Alarm control apparatus and method using face recognition

An alarm control method using a face recognition in an alarm control apparatus, the alarm control method comprising:

• generating an alarm when an alarm time arrives;
• photographing a face image of a user when the alarm is generated and detecting an eye region from the photographed face image;
• determining if the eye region corresponding to an open-eyed state of the user has been detected during a predefined time;
• and
• pausing the alarm generation when the open-eyed state has been maintained during the predefined time.

An alarm system for waking a user, the alarm system comprising:

• an input interface, configured to receive inputs from a user, the input interface adapted to enable a user to enter a desired alarm time and a predefined time indicative of a duration time that the user should open the user's eyes;
• an image input unit configured to photograph a face image of a user, driven when the alarm is generated;
• an eye region detecting unit configured to detect an eye region from the face image input through the image input unit;
• an alarm control unit configured to cause an alarm generating unit to generate the alarm when the alarm time arrives, wherein the alarm control unit further is configured to determine if the eye region corresponding to an open-eyed state of the user has been detected through the eye region detecting unit during the predefined time, and pause the alarm generation when the open-eyed state has been maintained during the predefined time;
• and
• the alarm generating unit configured to generate the alarm under the control of the alarm control unit, the alarm generating unit configured to cause the alarm to sound.

A mobile communication terminal comprising:

• an image input unit configured to capture a face image of a user;
• an input unit configured to receive a user input;
• a display configured to output information associated with an application;
• and
• a controller configured to:
• detect an eye region from the captured face image input through the image input unit while running the application and cause the application to be maintained or interrupted based on whether the eye region has been detected to be an open-eyed state for a predefined time, and
• receive the user input received while running the application and cause the application to be interrupted in response to the user input.

An alarm control method in a mobile communication terminal, the method comprising:

• capturing a face image of a user while running an application;
• detecting an eye region from the captured face image;
• causing the application to be maintained or interrupted depending on whether the eye region has been detected to be an open-eyed state for a predefined time;
• and
• causing the application to be interrupted in response to a user input when the user input is received while running the application.

A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium embodying a program for an alarm control method, the program comprising program code for:

• capturing a face image of a user while running an application;
• detecting an eye region from the captured face image;
• causing the application to be maintained or interrupted depending on whether the eye region has been detected to be an open-eyed state for a predefined time;
• and
• causing the application to be interrupted in response to a user input when the user input is received while running the application.