JP2008160416A - Data processing apparatus, data processing method, data processing program, and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable an imaging terminal to selectively store hierarchy coded data into a plurality of storage terminals placed on a network and to enable the imaging terminal to efficiently reconstruct images. <P>SOLUTION: A data processing apparatus includes: a holding means for holding image data; a generation means for generating management information associating image data in each hierarchy of the image data and an external device being a transmission destination of the image data in the hierarchy with each other; and a transmission means for transmitting image data to external devices per hierarchy on the basis of the management information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a data processing apparatus that transfers part or all of a hierarchically encoded image to another storage device that can be connected to a network.

  In recent years, due to an increase in the number of pixels of an image sensor used in a digital camera or a digital video camera, the data size of the captured image is also increasing.

  As a result, the amount of image data handled by an imaging terminal such as a digital camera or a digital video camera increases, and the time for recording processing and preview processing during imaging increases, resulting in a problem that the user's operational feeling is deteriorated. It has become.

  In addition, there is a problem that the number of images that can be stored in the memory decreases due to an increase in the data amount of the captured image.

In order to solve the above problem, a method is disclosed in which a captured image is hierarchically encoded and a part of the data is transmitted to an external storage terminal. (Patent Document 1)
Hierarchical coding is coding having a spatial resolution scalable function or an SNR scalable function. As an example of hierarchical encoding, hierarchical encoding using discrete wavelet transform will be described.

  FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a main part of an encoding process using discrete wavelet transform. The image data input from the image input unit 1401 is sent to the discrete wavelet transform unit 1402. The discrete wavelet transform unit 1402 performs a two-dimensional discrete wavelet transform on the input image data and outputs a transform coefficient group (hereinafter referred to as subband). FIG. 15 shows the configuration of subbands output by discrete wavelet transform section 1402. The discrete wavelet transform unit 1402 divides the image data into frequency components by performing discrete wavelet transform on the image data, and transform coefficient groups belonging to the divided frequency components are subbands (LL, LH2, HH2, and so on). HL2,...

  The quantization unit 1403 performs quantization using a quantization step set by a predetermined method for each input subband, and generates and outputs a quantization index.

  The entropy encoding unit 1404 performs entropy encoding on the quantized subband to generate encoded data. At this time, the bits representing the quantization index are arithmetically encoded in order from the upper bit plane to generate encoded data.

  The code string forming unit 1405 forms and outputs a code string based on the progressive form set by a predetermined method. In this code string formation, the code string forming unit 1405 configures one or more layers by selecting an appropriate amount of encoded data in order from the upper bit plane of the encoded data of each code block in accordance with the progressive form to be adopted. To do.

  For example, when the set progressive form is spatial resolution scalable, the code string forming unit 1405 arranges encoded data from the low frequency subband toward the high frequency subband as indicated by 1601 in FIG. At this time, it is also possible to select not to include the encoded data of the second half subband in the code string. As a result, the data amount of the code string can be optimized, and the resolution of an image reproduced by decoding the code string can be changed according to the data amount.

  Further, the code string forming unit 1405 outputs a final code string obtained by adding a main header (MH) composed of various markers to the code string formed in accordance with each progressive mode set as described above.

  The main header is composed of the size of the image to be encoded (number of pixels in the horizontal and vertical directions), the number of components representing the number of each color component, the size of each component, and component information representing the bit accuracy. Further, the main header includes the entire code length including the bit stream length and the header length and the encoding parameters for the image to be encoded. Note that the encoding parameters include the level of discrete wavelet transform, the type of filter, and the like.

  FIG. 17 shows an image when the bit stream shown in FIG. 16 is decoded. When only the LL subband is decoded, the minimum image is reproduced as indicated by 1701. 1702 and 1703 show how a larger image is decoded when decoding up to the next subband.

  The above shows a data array that realizes spatial scalability, but it is also possible to configure layers in units of bit brains. In this case, it is known that SNR scalable is realized.

In the above description, when the progressive form is spatial resolution scalable, the image quality of the restored image can be controlled by limiting the layers to be decoded. In the case of SNR scalable, the resolution of the restored image can be controlled by limiting the number of subband levels to be subjected to inverse discrete wavelet transform.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-060951

  However, when a captured image is hierarchically encoded and a part of the data is transmitted to an external storage terminal (external device), if the communication with the storage terminal is not possible, data cannot be transmitted. is there. As a method for solving the problem, a method of preparing a plurality of external terminals and transmitting image data to external terminals that can communicate is also conceivable. However, in this case, even when trying to use a plurality of external memories, if an imaging terminal such as a digital camera has not recorded which image is transmitted to which external terminal, when trying to reproduce the image later, There is a problem that image data cannot be reconstructed.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and a data processing apparatus can selectively store hierarchically encoded data in a plurality of storage devices placed on a network, and can efficiently reconstruct an image. It is intended to provide a technology that makes it possible.

  In order to solve the above problem, a data processing apparatus according to the present invention associates holding means for holding the image data, image data of each layer of the image data, and transmission destination of the image data of each layer. Generation means for generating the management information, and transmission means for transmitting the image data of each hierarchy to the transmission destination for each hierarchy based on the management information.

  According to the present invention, a data processing apparatus can selectively store hierarchically encoded data in a plurality of storage stores placed on a network. Also, by creating a management table (management information) based on information relating to storage of image data, it is possible to efficiently reconstruct an image by using this when reproducing an image.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following embodiments do not limit the present invention according to the claims, and all combinations of features described in the present embodiments are essential to the solution means of the present invention. Not exclusively.

<Embodiment 1>
FIG. 1 shows a data transmission system in which the digital camera of the present invention is included in one of the terminals. The digital camera 11 is connected to a network such as the Internet by an internal transmission unit. A plurality of image data servers (external devices) 12 to 15 are arranged on the network so that data can be transmitted to and received from the digital camera 11. Here, the image data server is an external device having a function of storing image data.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the main part of the digital camera 11 according to the present invention. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 201 denotes an imaging unit that images a subject. A camera signal processing unit 202 adjusts the white balance, gain, and the like of the image data. An accumulation unit 203 temporarily stores data. Reference numeral 204 denotes an encoding / decoding unit that encodes / decodes a captured image. A recording unit 205 records an image on an internal recording medium, an external semiconductor memory, a disk, or the like. A display unit 206 displays an image. Reference numeral 207 denotes an operation unit that instructs imaging or transmission. A control unit 208 controls the entire function and selects a part of an image to be transmitted to an external storage terminal. A transmission unit 209 transmits the image data selected by the control unit 208 to the outside. The transmission method may be either wired or wireless.

  Here, in the encoding / decoding unit 204, hierarchical encoding is used in this embodiment, but an encoding method may be selected selectively from other encoding methods. Alternatively, hierarchical coding may be performed only on images transmitted to an external storage terminal.

  One or more pieces of image data recorded in the recording unit 205 are output from the transmission unit 209 to a network such as the Internet, and transmitted to the image data server shown in FIG.

  Hereinafter, the operation of transmitting the image data selected by the control unit 208 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  In step S301, the control unit 208 selects an image to be transmitted. The selection of the image to be transmitted may be input by the user via the operation unit 207, or the selection method of the image to be transmitted is recorded in the recording unit 205 or the like in advance, and the control unit 208 reads and selects the image to be transmitted. May be.

  In step S302, the control unit 208 selects an image data server that stores the image selected in S301. There are several methods for selecting where to send image data from among a plurality of image data servers. First, there is a method of selecting in the order in which a priority order of selection is determined in advance among a plurality of existing servers and communication is possible at the time of transmission. That is, if the first rank server can communicate, this is selected. If the first-ranked server is faulty or cannot communicate, the communication status of the second-ranked server is checked. If communication is possible, the second-ranked server is selected. As another method, there is a method of selecting the image data server having the best communication state, that is, the fastest communication speed, as the transmission destination by examining the communication state at the time of transmission. Further, there is a method of checking the data free capacity of a plurality of image data servers that have been confirmed to be communicable, comparing them with transmission image data, and selecting a server with sufficient capacity. In this case, in addition to the free space, there is also a method of selecting an image data server by checking whether the communication speed is sufficient for the transmission image data even if the free space is sufficient. Furthermore, even if the image data server is communicable, it is possible that the image data server is performing another operation and the image data cannot be handled quickly. Therefore, even if communication is possible and the communication speed is sufficiently high, there is a method of selecting another image data server by avoiding the case where the server occupies resources by another work. Thus, there are various methods for selecting a transmission destination, and the present invention is not limited to this.

  There is also a method for transmitting the same image data to a plurality of servers.

  In step S303, the control unit 208 determines transmission data to be transmitted among the images selected in step 301.

  When an image is hierarchically encoded, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the image can be divided as image data in four layers such as a basic layer, a second layer, a third layer, and a top layer. I can do it. The base layer is the minimum data that can be extracted from only a part of the hierarchically encoded image and decoded. In FIG. 17, 1701 corresponds to this. Hereinafter, by increasing the image data at the time of decoding in the second layer and the third layer, it becomes possible to decode an image closer to the original image. Transmission data can be transmitted in units of layers, and image data other than some layers left as image data that can be decoded becomes transmission data. There are several methods for determining transmission data. First, there is a method in which only the image data of the basic layer is left in the digital camera 11 and the image data of all the remaining layers other than this is transmitted. In this case, the image data remaining in the digital camera 11 is the least. Alternatively, a method may be considered in which image data necessary for projecting on the display unit 206 is left and more image data is transmitted. In other words, based on the resolution of the display unit, image data of a hierarchy necessary for decoding image data having a higher resolution is used as transmission data. In this case, when displaying image data on the display unit 206, it is only necessary to extract the image data from the recording unit 205. Further, there is a method in which a capacity to be left in the digital camera 11 is determined in advance, image data corresponding to the capacity is left, and the rest is used as transmission data. In this way, up to which level of image data is transmitted can be considered in various ways. Of course, the case of transmitting all image data is also included.

  In step 304, the control unit 208 creates a management table (management information) related to transmission data. An example of the management table is shown in FIG. The management table includes the following information. Digital camera ID information (number unique to the digital camera), image file name, transmitted layer (hierarchy) information, storage destination address, file size, information indicating whether the transfer destination is inside or outside the digital camera, transfer The route, transfer rate, transfer time, etc. are recorded. The example of FIG. 5 shows a management table in a case where an image with a file name DSC001 and image data with a file name DSC002, which are transmitted by a device with an ID of digital camera A, are transmitted. DSC001 is divided into four layers, that is, layers, by hierarchical coding. Among these, the image data of the basic layer is recorded in the recording unit 205 of the main body. The file size is 50 KB, the transfer destination is inside the digital camera A, and is indicated by “0” in this example. In addition, the transfer route indicates how the route is sent to the storage destination. Since the transfer destination of data number 1 is internal, it indicates that the directory structure starts from Internal and is stored in the DSC001 \ L1 directory in the digital-a directory therein. The transfer rate and transfer time at that time are also shown. The image data after the second layer of the image file DSC001 is sent to the image data server 1. Therefore, the URL of the image data server 1 is shown in the storage destination address. In the transfer route, a storage destination directory in the image data server 1 is shown. The image data of the second layer is stored in the DSC001 \ L2 directory in the digital-a directory in the digital image server 1, that is, IDS01. The file size, transfer rate, and transfer time are recorded in the same manner as the base layer image data. Similarly to the second layer image data, the storage destinations of the third layer and the uppermost layer image data are recorded. For the image file DSC002, in addition to the basic layer, the image data of the second layer is recorded in the recording unit 205. Further, the image data server 2 is a storage destination of image data after the third layer. Other than that, the storage destination is recorded in the management table in the same manner as the image file DSC001. The management table is recorded in the recording unit 205 together with the image data.

  In step S305, the transmission unit 209 transmits the selected transmission data to the image data server. The image data server records the transmission data in a directory described in the management table. As a result, the remaining image data obtained by subtracting the transmission data from the image and the management table are left in the recording unit 205.

  Next, a procedure for restoring an image with the digital camera 11 after sending transmission data to an external image data server as described above will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In step S <b> 601, the operation unit 207 instructs the control unit 208 to reproduce an image by an input from the user or the like.

  In step S <b> 602, the control unit 1002 reads a management table held in the storage unit 205.

  In step S <b> 603, the control unit 208 determines whether there is an image in the recording unit 205 having sufficient image data to be displayed on the display unit 206 in the image to be reproduced. If there is an image having sufficient image data to be displayed on the display unit 206 in the recording unit 205 in the image to be reproduced, the image is reproduced in step S605. If there is no image having sufficient image data to be displayed on the display unit 206 in the recording unit 205, in step S604, the read management table is referred to, and the transmission data is obtained from the image data server in which the transmission data is stored. To do. Thereafter, in step S605, the acquired transmission data and the image data held in the storage unit 205 are combined to reproduce the image. Here, for example, there is a size of an image to satisfy sufficient image data to be displayed on the display unit 206. Since the size of an image to be displayed is often larger than the resolution of the monitor, this method is used when image data is encoded with spatial progressive and high-frequency subbands are transmitted to the image data server. Alternatively, a case where image data necessary for display on the display unit 206 is high bit information (bit plane, layer) is also conceivable. When the image quality of the display unit 205, in particular, the color reproduction range is very wide, a reproduced image with high bit data can be reproduced beautifully. In normal cases, an 8-bit image for each RGB color is often handled. However, when a high-quality image with a wide color gamut is handled, a pixel value of 12 bits or more may be handled.

  As described above, in step S605, the image data necessary for displaying the image on the display unit 205 is examined, only the necessary image data is acquired from the image data server, and the image is displayed on the display unit 205.

  As described above, in addition to displaying an image on the display unit of the digital camera, for example, a case where an image is displayed on the display unit of the printer when image data is transmitted to the printer for printing by the printer is considered. It is done. Or the case where image data is transmitted to an external PC or the like may be considered. In any case, as in the case of displaying an image on the display unit 205, the image data server information and the transmission data information stored therein are read from the management table, and the necessary image data is examined in each case. Only necessary image data can be acquired from the image data server.

  As described above, an example in which an image is captured using a digital camera and the image data is stored in an image data server arranged on a network has been shown. Of course, this method is not limited to still images, and can be applied to hierarchically encoded moving image data.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the imaging terminal can selectively store hierarchically encoded data in a plurality of storage terminals placed on the network. Also, by creating a management table based on information related to image data storage, it is possible to efficiently reconstruct an image by using this when reproducing an image.

<Embodiment 2>
In the present embodiment, an embodiment will be described in which hierarchically encoded image data can be distributed and stored in a plurality of storage terminals placed on a network.

  The configuration of the digital camera 11 in the present embodiment is the same as that in the first embodiment.

  Hereinafter, the operation of transmitting the image data selected by the control unit 208 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 7, but the description of the same operation steps as those in the first embodiment will be omitted.

  In step S701, the control unit 208 selects image data to be transmitted and an image data server that transmits the image data from the images selected in step 301. There are several methods for selecting which transmission data is to be transmitted to the image data server from among a plurality of image data servers. First, there is a method of determining an image data server to store in advance corresponding to image data of a specific hierarchy. For example, when the image data of the basic layer is left in the recording unit 205 in the digital camera 11, the image data of the second layer is stored in the image data server 1, and the image data of the third layer is stored in the image data server 2. The image data of the layer is sent to the image data server 3. Further, when transmitting transmission data, a method of determining a destination image data server to transmit the transmission data is also possible. In this case, as a selection method of the image data server, various selection methods such as a method of giving priority to a device having a high communication speed and a method of giving priority to a device having a large free space are possible. In any case, it is checked whether the image data server is in a communicable state, and one that is communicable is selected.

  There is also a method of transmitting image data of the same hierarchy to a plurality of image data servers.

  An example of the management table in this embodiment is shown in FIG. In the example of FIG. 8, it is shown that the image data of each layer of the image file name DSC001 and the image data of each layer of the image file name DSC002 are transmitted to different image data servers. As described above, it is also possible to record the image data of each layer of the image in different image data servers.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, by creating a management table based on information related to image data storage, image data can be distributed and stored in a plurality of storage terminals placed on the network. Can do.

<Embodiment 3>
In the present embodiment, in addition to the configuration of the data transmission system of the first embodiment, an image management server that manages transmitted image data is provided. FIG. 9 shows a data transmission system according to this embodiment. Reference numeral 91 denotes an image management server that manages captured image data.

  Hereinafter, the operation of transmitting the image data selected by the control unit 208 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 10, but the description of the same operation steps as those in the first embodiment will be omitted.

  In step S1001, when transmission data is transmitted in step S305, in step 1001, the image data remaining in the digital camera 11 and the management table are transmitted to the image management server 91. For the image data remaining in the digital camera 11, the transfer route recorded in the management table, that is, the same directory structure is also constructed in the image management server 91 and recorded in the same directory structure. That is, the same configuration as managing the management table on the digital camera 11 is configured by the image management server 91.

  FIG. 11 shows a flowchart of image decoding. Except for step S1101, the operation is the same as that of the flowchart of FIG.

  In step S1101, the control unit 208 of the digital camera 11 determines whether or not the image management server 91 has an image having sufficient image data to be displayed on the display unit 206 in the image to be reproduced.

  The image management server function can be provided simultaneously by one of a plurality of image data servers.

  As a result, the user can decode the image using the digital camera 11, or the image can be decoded only by accessing the image management server 91 from any computer terminal on the network.

<Embodiment 4>
In the present embodiment, a data transmission system in which an encryption function is added to the digital camera of the first embodiment will be described.

  FIG. 12 shows a configuration diagram of a main part of the digital camera 1201 in the present embodiment. An encryption / decryption unit 1202 encrypts / decrypts a hierarchically encoded image. Encryption is performed using a secret key, and decryption is also possible using this secret key. The secret key is recorded in the recording unit 205 in the digital camera 1201 together with the management data.

  In this case, the management table also includes information necessary for decryption, such as the type of encryption. The management table shown in FIG. 13 indicates that DES is encrypted when DSC001 is sent to the image data server 1, and AES is encrypted when DSC002 is sent to the image data server 2. Here, DES is a data encryption standard defined by the US Department of Commerce Standards Bureau, and AES is an Advanced Encryption Standard defined by the United States Department of Commerce Standards Technology Bureau.

  As described above, by storing the encrypted image data in the image data server, it is possible to prevent a third party from tampering.

  Although an example of encryption is shown here, a method of putting a digital watermark may be used. In particular, when all the image data is stored in the image data server, the image data may be falsified or taken out from the server. In that case, it is well known that tracking with a digital watermark is possible.

<Embodiment 5>
In the first to fourth embodiments, the embodiment of the present invention in the imaging apparatus such as a digital camera has been described. However, the present invention may be applied to a data processing apparatus (for example, a host computer) as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 18 shows a basic configuration of the data processing apparatus according to this embodiment. A CPU 1801 controls the entire apparatus using programs and data stored in the RAM 1802 and the ROM 1803 and performs image processing to be described later. Reference numeral 1802 denotes a RAM which includes an area for temporarily storing programs and data loaded from the external storage device 1804 and the storage medium drive 1810, image data input from the image input device 1808, and the like. In addition, data received from the external device is temporarily stored via the communication device 1811. Also provided is a work area used when the CPU 1801 executes various processes. A ROM 1803 stores a control program and a boot program for the entire apparatus, setting data for the apparatus, and the like. An external storage device 1804 such as a hard disk can store programs and data loaded from the storage medium drive 1809. When the size of the work area exceeds the size of the RAM 1802, the excess area can be provided as a file.

  Reference numerals 1805 and 1806 denote a mouse and a keyboard, respectively, which function as pointing devices and can input various instructions to the apparatus. Reference numeral 1817 denotes an image processing apparatus which executes various image processes under the control of the CPU 1801. Reference numeral 1808 denotes a display device, which includes a CRT, a liquid crystal screen, and the like, and can display image information and character information. Reference numeral 1809 denotes an image input device, which includes a scanner, a digital camera, and the like, and can input an image as data.

  Note that the image input device 1809 includes an interface for connecting to this device. A storage medium drive 1810 includes a CD-ROM drive, a DVD-ROM drive, a floppy (registered trademark) disk (FD) drive, and the like, and can store programs and programs from a storage medium such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, and FD. Data can be read. A communication device 1811 can transmit and receive data by connecting to an external device via the Internet or the like. A bus 1812 connects the above-described units.

  Hereinafter, the operation of transmitting the hierarchically encoded data by the data processing apparatus will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  In step S301, the CPU 1801 selects an image to be transmitted. The selection of the image to be transmitted may be input by the user via the mouse 1805 or the keyboard 1806, or the selection method of the image to be transmitted is recorded in the recording medium drive 1810 in advance, and the CPU 1801 reads the image to be transmitted. You may choose.

  In step S302, the CPU 1801 selects an image data server that stores the image selected in step S301.

  In step S303, the CPU 1801 determines transmission data to be transmitted among the images selected in step 301.

  In step 304, the CPU 1801 creates a management table (management information) related to transmission data. The created management table is recorded in the ROM 1803 or the storage medium drive 1810 together with the image data.

  In step S305, the communication device 1811 transmits the selected transmission data to the image data server.

  As described above, the present invention can also be applied to the data processing apparatus as described above, and the same effects as those of the first embodiment can be obtained.

<Other embodiments>
The present invention may be applied as a part of a system constituted by a plurality of devices or may be applied to a part of an apparatus constituted by one device.

  Further, the present invention is not limited only to the apparatus and method for realizing the above embodiment.

  For example, what supplies the program code of the software for implement | achieving the said embodiment to the computer (CPU or MPU) in the said system or apparatus is also contained in the category of this invention. Further, the case where the above embodiment is realized by causing the computer of the system or apparatus to operate the various devices according to the program code is also included in the scope of the present invention.

  In this case, the program code itself of the software realizes the function of the above embodiment. That is, the program code itself and means for supplying the program code to a computer, specifically, a storage medium storing the program code are also included in the scope of the present invention.

  As a storage medium for storing such a program code, for example, a floppy (registered trademark) disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, DVD, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM, or the like may be used. it can.

  Further, the present invention is not limited to the case where the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized by controlling various devices according to only the program code. For example, the case where the above embodiments are realized in cooperation with an OS (operating system) running on a computer or other application software is also included in the scope of the present invention.

  Further, the present invention includes a case where the CPU or the like provided in the function expansion board performs part or all of the actual processing based on the instruction of the program code stored in the memory provided in the function extension board of the computer. included.

1 is a conceptual diagram of a data transmission system according to a first embodiment. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a main part of a digital camera 11 according to a first embodiment. Flowchart of image data transmission in embodiment 1 Hierarchical coding example of image data in Embodiment 1 Management table in the first embodiment Flowchart of image data decoding in embodiment 1 Flowchart of image data transmission in embodiment 2 Schematic showing the structure of the management table code sequence in Embodiment 2. Conceptual diagram of data transmission system in embodiment 2 Flowchart of image data transmission in embodiment 3 Flowchart of image data decoding in embodiment 3 FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of main parts of a digital camera 11 according to a fourth embodiment. Management table in the fourth embodiment Block diagram showing the configuration of hierarchical encoding processing Configuration diagram of coefficient group after 2D discrete wavelet transform Schematic showing the structure of a code string for hierarchical coding Image when decoding with spatial resolution scalable data structure Basic configuration diagram of data processing apparatus according to Embodiment 5

Claims (11)

A data processing apparatus for processing hierarchically encoded image data,
Holding means for holding the image data;
Generating means for generating management information in which the image data of each layer of the image data is associated with the transmission destination of the image data of each layer;
A data processing apparatus comprising: a transmission unit configured to transmit the image data of each layer to the transmission destination for each layer based on the management information.   The data processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising hierarchical encoding means for hierarchically encoding an input image.   The data processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transmission unit transmits image data of the same hierarchy corresponding to the same image to a plurality of transmission destinations.   The data processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transmission unit further transmits the image data of each layer and the management information to a transmission destination. The data processing apparatus further includes display means for displaying an image,
The data processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the holding unit holds image data of a hierarchy that can be displayed on the display unit.   6. The data processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the image data of a layer that can be displayed on the display means is image data of a base layer of a layer-encoded image.   The data processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an encryption unit configured to encrypt the image data of each layer. A data processing method for processing hierarchically encoded image data,
A generation step of generating management information in which the image data of each layer of the image data held in the holding unit holding the image data is associated with the transmission destination of the image data of each layer;
A data processing method comprising: a transmission step of transmitting the image data of each layer to the transmission destination for each layer based on the management information. Based on the management information, holding means for holding image data, generation means for generating management information in which the image data of each hierarchy of the image data and the transmission destination of the image data of each hierarchy are associated, A storage device connected via a network to a data processing device comprising a transmission means for transmitting the image data of each hierarchy to each transmission destination at a transmission destination,
A storage device comprising receiving means for receiving the image data of each hierarchy from the data processing device.   An image processing program for causing a computer to execute the data processing method according to claim 8.   A computer-readable storage medium storing the data processing program according to claim 10.

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