Information processing apparatus, information processing method, program, and measuring system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9646378-B2
Application number	US-201314427757-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 13, 2013
Priority date	Sep 20, 2012
Publication date	May 9, 2017
Grant date	May 9, 2017

Abstract

There is provided an imaging unit comprising at least one image sensor, a measuring instrument including at least one marker, a position computing unit, a determining unit, and an output controller, wherein the imaging unit is configured to acquire an image comprising a user and the marker, and provide the acquired image to the position computing unit, wherein the position computing unit is configured to compute a position of the marker with respect to the user based on the image provided by the imaging unit, and further provide the computed position to the determining unit, wherein the determining unit is configured to determine whether the computed position of the marker matches a retrieved measurement position, and further output the result of the determination to the output controller, and wherein the output controller is configured to provide an indication when the marker position matches the measurement position.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A measuring system for performing a fixed point observation comprising:
an imaging unit comprising at least one image sensor;
a measuring instrument including a marker;
a position computing unit;
a determining unit; and
an output controller;
wherein the imaging unit is configured to acquire an image including at least a portion of a user and the marker, and provide the acquired image to the position computing unit;
wherein the position computing unit is configured to compute a position of the marker with respect to the user based on the image provided by the imaging unit, and further provide the computed position to the determining unit;
wherein the determining unit is configured to determine whether the computed position of the marker matches a retrieved measurement position, and further output a result of the determination to the output controller; and
wherein the output controller is configured to provide an indication when the marker position matches the measurement position.

2. The measuring system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a user identifying unit configured to receive an image from the imaging unit, detect one or more features associated with the user, and identify the user based on the detected one or more features,
wherein the retrieved measurement position is a measurement position associated with the identified user.

3. The measuring system of claim 1 , wherein the marker is an LED that emits at least one of visible light, ultraviolet light and infrared light.

4. The measuring system of claim 1 , wherein the marker is a light emitter that blinks in a predetermined blinking pattern by turning on and off, and the measuring system further comprises a pattern detector that detects the blinking pattern of the marker on the basis of whether the marker is on or off in the image.

5. The measuring system of claim 4 , wherein the measuring instrument is further configured to acquire measurement data in response to the retrieved measurement position matching the computed position of an LED.

6. The measuring system of claim 5 , wherein the measurement data comprises skin measurement data.

7. The measuring system of claim 6 , wherein the measuring instrument measures skin of the user by taking an image in close proximity; and
the measuring system further comprises a generator that, on the basis of a plurality of skin images obtained from the measurement instrument, generates a full skin image formed by joining the plurality of skin images together.

8. The measuring system of claim 1 , further comprising an irradiating unit configured to successively emit light at different wavelengths,
wherein the measuring instrument acquires measurement data for each successive light emission.

9. The measuring system of claim 1 , further comprising:
acquiring skin measurement data utilizing the measurement instrument.

10. The measuring system of claim 1 , wherein the measuring instrument is freely attachable to and detachable from the imaging unit.

11. The measuring system of claim 1 , further comprising:
an orientation identifying unit that identifies an orientation of the measuring instrument.

12. The measuring system of claim 11 , wherein the measuring instrument includes a sensor that senses a motion of the measuring instrument, and
the orientation identifying unit identifies the orientation of the measuring instrument on the basis of sensing results from the sensor.

13. The measuring system of claim 12 , wherein the marker is a graphical figure provided on a case of the measuring instrument; and the orientation identifying unit identifies the orientation of the measuring instrument on the basis of a shape of the graphical figure in the image.

Assignees

• Sony Corp

Inventors

• Higashitsutsumi Yoshihito
• Iwama Jun
• Nishi Naoki
• Kamatani Yoshiteru
• Kadota Akinori

Classifications

• A61B5/0077 Primary

  Devices for viewing the surface of the body, e.g. camera, magnifying lens · CPC title

• G06T7/0012 Primary

  Biomedical image inspection · CPC title

• G06F18/22

  Matching criteria, e.g. proximity measures · CPC title

• G06T7/0042

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06K9/52

  Physics · mapped topic