thus it is required to trigger the appearance value calculation, so as to ensure real-time of the facial appearance value. As another example, the electronic device determines whether there is a need to retrigger the appearance value calculation by detecting a matching degree between image contents of the image currently detected by the camera and a last image, thus avoiding unnecessary triggering of the appearance value calculation, and reducing calculation complexity of the electronic device.

<FIG> is a flow chart showing a method for automatically capturing a photograph according to a second example embodiment. In this embodiment, with above method provided by embodiments of the present disclosure, an exemplary description is made by taking such a case in which there are a plurality of facial features in the photograph on the current display interface and the plurality of facial features correspond to a same preset threshold as an example and in combination with <FIG>. As shown in <FIG>, the following steps are included.

In step S301, a facial feature in the photograph on a current display interface is determined and a facial appearance value corresponding to the facial feature is calculated, if it is determined to trigger an appearance value calculation.

In step S302, it is determined whether each of facial appearance values corresponding to the plurality of facial features is greater than the same preset threshold.

In step S303, the photograph on the current display interface is shot and stored as a picture, if each of the facial appearance values corresponding to the plurality of facial features is greater than the same preset threshold.

As shown in <FIG>, facial features of both users C and D are included in the photograph on the current display interface of the electronic device <NUM>, in such a case, a facial appearance value corresponding to the facial feature of the user C and a facial appearance value corresponding to the facial feature of the user D are determined, respectively. If both the facial appearance value of the user C and the facial appearance value of the user D are greater than the same preset threshold, it indicates that the appearance value of each person in the photograph on the current display interface reaches a good level. For example, facial appearance values of both users C and D are above <NUM>, and in this case, the photograph on the current display interface may be shot and stored as a picture.

In this embodiment, when each of facial appearance values corresponding to the plurality of facial features is greater than the same preset threshold, the photograph on the current display interface is shot and stored as a picture, which may ensure a higher facial appearance value is achieved for each face in the photograph on the display interface, and avoid the user to store the photograph with higher facial appearance values by manual screenshot or manually triggering a shutter button, thus leaving more exciting moments for the user, and improving user experience.

<FIG> is a flow chart showing a method for automatically capturing a photograph according to a third example embodiment. In this embodiment, with above method provided by embodiments of the present disclosure, an exemplary description is made by taking such a case in which there are a plurality of facial features in the photograph on the current display interface and each of the plurality of facial features corresponds to a respective preset threshold as an example and in combination with <FIG>. As shown in <FIG>, the following steps are included.

In step S401, a facial feature in the photograph on a current display interface is determined and a facial appearance value corresponding to the facial feature is calculated, if it is determined to trigger an appearance value calculation.

In step S402, it is determined for each facial feature whether the facial appearance value of the facial feature is greater than the preset threshold corresponding to the facial feature.

In step S403, the photograph on the current display interface is shot and stored as a picture, if the facial appearance value of each facial feature is greater than the preset threshold corresponding to the facial feature.

As shown in <FIG>, facial features of both users C and D are included in the photograph on the current display interface of the electronic device <NUM>, in such a case, a facial appearance value corresponding to the facial feature of the user C and a facial appearance value corresponding to the facial feature of the user D may be determined, respectively. A first preset threshold corresponding to user C is needed to be determined for the user C and a second preset threshold corresponding to user D is needed to be determined for the user D. If the facial appearance value of the user C is greater than the first preset threshold, and the facial appearance value of the user D is greater than the second preset threshold, it indicates that the appearance score of each person in the photograph on the current display interface reaches a good level, for example, appearances of both users C and D are in their corresponding good states, respectively.

In this embodiment, as different users have different appearance values, different preset thresholds are set for the plurality of facial features. If each of the facial appearance values of the plurality of users reaches a respective one of corresponding preset thresholds, the photograph on the current display interface is shot and stored as a picture, which may ensure that each user has an optimum appearance state and the most exciting moment is left for each user, thus improving user experience.

<FIG> is a flow chart showing how to determine a preset threshold according to the invention. In an embodiment, if it is determined to activate an mode for determining a facial appearance threshold, it is determined to trigger the preset threshold corresponding to the facial feature; in another embodiment, if it is determined to activate a camera to start capturing a photograph, it is determined to trigger the preset threshold corresponding to the facial feature; in yet another embodiment, it is searched whether the preset threshold corresponding to the facial feature is stored after a facial appearance value of the facial feature is calculated, and if it is determined that the preset threshold corresponding to the facial feature is not stored, it is determined to trigger the preset threshold corresponding to the facial feature. Thus, a procedure of this embodiment may be executed. As shown in <FIG>, the following steps are included.

In step S501, a first preset number of facial appearance values of a user corresponding to the facial feature at different angles are determined.

In step S502, a second preset number of facial appearance values are determined from the first preset number of facial appearance values, in which the second preset number of facial appearance values are top ranked.

In step S503, the preset threshold is determined according to the second preset number of facial appearance values.

As an example, if there is a need to shoot photographs for user A, a statistics is needed to be performed on a first preset number of facial appearance values of user A at different angles. For example, user A is shot at four different angles with <NUM> photographs for each angle, in specific, <NUM> photographs with the face of the user turning <NUM> degrees to the left side, <NUM> photographs with the face of the user turning <NUM> degrees to the right side, <NUM> photographs with raising the user's head by <NUM> degrees and <NUM> photographs with lowering the user's head by <NUM> degrees. That is, a total of <NUM> photographs are shot for user A, which correspond to <NUM> (the first preset number of the present disclosure) facial appearance values, from which first <NUM> (the second preset number of the present disclosure) facial appearance values are selected based on an order of the appearance values from top to low, and an average value of the first <NUM> facial appearance values is used as a preset threshold of user A. When photograph-shooting or screenshot is to be performed for user A according to embodiments of the present disclosure, the photograph-shooting or screenshot is automatically triggered if the facial appearance value of user A is calculated to be greater than the preset threshold.

In this embodiment, by performing a statistics on the facial appearance values of the user corresponding to the facial feature at different angles to acquire the preset threshold corresponding to the user, it is possible to ensure that different users correspond to different preset thresholds, and thus ensure that photograph-shooting or screenshot is triggered by different appearance values for different users, thereby ensuring that photograph-shooting or screenshot may be triggered with each user reaching an optimum appearance value thereof.

<FIG> is a flow chart showing a method for automatically capturing a photograph according to a fifth example embodiment. In this embodiment, with above method provided by embodiments of the present disclosure, an exemplary description is made by taking how to acquire the photograph on the current display as an example. As shown in <FIG>, the following steps are included.

In step S601, a facial feature in the photograph on a current display interface is determined and a facial appearance value corresponding to the facial feature is calculated, if it is determined to trigger an appearance value calculation.

In step S602, it is determined whether the facial appearance value is greater than a preset threshold corresponding to the facial feature. If the facial appearance value is greater than the preset threshold, step S603 is executed, if the facial appearance value is lower than or equal to the preset threshold, step S601 is re-executed.

With respect to the description related to step S601 and step S602, reference may be made to the above description related to <FIG>, which will not be elaborated here.

In step S603, if the facial appearance value is greater than the preset threshold, a type of the photograph on the display interface is determined. If the type of the photograph is an image captured by the shooting module, step S604 is executed, and if the type of the photograph is a video played by the video decoding module, step S605 is executed.

In step S604, if the type of the photograph is an image captured by the shooting module, the photograph on the display interface is acquired by triggering a shooting module.

In step S605, if the type of the photograph is a video played by the video decoding module, the photograph on the display interface is acquired by triggering a screenshot operation of the video decoding module.

In an example scene, as shown in <FIG>, with respect to an image captured by camera <NUM>, if it is determined by above related embodiments that a facial appearance value in the image is greater than a preset threshold, a photograph on a display interface is acquired by triggering the camera <NUM>, which enables a user to acquire the photograph on the display interface without triggering a shutter button <NUM>.

In another example scene, as shown in <FIG>, with respect to a video played by a video decoding module (also referred to video player application), if it is determined by above related embodiments that a facial appearance value is greater than a preset threshold, the photograph on the display interface is acquired by a screenshot operation of the video decoding module, and thus an optimum moment of the user in the video may be captured, which avoids the user from missing an optimum facial state in the video due to a manual screenshot after a subjective judgment by human eyes.

In this embodiment, by determining a type of the photograph on the display interface, acquiring the photograph on the display interface by triggering a shooting module if the type of the photograph is an image captured by the shooting module or acquiring the photograph on the display interface by triggering a screenshot operation of a video decoding module if the type of the photograph is a video played by the video decoding module, it is possible to ensure that the electronic device automatically keep a photograph with a higher appearance value or perform a screenshot operation in a beauty mode, which is convenient to leave a wonderful moment for the user.

<FIG> is a block diagram showing a device for automatically capturing a photograph according to an example embodiment. As shown in <FIG>, the device for automatically capturing a photograph include:.

<FIG> is a block diagram showing another device for automatically capturing a photograph according to an example embodiment. As shown in <FIG>, on the basis of above embodiment shown in <FIG>, in an embodiment, the first determining module <NUM> may include:.

In an embodiment, if there are a plurality of facial features in the photograph on the current display interface and the plurality of facial features correspond to a same preset threshold,
the second determining module <NUM> may include:.

<FIG> is a block diagram showing further another device for automatically capturing a photograph according to an example embodiment. As shown in <FIG>, on the basis of above embodiment shown in <FIG>, in an embodiment, if there are a plurality of facial features in the photograph on the current display interface and each of the plurality of facial features corresponds to a respective preset threshold,
the second determining module <NUM> may include:.

According to the invention, the device further include:.

<FIG> is a block diagram showing yet another device for automatically capturing a photograph according to an example embodiment. As shown in <FIG>, on the basis of any embodiment shown in <FIG>, in an embodiment, the device may further include:.

In an embodiment, the acquiring module <NUM> may include:.

<FIG> is a block diagram showing a device suitable for automatically capturing a photograph according to an example embodiment. For example, the device <NUM> may be a mobile phone, a computer, a vidicon, a camera, a digital broadcast terminal, a messaging device, a gaming console, a tablet, a medical device, exercise equipment, a personal digital assistant, and the like.

The front camera and/or the rear camera may receive an external multimedia datum while the device <NUM> is in an operation mode, such as a photographing mode or a video mode.

The audio component <NUM> is configured to output and/or input audio signals. For example, the audio component <NUM> includes a microphone (MIC) configured to receive an external audio signal when the device <NUM> is in an operation mode, such as a call mode, a recording mode, and a voice recognition mode. The received audio signal may be further stored in the memory <NUM> or transmitted via the communication component <NUM>. In some embodiments, the audio component <NUM> further includes a speaker to output audio signals.

The communication component <NUM> is configured to facilitate communication, wired or wirelessly, between the device <NUM> and other devices. The device <NUM> can access a wireless network based on a communication standard, such as WiFi, <NUM>, or <NUM>, or a combination thereof. In one example embodiment, the communication component <NUM> receives a broadcast signal or broadcast associated information from an external broadcast management system via a broadcast channel. In one example embodiment, the communication component <NUM> further includes a near field communication (NFC) module to facilitate short-range communications. For example, the NFC module may be implemented based on a radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, an infrared data association (IrDA) technology, an ultra-wideband (UWB) technology, a Bluetooth (BT) technology, and other technologies.

In example embodiments, the device <NUM> may be implemented with one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors, or other electronic components, for performing the above described methods.

Claim 1:
A method for automatically capturing a photograph, comprising:
determining (S101; S301; S401; S601) a facial feature in a photograph on a current display interface, and calculating a facial appearance value corresponding to the facial feature, if it is determined to trigger an appearance value calculation, wherein the facial feature is obtained by a face detection algorithm and the facial appearance value corresponding to the facial feature is calculated according to an appearance value algorithm, wherein a type of the photograph is an image captured by a shooting module or a video played by a video decoding module;
determining (S102; S602) whether the facial appearance value is greater than a preset threshold corresponding to the facial feature;
if it is determined that the facial appearance value is greater than the preset threshold, acquiring and storing (S103) the photograph on the display interface,
wherein the method further comprises:
determining (S501) a first preset number of facial appearance values of a person corresponding to the facial feature, wherein the first preset number of facial appearance values correspond to different angles of face of the person, respectively; the person is a figure in the photograph on the display interface if the type of the photograph is the image captured by the shooting module, and the person is a character in the photograph on the display interface if the type of the photograph is the video played by the video decoding module;
determining (S502) a second preset number of facial appearance values from the first preset number of facial appearance values, wherein the second preset number of facial appearance values are top ranked;
determining (S503) the preset threshold according to the second preset number of facial appearance values.