JP2005092007A - Image processing system, image processing method, program and information recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image processing system and an image processing method which efficiently perform processing for storing an image accumulated as code data by dividing it into size suitable for display size of a display means. <P>SOLUTION: A display area 202 of original image data 200 on a display screen 20 is detected, the image data 200 are automatically divided to divided images with size according to size of the display area 202. The image after division is stored as encoded data 203 of a still image or a plurality of still images after division are stored as motion code data 204 using them as frames. According to one aspect, the code data of the original image data 200 are preliminarily divided into small blocks and its divided information is stored. When the code data of divided images with required size are generated, code columns of required small blocks are extracted and compounded based on the divided information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing system and an image processing method for storing, displaying, and processing image code data.

  In an image processing system, editing of code data of an accumulated image (image division and synthesis) is often performed according to a procedure as shown in FIG. That is, the image code data is decompressed and the decompressed image data is displayed. The image is edited through the user interface, the image data after editing is subjected to the maximum compression processing, and the generated code data is stored.

  In relation to the output of an image stored by encoding, Patent Document 1 describes a multimedia facsimile having a function of generating a composite document by associating input still images, moving images, text documents, and voices. Has been. Patent Document 2 describes a moving image output system having a function of dividing frame data of a moving image into subframe data, reading it from a storage medium, and displaying it. Patent Document 3 describes a printer control device having a function of editing and outputting a large number of still image thumbnail images encoded by JPEG 2000 into a one-page document.

JP-A-7-203100 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-128810 JP 2002-240368 A

  When the size of the image to be displayed is extremely large compared to the maximum displayable size of the image display device (in the case of an image that is so large that there is a limit to the reduced display), the target image portion (region) is displayed by a display operation such as scrolling. It is very difficult to display. In addition, images are generally encoded and stored, but the code data of such a large image has a considerably large amount of data, so there is a problem that it takes a considerable time to display the encoded data. .

  In order to solve such a problem, it is conceivable to divide and save an image. However, as shown in FIG. 24, dividing an image by an editing process in which the user intervenes, recompressing and saving the image requires a lot of labor and processing time, and is not efficient. In particular, it is extremely difficult to perform such editing processing in a device such as a mobile phone having an extremely small display screen size.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an image processing system and an image processing method for efficiently performing processing for dividing and storing an image stored as code data into a size suitable for the display size of the display means. is there. Another object of the present invention is to provide an image processing system capable of easily retrieving code data of an image after such division processing.

The invention of claim 1
Code data storage means for storing code data of an image;
Decompression means for decompressing the code data;
Based on the display means for displaying the image data decompressed by the decompressing means, the display range detecting means for detecting the display range of the image displayed by the display means, and the display range detected by the display range detecting means, An image processing system comprising: means for dividing the code data stored in the storage means; and means for storing the code data divided by the dividing means in the code data storage means in units of divisions. is there.

The invention of claim 2
Code data storage means for storing code data of an image;
Decompression means for decompressing the code data;
Based on the display means for displaying the image data expanded by the expansion means, the display range detection means for detecting the display range of the image displayed by the display means, and the display range detected by the display range detection means, Means for dividing the code data stored in the storage means, and means for storing the code data divided by the means for dividing in the code data storage means as motion code data or multi-page code data. Is an image processing system.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the image processing system according to the first or second aspect of the present invention, the code data is stored in the code data storage means by dividing the area into small block units. is there.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the image processing system according to the third aspect of the present invention, further comprising means for designating a division range in units of the small block division.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing system according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, further comprising means for displaying a break of a small block division superimposed on the image data when displaying the image data.

  A sixth aspect of the present invention is the image processing system according to the third aspect of the present invention, wherein the dividing means includes means for synthesizing necessary blocks in units of small blocks.

  The invention of claim 7 further comprises means for automatically assigning a file name to the code data when the divided code data is stored in the code data storage means. An image processing system according to the present invention.

  The invention according to claim 8 further comprises means for creating a list listing file names for search and displaying the list on the display means as necessary. It is.

  The invention of claim 9 includes means for creating a list listing file names for search and displaying the display means in association with file names and schematic images based on the list as necessary. An image processing system according to claim 7 of the present invention.

  According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the image processing system according to the first or second aspect, the means for dividing the code data includes a means for making the divided sizes substantially equal. is there.

  The invention of claim 11 is the image processing system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the code data has a structure in which the code data for each region is superimposed.

  A twelfth aspect of the present invention is the image processing system according to the first or second aspect, wherein the code data is JPEG2000 compliant code data.

  A thirteenth aspect of the present invention is the image processing system according to the twelfth aspect of the present invention, wherein the division unit is a tile.

  A fourteenth aspect of the present invention is the image processing system according to the twelfth aspect of the present invention, wherein the division unit is a precinct.

  According to a fifteenth aspect of the present invention, in the image processing system according to the first or second aspect of the present invention, the respective means are distributed to an image server and an image output apparatus coupled via a network, and are displayed on the display means. The image data is transferred from the image server to the image output device via a network.

  According to a sixteenth aspect of the present invention, in the image processing system according to the fifteenth aspect, the image server includes means for re-dividing code data of an image input from the outside.

The invention of claim 17
A decompression step for decompressing the code data stored in the code data storage means;
A display step of causing the display means to display the image data expanded in the expansion step;
Detecting a display range of an image displayed by the display means;
A code data dividing step of dividing the code data stored in the code data storage unit based on the detected display range;
And a step of storing the code data divided by the code data dividing step in the code data storage unit in units of division.

The invention of claim 18 provides
A decompression step for decompressing the code data stored in the code data storage means;
A display step of causing the display means to display the image data expanded in the expansion step;
Detecting a display range of an image displayed by the display means;
A code data dividing step of dividing the code data stored in the code data storage unit based on the detected display range;
An image processing method comprising: storing the code data divided in the code data dividing step in the code data storage unit as motion code data or multi-page code data.

  The invention of claim 19 is a program for realizing the image processing system or the image processing method according to any one of claims 1 to 18 by using a computer.

  The invention of claim 20 is a computer-readable information recording medium on which the program of the invention of claim 19 is recorded.

  According to the inventions of claims 1 and 17, when the image size to be displayed is enormous with respect to the displayable size of the display means, the code data of the image is divided into an appropriate size corresponding to the displayable size. Thus, it is possible to efficiently perform the storing process without human intervention. The divided code data can be displayed at a high speed because it takes less time for the decoding process than the code data before the division.

  According to the inventions of claims 2 and 18, in addition to the same effect as that of the invention of claim 1, the divided image can be displayed as a motion still image or a multi-page still image, and the search can be facilitated.

  According to the third to sixth aspects of the present invention, code data can be segmented (divided) in advance in units of small blocks, and segments can be segmented in advance so that they can be identified. By doing so, it is possible to easily and efficiently perform division processing, particularly division processing at the code level. In the case of editing in the absence of area division information, division division (boundary) must first be calculated, but such calculation is unnecessary (claim 3). For the above reasons, the code data of any size can be synthesized more easily and efficiently. Furthermore, by designating a division range as a delimiter unit for small block division, a code string having a designated size can be easily extracted, so that more efficient division is possible (claim 4). In addition, the designation can be performed more easily and reliably by displaying the break of the small block division superimposed on the displayed image data.

  According to the seventh to ninth aspects, the reuse of the divided image data is facilitated. In particular, according to the seventh or eighth aspect, it becomes easy to search the divided image data.

  According to the invention of claim 10, since the image size after the division can be made substantially equal, it is easy to handle the image after the division, particularly when the image after the division is generated as motion code data. This is convenient because the image size of each frame is substantially uniform.

  According to the inventions of claims 11 to 14, the division processing at the code level can be performed efficiently.

  According to the invention of claim 15, the function of the image server can be shared by a plurality of image output devices, and the function of each image output device can be simplified. The cost of each image output apparatus can be reduced. Further, since functions such as division processing can be concentrated on the image server, the management cost can be reduced as compared with the function-intensive image processing system. Furthermore, according to the invention of claim 16, more adaptive processing is possible according to the processing capability (or memory capacity) in the image server.

  According to the inventions of claims 19 and 20, the inventions of claims 1 to 18 can be implemented using a computer, and the effects thereof can be achieved.

  The image processing system of the present invention can take either a form in which processing functions are concentrated on a single apparatus or a form in which processing functions are distributed to a plurality of apparatuses (for example, a server and an image output apparatus).

First, an image processing system in which processing functions are concentrated on a single device will be described. [Device configuration]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a typical configuration of an image processing system in which processing functions are concentrated on a single device.

  In the figure, image code data storage means 1 is means for storing image code data. The structure of the code data stored here will be described later in [Structure of code data].

  The expansion means 2 is means for expanding the code data of the image. It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which other processing, for example, image processing for improving image quality, is performed before and after the decompression processing. The image data buffer means 3 is means for storing the image data expanded by the expansion means. The display means 4 is a means for displaying the image data stored in the image data buffer means 3 as an image.

  The automatic file name assigning means 5 is a means for automatically assigning a file name (identification symbol) to the image code data after division, which is newly generated and saved in the image code data saving means 1. This will be described later with reference to FIG.

  The small block dividing means 6 is means for dividing (dividing) the code data in units of small blocks. Details will be described later with reference to FIG.

  The small block division information storage unit 6 creates data (correspondence table between the code data and the display position) in which the small block unit division of the code data divided by the small block division unit 6 is associated with the display position. It is a means to preserve.

  The display range reading means 8 is means for reading the range (display range) actually displayed by the display means 4 of the image data stored in the display data buffer means 3 (see FIG. 6). The divided image size is determined based on the size of the display range, details of which will be described later.

  The substantially identical size calculation means 9 is a means for calculating the division size when the image is substantially equally divided. Details will be described later.

  The dividing means 10 is means for dividing the code data in accordance with the dividing method. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the dividing means 10 includes a dividing number setting means 21 for setting the dividing number, a dividing size setting means 22 for setting the dividing size, a dividing method specifying means 23 for setting the dividing method, The division control means 24 controls the division processing according to the division number, the division size, and the division method determined by the means. Details of the division will be described later.

  The motion synthesizing unit 11 is a unit that generates code data of a motion still image in which a plurality of code data are arranged in time series (motion code data having each divided code data as a frame). The motion synthesizing unit 11 may be a unit that generates multi-page code data each including a page from a plurality of code data. The still image synthesizing unit 12 is a unit that generates code data of a still image.

[Typical processing flow]
FIG. 3 is a schematic flowchart for explaining a typical processing flow of the image processing apparatus of the present invention. Step S3 and subsequent steps in FIG. 3 are processing when a division command is given. Since the operation when there is no division command is not related to the contents of the present invention, the illustration and description are omitted.

  Step S1: The code data of the designated image is read from the image code data storage unit 1 and decompressed by the decompression unit 2, and the decompressed image data is stored in the image data buffer unit 3. This image data is displayed as an image by the display means 4.

  Step S2: The display range reading means 8 examines the image data in the image data buffer means 3 and reads the display range of the image.

Step S3: The dividing means 10 determines a dividing method based on the display range. The following division methods can be selected.
(1) A method of dividing so that each image size after division becomes substantially the same size. The division size in this case is calculated by the substantially identical size calculation means 9 based on the size of the display range.
(2) A method of dividing based on the division size set by the division size setting means 22. Note that the division size setting unit 22 may be a unit that allows the user to specify a division size via a user interface, for example.
(3) A method of dividing based on the number of divisions set by the division number setting means 21. Note that the division number setting means 21 can be a means for the user to set the division number via a user interface, for example.

  Such a division method can be designated by the division method designation means 23. The division method designating unit 23 can also be a unit that allows the user to designate a division method via a user interface, for example.

Step S4: In the dividing means 10, according to the dividing method determined in the previous step, the code data of the currently displayed image (stored in the image code data saving means 1) is converted into a plurality of code data in the code state. Divided. This division processing is controlled by the division control means 24. Although details of the division processing will be described later, this division can be performed as follows.
(1) Divide based on the data amount described in the header information in the code data of the image being displayed.
(2) Using the small block division information stored in the small block division information storage unit 7, the small blocks are synthesized to generate code string data of the requested size. Here, the small block division information is data that associates the division of the code data in units of small blocks and the display position (as shown in FIG. 7, it is created when the code data is divided by the small block division means 6. This is a correspondence table between the code data of each small block and the display position).

Step S5: The divided code data is stored in the image code data storage means 1 as a file. In this step, the following processing may be performed.
(1) An identifier (which may be a name or a number) is assigned to each newly created code data file (this is done by the automatic file name assigning means 5).
(2) Further, a search list (see FIG. 11A) listing file names is created and displayed as necessary. At this time, as shown in FIG. 11B, a schematic image (thumbnail image) and a file name may be displayed in association with each other.

  Here, the divided code data may be independent still image code data, or may be code data obtained by collecting a plurality of code data. The latter code data may be motion code data in which a plurality of still images are continuously displayed as a moving image, or each of the plurality of still images is displayed as a page, and any designated page is displayed as a still image. It can also be multi-page code data. The division process is executed in cooperation with the division control unit 24 and the motion synthesis unit 11 or the still image synthesis unit 12. The means for generating motion code data or multi-page code data is the motion synthesis means 11, and the means for generating code data as an independent still image is the still image synthesis means 12.

[Structure of code data]
A typical structure of image code data stored in advance in the image code data storage unit 1 will be described with reference to FIG. The top row in FIG. 8 shows the original image, and the second row shows the divided area (tile) of the original image. The encoded data is encoded after the third level in FIG. 8 and has a structure divided in accordance with each area (tile). That is, tag information called a header is added to the head of code data (code stream) and the head of partial tiles constituting each tile corresponding to each area of the original image, and then the code string ( Bitstream) followed by an end tag. The structure of such code data is a typical structure of code data stored in advance in the image code data storage means 1, and the code string is stored in a manner corresponding to the area of the original image. Is a feature. The code data having such a structure can be easily divided into code data for each region as shown in the lowermost stage of FIG. The reverse synthesis process is also easy.

  FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of a process of generating code data having a structure as shown in the third row of FIG. The original image data shown in the top row in FIG. 9 is divided into regions as shown in the second row, and code data for each region as shown in the third row is generated by the encoding process for each region. . Finally, the code data of the plurality of areas is multiplied and necessary tag information (header) and a tag are added to form the code data having the structure shown in the lowermost stage. Note that the encoding method may be an encoding method using wavelet transform such as JPEG2000, or an encoding method using discrete cosine transform (DCT) such as JPEG.

[Concept of split processing]
The code data divided into regions as shown in FIG. 8 can be easily divided at the code level by reconstructing the code data independently for each region. According to one aspect of the present invention, the code data of the original image is divided into small areas (small blocks) in advance, and the new code data is reconstructed from the code data of the selected small blocks. Realize processing. This will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, code data 221 obtained by dividing the code data 220 of the original image into small blocks by the small block dividing unit 6 is generated and stored in the image code data storing unit 1. The small block division information obtained at this time is stored in the small block division information storage means 7. In accordance with the division method designated by the division method designation unit 23 of the division unit 10, the division control unit 10 selects a small block group included in the divided image by referring to the small dot division information. The still image code data 223 is generated by the still image synthesizing unit 12 from the selected small block group code data, or the motion still image code data 224 is generated by the motion synthesizing unit 12. These divided code data are stored in the image code data storage unit 1.

  In FIG. 7, it is assumed that the target code data is reconstructed using the code data after the small block division processing, but the stored code data is already classified according to the small area of the original image. If so, the code data of the target divided image can be reconstructed without performing the small block division process. Further, if there is a need for further subdivision, the small block division may be repeated.

  Code data having the structure as described above can also be generated by, for example, JPEG2000 encoding processing described later.

[How to determine the range]
The division range in the division processing is determined based on the display range recognized by the display range reading unit 8. Typically, a range slightly wider than the display range is selected (see FIG. 6). However, the present invention is not limited to this. In FIG. 6, 201 is a display screen of the display means 4, 200 is an image to be displayed, and 202 is a display range. In this case, the original image is divided into divided images that are slightly larger than the display range 202, and code data (still image code data 203 or motion still image code data 204) of the divided image is generated and stored.

  The most preferable method for determining the division range is to specify the division range as a delimiter unit of the small block division so that the division can be ensured only by the operation of the code level as will be described later. In other words, the division part is identifiable in small block units and the division method is specified by specifying the division range as the delimiter unit of the small block division and extracting the corresponding code string. A code string of the specified size is extracted. In such a designation, by displaying the small block division delimiter over the image data at the time of image display, it becomes easy to designate a division range in units of small block division delimiters.

  Here, it is easy to extract the divided portion of the code data from the display range of the image if the code data has a structure divided into regions. That is, by associating the code data with each area of the image data, the divided area can be specified by designating the image data area.

  Note that the shape of the divided area need not be limited to a rectangular area, and may be arbitrarily specified according to the range of interest and purpose of the image data. Further, the divided ranges may overlap each other.

[Utilization of code string conversion (parser) function]
The most preferred embodiment of the division process is to perform division at the code level. For example, JPEG2000-compliant code data can easily realize a code string conversion (parser) function, and can be divided and combined in tile units at the code level.

  When the image is displayed, it has a function to specify the division for the small block division unit. If the division unit matches the small block unit division, only the code level operation can be performed by using the parser function. Thus, the code data of the divided image can be generated by superimposing and synthesizing the code data of the necessary small blocks. As described above, as described above, for the convenience of designating the division range, it is preferable to display a small block division break on the image data when displaying the image data.

[Outline of JPEG2000 Algorithm]
Here, an outline of the algorithm of JPEG2000 will be described. FIG. 15 is a block diagram for explaining the basics of the algorithm. In FIG. 15, 111 is a color space transform / inverse transform unit, 112 is a two-dimensional wavelet transform / inverse transform unit, 113 is a quantization / inverse quantization unit, 114 is an entropy encoding / decoding unit, and 115 is a tag processing unit. It is.

When a color image is encoded (compressed), as shown in FIG. 16, each component 121, 122, 123 (here, RGB primary color system) is generally divided into rectangular areas (tiles). Each component's individual tile (eg, R00
, R01, ..., R15 / G00, G01, ..., G15 / B00, B01, ..., B15) are basic units for executing the compression / decompression process. That is, the compression / decompression process is performed independently for each component and for each tile.

  When encoding image data, the data of each tile of each component is input to the color space conversion / inverse conversion unit 111 and subjected to color space conversion, and then the two-dimensional wavelet conversion / inverse conversion unit 112 performs the two-dimensional wavelet. A transform (forward transform) is applied to divide the space into frequency bands (subbands).

  FIG. 17 shows subbands at each decomposition level when the number of decomposition levels is three. That is, the tile original image 131 (decomposition level 0) obtained by the tile division of the original image is subjected to two-dimensional wavelet transform to separate the subbands 1LL, 1HL, 1LH, and 1HH of the decomposition level 1 (132). Subsequently, the low-frequency component 1LL in this hierarchy is subjected to two-dimensional wavelet transform to separate the sub-bands 2LL, 2HL, 2LH, and 2HH at the decomposition level 2 (133). Similarly, a two-dimensional wavelet transform is applied to the low frequency component 2LL to separate sub-bands 3LL, 3HL, 3LH, 3HH of decomposition level 3 (134).

  After the two-dimensional wavelet transform as described above, the wavelet transform coefficient is quantized by the quantization / inverse quantization unit 113 (however, when the reversible wavelet transform is performed, the quantization is not performed). Thereafter, the entropy encoding / decoding unit 114 entropy encodes the wavelet coefficients for each subband. For each subband, bits to be encoded are determined in the specified encoding order, and a context is generated from the bits around the target bits by the quantization / inverse quantization unit 113. Therefore, arithmetic coding is performed by estimating the probability of the context and the target bit.

  In entropy coding, wavelet coefficients are divided into non-overlapping rectangles called “precincts” for each subband. This was introduced to use memory efficiently in implementation. As shown in FIG. 19, one precinct is composed of three rectangular regions that are spatially coincident. Further, each precinct is divided into non-overlapping rectangular “code blocks”. This is the basic unit for entropy coding.

  The wavelet transform coefficients can be encoded as they are, but in JPEG2000, in order to increase the encoding efficiency, the coefficient values are decomposed into “bit planes” and encoded for each bit plane (more accurately). Is divided into three sub-bit planes).

FIG. 20 shows a simple processing procedure. In this example, the original image (32 × 32 pixels) is divided into four tiles of 16 × 16 pixels, and the composition level is 1
The sizes of the precinct and the code block are 8 × 8 pixels and 4 × 4 pixels, respectively. Precinct and code block numbers are numbered in raster order. Mirroring is used for pixel expansion outside the tile boundary and is reversible (5
X3) Wavelet transform is performed by a filter, and a wavelet coefficient value of decomposition level 1 is obtained. In addition, for the tile 0 / precinct 3 / code block 3, a conceptual diagram of a typical “layer” is also shown. The layer structure is easy to understand when the wavelet coefficient values are viewed from the horizontal direction (bit plane direction). One layer is composed of an arbitrary number of bit planes. In this example, layers 0, 1, 2, and 3 are made up of three bit planes 1, 3, and 1, respectively. And LSB
A layer including a bit plane closer to is first subject to quantization, and conversely, a layer closer to the MSB remains unquantized until the end. A method of discarding layers is called truncation, and the quantization rate can be finely controlled.

  In this way, the encoding process is performed in tile units for all components. Finally, in the tag processing unit 115, the entropy code is combined with one code stream and a tag is added to the code stream.

  FIG. 18 simply shows the structure of the code stream. Tag information called a header is added to the top of the code stream and the top of the partial tiles that make up each tile, followed by the code data of each tile. A tag is again placed at the end of the code stream.

  On the other hand, at the time of decoding, contrary to the time of encoding, image data is generated from the code stream of each tile of each component. This will be briefly described with reference to FIG. The tag processing unit 115 interprets tag information added to the code stream input from the outside, and decomposes the code stream into code streams of each tile of each component. Decoding processing is performed for each code stream of each tile of each component. The position of the bit to be decoded is determined in the order based on the tag information in the code stream, and the quantization / inverse quantization unit 113 uses the peripheral bits of the target bit position (decoding has already been completed) ) To generate a context. The entropy encoding / decoding unit 114 performs decoding by probability estimation from the context and the code stream, generates a target bit, and writes it in the position of the target bit. Since the data decoded in this way is spatially divided into subbands, the two-dimensional wavelet transform / inverse transform unit 112 performs two-dimensional wavelet inverse transform on each of the tiles of each component of the image data. Is restored. The restored data is converted into original color system data by the color space conversion / inverse conversion unit 111.

  The above is an outline of the algorithm of JPEG2000. The Motion-JPEG2000 algorithm is an extension of a still image, that is, a method for a single frame to a plurality of frames.

[Outline of parser function of JPEG2000]
A code string conversion unit (parser) in JPEG 2000 has a function of processing code data at a code level to generate another code data.

  FIG. 21 is a functional block diagram illustrating specific processing performed by the code string conversion unit. The code string conversion unit includes an image reading unit 31, a header / code data division processing unit 32, a header processing unit 33, and a code data synthesis unit 34.

  The image reading unit 31 sequentially reads the first code data a1 to aN. Each read code data is divided into a header part and a code part by the header / code data division processing unit 32, and the main header is changed to a tile part header by the header processing unit 33. At that time, tile indexes are sequentially assigned. When all the first code data headers have been processed, the code data synthesis unit 34 synthesizes the first code data a1 to aN to convert the still image represented by the code data a1 to aN into each frame. As a result, code data of motion images arranged in time series, that is, second code data compliant with Motion-JPEG2000 is generated.

  FIG. 22 is a diagram for explaining a data configuration of a plurality of first code data a1 to aN before being processed by the code string conversion unit. In the example shown here, the code data a1 to aN are composed of a main header 41, a tile part header 42, a bit stream (LL1 component to HH3 component) 43, and an EOC marker 44. Here, for the sake of convenience, all the first code data has a one-tile configuration of the same size.

  FIG. 23 is a diagram for explaining the data configuration of the second code data b after conversion by the code string conversion unit. In this example, the second code data b indicates a main header 45, a tile part header 46, a bit stream 47, and an EOC marker 48. Also here, for convenience, the case where each frame of the second code data has a one-tile configuration is illustrated. In this example, four still images of each first code data are collected into one frame, and only data having a predetermined resolution is selected from the four first code data. That is, in this example, only the components LL1, HL1, LH1, and HH1 are extracted and used as the bit stream 47 of each frame (in this example, a single tile as described above).

  The code string conversion unit can also convert the second code data into the first code data again by reverse processing (see the parentheses in FIG. 21).

  As described above, in the case of JPEG2000-compliant code data, the process of generating the divided code data, which is the main element of the present invention described above, can be performed by dividing and combining tiles at the code level. . In addition, it is possible to easily generate code data compliant with Motion-JPEG2000 in units of frames at the code level. By utilizing such a function, the present invention divides JPEG2000-compliant code data into data divided into fine tile units in advance, and if the division request is a tile-unit size, the code string conversion unit (parser) Divided code data can be easily generated at the code level.

[Automatic search environment generation]
The image processing system of the present invention has a function of automatically assigning a file name (or identifier) of code data generated by the division processing and automatically generating a search environment. 10 and 11 are explanatory diagrams thereof. In this example, only the case of creating and saving a still image code data file is shown, but the same applies to the case of creating and saving a multi-page code data file. In the latter case, the search looks for the corresponding page of the multi-page image.

[Search environment generation processing]
FIG. 4 is a typical search environment automatic generation processing flow.

  Step S10: The code data of the designated image stored in the image code data storage means 1 is expanded and displayed. Step S11 and subsequent steps are processing steps when there is a division command.

  Step S11: The code data of the displayed image is divided at the code level as described above. In the example of FIG. 10, still image code data is generated by the still image combining unit 12, but multi-page code data may be generated by the motion combining unit 11 as described above.

  Step S12: The divided code data is assigned an identifier (which may be a name or a number) by the file name automatic assigning means 5 and saved in the image code data saving means 1 as an independent file. In the example of FIG. 10, each still image code data is stored as a file, and FN1 to FN8 are identifiers attached to the files. When multi-page code data is generated, a page number may be assigned to each page in addition to the file identifier.

  Step S13: The file name automatic assigning means 5 creates a search database (DB) corresponding to the file name code data file. This search database is a list in which a file name and a code data file having the file name are paired. The search database may be a list in which a file name, a code data file having the file name, and a display position of the code data are paired. Here, for a multi-page code data file, this search database may be a list of pairs with page numbers and corresponding page identification numbers.

  Step 14: Further, the search environment construction unit 14 may create a search list listing the file names as shown in FIG. 11A and display it as necessary. Alternatively, a schematic image (thumbnail image) as shown in FIG. 11B may be displayed, and the file name may be displayed at the corresponding position.

[Search processing]
FIG. 5 is a typical search processing flow. This process is executed in response to a search request.

  Step S30: Input the identifier (file name) or page number of the file to be searched. At this time, a list of file names or page numbers as shown in FIG. 11 may be displayed and selected from the list. Although not explicitly shown in FIG. 1, there is naturally a means for such user input.

  Step S31: An identification symbol of the corresponding file or page is obtained from the search database.

  Step S32: Extract the code data of the corresponding file or page from the image code data storage means 1 using the identification symbol. Here, the code data may be expanded and displayed.

[Distributed image processing system]
As described above, the image processing system of the present invention can take a form in which processing functions are distributed to a plurality of apparatuses.

  FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a typical configuration example of such an image processing system. The image processing system shown here has a configuration in which an image server 300 and an image display device 400 (more generally, an image output device) are coupled via a network. Although only one image display device 400 is shown in FIG. 12, the image server 300 is usually shared by a plurality of image display devices 400.

  Each means 1-12 in FIG. 12 is the same means as the corresponding means in FIG. Among the means shown in FIG. 1, the decompressing means 2, the image data buffer means 3, and the display means 4 are included in the image display device 400 side, and the other means are included in the image server 300 side. Although not shown in the figure, the image server 300 and the image display device 400 naturally include network interface means for exchanging information via the network.

[Image server reception processing]
FIG. 13 is a typical processing flow when the image server 300 receives code data of an image from the outside. This process starts upon receiving a reception request.

  Step S50: The code data of the image is received and stored in the image code data storage means 1. Although it is assumed here that the code data is received, the received data may be image data. In that case, the image server 300 performs encoding (compression) processing of the received image data by an encoding means (not shown in FIG. 12), and stores the encoded data.

  Step S51: The small block division means 6 divides the received image code data into small block units to create small block division information, which is stored in the small block division information storage means 7. As described above, when JPEG2000 code data is targeted, typically, small block division can be realized by generating code data obtained by dividing the code data into small block units and tile units. In this case, a correspondence table (block division information) of the positional relationship between each tile and the image can be created. Here, the (correspondence table small block division information) is composed of data in which the small block unit division of the code data is associated with the display position. As shown in FIG. 7, the code data is divided by the small block dividing means 6, and a correspondence table between the code data and the display position is created.

[Image server transmission processing]
FIG. 14 is a typical processing flow when image code data is transmitted from the image server 300 to the image display device 400. This process starts upon receiving an image transmission request from the image display device 400.

  Step S60: The file name and the image size are received.

  Step S61: Using the small block division information, the small blocks are synthesized to generate code data of the requested size image. As described above, the small block division information is stored in the small block division information storage unit 7 and is information relating the division of the code data in units of small blocks and the display position.

  Step S62: The generated code data is transmitted to the image display device 400. This completes a series of processing.

  Although not explicitly shown in FIG. 12, the divided image file may be divided and stored in a size assumed in advance (for example, to fit the screen size of the image display device). In that case, a search environment may be constructed on the image server as described above, and a file required by the image display device 400 may be searched in response to a search request.

  When JPEG2000 code data is targeted, code data may be divided into tile units by using the above-described parser function and code string operation, or tile unit data may be further divided into precinct units. Also good.

  Although the present invention has been described as an image processing system, it is obvious that the above description is also an explanation of the image processing method of the present invention.

  In addition, it is obvious that the image processing system and the image processing method of the present invention can be realized by a program using a computer. A program for that purpose and various information recording (storage) media such as a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, and a semiconductor storage element on which the program is recorded are also included in the present invention.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a typical configuration example of an image processing system with a centralized processing function according to the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the function structural example of a division means. It is a flowchart which shows the typical process flow of a division | segmentation process. It is a flowchart which shows the typical processing flow of search environment generation processing. It is a flowchart which shows the typical process flow of a search process. It is explanatory drawing of an image display range and a division | segmentation process. It is explanatory drawing of small block division and code data generation. It is explanatory drawing of a code | cord | chord data structure. It is explanatory drawing of the production | generation of the code data by which the area division was carried out. It is explanatory drawing of file name automatic allocation and search database generation. It is a figure which shows the example of a search display screen. It is a block diagram which shows the typical structural example of the image processing system of this invention which distributed the processing function to the image server and the image display apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows the typical process flow of the code | symbol data reception process in an image server. It is a flowchart which shows the typical process flow of the image server at the time of an image transmission request | requirement. It is a block diagram for demonstrating the basic of the algorithm of JPEG2000. It is explanatory drawing of the tile division | segmentation of each component of a color image. It is explanatory drawing of the subband decomposition | disassembly by two-dimensional wavelet transformation. It is explanatory drawing of the structure of a code stream of JPEG2000. It is explanatory drawing of the tile in JPEG2000, a precinct, and a code block. It is explanatory drawing of the bit plane encoding of the coefficient value in JPEG2000, and a layer. It is a functional block diagram of the code conversion part (parser) of JPEG2000. It is structure explanatory drawing of the code data before a synthesis | combination. It is structure explanatory drawing of the code data after a synthesis | combination. It is a figure for demonstrating the general image division | segmentation method.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image code data storage means 2 Decompression means 3 Image data buffer means 4 Display means 5 File name automatic allocation means 6 Small block division means 7 Small block division information storage means 8 Display range reading means 9 Substantially same size calculation means 10 Division means 11 Motion synthesis means 12 Still image synthesis means 21 Division number setting means 22 Division size setting means 23 Division method designation means 34 Division control means

Claims (20)

Code data storage means for storing code data of an image;
Decompression means for decompressing the code data;
Based on the display means for displaying the image data decompressed by the decompressing means, the display range detecting means for detecting the display range of the image displayed by the display means, and the display range detected by the display range detecting means, An image processing system comprising: means for dividing the code data stored in the storage means; and means for storing the code data divided by the means for dividing in the code data storage means in units of divisions. Code data storage means for storing code data of an image;
Decompression means for decompressing the code data;
Based on the display means for displaying the image data expanded by the expansion means, the display range detection means for detecting the display range of the image displayed by the display means, and the display range detected by the display range detection means, Means for dividing the code data stored in the storage means, and means for storing the code data divided by the means for dividing in the code data storage means as motion code data or multi-page code data. Image processing system.   3. The image processing system according to claim 1, wherein the code data is stored in the code data storage means by dividing the area into small blocks.   The image processing system according to claim 3, further comprising means for designating a division range in a delimiter unit of the small block division.   5. The image processing system according to claim 4, further comprising means for displaying a break of small block division superimposed on the image data when displaying the image data.   4. The image processing system according to claim 3, wherein said dividing means includes means for synthesizing necessary blocks in units of small blocks.   3. The image processing system according to claim 1, further comprising a unit that automatically assigns a file name to the code data when the divided code data is stored in the code data storage unit.   8. The image processing system according to claim 7, further comprising means for creating a list listing file names for search and displaying the list on the display means as necessary.   The display device includes a list that lists file names for search, and displays the file name and a schematic image in association with each other on the basis of the list, if necessary, on the display unit. 8. The image processing system according to 7.   3. The image processing system according to claim 1, wherein the means for dividing the code data includes means for making the divided sizes substantially equal.   The image processing system according to claim 1, wherein the code data has a structure in which code data for each region is superimposed.   The image processing system according to claim 1, wherein the code data is JPEG2000-compliant code data.   The image processing system according to claim 12, wherein the division unit is a tile.   The image processing system according to claim 12, wherein the division unit is a precinct.   3. The image processing system according to claim 1, wherein each of the units is distributed to an image server and an image output device coupled via a network, and the code data of the image displayed on the display unit is the image server. The image processing system is transferred to the image output device via a network.   The image processing system according to claim 15, wherein the image server includes means for re-dividing code data of an image input from outside. A decompression step for decompressing the code data stored in the code data storage means;
A display step of causing the display means to display the image data expanded in the expansion step;
Detecting a display range of an image displayed by the display means;
A code data dividing step of dividing the code data stored in the code data storage unit based on the detected display range;
An image processing method comprising: storing the code data divided by the code data dividing step in the code data storage unit in units of division. A decompression step for decompressing the code data stored in the code data storage means;
A display step of causing the display means to display the image data expanded in the expansion step;
Detecting a display range of an image displayed by the display means;
A code data dividing step of dividing the code data stored in the code data storage unit based on the detected display range;
An image processing method comprising: storing the code data divided in the code data dividing step in the code data storage unit as motion code data or multi-page code data.   The program for implement | achieving the image processing system or image processing method of any one of Claims 1 thru | or 18 using a computer.   A computer-readable information recording medium on which the program according to claim 19 is recorded.

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