JP2002335487A - Electronic album generating system and server used for the electronic album generating system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To edit an electronic album including private recording via a network and manufacture the private electronic album on a recording medium such as a CD-R. SOLUTION: Personal computers 10a, 10b, 10c,... at a school side (customer) and a personal computer 30 at a management side are connected to a server 20 on a network, the server 20 opens a homepage that contains an electronic album file (integration of prototypes) where a model image is placed at a prescribed position in an electronic album, a 1st edit software program enters an image of a carrying candidate from the personal computer of the school side, a file code is attached to the image and the resulting image is stored in a memory of the server. A 2nd edit software program built in the school personal computers is used for the edit, thumbnail data of the image of the carrying candidate are called, and an image input area (address) of a prescribed position on a prescribed page of the electronic album file is attached to the data. After the end of edit, the management side personal computer acquires required image data from the server, records the data on the required number of CD-Rs and label printing is also performed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a method for creating an electronic album on a large-capacity storage medium over a network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An album commemorating a graduation or a certain achievement (hereinafter, referred to as a graduation album) is very popular and has been created in various places. If you explain the conventional album creation process as an example of creating a school graduation commemorative album, it is generally performed in the following process, and the so-called school exclusive local photo studio is the main subject, We are collecting photos.

[0003] In the first step, a meeting is held between the photo studio and the school, and necessary photo contents, composition and arrangement are determined.
In the second step, the photo studio takes the photos required by the agreement in line with the event. In the third step, after editing, the content is checked with the school side and corrected if necessary. As described above, if the content is OK, the required number of copies are printed and completed. As a recording medium for a conventional album, paper is used as a recording medium, and a photograph collected by a photo studio or the like is printed and bound together with the text, so that a fairly large amount is completed.

On the other hand, an image such as a photograph has been recorded on a movable and writable recording medium used in a personal computer. Photograph data is digitized, edited and saved by a personal computer, and as a recording medium for the photo, it began with a floppy (registered trademark) disk having a capacity of about 1 Mbyte in the personal computer. ROMs, CD-Rs, DVDs, and the like having a recording capacity of hundreds of megabytes have become available.

[0005] The recording capacity of a so-called electronic album using an electronic recording medium (recording medium) such as a CD-ROM, CD-R or DVD is, for example, a large capacity of several thousands in terms of a still picture. Even if video and music, etc., are taken in, the media can be covered by one piece of media, and there is also a feature that cost performance is good.

In connection between a personal computer and a network (for example, the Internet), with the improvement of the performance of the personal computer and the increase of the communication speed, image information is now normally transferred on the Internet. It has become.

[0007] Electronic album software for creating an electronic album using a personal computer is already on the market. Generally, the software for electronic albums captures an image of a subject using a digital still camera, a movie still video camera, or the like, and files digital image data obtained by the imaging. Hereinafter, a personal computer is abbreviated as a personal computer.

[0008] An electronic album is created by using a service in which an individual requests data photographed by a digital camera from a photographer in a town and records the digital data on a CD-R. This is recorded as individual data for each photograph.

[0009] In such an electronic album, serial file names are automatically given to data taken in by a digital camera, a scanner or the like. In order to make the contents of these files easy to understand, the file names are entered again from the keyboard.

For example, “001.jpg” and “002.jp” are obtained by automatic naming of image capturing software.
Assuming that the file names are automatically given as “g” and “003.jpg”, the operator can manually identify the “landscape_river.
g "," landscape_mountain.jpg ", and" animal_dog.jpg ".

[0011]

At present, school albums are created by local photo studios with a focus on group photos, and are albums with very little personal information. As worth it. Also,
It is created by a limited set of editorial committee members.

However, the use of an electronic album created using such electronic album software on a network developed in recent years is not considered.

When a graduation album is created by a conventional method, there are the following problems to be solved. First, the collection of photos is mainly performed by the photo studio, and the number of photos is taken by a small number, so that the content of the photos is limited to a limited range and time. In addition, when editing, proofreading, etc., it is necessary to go directly to school and make a meeting in front of the actual thing.

Second, when the number of photos to be published in the album is increased, the number of pages is increased in proportion to the price and the price is also increased. The number of photos is limited in terms of price, and the number of group photos increases. Personal photos are limited to about one face photo. Even more, it is impossible to include in the album photographs of products (paintings, calligraphy, etc.) at school other than the person who wants to keep it as an individual. Even if price constraints are ignored, the physical number and weight of the album increase with the number of photos, and the portability is poor.

[0015] Further, since the recording medium of the album is paper, it is not possible to record conversations, sound effects, messages, and the like by voice, and leave moving images of events such as entrance ceremonies, athletic meet, and cultural festival.

Even when a graduation album is created using electronic album software, as long as paper is finally used as a recording medium, each student cannot hold his own page and edit it freely. , Editing requires a file name to be entered from the keyboard,
The burden is on those who are not good at keyboards. Furthermore, it is necessary to consider the classification each time, and even if the same classification is given a different name with a similar classification name, it is necessary to learn the operation of changing the file name when operating a personal computer, etc. It is hard to use for those who are not used to personal computers.

At present, photographs and the like are being digitized,
2. Description of the Related Art Recording media capable of storing large-capacity pictures, such as CD-Rs and DVDs, have become widespread, and an environment for creating an electronic album that captures personal information on the Internet has been established.

[0018]

Therefore, a method of creating an individual electronic album for each individual as part of multimedia education was considered. That is, an image is recorded on an electronic recording medium including one or a plurality of customer computers connected to the same network, a server connected to the network, and a management computer connected to the network via the server. In an electronic album creation system for creating an electronic album in which is recorded, the server is an electronic album file that is accessible from the customer's computer and is composed of a plurality of frame screens in which model image data is arranged at predetermined positions, A memory for storing image data of candidates for publication in the electronic album, and a first editing unit for creating an electronic album file, the first editing unit can mutually communicate between the client computer or the management computer and the server And the images to be posted on the electronic album from the customer's computer Means for capturing the data, means for storing the captured image data, means for adding attributes to the captured image data in accordance with the pre-defined categories, and means selected in advance based on instructions from the customer computer or the management computer. Frame image creation means for selecting model image data to be displayed in the image input area in the frame image, creating each frame image and forming an electronic album file, and the client-side computer stores the electronic album file in the server. Means for accessing and reading and displaying an electronic album file, means for temporarily recording image data of a publishing candidate, and determining in which image input area of the frame screen the image data transmitted in the server is to be arranged. A second editing means for performing an editing operation, wherein the second editing means is an electronic album. An editing screen similar to the frame screen constituting the file, and means for displaying the image data of the candidate for publication or the thumbnail data of the image data corresponding to the image input area of the frame screen to be edited selected on the editing screen. Edit data transmitting means for transmitting the selected image data information together with the position information of the frame screen to the server as edit data by selecting the image data of the candidate for publication or the thumbnail data of the image data. The computer retrieves image data from the server based on the editing data transmitted from the customer computer, and sends the image data to the electronic recording medium after finishing the electronic album file based on the editing data transmitted from the customer computer. Electronic album creation having means for recording and creating an electronic album Provide a system for The display of the image data on the editing screen of the electronic album creating system of the present invention is performed by reading the data of the reference destination.

Further, the present invention relates to a server used in an electronic album creating system in which one or a plurality of customer computers and management computers connected to the same network are connected via the network. An electronic album file composed of a plurality of frame screens in which model image data is arranged at predetermined positions and which can be accessed from the customer's computer; a memory for storing image data of publication candidates in the electronic album; Means for enabling mutual communication with a computer, means for taking in image data of a publication candidate from a customer's computer to an electronic album, means for storing the taken in image data, and means for taking in image data taken in accordance with a pre-defined division. Means to add attributes and if the customer computer A frame screen creating means for selecting model image data to be displayed in an image input area in a frame screen selected in advance based on an instruction of a management computer, creating each frame screen, and forming an electronic album file. And the editing data consisting of the image data of the publication candidate or the thumbnail data of the image data to which the specified attribute and the specific image input area are added by the editing means of the client computer And store it in memory,
There is provided a server used in an electronic album creation system, which transmits image data to a management computer based on editing data in accordance with an instruction from the management computer.

Still further, according to the present invention, when image data of a publishing candidate is fetched, thumbnail data of the image data is created on the customer's computer, the image data and the thumbnail data are transmitted to the server, and stored in the memory of the server. In addition, an electronic album creation system is provided in which thumbnail data is transmitted from a server to a client computer at the time of editing, and the thumbnail data is displayed on an editing screen of the client computer. Further, according to the present invention, in the computer on the customer side, image data of a publishing candidate is fetched and transmitted to a server to store the image data of the publishing candidate in a memory of the server. An electronic album creation system that transmits thumbnail data from a server to a client computer at times and displays the thumbnail data on an editing screen of the client computer is also provided.

As described above, according to the present invention, a record of various results and events obtained in the course of school education is captured by a student himself using a digital camera or scanner, and a unique electronic album is created based on dedicated editing software. Is built as a CD-R, which is a part of multimedia education.

[0022]

FIG. 1 shows the outline of an electronic album creating system according to the present invention. Network
For example, a plurality of customer-side personal computers 10
a, 10b, and 10c are connected to the server 20, and the management personal computer 30 that undertakes album creation is connected to the server 20.
Connected through.

The customers are schools, companies and various organizations. For schools, graduation albums, foundation commemorative albums, etc.For companies and various organizations, commemorative booklets for commemorative projects and special planning projects, etc. This is a system for creating.
In the following description, the side requesting the creation is referred to as “school side” or “school”, and is described as an embodiment of creating a school graduation album as an example. The side that creates the album has a server that can connect to the school via the Internet, and is referred to as the “administrator”.

When requested to produce a graduation album from a plurality of schools, the management side 30 sets up a “graduation album editing homepage” for each school in the server 20 and makes the school accessible. Each of the schools 10a, 10b, 10c, ... accesses a dedicated "graduation album editing homepage" to fetch images of publication candidates and to perform editing work of allocating images to each page. The management side 30 shared the display screen of each school, took in images, provided guidance and communication at the time of editing work as needed, recorded the contents of the electronic album on the recording medium CD-R after the editing was completed, and recorded it. The electronic album is completed by performing predetermined printing on the label surface of the CD-R.

FIG. 2 shows an outline of a specific embodiment of the present invention. First, the school side 10a requests the management side 30 to create a graduation album. The management side 30 that has received the request creates a “graduation album editing homepage” 21 dedicated to the school 10a on the server 20, sets a password, and notifies the school side 10a. At this time, the school side 10a
If there is a request, the management side 30 installs the videophone system in the school 10a and enables conversation including presentation of images via the Internet. Similarly, school 10b, school 10c
In response to an album production request from…, a dedicated website will be established for each, and the establishment will be notified individually.

The school computers 10a-
The devices installed in c ... may be generally used personal computers that can connect to the Internet. That is, CPU
Input device such as keyboard, mouse, etc., image-dedicated input devices such as image scanners, CRT used for input / output data display, or display such as liquid crystal, color for output It is composed of a printer and the like.

The devices installed on the management side 30 have basically the same configuration as the devices on the school side, but devices that have high performance and can withstand high-speed use are used. In this example,
A description will be given using a CD-R as a medium of an album which is an electronic recording medium. Accordingly, a device for recording and writing to a CD-R, a device for label printing, and the like are also installed on the management side, and details will be given when each process is described. In this specification, when referred to as a customer side or a management side computer, the above-described main body, display,
It includes input / output devices, dedicated devices for writing and printing on electronic recording media, and the like.

The function of the server 20 will be described. Before and after the formal contract, a technical meeting on the creation of the graduation album will be held, the number of common pages, the outline content, the arrangement order, the number of personal pages, etc. will be scheduled, according to the album editing policy of the school that is the customer The contents of the (standard) original data such as the template page and the background are determined. Here, the template page shows the appearance of each page of the electronic album as a frame screen in which model images are arranged at predetermined positions. The model images include an appropriate sample provided in advance or a previous school or another school. Photos may be used. Therefore, the “graduation album editing homepage” is an electronic album file composed of the plurality of frame screens, and the content is created and provided for each school.

The server 20 includes first editing software mainly for the purpose of creating the electronic album file. That is, the biggest function is to create a template page on which model images are arranged according to an instruction from the management computer 30. Furthermore, the first editing software has the following various functions. First, the school computers 10a, b,
.., the management computer 30 and the mackerel 20 have a function of enabling mutual communication. Has a function of importing image data of publication candidates from the school computers 10a, b, c,.

The server 20 is provided with a memory for storing the unedited or edited electronic album file for each school, the image data of the taken-in publication candidates, their code names and thumbnail data, and the like.

Next, the school computers 10a, b, c
.. Will be described. When the contract is concluded, the school computers 10a, b, c,... Can access the electronic album file in the server 20, read the electronic album file, display the electronic album file on the screen of the school computer, and display Can be temporarily recorded.
As a result, it is possible to perform a classification operation such as capturing an image and assigning a code name.

Further, second editing software is issued from the management side, and editing work becomes possible. Using this second editing software, the school computer 10a, b, c... Displays a required page (model page) of the electronic album file to be edited on the school screen, and In one corner, the registered image data of the publishing candidate is selected and displayed as an image. Editing is performed by designating a publication candidate image at a predetermined position on the template page. That is, the editing is performed by adding the position information of the frame screen to the image data of the publication candidate and transmitting it to the server as editing data.

In general, the image data of a publication candidate has a too large amount of information and requires a large capacity for communication and display. Therefore, in the editing screen, it is possible to display the resolution and other data by appropriately compressing the thumbnail data. Many. This thumbnail image is produced when the image data of the publication candidate is taken in, and is stored together with the original image data. Thumbnail data is produced by school computers 10a, b,
c), the original image data may be transmitted simultaneously with the transmission of the original image data to the server 20, or after the original image data is transmitted to the server 20, the thumbnail data is produced by the server 20. Is also good. After the thumbnail data is created, the images of the publication candidates on the editing screen are displayed using the thumbnail data.

The management computer 30 communicates with the school by a videophone system or other communication methods when contacting the school computers 10a, b, c,... , And smooth operation such as editing work can be ensured, and confirmation notification for each step can be performed at any time. When the editing work is completed, the management side obtains the image data (original image data) of the electronic album file from the edited server 20, and further links the separately created moving image and music data obtained by digital conversion to the common data. Data is created, and then a master CD-R is created. Thereafter, recording on the required number of CD-Rs is performed.

Here, the contents of several representative pages of the electronic album will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5 show an example of an electronic album, a graduation commemorative album of "〇〇City @ Junior High School", and show typical page contents as a display screen of a school computer. It should be noted that the visual image of the electronic album file inside the server 20 can be said to be a file in which a necessary number of such various preselected pages are overlapped. Therefore, the editing work of the electronic album may be considered as replacing the image of the publication candidate with the model image arranged at the appropriate position on the appropriate page.

Inserting the CD-R, which is the storage medium of the electronic album, into the disk drive of the personal computer, following a predetermined procedure, and clicking the icon of “memory media” at the bottom, as shown in FIG. The first page, which can be said to be the cover of the graduation commemorative album, is displayed. A bird's-eye view of the school (aerial view of the playground and school building) is shown in the school name (logo) and the oval frame of “〇〇 Municipal Junior High School”, and a close-up photograph of the school building is displayed at the forefront. ing. On the left side of the screen, icons 71 and 72 dedicated to electronic albums such as "maternal school", "school song" and "history" are arranged at the top, and "alternative school", "class" and "annual event" are arranged at the top. An icon group 73 arranged at the outermost periphery of the upper part of the screen is an icon for selecting a personal computer function, and a cursor 74 is shown on the right side.

Now, when the icon 71 of “Teachers who have been taken care of” for the electronic album is clicked in FIG. 7A, a teacher group image taught in FIG. 7B appears. With the name search icon 75 in the middle of the icon 71, the name of each teacher can be selected and moved to the teacher's personal page.
If the user selects "school song" or "congratulatory" of the icon 71 dedicated to the electronic album shown on the first page (FIG. 3 (a)), the respective voices are transmitted, and the user can enjoy the school song and greeting even with his ears. Can be.

On the screen shown in FIG. 3B, when the "class" icon 72 is clicked among the exclusive icons at the top, a page in FIG. . Assuming that the icon of the "set of third year" is clicked to open the page of the set of third year, and the icon 77 of "introduction of classmate" and the name search icon 78 are scrolled, as shown in FIG. Then, a personal photograph and a self-introduction sentence “profile etc.” can be displayed.

When FIG. 4B is shown on the display screen of the personal computer, "My alb" formed on the right side of the personal name is displayed.
By clicking the icon 79 of "um", a page of "my album", which is an album for each individual, can be opened.
FIG. 5 shows a photograph of skiing, which is the first page of “ア ル バ ム □ ○○” 's personal album, and “Suki, Suki,
Comments attached to photos such as "skiing, skiing ..."
Is also displayed at the same time. Clicking the "back" icon 81 returns to the previous screen.

The above-mentioned "My album" is an individual page, and in principle, the individual name written on the label of the electronic album corresponds to this individual page.
As described above, the recorded content of the electronic album is greatly characterized in that it is composed of a common record common to all schools or classes and an individual record for each individual.

However, when the contents of the electronic album are relatively small with respect to the recording capacity of the CD-R, the personal records of all the members are written in all the electronic albums as a convenience, and the password of each person must be entered unless a personal password is entered. "My album"
You may not be able to open this page.
In other words, if you do not know your password,
bum "can not be seen.

Electronic album creation is roughly divided into (1) original data creation step, (2) album editing step, (3)
This is performed in three steps of a CD-R creation step of recording the contents of the graduation album on a CD-R as an electronic medium. Details of each step will be described based on the schematic diagrams of FIGS. 6 to 16 and the flowchart of each step.

Regarding the creation of the original data in the first step, the point is how to adopt an easy-to-use classification method for images of publication candidates. Therefore, an image data management method based on a file name having a hierarchical structure will be described, and an image data management method combined with a commercially available database will be described.

First, an example of how to assign a file name having a hierarchical structure will be described with reference to FIGS. Each of these figures shows a screen displayed on the personal computer on the school side and the management side or a flowchart for explaining the creation process. Access the dedicated homepage 21 (electronic album file) of the server 20 from the school computer, select the “memory album data import screen”, and start the original data creation work.

First, the school side 10a takes in image data of candidates to be published in the graduation album into a personal computer at the school side.
The creation and collection of the original data is done as part of multimedia education, so it is either performed by individual students themselves, by the graduation album creation committee in which the student is the center, or by the school side And divided into Regardless of the source data capture process in any case, digital cameras and scanners can capture the data of various achievements and events obtained during the course of school education. It is also possible to capture one scene of the video camera as a still image. Each captured image data is sorted and automatically coded. The sorted original data can be easily transmitted to the server 20.

The display screen 11 shown in FIG. 6 includes a logo 11a of the title of the work, "Memory Memory Data Import Screen".
And below it, "a junior high school 2000 graduation year 2000" logo 1
1b is displayed. The captured (original) image data 12a, b, c,... Are displayed on the icon 12A. The editing screen 13 for the sorting work has an area 1 in which items such as graduation year, field, and event are arranged in a hierarchical structure.
4 is displayed.

The captured (original) image data 12a,
, b, c,... are sorted according to the areas 14 classified by graduation year, field, event, school year, and individual displayed on the editing screen 13, respectively. Sorting into each area 14 is automatically stored as original image data 12a to 12e classified into each area 14 by dragging and dropping with a mouse onto a classification icon displayed as a hierarchical structure in the editing screen 13. Then, a file name in which each area 14 is distinguished is automatically given, transmitted to the server 20, and stored.

As described above, since thumbnail data is used on the editing screen, the image data 12a, b,
For c,..., thumbnail data is produced on the school side or on the server. In FIG. 6, it is assumed that the server 20 produces thumbnail data for the transmitted image data. The server 20 converts the image data 22a, b, c,...
e is automatically created by linking to the image data 22a to 22e, and at this time, a discrimination code is automatically added to the original data 12 which is image data and stored. The “dedicated homepage” 21 on the server 20 in FIG. 6 indicates that the hierarchical structure 24 of the “a. Junior high school” and b class “c. Art” has been virtually selected, and the sorted image data 22a is registered. It indicates that

The same screen as the school screen 11 is also displayed on the display screen 31 of the management side 30, and the contents of the transmitted image data 32a to 32e are confirmed. At this time, if there is inappropriate image data such as unclear image data, the school is contacted and a request for retransmission is made. In addition, the code of the image etc. displayed on the school side screen and the screen are all shown in the numbers of the tens,
Corresponding ones of the management-side screen 31 are indicated by numerals in the thirties, and corresponding ones of the server 20 are indicated by numerals in the twentys. Therefore, the first digit and the lower alphabetic symbol are common.

FIG. 7 shows an example of the hierarchical structure of the classification of image data. The hierarchical structure of “school a graduation album” is as follows.
It is structured so that it can be classified into "Graduation Year Folder" for graduates, "Semester Folder" for each graduation year, "Class / Individual Folder" for each semester, and "Classical / Individual Folder" for each class / individual. I have. This hierarchical structure can be freely set at the initial consultation between the school and the management based on a standard hierarchical structure prepared in advance, and can be freely changed even at the editing stage. For example, "Graduation Year Folder" and "Semester Folder"
It is also possible to insert a “school year (1, 2, 3 year) folder” at any time. By making this classification image screen a multilayer structure, a complicated classification can be easily given as a file name.

FIG. 8 shows an example of how to assign file names. At the upper part of the display screen 11 of the display on the school side, there is an icon group 12A for displaying images of publication candidates.
Each of the icons a to 12f indicates an image of the image data. In the case of the editing screen, since thumbnail data is produced, the thumbnail data 15a to 15f are shown but will be described without distinction. The lower edit screen 13 is divided into three screens: a main edit screen 13a at the left end, an edit screen 13i for each class, and an edit screen 13j for each individual. The main editing screen 13a shows a logo 11a indicating a data capturing screen and an icon 11b of a junior high school name,
Next, graduation year icon 11c, grade-specific icon 1
1d, a class icon 11e, a class determination icon 11f, a personal name icon 11g, and a personal name determination icon 11h.

When the icons 11c, 11e, and 11g are clicked on the icons with a mouse, a drop-down menu is displayed. For example, click on 11c, select and click on the graduation year, and then click on the grade icon 11
Click d to select grade and then class icon 1
If you click 1e, all classes of the relevant grade in the graduation year will be displayed in a drop-down menu.
Click on the class to select. Next, when the individual name icon 11g is clicked, all the student names of the corresponding class are displayed in a drop-down menu format. In addition, if the icon of the main edit screen 13a is set first, it is often common to a series of work, and does not become a complicated work.

In this state, the original data 12 to be captured is "□
If it is the original data of "class", the decision icon 11
Click f. Then, in the right half of the editing screen 13, the logo 11p for each class of “a junior high school 2 □□□ graduation □ school year □ class page” is displayed, and the icon for each event “A. Is displayed on the sub-editing screen 13i.

For example, when the photograph of the flower shown in 12e is taken in, the original data 12e is dragged and dropped onto the "C. art" icon in the sub-editing screen 13i showing the class page by the mouse. , Are classified as “art” in “a junior high school 2 □□□ graduation □ grade □ class” and are finally recorded in the block 21 k in the server 20, and the file name is a junior high school code (for example, 000
001), graduation year code (for example, 002), school year code (for example, C), class code (for example, 05),
Each code of the event code (for example, C) is sequentially given,
At the end, numbers are assigned in the order of assignment of the original data stored in the classification. In the case of the original data 12e, "00001"
002 C 05 C 001 ”.

In order to classify the image data 12b as personal, after selecting by icon (grade 11d, class 11e), "Taro Futaba" is displayed on the personal name icon 11g, and the personal name determination icon 11h is displayed. Select "a junior high school 2
□□□ Graduate □ Graduate □ Class Taro Futaba's Page ”Drag and drop to“ E, physical education ”on the sub-edit screen 13j with the individual logo 11q and save it in the block 11m. The code is “00001 002 C 05
Taro Futaba E 001 ".

The procedure for creating the above file name is shown in FIG.
As shown in the flowchart of "Image data management by file name", for both common and personal images, start by importing images of publication candidates to the school computer and creating image data ( F101,
F102). As described above, the assignment of the file name to the image is determined from the upper hierarchy, but the school name (F103), the graduation year (F104),
The school year (F105), class (F106), and personal name (F107) can be used continuously if they are set for the first time.

The user simply drags and drops the icon corresponding to the category (F108), and the serial number is automatically assigned thereafter. Also, it is determined whether the data is the personal data or the level of the common data based on the input of the class and the input of the individual. That is, for example, if you drop “E. Athletic Festival”, “Serial number in classification” is automatically determined, and the name of “000001 001 C 1 Taro Futaba E 001.jpg” is automatically determined in a series of operations. Attached. In this way, the operation is automatically selected by selecting a predetermined icon using a mouse, so that even a student unfamiliar with keyboard operation can attach a correct code without prior knowledge. .

The image data 12 can be imported at any time, and software is created so that a common / individual editing operation can be started even while the image data 12 is being imported. It is not necessary to perform an editing operation after all the images have been captured, and a partial editing operation can be started using the captured images.

In addition to the above-described method of attaching file codes having a hierarchical structure, various file code attachment methods can be adopted as identification codes for images of publication candidates. "Visual" commonly used on the Internet as a database
By using "Basic", "ASP", "Access", etc., a Web-linked database can be created, and the image name (image data) or comment data of the image number specified on the editing screen is displayed. Can be

In the above database software, search conditions are determined according to each editing screen, and image data and comment data can be extracted from data satisfying the conditions. As a specific example, a search is performed using data of “Name: Arima”, data of “Classification: Sports Festival”, and the like, and the editing screen can be edited from the search results.

An example of image data management combined with a database will be described with reference to the schematic diagram of the display screen of FIG. 10 and the flowchart of FIG. Importing of the images of the publication candidates of the electronic album is performed in the same manner as in the previous example, and first, thumbnail data is created. At this stage, 0001. jpg-000n.
jpg are sequentially assigned. A method of changing the file name of a publication candidate image and transferring the file in order to perform various classifications and add attributes to the publication candidate image will be described.

In the "database construction screen" displayed on the school side display screen shown in FIG.
When a plurality of image names are displayed in the column and the cursor is moved on the image name, a thumbnail image having the image name indicated by the cursor is displayed in the lower column “Display selected image” column. Select the desired image by double-clicking with the mouse or operating the enter key.

Scroll the upper left file name field to 00
01. jpg is selected, and a "category display column" on the right side of the screen in FIG. By operating the cursor up and down, first, for example, “Sports Festival” is selected from various categories of large genres. Next, from the "Class" classification of the middle genre, "3.1"
A pair is selected, and if necessary, a personal name “Arima” of a small genre “name” classification is selected. If the "name" of the small genre is not selected, there is no personal attribute and the "class" has a common "whole picture". When the selection of each genre up to the small genre is completed, the data is transmitted to the server 20 with the "send" key, and a database is constructed.

The data of each image in the server is virtually
0 (b) is recorded. That is, as the attributes of each image, the image number, application, classification, class, name, image name, comment, display, and thumbnail image name are sequentially arranged from the beginning. Image name 0002. jpg is given an attribute of “Cultural Festival” of the large genre, a group of “3-2” of the middle genre, and “Name” of the small genre is given the attribute of “Inoue”. Similarly, image name 0
For 003jpg, the large genre “whole picture”, the middle genre “3-1”, and the small genre “name” are not selected.
In addition, the image name 0005jpg is a large genre “whole picture”
Only the medium genre and the small genre are not selected.

When the attribute is attached to the name, the usage is “for individuals”
If the "individual name" of the small genre is not selected, the application is automatically classified as "whole class" if no class or individual is selected, and "common to (all schools)". In addition, in the page of the electronic album, "Short text entered in the comment column" is displayed next to the image with "Photo description"
Is written as This comment may be written at the same time as the classification on this database construction screen, and may be edited together with the image selection on the editing screen, as described later. The above procedure is shown in F111 to F117 in the flowchart of FIG. 11, and even if any method is adopted, the attribute determination of the image can be easily performed by a student who is not accustomed to the personal computer operation by a simple operation.

These image data are written in HTML (HyperText Markup Language), which is a kind of network description language.
described in e). The feature is that it is possible to decorate the character text using reserved words called parentheses called tags, and it is possible to format the text, specify the display position of the image file, specify the link destination (reference destination), etc. .

When the description of the display of the image data of the source code is specified by using the above-mentioned tag, the data of the link destination (reference destination) is referred to.
The display is made. By changing the data at the link destination (changing the data at the top), the image data displayed at the time of editing can be changed.

An example of a source code describing the display of image data in HTML format is as follows. (Pe
al (Practial Extraction and Report Language) script is used

For example, the following description is made in the source code to display image data. For the image data to be displayed, refer to “disp.pl”.
The top data of "p.pl" will be selected and displayed. In this example, "000001_001_C_1_Futaba_Taro_E_0
01.jpg "is displayed.

[0070]

(Equation 1)

[0071]

(Equation 2)

By setting in this manner, the image to be displayed can be changed without rewriting the source code if the order of the image files described in “disp.pl” is changed during the editing operation. it can. That is, apparently, the source code appears to display image data by describing a specific image file. By doing so, a versatile editing system can be constructed.

The details of the editing work will be described with reference to an example of editing work in the classmate introduction column for each class using database software.

The next second step is an album editing step of deciding on which page of the album the image of the publication candidate is to be placed. The editing process of each page of the album using the thumbnail data 15 of the sorted and coded image data will be described with reference to FIGS. 12 and 13 showing the respective display screens. The image data 15 to be adopted is selected from the data stored in each of the classification areas 14 (see FIG. 4) such as by field, event, school year, individual, etc. Editors (students, teachers, etc.) paste directly at the location. In other words, the editing operation is completed by adding the position information of the frame screen to the selected image data information (the file name of the image data or the database number may be used) and transmitting it to the server as edited data.

The display screen 11 shown in FIG. 12 shows a template page 16 in the area of "C. art" of a certain grade (class). For example, as shown in FIG. 8, the image data 12e (file name “00001 002C 0
5 C 001 ") for the album.
In this case, a thumbnail image 15Xe of the image data 12e is displayed in the icon group 15 at the top of the display screen 11. The editor himself (student, teacher) selects the thumbnail image 15Xe registered in the art area displayed in the icon group 15A at the top of the display screen 11, and drags and drops the image data 12e into the edit screen 16. I do. The image data 12e (the file name thereof) is registered as an image occupying the address (position information of the frame screen) 17e of the specific position of the template page. In this case, the file name does not have to be changed, but a display that is adopted data, for example, “*” is added and “00001 002” is displayed.
C 05 C 001 * ”may be used as a code indicating that the code has already been adopted.

Since the same screen as the school screen 11 is also shown on the management side screen 31 of the management side 30, the management side can supervise the editing work on the school side and operate the school side during editing. When there is any unclear point in the procedure or the like and consultation with the management side, the management side can view the screen 31 having the same display content and provide remote guidance. In that case, Internet phone 18,
38 can be used to provide guidance. In this manner, the image to be pasted at each of the addresses (17a, 17b, 17c,...) Scheduled as the image layout position of each page is selected, and the pasting position in the template page is specified.
When the images are arranged at all the scheduled addresses in the page, the editing of the page is completed, and the completion of the editing for each page is confirmed by the school side and the management side.

Without using the image data 12 as it is, the use range (trimming including the outer shape), the angle, the size, etc., the color state, etc. can be set as desired.
Although the recommended examples of the background color such as the ground color and the pattern of each page are stored in the template page, they may be changed according to the request of the school side. Is stored within. Internet phone 1
By making close contact between the school side and the management side using 8, 38, such changes can be made promptly without any inconsistency.

When the editing of the common page is completed, the management side links the digitally converted sound data such as music (for example, school songs, BGM, etc.) and congratulatory words, etc., by linking the moving image completed by a separate meeting to create data for the common part. Can start. In the above description, all pages have two levels, one-level common page and individual pages. However, the common pages also have a hierarchy, and are classified according to the year of graduation, class, and circle. It is also possible to have an equal hierarchical structure. Furthermore,
If the number of graduates at each school decreases and it is difficult to make an album for each school in terms of cost, several schools share the template page, label print design of the recording medium, etc., and consider the hierarchy of each school be able to.

The school 10a continues to edit the dedicated page for each individual. Basically, the procedure is the same as the above-mentioned editing operation of the common part, and since the contents of the operation are similar, detailed description thereof will be omitted. Individual pages for each teacher and graduate are edited.

An editing operation when image data is described in HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language), which is a kind of network description language, will be described. A specific example will be described in the classmate introduction column for each class. As shown in FIG. 4B as an example of the contents of the page, this column has a configuration in which a photograph of an individual's face and a comment such as "profile etc." introduced by himself are arranged in parallel. FIG. 14A shows the display screen 11 of the classmate introduction column page of the school personal computer 10.
Is shown. Photographs of the faces of Δ □ ○○ and Δ ×× ○ and a self-introduction sentence on the right side thereof are displayed as “profile etc.”.

In the editing screen, the face picture used is a picture whose capacity is smaller than that of the actual picture, and the thumbnail picture or the picture whose compression ratio or resolution is reduced is used. As shown in FIG. 14A, when the triangular icon 82 at the lower right of the screen is clicked, the screen is switched to the editing display screen. The screen is linked to editing software, and becomes so-called active so that editing work can be performed.

When the part of the image to be edited is clicked on the editing screen, a candidate image to be edited is displayed as a thumbnail image. Multiple face photo candidates are registered (00 in the figure).
(6 images from 01.jpg to 0006.jpg) are possible, and the images can be exchanged from these. The candidate image is displayed as a candidate image input screen shown in FIG. 10C by switching the edit screen or in a part of the edit screen. Among the candidate images, 0001.jpg currently displayed on the page of the electronic album is hatched (darkened). When another image (for example, 0006.jpg) in FIG. 9C is clicked, the currently displayed 0001.jpg can be replaced with 0006.jpg.

When the text section of "profile etc." in the comment column is clicked, a comment input screen shown in FIG. 11D is displayed, and the comment text can be edited. The first input of self-introduction sentences, the correction of sentences, and replacement are free, and the contents can be refined. Once the content is decided,
Click the OK icon at the bottom to return to the edit screen.
In the editing screen of (b), a left-pointing triangle icon 83 in the lower right corner
Clicking returns to the display screen, and the replaced image, sentence, etc. are retained with the changed contents.

When all of the common and individual editing work is completed, the school puts a message of editing completion and an approval sign of the responsible person on the editing screen and sends it to the management side. The management side
In addition to supervising the editing work, if it is completed, ask the school to confirm the completed screen for confirmation. Examination of a desired change point, a point requiring improvement, and the like is performed using the Internet telephones 18, 38, etc., and correction and change can be easily performed any number of times, and a final confirmation is made. This completes the editing process.

Next, the final step of the electronic album,
This is a third step of recording the contents of each page of the album on a CD-R as an electronic medium and performing printing including a personal name on a label of the CD-R. This step will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 15 and 16 which schematically show this step. Usually, information is recorded on a recording medium of several tens to several hundreds per school, and label printing is performed.
A dedicated writer (CD writer) for writing on unrecorded CD-R discs, a multicolor printer for label printing, a dedicated printer for personal name printing, and the like are provided.

As a dedicated printer for printing a personal name, a dedicated record specifying a personal name or a code in a CD-R of a recording medium is read, a dedicated (individual) record of the CD-R is specified, and a corresponding name is specified. (Including job titles, names, etc.) must be extracted from the personal name list and printed, and a personal name specifying device constituted by a dedicated personal computer or the like for this purpose is attached.

When the school approves the completion of the editing work, the management side obtains the thumbnail number of the common page from the completed screen by the management side personal computer, pulls out the original data of the same number from the server 20, and retrieves the link file. create. Unify images and backgrounds into information for each page. Then, the above-described digitally converted moving image and music data are linked to form common data, and then a master CD-R is created (F130). At this point the school
A final confirmation of the presence of the management may be made.

An unrecorded CD that eventually becomes an electronic album
−R to write the common data of the common page (F13
1) A common base image is printed on the label surface of the CD-R by silk screen printing or the like (F13).
2). At this time, an area for printing the student's personal name is secured. Since several types of standard print examples are prepared in advance as label base images, if standard print examples are adopted, school names and graduation years are treated in the same way as personal names, and are subject to individual printing. The size of the area also increases or decreases according to the print content of the personal name.

Next, additional data of individual students (teachers, staff) is recorded on the CD-R on which the common data is recorded (F).
133, F134). The extraction of the original data from the server 20, the batching of images and backgrounds, and the like are performed in the same manner as the common data creation. At this time, for example, PMA (Program Memory Area)
) Is recorded in the recording area of the CD-R to take measures such as facilitating the personal name specifying operation of the personal name specifying instruction device when printing the personal name. In addition,
When the common page is hierarchized, after the first-level common page is recorded, a symbol for specifying the second-level common page (same as the personal name-specifying symbol) is recorded in the same manner as the individual data. May be read), and the data of the second-level common page is recorded. In this way, pages with different hierarchical levels are recorded one after another, and finally a personal page, which is the lowest hierarchical level, is recorded.

The page content of the album is recorded, the personal name is specified from the record in each CD-R after the common printing of the label is completed, and the specified personal name is additionally printed on the CD-R label surface ( F135). An inkjet printer or the like is suitable as a printer. The personal name may include not only the first and last name but also a class name depending on the specification of creating the electronic album. In the case of a staff member, a job title, a title, and the like may be added. As described above, if several schools collaborate to create an electronic album with a common specification, the school name, graduation year, etc. will also be included in the personal name. Therefore, when a personal name or the like is used in the present specification, all items to be printed, such as a school name, a class name, a position, and a title other than the first and last names, are included in the personal name. Finally, through a process such as inspection and packaging, a "media with thought" product for each individual is completed, and the electronic album is sent to each school or to each individual.

In the above, an example of an electronic album including specific personal information through the editing process from the capture of the image as the original data has been described in the form of a school graduation album. As described above, the present invention is a means for creating an electronic album using a computer connected to a network, and the customer is not limited to only a school, and the recording medium is a CD.
Obviously, not only -R but also various writable media can be used.

[0092]

According to the present invention, since a part of the editing software and the storage of images and the like are stored on the server side, most of the software is on the server side. Because it is on the server, the school system only needs to accommodate a small amount of software, and only needs to be able to connect to the Internet. This has the advantage that the production of electronic albums can be easily introduced. In addition, since consultation in editing and proofreading can be performed in two directions via the Internet, there is no need for direct interviews, and there is a great effect that consultation can be performed in real time without being limited by physical distance.

According to the present invention, instead of directly describing the image file to be displayed in the source code, the reference destination is described, so that the data of the link destination can be changed without changing the source at the time of editing. Assuming that the image file has been replaced, for example, if the data of the link destination (reference destination) is prepared for each school, all the editing software is common, and if one general-purpose editing software is prepared Good. Software development costs can be reduced.

The operations such as taking in images of publication candidates and arranging template pages at predetermined positions can be easily performed using an electronic album file prepared in advance. This has the advantage that the content becomes extensive and individualized, and that each student can have their own area and edit it freely, making it easier for them to get closer to their album.

Further, in the case of capturing and classifying images,
File name assignment only needs to follow a predetermined hierarchical structure or existing database, and can be operated using icons, so even those who can not operate the keyboard well,
Another advantage is that editing work can be performed easily and reliably.

In terms of cost, the electronic album (CD-R,
DVD, etc.), so that only one medium is required for storing a certain amount of photos (eg, several thousand), and the cost performance is good. Since the number of photos that can be stored can be as large as several thousand, a large number of personal photos can be inserted, and the results of school work other than those who want to keep personally can be recorded. Furthermore, since the recording medium is an electronic medium, sound such as sound effects and messages can be recorded, and athletic meets, cultural festivals, and the like can be left as moving images. Also, since thousands of photos can be stored on a single medium, physical thickness and weight are lighter than a paper album, and portability is also an advantage.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of an electronic album creating system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a specific embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an example of the contents of a page of an electronic album of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an example of the content of a page of the electronic album of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an example of contents of a page of an electronic album of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of screen display on the school side and the management side when a publishing candidate image is imported.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a basic hierarchical structure of a file name.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of how to assign file names based on a hierarchical structure.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an image data management method based on a file name.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of image data management combined with a database.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of image data management combined with a database.

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram illustrating an album editing process.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of an album editing process.

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of a screen explaining a specific example of an album editing process.

FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram illustrating a recording process on a CD-R, which is an example of a medium, and a label printing process.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart of a recording process on a CD-R and a label printing process.

[Explanation of symbols]

10a, 10b, 10c ... school computer, 11
Display screen (on school side), 11a, to 11h Various logos or various icons, 12A Image data icons, 12
(Af), 12X image or thumbnail image, 13
Work screen, 13a (Main) work screen, 13i, 13j
(Secondary) work screen, 14 areas, 15, 15X, thumbnail image, 16 electronic album file (template page), 17e image arrangement position (address), 18 videophone image, 20 server, 21 electronic album file (dedicated homepage) , 30 PC for management,

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Yoji Mikami 629 Oshiba, Mobara-shi, Chiba Futaba Electronics Industry Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Haruhisa Hirakawa 629 Oshiba, Mobara-shi, Chiba Futaba Electronics Co. (Reference) 5B050 AA09 BA15 BA20 CA08 DA06 EA12 EA19 EA20 FA02 FA12 FA19 GA08 5C052 AA01 DD04 5C053 FA10 FA14 FA23 LA11 LA14 5C076 AA17 AA22 BA06 CA02

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. One or more customer computers connected to the same network, a server connected to the network, and a management computer connected to the network via the server. An electronic album creation system for creating an electronic album in which images are recorded on an electronic recording medium, wherein the server is a plurality of frame screens in which model image data is arranged at a predetermined position and accessible from the customer-side computer. An electronic album file configured, a memory for storing image data of publication candidates in the electronic album, and first editing means for creating the electronic album file, wherein the first editing means comprises: Or means for enabling the management-side computer and the server to communicate with each other Means for taking in the image data of the publication candidate from the customer-side computer into the electronic album, means for storing the taken-in image data, and means for adding an attribute to the image data taken in accordance with a pre-defined division. Selecting the model image data to be displayed in an image input area in a preselected frame screen based on an instruction from the customer side computer or the management side computer, creating each of the frame screens, and forming the electronic album file. The customer-side computer accesses the electronic album file in the server, reads and displays the electronic album file, and temporarily records the image data of the publication candidate. Means and the image data transmitted in the server The image processing apparatus further includes a second editing unit that performs an editing operation to determine which image input area is to be arranged in the frame screen.The second editing unit includes an editing screen similar to the frame screen configuring the electronic album file. Means for displaying the image data of the insertion candidate corresponding to the image input area of the frame screen to be edited selected on the editing screen or the thumbnail data of the image data, and the image data of the displayed insertion candidate Or edit data transmitting means for transmitting the selected image data information to the server as edit data together with the position information of the frame screen by selecting thumbnail data of the image data. Means to communicate instructions and guidance to the computer at the customer An electronic album, comprising: means for extracting the image data from the server based on the transmitted edit data, finishing the electronic album file, and recording the electronic album file on the electronic recording medium to create an electronic album. Creation system. 2. The electronic album creation system according to claim 1, wherein the display of the image data on the editing screen is displayed by reading data of a reference destination. 3. A server used in an electronic album creation system that connects one or more customer-side computers and a management-side computer connected to the same network via the network, wherein the customer-side computer An electronic album file composed of a plurality of frame screens in which model image data is arranged at a predetermined position which is more accessible and accessible; a memory for storing image data of publication candidates in the electronic album; the customer-side computer or the management side Means for enabling mutual communication with a computer, means for taking in the image data of the publication candidate from the customer-side computer to the electronic album, means for storing the taken-in image data, and taking-in according to a pre-formed division. Means for adding an attribute to the image data; A frame for selecting the model image data to be displayed in an image input area in a frame screen selected in advance based on an instruction from the customer side computer or the management side computer, creating each of the frame screens, and forming the electronic album file A first editing unit comprising a screen creating unit; and the image data or the image of a publishing candidate edited by the second editing unit of the customer-side computer and having a specified attribute and a specific image input area added thereto. An electronic album, comprising: receiving edit data including thumbnail data of data, storing the data in a memory, and transmitting the image data to the management computer based on the edit data in accordance with an instruction from the management computer. The server used for the authoring system. 4. When the image data of the publishing candidate is fetched, thumbnail data of the image data is created in the computer on the customer side, the image data and the thumbnail data are transmitted to the server, and the memory of the server is provided. 2. The electronic album creation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the thumbnail data is transmitted from the server to the customer computer at the time of editing, and the thumbnail data is displayed on an editing screen of the customer computer. system. 5. The customer-side computer fetches the image data of the publishing candidate, transmits the fetched image data to the server, stores the image data of the publishing candidate in the memory of the server, and simultaneously stores the image data of the image candidate in the server. 2. The electronic album according to claim 1, wherein thumbnail data is created, the thumbnail data is transmitted from the server to the customer computer at the time of editing, and the thumbnail data is displayed on an editing screen of the customer computer. Creation system