Patent ID: 7239726

Claim:
A system for effectively analyzing image data, comprising: a facial feature detector configured to generate facial feature information by analyzing said image data, said facial feature information including eye-area information and mouth-area information, said facial feature detector performing an eye-area vertical projection procedure for generating said eye-area information, said facial feature detector also separately performing a mouth-area vertical projection procedure for generating said mouth-area information, said facial feature detector further utilizing a feature filter to refine said facial feature information for a facial feature, said feature filter having a plurality of segments that collectively are shaped to represent said facial feature, said facial feature detector moving said feature filter over pixels of said image data to repeatedly calculate feature merit values from said pixels currently aligned with said feature filter, said feature merit values being determined by calculating sums of pixel values corresponding with each of said segments and then calculating a weighted difference of said sums, an optimal one of said feature merit values accurately locating said facial feature in said image data; and a processor configured to control said facial feature detector to thereby effectively analyze said image data.