JP2006031419A - Image communication equipment and image communication system using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide image communication equipment having high convenience and an image communication system by delivering information on a photographed object as well as an image to a network. <P>SOLUTION: Image data generation means 103, 104 photograph the object and generate image data indicative of the photographed object. An identification data receiver means 105 receives identification data freely identifying the object from an information storage medium provided at the object. A data relation means 107 relates the received identification data to the generated image data. Data transmitter means 101, 102 transmit the related identification data and image data to the network. In this way, the identification data on the object shown on the image as well as an only image are delivered to the network. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image communication device and an image communication system using the image communication device, and in particular, image data obtained by photographing a product and product information acquired from an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag provided on the product from a web page. It is related with the technology which can be referred.

  In recent years, with the explosive spread of the Internet, not only personal computers (hereinafter referred to as PCs), but also non-PC devices such as digital cameras equipped with TCP / IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol) network stacks are installed on the Internet. It is possible to connect to. Among them, an increasing number of digital cameras can communicate with a network called a network camera that can deliver captured image data to an IP network.

  A home network remote management system using a conventional network camera will be described below.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a connection form to the conventional network camera via the Internet. As shown in FIG. 9, 201 is a network camera equipped with a web server, 202 is a PC connected to the Internet, 203 is a function of connecting to the Internet, and a mobile phone incorporating browser (browsing) software.

  In such a conventional network camera device, the PC 202 and the mobile phone 203 on the Internet access the web server of the network camera 201 and log in to the network camera 201 to perform user authentication if necessary. 201 browses the image data taken. FIG. 10 is a view showing a display image when the browser of the conventional PC 202 accesses the web server of the network camera 201.

  As for an automatic photographing system for a network camera equipped with a web server, there is an automatic photographing system for automatically photographing a specific user using a wireless tag carried by the user and providing the photographed image data to the user. Yes (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

In addition, by integrating the improved surveillance camera system with a non-contact IC (Integrated Circuit) card system, IC card management can easily and quickly retrieve necessary image information from a database using shooting time information as a key. There is also a system (see, for example, Patent Document 2).
JP 2003-116127 A JP 2001-167306 A

  However, in the above-described automatic photographing system and IC card management system, even though the image data captured by the camera can be browsed via the network, it can only be browsed in real time until it gets tired, and the captured image data is accumulated. It was difficult to browse the stored image data with the same ease as browsing a network camera.

  In addition, even if the content provided by a conventional network camera is only an image itself, even if it is a high-resolution image, the details of what is displayed there, such as the brand and name of the product worn by the model There is a disadvantage that it is not possible to obtain information on various products.

  The present invention solves the above-described conventional problems, and provides a highly convenient image communication apparatus and an image communication system using the same by browsing information of a photographed subject together with an image via a network. For the purpose.

  The present invention is characterized in that identification data received from an information storage medium is associated with image data generated by photographing a subject, and the identification data and image data are transmitted to a network.

  The image communication apparatus according to the present invention captures an image and simultaneously reads identification data from an information storage medium provided on a subject displayed in the captured image and displays the identification data on the image. The identification data of the subject can be distributed to the network.

A first invention made to solve the above-described problem is an image data generation means (103, 104) for capturing a subject (for example, GD) and generating image data indicating the subject,
Identification data receiving means (105) for receiving identification data (for example, RFID data) that can identify the subject from an information storage medium (for example, an RFID tag) provided on the subject (GD);
Data-related means (107) for associating the identification data received by the identification data receiving means (105) with the image data generated by the image data generating means (103, 104);
And data transmission means (101, 102) for transmitting identification data and image data associated by the data-related means (107) to a network (for example, 405).

  With this configuration, at the same time that an image is captured, identification data is read from an information storage medium provided on the subject displayed in the captured image, and the identification of the subject displayed in the image as well as a simple image is performed. Data can also be distributed to the network.

  A second invention made to solve the above-described problems is characterized in that the information storage medium is an RFID tag.

  With this configuration, it is possible to read RFID information from the RFID tag and distribute the RFID information of the subject displayed in the image to the network together.

A third invention made to solve the above problem is an image communication system comprising an image communication apparatus and a server that can be connected to the image communication apparatus via a network (for example, 405).
The image communication device (401)
Image data generating means (103, 104) for shooting a subject (eg, GD) and generating image data indicating the subject;
Identification data receiving means (105) for receiving identification data (for example, RFID data) that can identify the subject from an information storage medium (for example, an RFID tag) provided on the subject (GD);
The identification data received by the identification data receiving means (105) and the image data generating means (103,
104) data-related means (107) for associating with the image data generated by
Data transmission means for transmitting identification data and image data associated by the data-related means (107) to a first server (eg, 601 701, 901) via a network (eg 405),
The first server (601, 701, 901)
Web page generating means for generating a web page (for example, 605, 706, 907) based on the identification data and the image data transmitted from the image communication apparatus (401) is provided.

  With this configuration, the identification data of the subject displayed in the image can be displayed together on the web page.

A fourth invention made to solve the above-described problem includes a second server (for example, 604, 704, 904) that accumulates subject information (for example, product information) regarding the subject (GD),
The first server (601, 701, 901) further sends subject information related to the subject (GD) indicated by the identification data transmitted from the image communication device (401) from the second server (604, 704, 904). Subject information acquisition means for acquiring,
The web page generation means of the first server (601, 701, 901) is based on the subject information acquired by the subject information acquisition means and the image data transmitted from the image communication device (401), and the web page (605). , 706, 907).

  With this configuration, an image on which information is superimposed can be stored without being limited by the memory capacity of the image communication apparatus.

  In a fifth aspect of the invention made to solve the above problem, the web page generation unit of the first server (901) is configured such that the subject (GD) indicated by the subject information (for example, product information) acquired by the subject information acquisition unit. Generating a web page (907) with links to other web pages (eg 1000).

  With this configuration, access to product information obtained from image information can be facilitated, purchase of products can be promoted, and affiliate points can be returned to the operating source of the image management server.

A sixth invention made to solve the above-described problem is that the first server (701) further includes:
Image information storage means (702) for storing the identification data and image data transmitted from the image communication apparatus as image information;
Search keyword receiving means for receiving a search keyword indicating predetermined image information;
Image information extraction means for extracting image information corresponding to the search keyword received by the search keyword reception means from the image information stored by the image information storage means (702);
The web page generation means of the first server (701) generates the web page (706) based on the image information extracted by the image information extraction means.

  With this configuration, it is possible to easily obtain image information required by the user under appropriate access control.

  A seventh invention made to solve the above-described problems is characterized in that the information storage medium is an RFID tag.

  With this configuration, the RFID information of the subject displayed in the image can be displayed together on the web page.

  The numbers in parentheses indicate the corresponding elements in the drawings for the sake of convenience in order to help understanding of the present invention. Therefore, the present description is not limited to the description on the drawings, and the present invention should not be construed by the description of the reference numerals.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

(Embodiment 1)
A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In the first embodiment, the network camera incorporates an RFID reader to acquire RFID tag information of a product of a captured image, and the acquired RFID tag information and the captured image are associated with each other as image information on the Internet. It is characterized by being able to deliver to.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a network camera according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. 101 is a communication interface unit for connecting to a communication means such as Ethernet (registered trademark), telephone line, power line, or radio, 102 is a communication control unit having a routing function for a network connected to a network camera, and 103 is for taking an image. A camera unit for image data, 104 is an image processing unit for processing image data captured by the camera unit 103, 105 is an RFID reader for reading RFID tag information, 106 is network camera setting information, image data, RFID tag information, and the like. Memory for recording 107, processing of image data, RFID tag information, communication information, management unit for mounting a web server, 108 communication control unit 102, image processing unit 104, RFID reader 105, memory 106, management unit 107 Is the bus to connect.

  A procedure in which the network camera distributes image data and RFID tag information will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a network configuration to which the network camera according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention is connected. In FIG. 2, 401 is a network camera according to the first embodiment of the present invention with a built-in RFID reader, 402 is a model photographed by the network camera 401, 403 is a PC, and 404 is an image management server (ASP) (Application Service Provider). A server 405 is the Internet, which is an example of a network to which the network camera 401, the PC 403, and the ASP server 404 are connected.

  When accessing the network camera 401, the user of the PC 403 can access the network camera 401 by obtaining login authentication from the ASP server 404.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an image of information displayed on the browser of the PC 403 when the PC 403 accesses the network camera 401. As shown in FIG. 3, when accessing the web server of the network camera 401, the image data captured by the network camera 401 is stored in the ASP server 404 that has been registered in advance as communication information stored in the management unit 107. An ASP transmission button SB that is an interface for transmitting to an address is displayed on the browser.

  When the user of the PC 403 presses the ASP transmission button SB serving as an interface displayed on the browser with a pointing device such as a mouse, the network camera 401 is provided in the product GD in addition to the image captured by the camera unit 103. RFID information is collected by an RFID reader 105 from an RFID tag (not shown). The management unit 107 associates an image with RFID tag information as association image information. Then, the communication interface unit 101 transmits this image information to the ASP server 404.

  The image data and the RFID tag information associated with the image data are transmitted to the ASP server 404, whereby the image data with the added information can be collected. It can be distributed to the Internet.

(Embodiment 2)
Hereinafter, an image communication system according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The image communication system according to the second embodiment is to add the RFID tag information collected at the same time to the image data to create a web page and provide it to the user. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining an image communication system according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. In FIG. 4, the network camera 401 and the PC 403 have the same configurations as those shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 4, reference numeral 601 denotes an ASP server that is an image management server that stores image data transmitted from the network camera 401 and RFID tag information of products displayed in the image data. Reference numeral 603 denotes product information indicated by the RFID tag information. An ONS (Object Name Service) server that is a product inquiry server that stores a reference destination, 604 is a PML (Physical Markup Language) server that is a product information storage server that stores product information, and 605 is created by the ASP server 601. This is an HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) file to be transmitted to.

  The operation of the image communication system according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, a user who uses the PC 403 logs in to the ASP server 601 via the Internet, and requests image data transmitted from the network camera 401.

  On the other hand, the ASP server 601 inquires the ONS server 603 for the ID inquiry destination of the RFID tag information of each product in order to combine the RFID tag information added to the requested image data and the product name.

  Then, the ASP server 601 makes an inquiry about product information to the PML server 604 as an inquiry destination notified from the ONS server 603, and acquires the product information from the PML server 604.

  The ASP server 601 performs the above processing for all the RFID tag information added to the image data, obtains product information corresponding to each product ID, and associates the image data with the product data, thereby combining the image data and the product information. The HTML file 605 is created and transmitted to the PC 403. By doing so, it is possible to view the product data acquired from the image data stored in the ASP server and the RFID tag information associated with the image data from the PC.

(Embodiment 3)
Hereinafter, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The image communication system according to the third embodiment is characterized in that a database is created for product information corresponding to RFID tag information stored in an ASP server, and information in the image can be searched.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining an image communication system according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention. In FIG. 5, the network camera 401 and the PC 403 have the same configurations as those shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 5, reference numeral 701 denotes an ASP server that is an image management server that accumulates image data transmitted from the network camera 401 and RFID tag information of products displayed in the image data, and 702 is an ASP that is an image management server. RFID tag information database constructed in server 701, ONS server 703 as a product inquiry server, PML server 704 as a product information storage server, and 706 created by ASP server 701 to create search results by PC 403 This is an HTML file to be transmitted to the PC 403.

  The operation of the image communication system according to the third embodiment of the present invention configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG.

  Each time the ASP server 701 receives the image data and RFID tag information transmitted from the network camera 401, the ASP server 701 queries the ONS server 703 and the PML server 704 for all the RFID tag information added to the image data. Corresponding product names are obtained, and an RFID tag information database 702 that stores them is constructed.

  The ASP server 701 provides an interface on the browser for searching for keywords for the PC 403 logged into the ASP server 701. Then, the ASP server 701 creates an HTML file 706 composed of image data including products that match the keyword searched by the user using the PC 403 with reference to the RFID tag information database 702, and transmits the HTML file 706 to the PC 403.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing details of the HTML file created by the ASP server 701 in Embodiment 3 of the present invention. 5 and 6, reference numeral 801 denotes an HTML file created as a result of searching the database 702 in the ASP server 701 using the keyword input by the ASP server 701, and reference numeral 802 denotes a case where one of the images in the HTML file 801 is clicked. This is an HTML file to be displayed.

  Thus, the user who has logged into the ASP server 701 can browse the image information list matching the keyword, and can realize an image communication system that can acquire information about other product information lists displayed in the image.

(Embodiment 4)
Hereinafter, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The image communication system according to the fourth embodiment provides a link to a shopping site where the product can be purchased when displaying the product information associated with the image data stored in the ASP server on the web.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining an image communication system according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention. In FIG. 7, the network camera 401 and the PC 403 have the same configurations as those shown in FIG.

In FIG. 7, reference numeral 901 denotes an ASP server that is an image management server that stores image data transmitted from the network camera 401 and RFID tag information of products displayed in the image data, and 902 is constructed in the ASP server 901. RFID tag information database, 903 is an ONS server that is a product inquiry server, 904 is a PML server that is a product information storage server, 906 is a shopping site that directly sells various products or provides information related to the purchase of the products, and Reference numeral 907 denotes an HTML file created by the ASP server 901 and transmitted to the PC 403.

  The operation of the image communication system according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS.

  Each time the ASP server 901 receives image information transmitted from the network camera 401, the ASP server 901 makes an inquiry to the ONS server 903 and the PML server 904 for all the RFID tag information added to the image data, and the corresponding product name And asks the shopping site 906 for the product name, obtains a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) that can purchase the product or provides information related to the purchase of the product, and matches the RFID tag information, the product name, and the URL. Database 902 is constructed.

  The ASP server 901, for an image selected by the PC 403 logged in to the ASP server 901 using a browser, can directly purchase the product for the product name displayed in the image, or obtain a URL for obtaining information related to the purchase of the product. The HTML file 907 to which the link is added is created and transmitted to the PC 403.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an HTML file of image information displayed on the browser of the PC 403 by the ASP server 901 in the image communication system according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

  7 and 8, 907 is an HTML file that combines the accumulated image displayed to the user who has logged in to the ASP server 901 and the product information displayed there, and 1000 is a link added to the product name in the HTML file 907. It is an HTML file (web page) displayed by clicking. When creating the HTML file 907, the ASP server 901 links not only to product information but also to a page on a shopping site on the web where the product can be purchased directly or information on purchase of the product can be obtained. When the user clicks on the product name in the HTML file 907, the HTML file 1000 is displayed. In this way, the user can easily purchase a product as soon as he / she finds a product he / she likes by looking at the image in the HTML file provided from the ASP server 901, and the ASP server 901 can also be used as a shopping site. Earn income from affiliate contracts.

  In Embodiments 1 to 4 described above, product information is shown as an example of RFID tag information. However, the information is not limited to this as long as the subject can be identified. For example, information related to a person may be stored in an RFID tag as RFID information, and when the person is photographed, the RFID information may be associated with image data in the same manner as described above.

  In the first to fourth embodiments described above, the RFID tag is shown as an example of the information storage medium. However, if the image communication apparatus can receive the identification data of the subject in a contactless manner, the RFID tag is particularly used. There is no need to limit. Further, the present invention is not limited to the name of “RFID tag”, and the present invention is similarly applied to a wireless IC (Integrated Circuit), an IC tag (Integrated Circuit tag), an electronic tag, a wireless tag, and a contactless tag. It can be applied.

  The present invention can make it possible to refer to image data obtained by photographing a product and product information of the product from a web page, and is therefore suitable for a network camera and an image communication system using the Internet.

The figure which showed the structure of the network camera in Embodiment 1 of this invention The figure which showed the network structure which the network camera in Embodiment 1 of this invention connects. Figure showing an image of information displayed on the browser of a personal computer The figure explaining the image communication system in Embodiment 2 of this invention. The figure explaining the image communication system which concerns on Embodiment 3 of this invention. The figure which showed the detail of the HTML file which the ASP server produced in Embodiment 3 of this invention The figure explaining the image communication system in Embodiment 4 of this invention. The figure which showed the HTML file of the image information displayed on the browser of a personal computer The figure which showed the connection form via the Internet to the conventional network camera The figure which showed the display image when the browser of the personal computer accessed the web server of the conventional network camera

Explanation of symbols

101 Network camera communication interface (data transmission means)
102 Network camera communication control unit (data transmission means)
103 Camera part of network camera (image data generating means)
104 Network camera image processing unit (image data generating means)
105 RFID reader of network camera (identification data receiving means)
107 Network camera management unit (data-related means)
401 Network camera (image communication device)
405 Internet (network)
601, 701, 901 ASP server (first server)
604, 704, 904 PML server (second server)
605, 706, 907 HTML file (web page)
702 RFID tag information database (image information storage means)
1000 HTML file (other web page)
GD product (subject)

Claims (7)

Image data generating means for shooting a subject and generating image data indicating the subject;
Identification data receiving means for receiving identification data capable of identifying the subject from an information storage medium provided on the subject;
Data-related means for associating the identification data received by the identification data receiving means with the image data generated by the image data generating means;
Data transmission means for transmitting identification data and image data associated by the data-related means to a network;
An image communication apparatus. The information storage medium is an RFID tag.
The image communication apparatus according to claim 1. An image communication system comprising an image communication device and a server that can be connected to the image communication device via a network,
The image communication device includes:
Image data generating means for shooting a subject and generating image data indicating the subject;
Identification data receiving means for receiving identification data capable of identifying the subject from an information storage medium provided on the subject;
Data-related means for associating the identification data received by the identification data receiving means with the image data generated by the image data generating means;
Data transmission means for transmitting identification data and image data associated by the data-related means to the first server via the network;
The first server is
Web page generation means for generating a web page based on the identification data and image data transmitted from the image communication device;
An image communication system. A second server storing subject information relating to the subject;
The first server further includes subject information acquisition means for acquiring subject information about the subject indicated by the identification data transmitted from the image communication device from the second server,
The web page generation unit of the first server generates the web page based on the subject information acquired by the subject information acquisition unit and the image data transmitted from the image communication device.
The image communication system according to claim 3. The web page generation unit of the first server generates the web page in which a link to another web page about the subject indicated by the subject information acquired by the subject information acquisition unit is provided.
The image communication system according to claim 4. The first server further includes:
Image information storage means for storing identification data and image data transmitted from the image communication device as image information;
Search keyword receiving means for receiving a search keyword indicating the predetermined image information;
Image information extraction means for extracting image information corresponding to the search keyword received by the search keyword reception means from image information stored by the image information storage means;
The web page generation means of the first server generates a web page based on the image information extracted by the image information extraction means;
The image communication system according to claim 3. The information storage medium is an RFID tag.
The image communication system according to claim 3.

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