JP2002215466A - Device, method and program for providing relevant information, and paper medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide relevant information providing device and method for easily acquiring and providing relevant information such as original data and attribute information in an information representation part such as a sentence and a diagram described in a distributed document, etc., as an electronic medium or a paper medium. SOLUTION: The relevant information such as original data and attribute information in relation to the information representation part such as sentence data and diagram data existing on electronic document data 1 is stored in the respective storage places of an attribute information database 11, and a digital watermark embedding processing part 13 embeds the storage place information by using digital watermark, in correspondence with each information representation part on the electronic data. In the case of needing the relevant information, the digital watermark embedded in accordance with each information representation part is read, the storage place information is acquired to access the storage place information, and the relevant information is acquired.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a related information providing apparatus and method for providing related information such as original data, references, bibliographic items, and other data relating to text data, chart data, and the like described in documents and the like. In more detail, it is necessary to provide related information to provide related information such as original data, references, bibliographic items, and other data related to information representation portions such as document data and chart data described in documents and the like. A related information providing apparatus and method for embedding a storage location of related information in an information expressing portion with a digital watermark and acquiring and providing related information from a storage location obtained by reading the digital watermark when it is desired to obtain the related information, and The related information providing program and the storage location information of related information .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Documents distributed on paper as a medium are obtained by printing electronic data as original data. If you obtain paper media data, if you intend to create a new document from this paper media data or analyze the charts described in the paper media data, the original data may be present. preferable.

[0003] However, it is generally difficult to obtain a route for obtaining the original data. Even if the route for obtaining the original data is known, a general method of obtaining the data has not been established. It may take some time. Note that this is not limited to documents distributed as paper media and the like, but also applies to documents distributed or distributed as electronic media.

[0004]

As described above, the original electronic data of the text itself described in a document or the like distributed in an electronic medium or a paper medium, or the document or the like is used. Conventionally, it is very difficult to obtain the original data of the charts and tables described in, and even if the acquisition route is known, the general acquisition method has not been established. However, there is a problem that it may take a lot of labor and time.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of the above,
The purpose is to easily obtain and provide related information such as original data and attribute information of information expressing portions such as texts and charts described in documents distributed as electronic media or paper media. A related information providing apparatus and method, a related information providing program, and a paper medium are provided.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention according to claim 1 provides original data relating to each of information expression parts including one or both of text data and chart data existing on data; Related information storage means for storing related information including at least one of attribute information, sound data, and moving image data in respective storage locations; and storage location information of each related information of the information expression portion by an electronic watermark. A digital watermark embedding unit for embedding the information in each of the information expression portions on the data.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, original data, attribute information, and the like relating to an information expression portion including one or both of text data and chart data on data are provided.
In order to store related information including at least one of sound data and moving image data in respective storage locations and embed the storage location information with an electronic watermark corresponding to the information expression part, each information expression part on the data Original data, attribute information, etc., which are related information of text data and chart data, can be easily obtained from the storage location, and sound data and moving image data can also be obtained as related information. As a result, the added value of data can be increased.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, an original data and an attribute relating to each of the information expression portions including one or both of the text data and the chart data existing in the paper medium data expressed on the paper medium Related information storage means for storing related information including at least one of information, sound data, and moving image data in respective storage locations; and storing the related information storage location information of each related information of the information expression portion by an electronic watermark. The gist of the present invention is to include a digital watermark embedding unit that embeds each of the information expression portions on the paper medium data.

According to the present invention, at least one of original data, attribute information, sound data, and moving image data related to an information expression portion including one or both of text data and chart data in paper medium data. In order to store related information including one or more in each storage location and embed the storage location information with a digital watermark corresponding to each of the information expression parts, the text data and the information expression parts on the paper medium data, Original data and attribute information related to chart data can be easily obtained from the storage location, and sound data and moving image data can also be obtained as related information. Can be added.

When related information of an information expression portion existing on data is required, the related information of the required information expression portion is designated and embedded in correspondence with the designated related information. The electronic watermark is read by the electronic watermark reading means to obtain the storage location information of the related information, and the storage location represented by the obtained storage location information is accessed to obtain the related information.

Further, according to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an original data, attribute information, sound data, and moving image data relating to each of information expression portions including one or both of text data and chart data existing on a paper medium. The paper medium has a digital watermark embedded corresponding to each of the information expressing portions so as to indicate storage location information for storing related information including at least one of the above.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, original data, attribute information, and the like relating to an information expression portion including one or both of text data and chart data on a paper medium are provided.
Since a digital watermark indicating storage location information for storing related information including at least one of the sound data and the moving image data is embedded corresponding to each of the information expression parts, the text data or the chart on the paper medium is embedded. Original data and attribute information, which are related information of data, can be easily obtained from a storage location indicated by a digital watermark, and sound data and moving image data can also be obtained as related information. Thus, the added value of data can be increased.

Further, according to the present invention, the original data, the attribute information, the sound data, and the moving image data relating to each of the information expression portions including one or both of the text data and the chart data existing on the data are provided. Storing the related information including at least one or more at each storage location, and embedding the storage location information of each of the related information of the information expression portion with an electronic watermark corresponding to each of the information expression portions on the data. Make a summary.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, original data, attribute information, and the like relating to an information expression portion including one or both of text data and chart data on data are provided.
In order to store related information including at least one of sound data and moving image data in respective storage locations and embed the storage location information with an electronic watermark corresponding to the information expression part, each information expression part on the data Original data, attribute information, etc., which are related information of text data and chart data, can be easily obtained from the storage location, and sound data and moving image data can also be obtained as related information. As a result, the added value of data can be increased.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an original data, attribute information, and / or an information expression portion including one or both of text data and chart data existing in paper medium data expressed on a paper medium. Relevant information including at least one of sound data and moving image data is stored in each storage location, and the storage location information of each relevant information of the information expression portion is represented by an electronic watermark on the paper medium data. The point is to embed them corresponding to each of the parts.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, at least one of original data, attribute information, sound data, and moving image data relating to an information expression portion including one or both of text data and chart data in paper medium data. In order to store related information including one or more in each storage location and embed the storage location information with a digital watermark corresponding to each of the information expression parts, the text data and the information expression parts on the paper medium data, Original data and attribute information related to chart data can be easily obtained from the storage location, and sound data and moving image data can also be obtained as related information. Can be added.

Further, according to the present invention, the original data, the attribute information, the sound data, and the moving image data of each of the information expression portions including one or both of the text data and the chart data existing on the data are provided. Storing the related information including at least one or more at each storage location, and embedding the storage location information of each of the related information of the information expression portion with an electronic watermark corresponding to each of the information expression portions on the data. Make a summary.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, original data, attribute information, and the like for an information expression portion including one or both of text data and chart data on data are provided.
In order to store related information including at least one of sound data and moving image data in respective storage locations and embed the storage location information with an electronic watermark corresponding to the information expression part, each information expression part on the data Original data, attribute information, etc., which are related information of text data and chart data, can be easily obtained from the storage location, and sound data and moving image data can also be obtained as related information. As a result, the added value of data can be increased.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided an original data, attribute information, and / or an information expression portion including one or both of text data and chart data existing in paper medium data expressed on a paper medium. Relevant information including at least one of sound data and moving image data is stored in each storage location, and the storage location information of each relevant information of the information expression portion is represented by an electronic watermark on the paper medium data. The point is to embed them corresponding to each of the parts.

According to the present invention, at least one of original data, attribute information, sound data, and moving image data relating to an information expression portion including one or both of text data and chart data in paper medium data. In order to store related information including one or more in each storage location and embed the storage location information with a digital watermark corresponding to each of the information expression parts, the text data and the information expression parts on the paper medium data, Original data and attribute information related to chart data can be easily obtained from the storage location, and sound data and moving image data can also be obtained as related information. Can be added.

[0021]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The related information providing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention applies digital watermarks to electronic data such as documents distributed as electronic media or paper media, or to information expressed portions such as documents or texts and charts expressed in paper media data. A digital watermark embedding process for embedding a digital watermark, and a digital watermark reading / related information obtaining process for reading a digital watermark from the embedded digital watermark and obtaining related information such as original data and attribute information of an information expression portion. Have been.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system configuration for performing a digital watermark embedding process of a related information providing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. It is a figure showing the system configuration which performs information acquisition processing.

First, before describing the embodiments of the present invention,
The digital watermark will be described. Digital watermarking is a technique in which redundant information, such as images and sounds, is modified to such an extent that it cannot be perceived by humans and embedded as other information (watermark information). Images and sounds with this watermark information embedded
Although human eyes and ears cannot be distinguished from the original, when a computer analyzes an image or audio data in which a digital watermark is embedded, the embedded watermark information can be read. Therefore, in the digital watermarking process, as described above, there are two processes, a process of embedding a digital watermark in an image or a sound, and a process of reading a digital watermark from an image or a sound in which a digital watermark is embedded.

Next, a digital watermark embedding process of the related information providing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 1, the creator of the document stores the created electronic data document 1 on, for example, a homepage 3 and publishes the electronic document 1 from a WWW server 5 to an information providing server 9 via a network 7 such as the Internet. Transmit (Process 1).

Upon receiving the electronic document 1, the information providing server 9 stores in the attribute information database 11 attribute information of the document, such as the writer's name, document name, exhibit, page number, and year of publication. (Process 2). In addition, the attribute information for the chart described in the electronic document 1, for example, in the case of the experimental data, the attribute information such as the experimental condition, the experimental date, and the size of the electronic data is also included in the attribute information database 11.
To be stored. Then, when each piece of attribute information is stored in the attribute information database 11, the information providing server 9 assigns an ID serving as an access key to the storage location of each attribute information in the attribute information database 11 in correspondence with the document and the chart. The digital watermark embedding processor 13 is controlled so as to be embedded in the electronic document 1 with a digital watermark (process 3).

Specifically, an electronic watermark indicating an ID serving as an access key to the storage location of the attribute information of the entire document of the electronic document 1 is embedded in the background of the entire document of the electronic document 1, A digital watermark indicating an ID serving as an access key to the storage location of the attribute information is embedded in a portion of the document corresponding to the chart. Specifically, in the case of a document as shown in FIG. 2, the ID of the digital watermark as shown is embedded in the background of the entire document, and the ID of Table 1 is added to a portion corresponding to Table 1. A digital watermark indicating the ID of the image is embedded in a portion corresponding to the image in FIG.

The information providing server 9 sends the document data having undergone the digital watermarking process from the network 7 to the W
A reply is sent to the document creator via the WW server 5 (process 4). The author publishes the electronic document 1 that has been subjected to the digital watermarking process on, for example, a homepage 3.

Next, referring to FIG. 3, a description will be given of a process of reading the digital watermark and acquiring the attribute information when the user obtains the document data in which the digital watermark is embedded as described above.

Assuming that a user obtains a document 23 using paper as a medium (paper base) as shown in FIG. 3, for example, as shown in FIG. The image is read as an image by an input device 25 constituting an image reading means such as a camera, a video camera, and a scanner, converted from analog data to digital data, and input to the client terminal 21 (process 11).

Then, the digital data converted into the digital data is subjected to a digital watermark reading process by a digital watermark reading unit 27, and a digital watermark embedded in the document is read. Each of the IDs embedded corresponding to each of the tables and the charts, that is, the IDs serving as access keys to the storage locations of the attribute information is extracted (process 12).

The extracted ID is transmitted from the client terminal 21 to the information providing server 9 via the network 7 (process 13). When receiving the ID corresponding to the document or chart, the information providing server 9 searches the attribute information database 11 using the ID as an access key to the storage location of the attribute information in the attribute information database 11, and searches the attribute of the document or chart. The information is acquired, and the attribute information of the document or the chart is transmitted to the client terminal 21 via the network 7 (process 14). When the user receives the attribute information at the client terminal 21, the user receives the attribute information of the document itself and the attribute information of the charts and tables described in the document data. For attribute information such as page numbers, publication years, and the like, and for charts and the like, attribute information such as experimental conditions, experimental dates, and the size of electronic data can be acquired and viewed.

The original data of the document itself, not the attribute information such as the above-mentioned bibliographic items of the document data, is not stored in, for example, the attribute information database 11, but is stored in the WWW server 5 in the above embodiment. If the information on the storage location, that is, the location information, is stored in the attribute information database 11, the user can obtain the original data from the digital watermark embedded in the document data at the client terminal 21. Is specified, the client terminal 21
Obtains the location of the original data from the attribute information database 11 via the information providing server 9, and based on the location of the original data,
The original data of the document itself can be obtained by accessing the WWW server 5 through the process (process 15). In this case, the original data of the document itself is stored in the attribute information database 11 like the attribute information. In this case, an ID serving as an access key to the storage location of the original data is embedded in the entire background of the document itself with a digital watermark, and the digital watermark is read by the digital watermark reading unit 27. , The I
D, the ID may be transmitted from the client terminal 21 to the information providing server 9, and the information providing server 9 may search the attribute information database 11 using this ID to obtain the original data of the document itself.

That is, the related information of the document data includes the original data of the document itself and the attribute information including the bibliographic items of the document. The digital watermark embedded in the background of the entire document includes the attribute of the document. An electronic watermark of an ID serving as an access key to an original data storage location, that is, an electronic watermark of an original data ID;
And an ID serving as an access key to the storage location of the attribute information of the document, that is, a digital watermark of the attribute information ID.

A specific description will be given with reference to FIG. FIG.
FIGS. 7A and 7B are diagrams illustrating a digital watermark reading rectangular area embedded in document data and a pull-down menu displayed by designating the area.

That is, the watermark reading rectangular area shown in FIG. 4A is a background of the entire text described in this rectangular area and information indicating the storage location of the original data of the text and the related information such as attribute information. Indicates an area embedded with a digital watermark. Therefore, when this watermark reading rectangular area is designated by clicking with a pointer such as a mouse, for example, as shown in FIG.
For the text in this rectangular area, “1. Obtain original data” or “2. Obtain attribute information” is displayed in a pull-down menu, thereby prompting the user to make a selection.

When the user designates one of the displays by clicking with a mouse or the like, the storage location information of the specified information is obtained from the electronic watermark embedded in the background of the text, and the obtained storage location is obtained. The designated information is obtained from the storage location represented by the information, and is displayed in a pull-down manner as shown in FIG. For example, if the user designates, for example, "2. Attribute information acquisition" from the first pull-down menu, "author information, related document, etc." is displayed as attribute information as shown in the figure.

In the above embodiment, document data using paper as a medium, that is, paper medium document data has been described. However, the present invention can of course be similarly applied to document data created as an electronic medium. In the case of this electronic medium data, it is needless to say that there is no need to read the electronic medium data with the input device 25 as the image reading means as shown in FIG. That is, even if the digital watermark embedded in the document data is converted not only into an electronic medium but also into analog information such as a paper medium, the digital watermark can be read by the digital watermark reading unit 27 by re-converting the digital information into digital information. You can do it.

In the above-described embodiment, the ID as an access key to the storage location of the attribute information is embedded as a digital watermark. However, instead of such an ID, the storage location information itself is embedded as an electronic watermark. Of course, the same is true. In other words, the ID is information serving as an access key to the storage location, but this is exactly what indicates the storage location.

In the present invention, the document data itself, the text data itself, or the chart data described in a document created on a paper medium or an electronic medium are used to express information such as text and charts. Is defined as an information expression part, and original data and attribute information of the information expression part are defined as related information. Note that the attribute information of the related information also includes the bibliographic items of the document.

As described above, the related information includes not only the original data and the attribute information of the information expression portion but also sound data and moving image data as related information. That is, if the document data contains an image of a musical instrument, for example, if the sound of the musical instrument is recorded in the attribute information database 11 or another recording medium as related information relating to the image of the musical instrument, the image of the musical instrument can be obtained. By reading the digital watermark embedded corresponding to the stored information, the storage location is obtained, and the attribute information database 11 or the recording medium in which the sound of the musical instrument is recorded is searched based on the storage location, thereby obtaining the storage location of the musical instrument. Sound can be acquired, that is, heard.

The processing procedure of the related information providing method of the above embodiment is recorded as a program on a recording medium, and the program recorded on the recording medium is downloaded or installed in a computer system of the client terminal 21, for example. Can be made to function as a related information providing apparatus that executes the related information providing method by executing the related information by the CPU of the computer system. By using such a recording medium, the distribution of the related information can be enhanced. You can do it.

[0042]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Original data, attribute information, sound data, and related information including at least one or more of moving image data relating to an information expression portion including one or both of text data and chart data on the data are stored in respective storage locations. Since the storage location information is embedded with an electronic watermark corresponding to the information expression part, the original data which is information related to the text data and chart data which are each information expression part on the data,
Attribute information and the like can be easily acquired from the storage location, and sound data and moving image data can also be acquired as related information, so that the added value of the data can be increased. In addition, it is possible to easily obtain the original data and related information of each part even from the text created by cutting and pasting or quoting the text of another person, preventing plagiarism and illegal citation, and Detailed reference information can also be provided.

According to the present invention, at least one of original data, attribute information, sound data, and moving image data relating to an information expression portion including one or both of text data and chart data in paper medium data is provided. The related information is stored in each storage location, and this storage location information is embedded with an electronic watermark corresponding to each of the information expression parts. Original data that is information, attribute information, etc. can be easily obtained from the storage location, and sound data and moving image data can be further obtained as related information.
The added value of data can be increased. In addition, it is possible to easily obtain the original data and related information of each part even from sentences created by cutting and pasting or quoting sentences of others, preventing plagiarism and illegal citation,
It may also provide more detailed bibliographic information for legitimate citations.

Further, according to the present invention, original data, attribute information, sound data, and the like for an information expression portion including one or both of text data and chart data on a paper medium are provided.
And a digital watermark indicating storage location information for storing related information including at least one of the moving image data is embedded corresponding to each of the information expression portions on the paper medium, so that the text data on the paper medium and Original data and attribute information, which are related information of chart data, can be easily obtained from a storage location indicated by a digital watermark, and sound data and moving image data can be further obtained as related information. And the added value of the data can be increased.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system configuration for performing a digital watermark embedding process of a related information providing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state in which a digital watermark is embedded in document data in the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a system configuration for performing a digital watermark reading / related information acquiring process of the related information providing apparatus of the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a digital watermark reading rectangular area embedded in document data and a pull-down menu displayed by designating the area.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Electronic document 9 Information providing server 11 Attribute information database 13 Digital watermark embedding part 21 Client terminal 25 Input device (image reading means) 27 Digital watermark reading part

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G09C 5/00 G09C 5/00 5J104 H04N 1/387 H04N 1/387 (72) Inventor Noboru Sonehara Chiyoda, Tokyo 2-3-1, Otemachi-ku, Tokyo F-term (reference) 5B017 AA06 BA09 CA16 5B057 AA11 CA06 CA12 CA16 CB06 CB12 CB16 CE08 5B075 ND36 UU06 5B082 EA01 GA20 HA00 5C076 AA14 BA03 BA06 5J104 AA14A

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. Related information including at least one of original data, attribute information, sound data, and moving image data relating to each of information expression portions including one or both of text data and chart data existing on data. Related information storage means for storing in each storage location, and digital watermark embedding means for embedding storage location information of each related information of the information expression portion corresponding to each of the information expression portions on the data with an electronic watermark. Related information providing device characterized by having. 2. Original data, attribute information, sound data, and moving image data relating to each of information expression portions including one or both of text data and chart data existing in paper medium data expressed on a paper medium. Related information storage means for storing related information including at least one or more of the above in each storage location; and storing the storage location information of each of the related information in the information representation portion with an electronic watermark in the information representation portion on the paper medium data. A related information providing apparatus, comprising: a digital watermark embedding unit that embeds the electronic watermark in each of them. 3. Related information including at least one of original data, attribute information, sound data, and moving image data relating to each of the information expression portions including one or both of text data and chart data existing on a paper medium. A paper medium having a digital watermark embedded corresponding to each of the information expression portions so as to indicate storage location information for storing the information. 4. Related information including at least one of original data, attribute information, sound data, and moving image data relating to each of the information expression portions including one or both of text data and chart data existing on the data. A method for providing related information, wherein the related information is stored in each storage location, and storage location information of the related information of each of the information expression portions is embedded by a digital watermark corresponding to each of the information expression portions on the data. 5. Original data, attribute information, sound data, and moving image data relating to each of the information expression portions including one or both of sentence data and chart data existing in the paper medium data expressed on the paper medium. The related information including at least one of the information storage portions is stored in each storage location, and the storage location information of each related information of the information expression portion is corresponding to each of the information expression portions on the paper medium data by an electronic watermark. A related information providing method characterized by being embedded. 6. Related information including at least one of original data, attribute information, sound data, and moving image data relating to each of information expression portions including one or both of text data and chart data existing on data. A related information providing program which stores the information in each storage location and embeds the storage location information of the related information of each of the information expression portions corresponding to each of the information expression portions on the data by a digital watermark. 7. Original data, attribute information, sound data, and moving image data relating to each of information expression portions including one or both of text data and chart data existing in paper medium data expressed on a paper medium. The related information including at least one of the information storage portions is stored in each storage location, and the storage location information of each related information of the information expression portion is corresponding to each of the information expression portions on the paper medium data by an electronic watermark. A related information providing program characterized by embedding.