JP2006139586A - Picture delivery server, and picture delivery method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a picture delivery server capable of stably supplying service; and to provide a picture delivery method. <P>SOLUTION: The picture delivery server 2 is provided with a picture processing section 26 applying picture processing complying with the specifications of a LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) 14a to original picture data and a history storage section 25 storing the contents of the picture processing by associating the contents of the picture processing with personal identification ID (Identification) provided to original picture data to deliver picture data to a cellular telephone 14 having the LCD 14a. The picture processing section 26 extracts the contents of the picture processing complying with the personal identification ID as the contents of the optimum picture processing from the history storage section 25 and previously completes the picture processing by in adherence to the extracted contents of the picture processing before receiving a delivery request signal for the picture data from the cellular telephone 14. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  An image distribution server including an image processing unit that performs image processing on original image data in accordance with the specifications of the image display function in order to distribute image data to a portable information terminal having an image display function, and portable information The present invention relates to an image distribution method in which image processing that matches the specifications of an image display function of a terminal is performed on original image data, and this image processed image data is distributed to a portable information terminal.

A service that distributes image data (original image data) taken by a digital camera to a portable information terminal having an image display function such as a mobile phone or a PDA (Personal Digital Assistants) has become widespread. Such a service includes an image distribution server including an image processing unit that performs image processing (reduction, cutout, thinning, color reduction, etc.) on original image data in accordance with the specifications of the image display function of the portable information terminal. (See Patent Document 1).
JP 2002-354272 A

  In the technique described in Patent Document 1, when original image data is captured, the image processing is performed on the original image data with the contents of the image processing prepared for each model of the portable information terminal, and a plurality of distribution images are used. Corresponds to the model of the portable information terminal that sent the distribution request signal from multiple distribution image data when the image data was created and the image data distribution request signal was received from the portable information terminal The image data to be distributed is selected or distributed, or when receiving a distribution request signal, the image data is distributed according to the model of the portable information terminal. For this reason, if the transmission frequency of the original image data or the distribution request signal is increased, the image processing unit is burdened, and in the worst case, the image processing unit may be overworked and the service may be stopped. Further, in the former method of creating a plurality of distribution image data when the original image data is captured, only one image data is distributed to the portable information terminal, and the other image data is wasted. There was a problem.

  As means for solving the above problem, it is possible to simply increase the performance of the image processing unit in anticipation of the upper limit of the transmission frequency of the original image data or the distribution request signal, but the transmission frequency seems to be relatively low. At night or the like, since it is not necessary to fully utilize the performance of the image processing unit, there is a disadvantage that the cost increases as the performance of the image processing unit is increased.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides an image distribution server and an image distribution method capable of supplying a stable service.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an image which is subjected to image processing on original image data in accordance with the specifications of the image display function in order to distribute the image data to a portable information terminal having an image display function. An image distribution server including a processing unit, provided with a history storage unit that stores a history of the content of the image processing, the image processing unit extracts the content of the optimal image processing from the history storage unit, Before receiving the image data distribution request signal from the portable information terminal, the image processing is finished in advance according to the extracted image processing content.

  The history storage unit stores the content of the image processing in association with unique identification information of the original image data, and the image processing unit stores the content of the image processing corresponding to the identification information. It is preferable to extract the contents of the optimum image processing.

  Alternatively, the history storage unit stores the content of the image processing and the number of times of the processing, and the image processing unit extracts the content of the image processing with the largest number of times of processing as the content of the optimal image processing. It is preferable.

  Further, it is preferable to include a main memory for storing the original image data and a buffer memory for storing image data to be distributed to the portable information terminal.

  The image processing unit preferably performs the image processing before receiving the distribution request signal when the original image data and the distribution request signal are not received.

  In addition, when the image processing unit receives a distribution request signal from a portable information terminal having an image display function with a specification that does not match the content of the image processing of the image data for which the image processing has been completed in advance, It is preferable that image processing corresponding to the portable information terminal is performed again on the original image data.

  Furthermore, the portable information terminal is preferably a mobile phone.

  The present invention also provides an image distribution method for performing image processing on original image data according to the specifications of the image display function of the portable information terminal, and distributing the image processed image data to the portable information terminal. The image processing content history is stored, the optimum image processing content is extracted from the history, and the received image data distribution request signal is received from the portable information terminal. According to the contents of the processing, the image processing is finished in advance.

  As the history, the contents of the image processing are stored in association with the unique identification information of the original image data, and the contents of the image processing corresponding to the identification information are used as the contents of the optimum image processing. It is preferable to extract.

  Alternatively, it is preferable that the history of the image processing and the number of times of the processing are stored as the history, and the content of the image processing having the largest number of times of processing is extracted as the content of the optimum image processing.

  The original image data and the image data distributed to the portable information terminal are preferably stored in separate memories.

  Further, it is preferable that the image processing before receiving the distribution request signal is performed in a standby state where the original image data and the distribution request signal are not received.

  In addition, when a distribution request signal is received from a portable information terminal having an image display function with a specification that does not match the image processing content of the image data for which the image processing has been completed in advance, the portable information terminal The corresponding image processing is preferably performed again on the original image data.

  Furthermore, the portable information terminal is preferably a mobile phone.

  According to the image distribution server and the image distribution method of the present invention, the history of the image processing content is stored in the history storage unit, the optimum image processing content is extracted from the history, and the image data from the portable information terminal is extracted. Before receiving the distribution request signal, the image processing unit finishes the image processing in advance according to the extracted image processing content, so even if the transmission frequency of the original image data or the distribution request signal increases, the image processing There is no burden on the department. Therefore, a stable service can be supplied.

  In FIG. 1, an image distribution server 2 to which the present invention is applied is connected to the Internet 10 and a telephone line network 11. The image distribution server 2 takes in image data (original image data) from a digital camera 13 connected to a personal computer 12 via the Internet 10 and also sends an image to the mobile phone 14 via the telephone line network 11. Provides an image distribution service that distributes data.

  The original image data is accompanied by a personal identification ID (see FIG. 3) representing the user of the image distribution service that transmitted it, tag information describing the shooting date and time, shooting conditions, and the like. Are collected by the image distribution server 2.

  The personal identification ID is assigned to each user, for example, by causing the user to register as a member when the image distribution service is used for the first time, and is managed by the image distribution server 2. This personal identification ID is associated with the user's personal information (address, name, age, model of the digital camera 13, etc.) input at the time of member registration, and is stored in the main memory 23 (see FIG. 2) of the image distribution server 2. Stored.

  The mobile phone 14 includes a liquid crystal display (LCD) 14a as an image display function. The cellular phone 14 transmits a distribution request signal for requesting distribution of image data to the image distribution server 2 in accordance with a user operation. The distribution request signal includes the above-described personal identification ID input by the user and specification information (image display size, displayable color, etc.) of the LCD 14a.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the image distribution server 2 is totally controlled by the main control unit 20. A communication I / F 22, a main memory 23, a buffer memory 24, a history storage unit 25, and an image processing unit 26 are connected to the main control unit 20 via a bus 21.

  The communication interface (I / F) 22 receives original image data via the Internet 10, receives a distribution request signal from the mobile phone 14 via the telephone network 11, and distributes image data to the mobile phone 14. Mediate.

  The main memory 23 stores the original image data received via the communication I / F 22 as a set of data including a personal identification ID and tag information. The main memory 23 holds the contents of image processing corresponding to the model of the mobile phone 14.

  The buffer memory 24 temporarily stores image data distributed to the mobile phone 14. The image data in the buffer memory 24 distributed to the mobile phone 14 is erased, and image data that has been subjected to image processing described later in the image processing unit 26 is newly written.

  As conceptually shown in FIG. 3, the history storage unit 25 stores the contents of the image processing performed by the image processing unit 26 in association with the personal identification ID. The content of the image processing stored in the history storage unit 25 is, for example, according to the specification information of the LCD 14a transmitted together with the distribution request signal when the distribution request signal is transmitted from the mobile phone 14 to the image distribution server 2 for the first time. It is extracted from the contents of the image processing for each model of the mobile phone 14 held in the main memory 23 and is actually performed by the image processing unit 26, that is, the contents of the first image processing.

  Further, as will be described in detail later, the history storage unit 25 receives a distribution request signal from a mobile phone having an image display function with a specification that does not match the image processing content of the image data for which image processing has been completed in advance. When the image processing is performed again by the image processing unit 26, the content of the image processing that has been stored so far is rewritten to the content of the image processing that has been performed again.

  “160 × 160”, “200 × 200” and the like of the contents of the image processing represent the vertical and horizontal image display sizes (number of pixels) of the LCD 14a. “24 bits”, “8 bits”, and the like represent colors (gradation values) that can be displayed on the LCD 14a, indicating that a full color image of approximately 16.77 million gradations can be displayed with 24 bits, and 256 gradations with 8 bits. Indicates that the image can be displayed. Further, “unregistered” represents a case where the distribution request signal has never been transmitted and the image processing unit 26 has not performed image processing once.

  The image processing unit 26 performs various image processes such as reduction, cutout, thinning, and color reduction on the original image data. The image processing unit 26 extracts the content of the image processing corresponding to the personal identification ID from the history storage unit 25 as the content of the optimum image processing (that is, from the user of “ID00001” shown in FIG. 3, for example). For the original image data, the image display size “160 × 160” and the gradation value “24 bits” are extracted as the contents of the image processing.), Before the distribution request signal is received from the mobile phone 14 The image processing is finished in advance according to the contents of the image processing.

  On the other hand, the distribution request signal has never been transmitted, and the image processing unit 26 has never performed image processing (the content of the image processing stored in the history storage unit 25 is “unregistered”). When the distribution request signal is received from the user's mobile phone, the image processing unit 26 calculates the LCD of the mobile phone included in the distribution request signal from the content of the image processing for each model of the mobile phone 14 held in the main memory 23. The contents of the image processing corresponding to the specification information are extracted, and the image processing is performed based on this.

  Further, the image processing unit 26 performs the above-described image processing on the original image data in a standby state in which the original image data and the distribution request signal are not received, for example, at night. Further, when the image processing unit 26 receives a distribution request signal from a mobile phone having an image display function having a specification that does not match the content of the image processing of the image data for which image processing has been completed in advance, the image processing unit 26 The contents of the image processing corresponding to the specification information are extracted from the contents of the image processing for each model of the mobile phone 14 held in the above, and the image processing is performed again on the original image data with the extracted contents.

  The image processing unit 26 performs compression processing on the image data subjected to the image processing by a lossless compression method such as GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) or PNG (Portable Network Graphics), and stores the compressed data in the buffer memory 24. Store.

  Hereinafter, the operation of the above configuration will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. First, in FIG. 4, when original image data is received from the digital camera 13 connected to the personal computer 12 via the Internet 10, the received original image data is collected as a set of data together with a personal identification ID and tag information. Stored in the main memory 23.

  In FIG. 5, when the distribution request signal is received from the mobile phone 14 via the telephone line network 11, the personal identification ID and the specification information of the LCD 14a are extracted from the distribution request signal. Next, it is confirmed whether or not processed image data corresponding to the extracted personal identification ID is stored in the buffer memory 24.

  If the processed image data corresponding to the personal identification ID is stored in the buffer memory 24, the extracted specification information matches the image processing content of the image data applied by the image processing unit 26. It is confirmed whether or not. If the specification information matches the content of the image processing, the image data is distributed from the buffer memory 24 toward the mobile phone 14.

  On the other hand, when the processed image data corresponding to the personal identification ID is not stored in the buffer memory 24 and when the specification information does not match the content of the image processing, it is shown on the right side of FIG. As described above, the contents of the image processing corresponding to the specification information are extracted from the contents of the image processing for each model of the mobile phone 14 held in the main memory 23, and based on this, the image processing unit 26 performs the original image data. Is subjected to image processing. At this time, the contents of the image processing extracted according to the specification information are stored in the history storage unit 25 in association with the personal identification ID. The image data subjected to the image processing is temporarily stored in the buffer memory 24 as image data for distribution, and distributed to the mobile phone 14.

  As shown on the left side of FIG. 6, when there is unprocessed original image data that has not been subjected to image processing in the main memory 23 in the standby state in which the original image data and the distribution request signal have not been received, The personal identification ID of the image data is extracted, and it is confirmed whether or not the contents of the image processing corresponding to the extracted personal identification ID are stored in the history storage unit 25. If there is no unprocessed original image data in the main memory 23, the process returns to the standby state again.

  When the content of the image processing corresponding to the personal identification ID is stored in the history storage unit 25, the image processing unit 26 applies unprocessed original image data to the unprocessed original image data in accordance with the stored content of the image processing. Image processing is performed. The image data subjected to the image processing is stored in the buffer memory 24 as image data for distribution. On the other hand, when the content of the image processing corresponding to the personal identification ID is not stored in the history storage unit 25, the process returns to the standby state again.

  As described above, the content of the image processing is stored in the history storage unit 25 in association with the personal identification ID, the content of the image processing corresponding to the personal identification ID is extracted as the optimal content of the image processing, and the distribution request signal Before receiving the image processing, the image processing unit 26 finishes the image processing in advance according to the extracted image processing content. Therefore, even if the transmission frequency of the original image data or the distribution request signal increases, the image processing unit 26 There is no burden.

  Further, since the image processing unit 26 performs image processing in a standby state in which the original image data and the distribution request signal are not received, it is not necessary to increase the performance of the image processing unit 26, and the entire image distribution server 2 The processing load can be reduced.

  In the above embodiment, as the history of the image processing content, the image processing content is stored in the history storage unit 25 in association with the personal identification ID. However, as conceptually shown in FIG. And the number of processings thereof may be stored.

  In this case, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 8, when the distribution request signal is received from the mobile phone 14 via the telephone network 11, the image distribution server 2 uses the personal identification ID and the specification information of the LCD 14a from the distribution request signal. And are extracted. Next, it is confirmed whether or not the content of the image processing of the processed image data corresponding to the extracted personal identification ID matches the extracted specification information. If the specification information matches the content of the image processing, the image data is distributed from the buffer memory 24 toward the mobile phone 14.

  On the other hand, if the specification information and the content of the image processing do not match, as shown on the right side of FIG. 9, the specification is obtained from the content of the image processing for each model of the mobile phone 14 held in the main memory 23. The contents of the image processing corresponding to the information are extracted, and based on this, the image processing unit 26 performs image processing on the original image data. At this time, the number of times of processing of the image processing performed by the image processing unit 26 is counted and stored in the history storage unit 25. The image data subjected to the image processing is temporarily stored in the buffer memory 24 as image data for distribution, and distributed to the mobile phone 14.

  As shown on the left side of FIG. 9, in the standby state where the original image data and the distribution request signal have not been received, if there is unprocessed original image data that has not been subjected to image processing in the main memory 23, the number of processing times The content of the image processing with the largest number is extracted as the content of the optimum image processing, and the image processing unit 26 performs image processing on the unprocessed original image data in accordance with the content of the image processing. The image data subjected to the image processing is stored in the buffer memory 24 as image data for distribution. At this time, as in the case where the specification information and the content of the image processing do not match, the number of times of the content of the image processing performed by the image processing unit 26 is counted and stored in the history storage unit 25. If there is no unprocessed original image data in the main memory 23, the process returns to the standby state again.

  In this case, as in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 4 to 6, whether or not the processed image data corresponding to the personal identification ID is stored in the buffer memory 24 is confirmed when the image data is distributed. In addition, it is not necessary to extract the personal identification ID at the time of image processing, and the processing speed can be increased accordingly. Here, the processing count of the image processing content of the entire image distribution service is stored as a history, but the processing count of the image processing content for each user may be stored.

  In the above embodiment, the image processing unit 26 performs image processing when the original image data and the distribution request signal are not received. However, the image processing is performed immediately after receiving the original image data. The image distribution server 2 itself may be configured to perform image processing in parallel with the reception of the original image data and the distribution request signal.

  In the above embodiment, the mobile phone 14 has been described as an example of the portable information terminal. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and other portable information terminals such as PDA (Personal Digital Assistants), etc. The image data may be distributed to. Furthermore, the transmission source of the original image data is not limited to the digital camera 13 of the above embodiment, but may be a camera-equipped mobile phone, an image providing server connected via the Internet 10, a personal computer, or the like.

It is the schematic which shows the connection environment of the image delivery server to which this invention is applied. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of an image delivery server. It is explanatory drawing which shows notionally the content of the image process matched with personal identification ID stored in a log | history storage part. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence at the time of receiving original image data. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence at the time of delivering image data. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of an image process. It is explanatory drawing which shows notionally the content of the image process stored in a log | history storage part, and the frequency | count of the process. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence at the time of delivering image data. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of an image process.

Explanation of symbols

2 Image distribution server 14 Mobile phone 14a Liquid crystal display (LCD)
20 Main control unit 22 Communication I / F
23 Main memory 24 Buffer memory 25 History storage unit 26 Image processing unit

Claims (14)

In order to distribute image data to a portable information terminal having an image display function, an image distribution server including an image processing unit that performs image processing on original image data according to the specifications of the image display function
While providing a history storage unit for storing the history of the contents of the image processing,
The image processing unit extracts the optimal image processing content from the history storage unit, and receives the image data distribution request signal from the portable information terminal, in accordance with the extracted image processing content, An image distribution server characterized in that image processing is finished in advance. The history storage unit stores the contents of the image processing in association with unique identification information of the original image data,
The image distribution server according to claim 1, wherein the image processing unit extracts the content of the image processing corresponding to the identification information as the content of the optimal image processing. The history storage unit stores the contents of the image processing and the number of times of the processing,
The image distribution server according to claim 1, wherein the image processing unit extracts the content of the image processing with the largest number of times of processing as the content of the optimum image processing.   4. The image distribution server according to claim 1, further comprising: a main memory that stores the original image data; and a buffer memory that stores image data to be distributed to the portable information terminal.   5. The image processing unit according to claim 1, wherein the image processing unit performs the image processing before receiving the distribution request signal when the original image data and the distribution request signal are not received. The image delivery server according to any one of the above.   When the image processing unit receives a distribution request signal from a portable information terminal having an image display function having a specification that does not match the image processing content of the image data for which the image processing has been completed in advance, 6. The image distribution server according to claim 1, wherein image processing according to a type information terminal is performed again on the original image data.   The image distribution server according to claim 1, wherein the portable information terminal is a mobile phone. An image distribution method for performing image processing on original image data according to the specifications of an image display function of a portable information terminal, and distributing the image processed image data to the portable information terminal,
While storing the history of the contents of the image processing,
The optimal image processing content is extracted from the history, and the image processing is completed in advance according to the extracted image processing content before receiving the distribution request signal of the image data from the portable information terminal. An image delivery method characterized by the above. As the history, the content of the image processing is stored in association with unique identification information of the original image data,
9. The image delivery method according to claim 8, wherein the content of the image processing corresponding to the identification information is extracted as the content of the optimum image processing. As the history, the contents of the image processing and the number of times of the processing are stored,
9. The image delivery method according to claim 8, wherein the content of the image processing with the largest number of processing times is extracted as the content of the optimum image processing.   11. The image delivery method according to claim 8, wherein the original image data and the image data to be delivered to the portable information terminal are stored in separate memories.   12. The image processing before receiving the distribution request signal is performed in a standby state in which the original image data and the distribution request signal have not been received. Image delivery method.   When a distribution request signal is received from a portable information terminal having an image display function with a specification that does not match the image processing content of the image data for which the image processing has been completed in advance, 13. The image distribution method according to claim 8, wherein image processing is performed again on the original image data. 14. The image distribution method according to claim 8, wherein the portable information terminal is a mobile phone.

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