JP7457506B2 - Image file generation device, image file generation method, image file playback device, image file playback method, and program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to techniques for storing data for one or more images in an image file.

MPEG (Moving Pictures Experts Group) has standardized the storage of a single still image, multiple still images, or a sequence of images (such as a burst of still images) in a single file. This standard is called HEIF (High Efficiency Image File Format) and allows for the exchange, editing, and display of images and image sequences. Further, HEIF is a storage format expanded based on a tool defined by the ISO Base Media File Format (ISOBMFF). HEIF is being standardized under the name "Image File Format" in ISO/IEC23008-12 (Part 12). HEIF also defines a normative structure for including metadata, how metadata is associated with images, and the organization of specific types of metadata. Patent Document 1 describes storing a derived image in an image file compliant with HEIF.

On the other hand, image generation devices equipped with image generation functions, such as cameras and smartphones, have a variety of functions in recent years. It is possible to generate various information such as metadata. For example, information for identifying the subject and scene at the time of shooting, various shooting setting information, etc. are generated along with the image data. Information regarding such image data can be stored as metadata in the HEIF file together with the image data. There are also applications that have a function to display multiple images while automatically switching them in sequence. In many applications, this feature is called a slideshow. With HEIF, it is also possible to store a plurality of image data and create an image file intended to be displayed in a slide show.

US Patent Application Publication No. 2016/371265

HEIF has a specification that allows storing temporally continuous still images (for example, continuous photos shot with a camera in bursts) as an image sequence. A HEIF file with an image sequence needs to define temporally continuous still images as a video track in the HEIF file, just like a video, so that the application that displays the images can perform continuous display processing. . Therefore, the process of creating a HEIF file that stores settings for a slide show in which arbitrary images are automatically displayed in sequence by assigning a display time (period) to them can be complicated.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to efficiently perform processing for storing information necessary for displaying a plurality of images continuously in an image file.

As one means for solving the above problems, an image file creation device of the present invention has the following configuration. That is, an image file generation method that generates an image file according to a predetermined image file format having a structure including an image data area for storing an image and a metadata area for storing metadata that is information regarding the image. ,
Obtaining multiple images to be displayed sequentially in a slide show ,
A grouping data structure describing the group of the plurality of images, the grouping data structure including attribute information indicating that the group is a target of a slide show, and a plurality of identification information for identifying each of the plurality of images. generating a grouping data structure containing ;
storing the plurality of images in the image data area and generating the image file in which the grouping data structure is stored in the metadata area .

It becomes possible to efficiently store information necessary for displaying a plurality of images in an image file in an efficient manner.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an image file creation device. It is a flowchart of image file creation processing. 7 is a flowchart of slide show metadata creation processing in the first embodiment. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data format of descriptive information of a derived image in Embodiment 1. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating another example of the data format of descriptive information of a derived image in the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the structure of a HEIF file created in the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a HEIF file output in the first embodiment. FIG. 7 is a flowchart of slide show metadata creation processing in Embodiment 2. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the data format of SlideshowEntityToGroupBox. It is a figure which shows the data format of ImageDurationProperty. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the data format of ImageLocationProperty. It is a figure which shows an example of the data format of TransitionEffectProperty. It is a diagram showing the data format of SlideShowProperty. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the structure of a HEIF file created in the second embodiment. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a HEIF file output in Embodiment 2. FIG. It is a diagram showing the data format of PrimaryItemBox in the HEIF standard. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a PrimaryItemBox data format. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating another example of the PrimaryItemBox data format. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a HEIF file output in Embodiment 3. FIG. 3 is a flowchart of image file slide show playback processing. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing another example of the data format of SlideshowEntityToGroupBox. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data format of descriptive information of an ImageOverlay derived image. It is a figure which shows the data format of SlideShowTimingProperty. 13 is a diagram showing another example of the data format of TransitionEffectProperty. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the data format of ImageScalingProperty. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating another example of the data format of ImageScalingProperty. It is a figure which shows the data format of ImageSpatialExtentProperty. It is a figure which shows another example of the data format of TransitionEffectProperty. It is a figure which shows an example of the data format of WipeTransitionEffectProperty. It is a figure which shows an example of the data format of ZoomTransitionEffectProperty. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a data format of FadeInTransitionEffectProperty.

The following embodiments are described in detail with reference to the attached drawings. Note that the following embodiments do not limit the invention according to the claims. Although the embodiments describe multiple features, not all of these multiple features are necessarily essential to the invention, and multiple features may be combined in any manner. Furthermore, in the attached drawings, the same reference numbers are used for the same or similar configurations, and duplicate explanations are omitted.

<Embodiment 1>
[Hardware configuration]
FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of an image file creation device 100. In the image file creation device 100, a CPU 102, a RAM 103 which is a temporary storage device when a system program is executed, and a ROM 104 which is a nonvolatile storage device in which the system program is stored are connected to a system bus 101. System programs and application programs are read from the ROM 104 into the RAM 103 and executed by the CPU 102. Also connected to the system bus 101 are an encoding/decoding section 105, a metadata processing section 106, a display section 107, a user interface section 108, and a communication control section 109. System bus 101 communicates data between each of these blocks. The RAM 103 also has an output buffer and is used as a data buffer for image file creation processing and as an output destination for data to be stored in the image file.

The encoding/decoding unit 105 is a video codec for moving images and still images conforming to H.265 (HEVC), H.264 (AVC), AV1, JPEG, etc., and performs encoding and decoding of still image and moving image data. The metadata processing unit 106 acquires data (encoded data) encoded by the encoding/decoding unit 105, and generates an image file conforming to a predetermined file format (e.g., HEIF). Specifically, the metadata processing unit 106 performs analysis processing of metadata stored in still image and moving image files, generates information related to still images and moving images, and acquires parameter information related to encoded data. The metadata processing unit 106 then performs processing of storing this information as metadata in a file together with the encoded data. The metadata processing unit 106 also analyzes the metadata stored in the file and performs metadata processing when playing back still images and moving images.

The display unit 107 is intended as a screen for displaying an application of the image file creation device 100, and is, for example, a liquid crystal display device. Furthermore, the display unit 107 may include a screen touch sensor so that the user can operate the application using a GUI (Graphic User Interface). Further, the display unit 107 may play back the generated file in order to confirm it. The user interface unit 108 is an interface for accepting operations (inputs) to the image file creation device 100 by the user, and is configured with a physical operation interface such as a button or a switch, for example.

The communication control unit 109 is a network interface that connects to a network and transmits and receives transmission frames. The communication control unit 109 is, for example, a PHY and MAC (transmission media control processing) of Ethernet (registered trademark) of a wired LAN. Alternatively, if the image file creation device 100 can be connected to a wireless LAN, the communication control unit 109 includes a controller that performs wireless LAN control such as IEEE802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax, an RF circuit, and an antenna.

[Image file creation process]
Next, the flow of image file creation processing by the image file creation device 100 will be described with reference to FIGS. 2, 6, and 7. FIG. 2 is a flowchart of image file creation processing. Specifically, it shows the flow of processing for creating a file that stores one or more still images according to the HEIF file format. Each step in the flowchart in FIG. 2 represents a process executed by either software by the CPU 102, the encoding/decoding unit 105, or the metadata processing unit 106. Note that in the following description, the description "CPU 102" refers to software processing executed by the CPU 102. FIG. 6 shows the structure of a HEIF file 600, which is an example of a HEIF file created by the image file creation device 100 in this embodiment. The HEIF file 600 has a metadata storage area 602 (MetaBox(meta)) (metadata area) and an encoded data storage area 611 (MediaDataBox(mdat)) (image data area). Further, FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a HEIF file output in this embodiment. FIG. 7 shows an example in which one or more still images and derived images forming a slide show are stored according to the HEIF file format.

The image file creation process starts from S201, and first, in S202, the CPU 102 acquires (selects) image data to be stored in the HEIF file from among the image data stored on the RAM 103 or ROM 104. The acquisition process may be performed based on information set in advance for the image file creation device 100, an operation by a user via the user interface unit 108, or the like. The image data may be a HEIF file containing one still image, or may be another still image file such as JPEG. Alternatively, if it is still image data, it does not need to be stored as a file. Next, in S203, the CPU 102 determines whether the image data acquired in S202 requires decoding (that is, whether it is a HEIF file). If the acquired image data does not require decoding (the acquired image data is a HEIF file) (NO in S203), the process proceeds to S207, otherwise (if the acquired image data is not a HEIF file) (YES in S203), the process advances to S204.

The processing from S204 to S206 is executed by the encoding/decoding unit 105. In S204, the encoding/decoding unit 105 decodes the acquired image data. Next, in S205, the encoding/decoding unit 105 analyzes the decoded image data to obtain image attribute information. The image attribute information includes, for example, the width and height of the image, the number of color components, the bit length, and the like. In S206, the encoding/decoding unit 105 performs HEVC encoding on the decoded image data. Next, in S207, the metadata processing unit 106 obtains a parameter set necessary for decoding the encoded data generated in S206. Specifically, the parameter set is a video parameter set (VPS), a sequence parameter set (SPS), a picture parameter set (PPS), etc. However, if the process directly reaches S207 from S203, the image data acquired in S202 is a HEIF file, so the metadata processing unit 106 extracts and acquires the HEVC parameter set from the HEIF file. In the next step S208, the encoding/decoding unit 105 transfers the encoded data to the output buffer on the RAM 103 and stores it therein. The encoded data is one of the encoded data stored in the encoded data storage area 611. In the following description, the image data/encoded data saved in S208 (stored in the HEIF file) will be collectively referred to as image data.

The next step S209 is a process of creating metadata regarding the image data to be stored in the HEIF file, and is executed by the metadata processing unit 106. The metadata created in S209 includes image item information, image attribute information, and the like. Image item information is entry data stored in area 606 (ItemInfoBox (iinf)) in FIG. The iinf entry data sets an item ID (identification information) for identifying image data within a file and an item type indicating that the image is a HEVC encoded image. On the other hand, image attribute information is data stored in area 608 (ItemPropertiesBox (iprp)) in FIG. The image attribute information created in S209 is the entry data stored in the area 609 (ItemPropertyContainerBox (ipco)) and the entry data stored in the area 610 (ItemPropertyAssociationBox (ipma)) in FIG. 6. Attribute information such as entry data indicating the HEVC parameter set acquired in S207 and entry data indicating the width and height of the selected image is stored in ipco. Then, entry data indicating the association between the item ID and the entry data of ipco is created in ipma. The image attribute information data created in S209 is stored in the output buffer on the RAM 103 as part of the metadata to be stored in the metadata storage area 602 (MetaDataBox (meta)) in FIG.

When the process proceeds to S210 after S209, the CPU 201 checks whether other image data is to be stored in the HEIF file being created. If there is other image data to store, the process returns to S202; if not, the process proceeds to S211. If the process returns from S210 to S202, the CPU 201 acquires (selects) the other image data and executes the processes from S203 to S209 as described above.

In S211, the CPU 102 determines whether settings for a slide show (continuous display processing of images) are to be stored in the HEIF file being created. The determination process may be performed based on information set in advance for the image file creation device 100, an operation by a user via the user interface unit 108, or the like. If the slide show settings are to be stored in the HEIF file (YES in S211), slide show metadata creation processing in S212 is executed. Note that the process of S212 will be described later.

In S213, the metadata processing unit 106 determines a representative image from among the images stored in the HEIF file, and creates metadata for main image item information (sets main image item information in the metadata). The process of determining the representative image may be performed based on information set in advance for the image file creation device 100, an operation by a user via the user interface unit 108, or the like. The metadata created in S213 is stored in area 604 (PrimaryItemBox (pitm)) in FIG. 6. FIG. 16 shows the data format of PrimaryItemBox in the HEIF standard. As shown in FIG. 16, the pitm data format simply specifies the item ID of a representative image. The metadata created in S213 is stored in the output buffer on the RAM 103.

The final process of S214 is executed by the metadata processing unit 106. In S214, the metadata processing unit 106 creates data to be stored in area 601 (FileTypeBox (ftyp)) and area 603 (HandlerBox (hdlr)) in FIG. 6. Note that, as shown in FIG. 7, the handler type of MetaDataBox (meta) specified in hdlr may be 'pict'. The metadata processing unit 106 then processes the created ftyp and hdlr metadata, the metadata stored in the metadata storage area 602 (MetaBox (meta)) stored in the RAM 103, and the encoded data storage area. 611 (MediaDataBox (mdat)). Then, the metadata processing unit 106 forms data having the structure shown in FIG. 6 on the RAM 103, completes it as a HEIF file, and outputs it. After that, the process proceeds to S215, and the present process flow ends (S215). The created HEIF file data can be written by the CPU 102 from the RAM 103 to the ROM 104 and stored.

Note that if the slide show metadata creation process in S212 is skipped (NO in S211), the area 607 (ItemReferenceBox (iref)) in FIG. 6 may not be generated and may not be included in the metadata of the HEIF file. . However, if the image data to be stored includes image data that has some kind of relationship, such as a captured image and its thumbnail image, in the process of S209, the metadata processing unit 106 Create iref entry data indicating the association. The iref may be included in the metadata of the HEIF file that is finally created.

An example of values (data) stored in the internal structure of the HEIF file according to the flow described above will be described with reference to FIG. 7. In the PrimaryItemBox (pitm) (corresponding to area 604) shown in description 701, 1 is stored as item_ID. In the ItemInfoBox (iinf) (corresponding to area 606) shown in description 702, information is shown on the type of image item each image item identified by item_ID is. An image item with item_ID of 1 is 'slid', indicating that it is a derived image that constitutes a slideshow. From item_ID 2 onwards, it is 'hvc1', indicating that it is a HEVC encoded image. The ItemLocationBox (iloc) (corresponding to area 605) shown in description 703 indicates the storage location within the file of each image data bitstream. The image item with item_ID 1 indicates that construction_method is 1, which indicates that data exists in ItemDataBox (idat) (corresponding to area 616) shown in description 707. In addition, it is possible to specify where the data exists in MediaDataBox (corresponding to encoded data storage area 611) shown in description 708 for other images. ItemReferenceBox (iref) (corresponding to area 607) shown in description 704 is an area indicating the reference relationship between image items. Here, reference_type is 'dimg', which indicates that it is a derived image that constitutes a slide show, that is, a derived image for referencing multiple images to be displayed in the slide show. In addition, description 704 indicates that image items from item_ID2 onwards are referenced from derived image item item_ID1. ItemPropertyContainerBox (ipco) (corresponding to area 609) in ItemPropertiesBox (iprp) (corresponding to area 608) shown in description 705 stores ItemProperty indicating image attribute information. hvcC indicates HEVC encoding parameters, and ispe is attribute information indicating the image size. Description 706 indicates ItemPropertyAssociationBox (ipma) (corresponding to area 610) indicating the association between each image item and attribute information. Each image item is associated in turn with the attribute information in ipco.

[Slideshow metadata creation process]
Next, the slide show metadata creation process in S212 of FIG. 2 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3, 4, 5, and 6. In this embodiment, images forming a slide show are stored as derived images in a HEIF file. FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of metadata creation processing in this embodiment. This process starts at S301, and first, at S302 and S303, the CPU 102 selects one or more image data to be displayed in a slide show from among the image data stored in the HEIF file, and determines the order in which they are displayed. Next, the CPU 102 determines the display time (period) of the selected image. The display time (period) may be constant for all images, or may be a different time for each image. Alternatively, an arbitrary value may be determined at the time of playback without specifying the value at the time of file generation. The selection and determination processes in S302 and S303 may be performed based on information set in advance for the image file creation device 100, an operation by the user via the user interface unit 108, or the like.

The subsequent processes from S304 to S307 are executed by the metadata processing unit 106. In S304, the metadata processing unit 106 creates image item information in order to set item IDs of derived images that make up the slide show. That is, similar to S209 in FIG. 2 described above, the metadata processing unit 106 creates entry data to be stored in the area 606 (ItemInfoBox (iinf)) in FIG. 6. Here, the metadata processing unit 106 specifies an ID that does not overlap with the item ID of the image data stored in the HEIF file as the item ID of the entry data, and specifies that the item type is a derived image that constitutes a slide show. (See description 702 in FIG. 7).

Next, in S305, the metadata processing unit 106 creates image reference information to specify the images to be displayed in the slide show. The image reference information is created as entry data to be stored in area 607 (ItemReferenceBox (iref)) in FIG. 6. This entry data is assigned the type 'dimg' indicating that it is a derived image, and specifies in list format the item IDs of the image data referenced by the item ID of the derived image. Here, the item IDs of the referenced image data are specified in list format in the display order determined in S302.

Subsequently, in S306, the metadata processing unit 106 sets descriptive information for derived images that make up the slide show. This descriptive information is data stored in area 616 (ItemDataBox(idat)) in FIG. FIG. 4 shows an example of the data format of descriptive information for derived images of a slide show. This descriptive information (ImageSlideshow) specifies the display time (period) of images to be displayed in a slide show. In the example of FIG. 4, when the display time (period) of each image is constant, that is, when flags&1 is 1, only one duration parameter is specified as shown in description 401. Alternatively, if flags&1 is 0, as shown in description 402, the duration parameters are specified in a list of duration parameters that individually specify display times (periods) for each piece of image data in the order in which they are displayed. The duration parameter is a numerical value indicating the time for displaying the corresponding image item. The unit of time set as the display time (period) is assumed to be seconds or milliseconds, but is not limited to this, and any unit that allows time to be specified may be used. Alternatively, it may be a relative time parameter used by the playback device (that is, the display unit 107) to determine the display time (period). Further, the data format shown in FIG. 4 may include a parameter for specifying a unit such as time_unit, for example. The parameter specifying this unit may be valid depending on the version and the value of flags. By specifying this parameter, the time unit of the duration parameter can be specified. For example, if 10 is specified for duration, 10 seconds can be used if time_unit is specified as a value indicating seconds, and 10 milliseconds can be used if time_unit is specified as a value indicating milliseconds. Other methods such as microseconds, minutes, and other methods that can uniquely identify time units may be used. Note that if the display time (period) is not specified when creating the file, a value such as 0 may be specified to store information indicating that an arbitrary time (period) is specified when playing the file.

In S307, the metadata processing unit 106 sets image attribute information of derived images that make up the slide show. This image attribute information includes, for example, information indicating the width and height of the screen on which the slide show is displayed. If the size of each image specified for the slideshow and the size of the derived image are different, you can enlarge or reduce the images displayed in the slideshow, or display only the parts of the images that fit the screen size. Good too. Furthermore, if the screen size is larger, attribute information specifying display of the margin portion may be written. However, the image attribute information of the derived image is not necessarily required, so it does not need to be set.

Further, the format of the descriptive information of the derived images composing the slide show may be as shown in FIG. 5. FIG. 5 is another example of the data format of descriptive information of derived images of a slide show. The descriptive information (ImageSlideshowWithinCnvas) shown in FIG. 5 is a data format that can specify the canvas (image area when displayed on the display unit 107 (image area of the reconstructed image where the input image is placed)) when displaying the slide show. has. The canvas_fill_value shown in description 501 indicates the pixel value per channel that is used when a pixel of the input image is not at a particular pixel location. The pixel values are designated as RGBA (R, G, B, and A correspond to loop counter j equal to 0, 1, 2, and 3, respectively). The RGB values are the sRGB color space defined by IEC61996-2-1. The A value is a linear opacity ranging from 0 (fully transparent) to 65535 (fully opaque). output_width and output_height shown in the description 502 specify the width and height, respectively, of the reconstructed image in which the input image is placed. When flags&1 is 0, output_width and output_height are values expressed by 16 bits. On the other hand, when flags&1 is 1, output_width and output_height are values expressed by 32 bits. The reference_count shown in the description 503 is obtained from the ItemTypeReferenceBox (description 704 in FIG. 7) of type 'dimg' where this item is identified by the from_item_ID field. Further, horizontal_offset and vertical_offset shown in description 503 specify the offset at which the input image is placed from the upper left corner of the canvas. Pixel locations with negative offset values are not included in the reconstructed image. Horizontal pixel positions greater than or equal to output_width are not included in the reconstructed image. Vertical pixel locations greater than or equal to output_height are not included in the reconstructed image. Further, when flags&2 is 1, a common duration parameter is specified, similar to the description 401 in FIG. 4. Further, as shown in the description 504, when flags&2 is 0, the duration parameters are specified in the list of duration parameters that individually specify the display time (period) for each image data in the order in which they are displayed. The duration parameter is a numerical value indicating the time for displaying the corresponding image item. The unit of time set as the display time (period) is assumed to be seconds or milliseconds, but is not limited to this, and any unit that allows time to be specified may be used. Alternatively, it may be a relative time parameter used by the playback device to determine the display time (period). Further, as in FIG. 4, the data format may include a parameter for specifying a unit such as time_unit. The parameter specifying this unit may be valid depending on the version and the value of flags. By specifying this parameter, the time unit of the duration parameter can be specified. Values that can be specified include minutes, seconds, milliseconds, microseconds, and any other method that can uniquely identify time units. Note that if the display time (period) is not specified when creating the file, a value such as 0 may be specified to store information indicating that an arbitrary time (period) is specified when playing the file.

When setting image attribute information in S307, the metadata processing unit 106 creates entry data to be stored in area 609 (ItemPropertyContainerBox (ipco)) in FIG. 6, as in S209 described above. Further, the metadata processing unit 106 creates entry data to be stored in the area 610 (ItemPropertyAssociationBox (ipma)) in FIG. The process then proceeds to S308, and this process flow ends.

The metadata created in the processes from S304 to S307 are written to the output buffer on RAM 103 at the locations where they should be stored as part of the metadata stored in area 602 (MetaDataBox (meta)) in FIG. 6. Also, the item ID of the derived image set in S213 may be specified as the item ID to be used as the representative image in the process of S213 described above.

[Slideshow playback processing]
Next, the reproduction process of a slide show stored in the image file format will be described using FIG. 20. FIG. 20 is a flowchart of image file slide show playback processing. Specifically, FIG. 20 shows the flow of processing for playing back a file in which one or more still images are stored as a slide show according to the HEIF file format. Each step in the flowchart of FIG. 20 indicates a process executed by software by the CPU 102, the encoding/decoding unit 105, or the metadata processing unit 106. Note that in the following description, the description "CPU 102" refers to software processing executed by the CPU 102.

Slide show playback processing in image file playback starts from S2001. First, in S2002, the CPU 102 acquires metadata stored in the metadata storage area 602 (MetaBox (meta)) from among the HEIF files stored on the RAM 103 or ROM 104. Next, in S2003, the CPU 102 analyzes the metadata acquired in S2002, and in S2004, as a result of the analysis, the CPU 102 determines whether metadata related to a slide show is stored in the metadata. If metadata related to the slide show is stored in the metadata (YES in S2004), the process advances to S2005; otherwise (NO in S2004), the process advances to S2010. When proceeding to S2010, the image file creation device 100 executes a HEIF file playback process other than a slide show.

In S2005, the metadata processing unit 106 acquires metadata of image items related to slide show display. Specifically, the metadata processing unit 106 acquires item information of each image item referenced from the derived images that make up the slide show, attribute information of the image, and position information of the image within the file. In S2006, the encoding/decoding unit 105 acquires image data in the order of slide show display. The image data is acquired by specifying the position in the encoded data storage area 611 (MediaDataBox (mdat)) from the position information in the image file stored in the metadata. In S2007, the encoding/decoding unit 105 decodes the image data to be displayed, and in S2008, temporarily stores the decoded image data in a buffer. Subsequently, in S2009, the CPU 102 displays the image on the display unit 107 according to the display time (period) and attribute information described in the metadata. Note that if information indicating that an arbitrary time (period) is specified when playing a file such as 0 is stored, the display time (period) is determined by the processing of the playback device.
The processes from S2005 to S2009 are repeatedly executed to sequentially display the images stored in the HEIF file on the display unit 107. Although not shown in the present embodiment, when all images stored as a slide show have been displayed, the CPU 102 controls the display unit to repeatedly display the first image or to end the slide show display. 107 may be controlled.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, by configuring and storing a plurality of images stored in a HEIF file as derived images, it is possible to store slide show composition images using derived images. This facilitates the process of saving a HEIF file that stores a set of a plurality of still images as a file intended for slide show display. Furthermore, by defining canvas information in the descriptive information of the derived image, even when handling images of different sizes, it is possible to prevent the display size from being different each time each image is displayed. Furthermore, by retaining canvas position information when displaying an image as a parameter in the descriptive information of the derived image, it is possible to specify the display position. Furthermore, by adapting the derived image item as the main image item, it becomes possible to switch images to be displayed preferentially in a slide show. Note that although this embodiment shows a configuration in which metadata for realizing a slide show using derived images is stored in the HEIF file, a different configuration may be used if the method is to configure a slide show using derived images. There may be.

<Embodiment 2>
The image file creation device in the second embodiment has the same configuration as that described in FIG. 1 in the first embodiment. The image file creation process shown in FIG. 2 and the flow of the image file slideshow playback process shown in FIG. 20 can also be applied to this embodiment. However, the slideshow metadata creation process (S212) in FIG. 2 is different from that in the first embodiment. Therefore, in this embodiment, the process of S212 will be mainly described with reference to FIG. 8, FIG. 9, FIG. 10, FIG. 11, FIG. 12, FIG. 13, FIG. 14, FIG. 15, FIG. 21, FIG. 22, FIG. 23, FIG. 24, FIG. 25, FIG. 26, FIG. 27, FIG. 28, FIG. 29, FIG. 30, and FIG. 31.

Figure 8 is a flowchart showing the flow of metadata creation processing for a slide show in this embodiment. Also, Figure 14 shows the structure of a HEIF file 1400, which is an example of a HEIF file created by the image file creation device 100 in this embodiment. The HEIF file 1400 has a metadata storage area 1402 (MetaBox (meta)) and an encoded data storage area 1411 (MediaDataBox (mdat)).

In FIG. 8, the slide show metadata creation process starts from S801, and first, in S802 and S803, similarly to S302 and S303 in FIG. 3, the CPU 102 selects images to be displayed in the slide show and determines the display order. , determine the display time (period) of the selected image. The unit of time set as the display time (period) is assumed to be seconds or milliseconds, but is not limited to this, and any unit that allows time to be specified may be used. Alternatively, it may be a relative time parameter used by the playback device to determine the display time (period). Note that the display time (period) may not be specified when creating the file, but an arbitrary time (period) may be specified when playing the file.

Next, in S804, the metadata processing unit 106 sets a group of display images for the slide show. Specifically, the metadata processing unit 106 creates information (group information) for grouping images to be displayed in a slide show. This group information is metadata stored in area 1416 (GroupsListBox (grpl)) in FIG. 14. In HEIF, group information of items such as image data is stored in grpl. Group information is given a group ID as group identification information and a group type, and is identified within the HEIF file. In this embodiment, in S804, the metadata processing unit 106 creates slideshow group information (SlideshowEntityToGroupBox) as group information. FIG. 9 shows the data format of SlideshowEntityToGroupBox. The metadata processing unit 106 creates data in the data format shown in FIG. 9 and stores it in grpl (see area 1417 in FIG. 14). This SlideshowEntityToGroupBox is a Box for identifying a group of entities for the purpose of displaying a plurality of image sets in a slide show within a large canvas. The group type of this SlideshowEntityToGroupBox is 'slid', which means a group of items used for a slideshow. Since the data format in FIG. 9 is an extension of EntityToGroupBox, group_id, which stores the group ID, and num_entries_in_group, which indicates the number of items included in the group, are separately specified. Further, the item ID specifies the item ID of the selected images to be displayed in the slide show in the order in which they are displayed.

Note that since SlideshowEntityToGroupBox is an extension of EntityToGroupBox, tracks can also be stored as a group, but in this embodiment, only image items are targeted, and storage of tracks and items other than images is prohibited. However, in another form, a configuration may include tracks. For example, if a track ID is included, the track ID may be limited to one, and parameters regarding the display time (period) of each sample may be specified in the track. Furthermore, a switching (transition) effect, which will be described later, can be specified for each sample by sample group. In other forms, the number of track IDs is similarly limited to one, and the display period of each sample is specified by the track. There is a method in which the canvas and switching (transition) effects described later can be specified using derived tracks, which are currently being standardized as MPEG-B Part 16 Derived visual tracks in the ISO base Media file format.

As another method, it is also possible to set no restrictions on the entities stored in SlideshowEntityToGroupBox. Alternatively, it is also possible to make it possible to store either image item IDs or track IDs. In that case, for example, it is possible to specify a common display time (period) for the display time, or to specify the track from the track and the item from the image attribute information.

In FIG. 9, a description 901 and a description 902 are the same as the description 501 and the description 502 in FIG. 5 described in the first embodiment, respectively, and therefore their description will be omitted. The description 903 is optional and is specified when setting the default display time (period) of the slide show. When specifying a default display time (period), specify the display time (period) as default_entity_duration. default_entity-duration-present has a value of 0x000002. When flags&default_entity-duration-present is 1, the default_entity_duration parameter, which is the default display time (period), is specified. When flags&default_entity-duration-present is 0, the display time (period) is specified using the image attribute because the display time (period) is specified individually for each image data. The default_entity_duration parameter is a numerical value indicating the time (period) for displaying the corresponding image item. The unit of time set as the display time (period) is assumed to be seconds or milliseconds, but is not limited to this, and any unit that allows time to be specified may be used. Alternatively, it may be a relative time parameter used by the playback device to determine the display time (period). Further, the data format may include a parameter for specifying a unit such as time_unit. The parameter specifying this unit may be valid depending on the version and the value of flags. By specifying this parameter, it becomes possible to specify the time unit of the default_entity_duration parameter. Values that can be specified include minutes, seconds, milliseconds, microseconds, and any other method that can uniquely identify time units. Note that if the display time (period) is not specified at the time of file creation, a value such as 0 may be specified to specify information indicating that an arbitrary time (period) is to be specified when the file is reproduced.

Note that even if flags&default_entity-duration-present is 1 and the default_entity_duration parameter is specified, if a display time (period) is specified for the image attribute information, the display time (period) of the image attribute information is given priority. In this embodiment, the flags are used to determine whether or not to specify the default display time (period) as an option, but instead of setting the option, default_entity_duration may be set. In this case, for example, the default_entity_duration specified in the SlideshowEntityToGroupBox may be used as a default value and treated as the display time (period) used when attribute information is not specified for each image item. Furthermore, a common display time (period) may be used even if a separate flag is provided to indicate that the value is commonly used for all attributes and is specified in the attribute information.

Further, the data format of SlideshowEntityToGroupBox may have the configuration shown in FIG. 21. In this case, the metadata processing unit 106 creates data in the data format shown in FIG. 9 and stores it in grpl (see area 1417 in FIG. 14). This SlideshowEntityToGroupBox is a Box for identifying a group of entities for the purpose of displaying a slide show of a plurality of image sets. The group type of this SlideshowEntityToGroupBox is 'slid', which means a group of items used for a slideshow. Since the data format in FIG. 21 is an extension of EntityToGroupBox, group_id, which stores the group ID, and num_entries_in_group, which indicates the number of items included in the group, are separately specified. Further, the item ID specifies the item ID of the selected images to be displayed in the slide show in the order in which they are displayed. In the case of the configuration shown in FIG. 21, SlideshowEntityToGroupBox is used to identify groups of images to be displayed in a slide show and the order in which they are displayed. In the case of the configuration shown in FIG. 21, there is no special parameter for SlideshowEntityToGroup. In this case, each parameter is specified using entry data (group ID) stored in an ItemPropertyContainerBox (ipco) in an ItemPropertiesBox (iprp), which will be described later, and an ItemPropertyAssociationBox (ipma). Note that even with the configuration shown in FIG. 9, properties specified for groups may be associated with each other. It is assumed that the entity stored in SlideshowEntityToGroupBox stores a displayable item ID such as an encoded image item or a derived image item. As the derived image, for example, by specifying a predefined identity (iden), grid image, or overlay (iovl) image, it is possible to display it as an advanced slide show on the canvas. Furthermore, it may be possible to store the ID of another group. For example, it is possible to display a group of images grouped as a series of shooting groups at the same timing. For example, it is possible to store a group of images taken for HDR (High Dynamic Range) compositing or a group of images taken for display as a panoramic photo as a group, and specify the ID of the group as the entity of SlideshowEntityToGroup. Conceivable. This enables more advanced slide show display.

On the other hand, it may be configured to store only images of a specific item_type. For example, in the case of the EntityToGroupBox configuration shown in FIG. 21, it does not have canvas information. Therefore, it is possible to use an Overlay image defined as a derived image. If a canvas is required, the item_type of the storable entity specifies iovl, which indicates Overlay. Then, it is possible to make all items stored in EntityToGroupBox derived images of Overlay. In that case, it is desirable to make the output_width and output_height of all Overlay derived images stored in SlideshowEntityToGroup the same. Also, when specifying an encoded image, it is possible to specify only the encoded image. In this case, it is desirable to have a common ispe image property associated with each image. On the other hand, a property that specifies the overall size of the slideshow display may be associated with the group ID of EntityToGroupBox without such restrictions. This is assumed to be a property with an extended configuration of the ispe property. In other words, the ispe property is made applicable to the Entity group. Alternatively, the size of the image specified in the first entity of SlideshowEntityToGroupBox may be set as the overall size of the slideshow display. In addition, a restriction may be set such that the image size of the entities stored in SlideshowEntityToGroupBox must be common. If an image of a size different from these restrictions or the display size is specified, the image may be enlarged/reduced or cropped to fit within the display size, or if the image is small, the other areas may be displayed by separately specifying default canvas information or pre-specifying a specific canvas. However, it may also be configured to switch the overall size of the slideshow display for each image to be displayed.

ImageScalingProperty shown in FIG. 25 is a data format having a ratio parameter of description 2501, and is a transformative item property for scaling (enlarging/reducing) the display size of an image. This property allows you to enlarge/reduce the image size while maintaining the aspect ratio. The ratio in the description 2501 is an 8-bit integer that expresses the ratio 16, 8, 4, 2, or 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16 as a multiple of 2. The upper 4 bits mean an operation for expansion; if the most significant bit is 1, it will be multiplied by 16 times, if the second bit from the uppermost bit is 1, it will be multiplied by 8 times, if the third bit from the uppermost bit is 1, it will be multiplied by 4 times, If the fourth bit from the most significant bit is 1, it indicates that the number is doubled. In addition, the lower 4 bits mean an operation for reduction; if the least significant bit is 1, it will be multiplied by 1/16, if the second bit from the least significant bit is 1, it will be multiplied by 1/8, and from the least significant bit by 3 If the th bit is 1, it means 1/4 times the amount, and if the fourth bit from the least significant bit is 1, it means 1/2 times the amount. Note that in this embodiment, the data format of ImageScalingProperty is configured as described above, but it may be configured to allow more detailed specifications. Further, this property may be expressed as a variation of the clap property. In other words, it is also possible to configure it so that the numerator and denominator can be specified individually. Furthermore, instead of specifying the ratio, the target size may be specified and enlarged/reduced. In this case, for example, it is possible to designate either the width or the height and perform scaling while maintaining the aspect ratio. On the other hand, it may be configured such that both the width and the height are specified and scaling is performed without maintaining the aspect ratio. If the aspect ratio is not maintained, a method of specifying the magnification for each of the vertical and horizontal directions may be used. Alternatively, a configuration may be adopted in which a combination of these specifying methods is defined and the specifying method can be switched using flags or the like so that it can be specified arbitrarily.

ImageScalingProperty shown in FIG. 26 is a data format having a target_width parameter of description 2601 and a target_height parameter of description 2602, and is a transformative item property for specifying the display target size of an image and enlarging/reducing it. This property allows you to directly specify the width and height in pixels to scale up or down. target_width in the description 2601 specifies the width of the image after resizing in pixels. target_height in the description 2602 specifies the height of the image after resizing in pixels. In addition, by specifying only one of the values and specifying a value such as 0 for the other value, it is possible to scale while maintaining the aspect ratio by not specifying one of the sizes after resizing. You can also do this. Alternatively, a data format may be used in which only one or both of the versions and flags are valid depending on their values.

Further, this ImageScalingProperty may be defined by extending the already defined ImageSpatialExtentsProperty. For example, one possible method is to change the meaning of ImageSpatialExtentsProeprty without changing the predefined data structure. In that case, an extension is performed so that ImageSpatialExtentsProeprty, which is a descriptive item property, can also be specified as a transformative property. When handling it as a transformative property, the identity defined as a derived image (iden) is associated with an image item defined as a derived image item as a property, and the descriptive property is associated with the image item with the intention of being a descriptive property. It becomes possible to identify whether it is associated with an image item. More specifically, if the ImageSpatialExtentsProeprty associated with the iden-derived image item is different from the ImageSpatialExtentsProeprty associated with the image item from which it is derived, it is interpreted that it is necessary to apply an image size enlargement/reduction operation. In this case, image_width specifies the width of the resized image in pixels. Similarly, image_height specifies the height of the resized image in pixels. Note that there is a restriction that the image size cannot be directly changed without defining a derived image item.

On the other hand, ImageSpatialExtentsProperty shown in Figure 27 is an extension that involves a change in the data structure. It is a data format that has an image_width parameter of description 2701, an image_height parameter of description 2702, a target_width parameter of description 2703, and a target_height parameter of description 2704. This data format is a descriptive item property and a transformative item property for describing and enlarging/reducing image size information by specifying the reconstruction size and display target size of the encoded image data. ImageSpatialExtentsProperty describes the width and height of the associated image item. Every image item is associated with one item property of this type. The image_width in description 2701 and the image_height in description 2702 indicate the original size in pixels of the reconstructed image of the associated image item before any transformation takes place. If flags&1 is equal to 1, the reconstructed image is resized from the pixel sizes specified in image_width and image_height to the pixel sizes specified in target_width and target_height, respectively. image_width specifies the width in pixels of the reconstructed image before resizing. image_height specifies the height in pixels of the reconstructed image before resizing. target_width specifies the width in pixels of the reconstructed image after resizing. target_height specifies the height in pixels of the reconstructed image after resizing. The extension of FIG. 27 makes it possible to directly associate an item property for enlarging/reducing an image item with an image item even if the ImageSpatialExtentsProperty is not defined as an iden-derived image item. On the other hand, it is also possible to define it as an iden-derived image item and associate it.

The metadata processing unit 106 stores the metadata of the group information created in S804 in the output buffer on the RAM 103.

The subsequent processing of S805 to S806 is also executed by the metadata processing unit 106. In S805, the metadata processing unit 106 determines whether some of the display times (periods) of the images in the slideshow are common and constant and can be specified as default values. If they can be specified as default values (YES in S805), the process proceeds to S806; if not (NO in S805), the process proceeds to S807. In S806, the metadata processing unit 106 sets a default display time (period) parameter for the group set in S804. Specifically, the metadata processing unit 106 sets the default display time (period) in the default_entity_duration parameter (see description 903 in FIG. 9) of the data of the created group information (SlideshowEntityToGroupBox). Alternatively, in the case of the configuration of EntityToGroupBox in FIG. 21, a value is set in the slide_show_timing parameter of SlideShowTimingProperty (to be described later) and associated with the image group as an image group attribute. In S807, the metadata processing unit 106 sets image attribute information that specifies the display time (period) of the image in order to set the display time (period) of each image of the slide show individually. Note that, when a default display time (period) is set, it is not necessary to specify the display time (period) as each image attribute information for the image that has the default display time (period). As described above in the first embodiment, the image attribute information is metadata stored in the area 1408 (ItemPropertiesBox (iprp)) in FIG. 14. The image attribute information created in S807 is the entry data stored in area 1409 (ItemPropertyContainerBox (ipco)) in FIG. 14 and the entry data stored in area 1410 (ItemPropertyAssociationBox (ipma)). The metadata processing unit 106 creates data indicating the display time (period) as entry data to be stored in ipco. Note that if the display time (period) is not specified when the file is created, the property specifying the display time may not be stored, or may not be associated with only images that are not specified. Also, by specifying a value such as 0, information indicating that an arbitrary time (period) is specified when the file is played may be stored and associated with the property.

Note that the designation of the time (period) for displaying the slide show may be configured such that designation for each image item is prohibited and only one can be designated as a group. In that case, the processing in S805 and S807 are unnecessary, and only the processing in S806 is performed. In that case, the entry data stored in the area 1410 (ItemPropertyAssociationBox (ipma)) may directly specify the group ID, which is the group identification information of the SlideshowEntityToGroup group. In that case, the ID indicating the group needs to be in a unified ID space that can be uniquely identified from other item IDs and track IDs. On the other hand, when specifying the same display time (period) for each item, the same property may be applied to all items stored in the group.

FIG. 10 shows the data format of ImageDurationProperty, which is attribute information that specifies the image display time (period) in a slide show. ImageDurationProperty shown in FIG. 10 is a data format having an image_duration parameter of description 1001, and a display time (period) is set in this parameter. The unit of time set as the display time (period) is assumed to be seconds or milliseconds, but is not limited to this, and any unit that allows time to be specified may be used. Alternatively, it may be a relative time parameter used by the playback device to determine the display time (period). For example, the relative parameter may be specified as a percentage or multiple of the value specified as the default display time (period). Further, the data format may include a parameter for specifying a unit such as time_unit. The parameter specifying this unit may be valid depending on the version and the value of flags. By specifying this parameter, the time unit of the image_duration parameter can be specified. Values that can be specified include minutes, seconds, milliseconds, microseconds, and any other method that can uniquely identify time units. If the display time (period) is different for each display image, ImageDurationProperty data with different parameter values is stored in ipco for the number of display images. Then, in order to specify the display time (period) of each display image, ipma entry data that associates the created ImageProperty entry data with the item ID of the display image is created and stored. Also, when displaying each image, data regarding the display position in the canvas is created. The display time (period) of the display image associated with this ImageDurationProperty is given priority over the default_entity_duration of SlideshowEntityToGroupBox. Further, in the case of SlideshowEntityToGroupBox shown in FIG. 21, the display time (period) is specified with priority over the default display time associated with the group. Note that if the display time (period) is not specified when creating the file, the property that specifies the display time may not be stored, or the association may not be made only with images that are not specified. Further, by specifying a value such as 0, a property storing information indicating that an arbitrary time (period) is specified during file playback may be associated.

Figure 23 shows the data format of SlideShowTimingProperty that specifies the default image display time (period) in a slide show. SlideShowTimingProperty shown in Figure 23 is a data format that has a slide_show_timing parameter of description 2301, and the default display time (period) is set to this parameter. The time unit set as the display time (period) is assumed to be seconds or milliseconds, but is not limited to this and may be any unit that can specify time. It may also be a relative time parameter used by the playback device to determine the display time (period). The data format may also be configured to include a parameter for specifying a unit such as time_unit. The parameter that specifies this unit may be configured to be valid depending on the version or the value of flags. This parameter specification makes it possible to specify the time unit of the default_entity_duration parameter. The value that can be specified may be minutes, seconds, milliseconds, microseconds, or any other method that can uniquely identify the time unit. This property is suitable for specifying a default image display time (period) for the SlideshowEntityToGroupBox shown in FIG. 21. This item property is used to specify the duration between two consecutive image items in the EntityToGroupBox. This item property is a property that is associated only with an entity group. In addition, this property is assumed to be associated with a SlideshowEntityToGroupBox, but this is not a restriction. In other words, it may be used for other types of EntityToGroupBox. In this embodiment, the display time (period) specified in slide_show_timing is specified, but in other words, it may be interpreted as indicating the timing at which the image of the item ID is displayed at the time when the index of the sorting order of the item ID stored in SlideshowEntityToGroupBox is multiplied by the value of this parameter, the elapsed time from the start of the slideshow. If the display time (period) is not specified when the file is created, the property specifying the display time may not be stored, or it may be not associated with only images or groups that are not specified. Also, by specifying a value such as 0, a property storing information indicating that an arbitrary time (period) is specified when playing the file may be associated.

Note that in this embodiment, the ImageDurationProperty, which specifies the display time (period) for each item individually, and the SlideShowTimingProperty, which specifies the default display time (period) for the group, are structured as separate Boxes, but these are not common Boxes. It's okay. In that case, when associated with an item, it indicates the individual display time (period), and when associated with a group, it indicates the default display time (period) of the entire group. In that case, the display time (period) specified for each item will be used preferentially. On the other hand, as described above, the configuration may be such that the specification of individual items is prohibited and the setting is applied only to groups. This makes it possible to simplify the process for displaying a slide show. Further, it becomes possible to clarify the difference from the case where the data is stored as a track.

FIG. 11 shows the data format of attribute information ImageLocationProperty that specifies image location information. ImageLocationProperty shown in FIG. 11 has an alignment_position parameter 1101 that indicates the relative position to the canvas when the version of the Box identified by imlo is 1. This alignment_position determines the position with respect to the canvas according to the specified value. When alignment_position is 0, the displayed image is displayed so that the upper left of the canvas is aligned with the canvas. In other words, the top and left of the canvas and the top and left of the display image are displayed aligned. At this time, if the image to be displayed is smaller, the color determined by canvas_fill_value specified in SlideshowEntityToGroupBox is displayed. If the image to be displayed is larger, only the part of the image that fits on the canvas will be displayed. In this embodiment, the image is displayed in this manner, but the image may be displayed by enlarging or reducing the image. Similarly, when alignment_position is 1, the top and center are displayed so as to be aligned. When alignment_position is 2, the top and right are displayed so as to be aligned. When the position is 3, middle and left are displayed together, when alignment_position is 4, middle and center are displayed, and when alignment_position is 5, middle and right are displayed together. Also, when alignment_position is 6, bottom and left are displayed, when alignment_position is 7, bottom and center are displayed, and when alignment_position is 8, bottom and right are displayed together. Note that values of alignment_position of 9 or later are reserved values. Note that although in this embodiment, the values of alignment_position are expressed by numerical values, they may be expressed by bit assignment. For example, if all Bits are 0, the displayed image is displayed so that the upper left of the canvas is aligned with the canvas. If only the 1st Bit is 1, display is made so that the top and center are aligned, and when only the 2nd Bit is 1, display is made so that the top and right are aligned. It may be defined as follows. In this case, it is prohibited for a plurality of Bits to become 1.

If version is not 1, the position is specified using offset values horizontal_offset and vertical_offset based on the top and left of the canvas (description 1102). Note that if 0 is specified for each of these offset values, the setting is equivalent to specifying the top and left of version 1. Pixel locations with negative offset values are not included. Note that a pixel position in the horizontal direction that is larger than output_width specified by SlideshowEntityToGroupBox should not be specified. Similarly, a vertical pixel position greater than output_height specified by SlideshowEntityToGroupBox should not be specified. In this embodiment, ImageLocationProperty is used to specify the display position on the canvas when displaying a slide show, but it can also be used for other purposes. For example, when displaying full screen on a monitor (any screen), the image is normally displayed in the center of the monitor at a specified image size, but if this image attribute information is specified. may be used to specify the position of the monitor screen to be displayed. Further, in this embodiment, image attribute information that specifies the display position is added, but as described above, image attribute information that specifies enlargement or reduction of the image for display may be specified.

This ImageLocationProperty is configured using item properties to determine the image position on the canvas. On the other hand, it may be configured using the ImageOverlay derived image shown in FIG. 22. Currently, in the ImageOverlay derived image configuration defined in ISO/IEC23008-12 (Part 12), it is possible to align images by indicating pixel positions, but the ImageLocationProperty shown in Figure 11 It is not possible to perform alignment using a predefined value that indicates the position relative to the canvas. Therefore, by replacing it with the configuration shown in FIG. 22, the above-mentioned relative positioning becomes possible. An item with an item_type value of "iovl" defines a derived image item by overlaying one or more input images in a specified layer order within a large canvas. The input images are listed in the SingleItemTypeReferenceBox of the derived image item whose type is dimg in the ItemReferenceBox in a layered order such as the bottom input image first and the top input image last. For version 0, the position is expressed in pixels from the upper left corner of the canvas. As already defined, horizontal_offset and vertical_offset (description 2202) in FIG. 22 store pixel offset information from the upper left corner. For version 1, information indicating a predefined relative position to the canvas is defined. alignment_position (description 2201) in FIG. 22 is a parameter similar to alignment_position of ImageLocationProperty in FIG. 11. By storing the item ID of this ImageOverlay as the Entity of SlideshowEntityToGroup, the canvas can be specified even in SlideshowEntityToGroup shown in FIG. 21.

Next, the metadata processing unit 106 creates image attribute information for specifying image switching (transition) effects when displaying a slide show as other image attribute information specifications. FIG. 12 shows a data format of attribute information TransitionEffectProperty that specifies a switching (transition) effect in a slide show. The data format of the TransitionEffectProperty shown in FIG. 24 has a configuration in which a version can be specified in the data format shown in FIG. In the case of the format shown in FIG. 24, transition_duration, which will be described later, can be specified when version is 1. When version is 0, a predefined default value is used for transition_duration. Alternatively, it may be configured as an item property that does not have transition_duration. This property specifies the switching (transition) effect applied between the display of two consecutive items in the EntityToGroupBox. This property can be associated with an item or an Entity group. When storing the same image in one or different slide show groups and applying different switching (transition) effects, one possible method is to use an identity derived image item defined as a derived image. Another possible method is to assign different item_ids to the same image data. In this case, by specifying that two or more image items with different item_ids specified in itemInformationBox (iinf) have the same offset and size in ItemLocationBox (iloc), different item_id can be specified for the same image data. It becomes possible to specify. In addition, a configuration can be considered in which specification is possible by newly defining a Box that is an extension of ItemPropertyAssociationBox. These specification methods can be used not only for specifying item properties in a slide show, but also for specifying other item properties. The TransitionEffectProperty shown in FIGS. 12 and 24 is composed of transition_effect (description 1201, description 2401) that specifies the switching (transition) effect, and transition_duration (description 1202, description 2402) that indicates the time (period) of the switching (transition) effect. ing. transition_effect is a parameter that specifies an effect when displaying an image based on a specified value. For example, if 0 is specified for transition_effect, a cut switching (transition) effect is performed. Also, to identify predetermined effects, such as when transition_effect is 1, a fade switching (transition) effect is performed, when it is 2, a wipe switching (transition) effect is performed, and when it is 3, a split switching (transition) effect is performed. Specify the value of . In addition, a value is specified to identify a predetermined effect for performing a dissolve in switching (transition) effect in the case of 4 and a zoom switching (transition) effect in the case of 5. Other values may be left undefined, and definitions may be added to identify predetermined effects. Also, transition_duration specifies the time (period) for performing the switching (transition) effect specified by transition_effect. The unit of time set as the time of the switching (transition) effect is assumed to be seconds or milliseconds, but is not limited to this, and any unit that allows time to be specified may be used. Alternatively, it may be a relative time parameter used by the playback device to determine the display time (period). For example, as a relative time parameter, it is possible to specify a specified percentage or multiple of the display time (period) specified for each item.

Further, the data format may include a parameter for specifying a unit such as time_unit. The parameter specifying this unit may be valid depending on the version and the value of flags. By specifying this parameter, it becomes possible to specify the time unit of the default_entity_duration parameter. Values that can be specified include minutes, seconds, milliseconds, microseconds, and any other method that can uniquely identify time units. Further, this parameter may be used to switch between arbitrary time units, percentages, and multiples. Furthermore, it is assumed that the time specified in this parameter is specified as a time that is not included in the duration (description 903) in FIG. 9, image_duration (description 1001) in FIG. 10, and slide_show_timing (description 2301) in FIG. However, it is not limited to that.

In this case, the time required to display the entire slide show is the sum of the display time (period) specified for each individual item or group and the time required to perform the switching (transition) effect of this property specified for each item or group. Total. For example, if the SlideShowTimingProperty shown in Figure 23 is applied only to groups, and this TransitionEffectProperty is applied only to groups, the value of the slide_show_timing parameter of SlideShowTimingProperty will be the number of items included in the group. of the items included in the group and the value multiplied by The time (period) is the sum of the number multiplied by the value of transition_duration.

In addition, when the time is included in these times, the time required to display the entire item is the total display time (period) specified for each individual item or group. At this time, a time (period) should be specified that is shorter than each of these display times (periods). However, if a larger value is specified as the main value, the switching (transition) effect may not be performed, or may be adjusted to match the display of the image. Further, the effect of switching to the next image may be performed in the middle of the image display effect. On the other hand, if a specified percentage of time (period) is specified as a relative time parameter, there is no need to consider the magnitude relationship with the display time (period) of each image. Note that although this embodiment is configured with these two parameters, each may be defined as separate image attribute information. Further, in this embodiment, it is assumed that the image attribute information is specified as an effect when displaying an image item to which the image attribute information is applied, but a configuration may also be adopted in which it can be separately specified as an effect when ending the display of the image. In this case, the effect when displaying the image ends and the effect when displaying the next image may be specified separately, or the configuration may be such that only one of them can be specified as a constraint. . Also, when including the transition_duration of this property in the display time (period) of each image item, if it is included only in the display time (period) of the first image out of the display time (period) of two consecutive images. is possible. It is also possible to symmetrically include 50% of each in the display time (period) of two consecutive images. Alternatively, a configuration may be adopted in which a parameter such as cross_item_effect_ratio is defined in the data format, and by this parameter it is possible to specify the ratio and time to include each of the first image and the second image. In this case, if the specified value is specified as a percentage, it must be specified as 100% or less. The specified percentage is included in the display time (period) of the first image, and the time (period) corresponding to 100 - the specified percentage is included in the display time (period) of the second image. Note that when defining cross_item_effect_ratio, a configuration may be adopted in which the cross_item_effect_ratio is made effective by specifying a version, flags, or the like. If not specified, it is possible to include a pre-specified ratio in the display time (period) of each image, such as including 50% as a default value.

In addition, parameters may be defined within the item properties for each transition effect, allowing the operation of the transition effect to be specified. The TransitionEffectProperty shown in FIG. 28 is a property that allows the operation of a transition effect to be specified within an item property. It is composed of transition_effect (description 2801) that specifies the transition effect, and transition_direction (description 2802) that indicates the transition direction. This property, like FIG. 12 and FIG. 24, specifies the transition effect that is applied between the display of two consecutive items in the EntityToGroupBox. This property can be associated with an item or an Entity group, and different transition effects can be specified for one image in the same manner as FIG. 12 and FIG. 24. If (flags&1) is equal to 1, the recommended switching (transition) direction to be applied according to the switching (transition) effect specified in transition_effect (description 2801) is specified in transition_direction (description 2802). If (flags&1) is not equal to 1, this parameter is not applied. Note that this may be defined as any specifiable parameter to be applied according to the switching (transition) effect, not limited to the switching (transition) direction.

transition_effect (description 2801) is a parameter that specifies the effect when displaying an image depending on the value specified. For example, if transition_effect is specified as 0, a cut transition effect is performed. In this case, even if transition_direction (description 2802) is specified, it is ignored. Also, if transition_effect is 1, a fade or fade-in transition effect is performed, and if it is 2, a resolve transition effect is performed. In these cases, the value of transition_direction is similarly ignored. If it is 3, a wipe transition effect is performed, and only values 6 to 13, described below, specified in transition_direction are identified as valid values. Furthermore, in the case of 4, a split switching (transition) effect is performed, and only values 2 to 5, which are specified in transition_direction and described later, are identified as valid values. In the case of 5, a zoom switching (transition) effect is performed, and only values 0 to 1, which are specified in transition_direction and described later, are identified as valid values. In the case of 6, a push switching (transition) effect is performed, and only values 6 to 13, which are specified in transition_direction and described later, are identified as valid values. In this way, a value for identifying a predetermined effect is specified. Other values may be left undefined, and a definition may be added to identify a predetermined effect. transition_direction in description 2802 is a parameter indicating the switching (transition) direction to be applied, and one of the following is specified. Defines the value as 0 for in, 1 for out, 2 for horizontal-in, 3 for horizontal-out, 4 for vertical-in, 5 for vertical-out, 6 for from-left, 7 for from-right, 8 for from-top, 9 for from-bottom, 10 for from-left-top, 11 for from-right-top, 12 for from-left-bottom, and 13 for from-right-bottom. Any other value is undefined. The transition_direction value is ignored if it is not in the range allowed for transition_effect.

In this way, a switching (transition) effect is specified by a combination of transition_effect and transition_direction. For example, if a wipe of 3 is specified for transition_effect, a value of 6 to 13 can be specified for transition_direction. If this designated value is 6, it is a designation to perform a wipe operation from the left. Other wipe effects can specify actions such as from the right, from the top, from the bottom, from the top left, from the top right, from the bottom left, and from the bottom right. The same applies to other switching (transition) effects. In addition, parameters specifying detailed operations according to each switching (transition) effect may be specified by defining parameters in the item property.

In this embodiment, the type of switching (transition) effect is specified using transition_effect (description 1201, description 2401, description 2801), but the item property of each switching (transition) effect can be switched as a separate item property. It is also possible to use a configuration in which each (transition) effect is expressed using 4 CCs. FIG. 29, FIG. 30, and FIG. 31 are examples thereof. The WipeTransitionEffectProperty shown in FIG. 29 is a property that indicates a Wipe switching (transition) effect that is applied between displaying two consecutive items of an entity group. Describe the effect of wiping from the first image to the second image to produce the next image. This item property is associated with the first of two consecutive items. The transition_direction of the description 2901 specifies one of the following values. 0 means from-left, 1 means from-right, 2 means from-top, 3 means from-bottom, 4 means from-left-top, 5 means from-right-top, 6 means from -left-bottom, in the case of 7, from-right-bottom is applied as the switching (transition) direction. Other values are undefined. Note that flags or the like may be used to switch whether or not this parameter is enabled.

The ZoomTransitionEffectProperty shown in FIG. 30 is a property that indicates a Zoom switching (transition) effect that is applied between the display of two consecutive items of an entity group. Describe the effect of zooming in or zooming out from the first image to the second image to produce the next image. This item property is associated with the first of two consecutive items. The transition_direction of the description 3001 specifies one of the following values. The switching (transition) direction is set to 1 for in and 2 for out. Other values are undefined. Note that flags or the like may be used to switch whether or not this parameter is enabled.

The FadeInTransitionEffectProperty shown in FIG. 31 is a property that indicates a Fade-In switching (transition) effect that is applied between the display of two consecutive items of an entity group. Describe an effect that fades in from the first image to the second image to bring out the next image. This item property is associated with the first of two consecutive items. This property does not hold parameters because there is no switch (transition) direction that can be specified.

In addition, it is conceivable to define it as DissolveTransitionEffectItemProperty to perform dissolve (smooth and gradual transition from the first image to the second image) as a switching (transition) effect. Other switching (transition) effects can be similarly defined as different item properties. cutTransitionEffectItemProperty for the effect of cut (instantaneous transition from the first image to the second image), splitTransitionEffectItemProperty for the effect of split (split the image vertically or horizontally and transition to the second image), push( pushTransitionEffectItemProperty can be defined as an effect that causes a transition such that the first image is pushed out by the second image. Furthermore, if there is a transition_direction that can be specified, the corresponding parameter is defined as a value that can be specified.

A value switching (transition) effect that is reserved as undefined in transition_effect (description 1201, description 2401, description 2801) can be similarly defined as a new item property. Moreover, these can be specified individually to image items or groups. On the other hand, if it is defined as an individual item property, it is necessary to associate the item property intended for at most one switching (transition) effect with the item. In other words, the restriction is that only one switching (transition) effect item property can be associated at most. On the other hand, it may be possible to adapt a plurality of switching (transition) effects so that they can be expressed as a mixed switching (transition) effect. Further, user-defined switching (transition) effects may be defined using uuid or the like. When a switching (transition) effect is defined using uuid, both the file generation side and the file playback side need to support it.

Note that the TransitionEffectProperty shown in FIGS. 12, 24, and 28 is associated after other descriptive item properties and transformative item properties.

ImageDurationProperty in FIG. 10 or SlideShowTimingProperty in FIG. 23 and TransitonEffectProperty in FIG. 12 or 24 may be configured together as one image attribute information. FIG. 13 shows a data format of SlideShowProperty as image attribute information that combines ImageDurationProperty in FIG. 10 and TransitionEffectProperty in FIG. 12. When configured as shown in FIG. 13, it becomes possible to collectively specify image attribute information regarding a slide show. Similarly, image attribute information indicating a display time (period) and image attribute information indicating a switching (transition) effect may be combined into one image attribute information. Also, these image attribute information may be applied to image groups.

The metadata of the image attribute information created in S807 is stored in the output buffer on the RAM 203. After processing S806 or S807, the process advances to S808, and the slide show metadata processing flow ends.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of a HEIF file output in this embodiment. PrimaryItemBox (pitm) shown in description 1501 in FIG. 15 stores 1 as item_ID. Note that it is also possible to extend the PrimaryItemBox and specify a group ID that identifies the SlideshowEntityToGroup as the ID specified for the main Box. In that case, 1001, which is group_id described later, is specified as the ID. ItemInfoBox shown in description 1502 allows each image item to be identified by item_ID, and indicates what type of image item the image item identified by item_ID is. An image item whose item_ID is 1 is 'hvc1', indicating that it is a HEVC encoded image. Similarly, all image items up to the image item with item_ID 48 are stored as HEVC encoded images. ItemLocationBox shown in description 1503 indicates the storage position within the file of each image data bitstream. It is possible to specify where the data of each image exists in the MediaDataBox. A description 1504 indicates an ItemPropertyContainerBox in the ItemPropertiesBox, and stores ItemProperty indicating attribute information of the image. 'hvcC' indicates HEVC encoding parameters. Also, 'ispe' is attribute information indicating the size of the image. Also, 'dura' is the aforementioned ImageDurationPropertyBox. 'imlo' is ImageLocationPropertyBox. Also, 'teff' is a TransitionEffectPropertyBox. Reference numeral 1505 is an ItemPropertyAssociationBox that indicates the association between each image item and attribute information. Each image item is associated with the attribute information in 'ipco' in order. For example, item_ID1 and item_ID2 are associated with a common ispe, indicating that they have a common image size. On the other hand, it can be seen that item_ID3 has a different 'ispe' applied and a different image size. Furthermore, since dura is not associated with item_ID1, the default display period is applied. Furthermore, different display periods are applied to item_ID2 and item_ID3. Description 1507 is SlideshowEntityToGroupBox. The group_id is 1001, the number of group entries is 48, the canvas fill value is opaque black, and the canvas size is 4032 in width and 3024 in height. The item IDs of each image are specified in entity_id from 1, 2 to 48 in the order of slide show display. This stores information for displaying a slide show.

As described above, when the slide show metadata creation process described in this embodiment is performed, the created HEIF image file has an internal structure as shown in FIG. 14. Note that in the first embodiment, derivative images of a slide show are described. Therefore, the area 606 (ItemInfoBox (iinf)) in FIG. 6 stores an entry with the item ID of the derived image, but in the case of this embodiment, the area 1406 (iinf) in FIG. 14 shows the derived image of the slide show. It is obvious that such entries are not included. Furthermore, in the first embodiment, image attribute information and item reference information of derived images of a slide show are created and stored as entry data in area 607 (ItemReferenceBox (iref)) and area 608 (ItemProptiesBox (iprp)) in FIG. 6, respectively. . However, in this embodiment, it is also obvious that the area 1407 (iref) and area 1408 (iprp) in FIG. 14 do not include entries regarding derived images of the slide show.

In this embodiment, images for displaying a slide show are grouped with the above configuration, and attribute information of each image is adapted to each image when displaying the slide show. However, a different configuration may be used as long as the method groups images and holds related attributes as properties or group parameters.

As described above, according to this embodiment, by grouping images for slideshow display, it is possible to easily identify and store images intended for slideshow display among multiple images stored in a HEIF file. Also, by storing information about the canvas as a group parameter, it is possible to unify the size when displaying a slideshow. Also, by storing information about the display time (period) as a group parameter or group attribute information, or attribute information for each image, it is possible to arbitrarily specify the time for displaying the slideshow. Also, by storing canvas position information when displaying an image as image attribute information or a parameter of a grouped derived image, it is possible to specify the display position. Furthermore, by making it possible to specify the image switching (transition) effect when displaying a slideshow as image attribute information, more flexible slideshow display is possible. Also, by specifying an identity (iden), grid image (grid) image, or overlay (iovl) image defined as a derived image as an image to be stored in SlideshowEntityToGroupBox, it is possible to display the derived images as a slideshow. It is also possible to store multiple SlideshowEntityToGroupBoxes using different group IDs in one file, and it is also possible to store multiple slideshow representations in one file.

[Embodiment 3]
The image file creation device in the third embodiment has the same configuration as that described in FIG. 1 in the first embodiment. Further, the image file creation processing flow shown in FIG. 2 and the slide show playback flow shown in FIG. 20 can be similarly applied to this embodiment. However, this embodiment differs from the first embodiment in the slide show metadata creation process (S212) in FIG. 2 and the process for setting main image item information (S213). Therefore, in this embodiment, the processes of S212 and S213 will be mainly described with reference to FIGS. 16, 17, 18, and 19.

Figure 16 is a diagram showing the data format of PrimaryItemBox (pitm) in the HEIF standard. In this embodiment, a data format that extends the pitm specification shown in Figure 16 is used. Figure 17 shows an example of a PrimaryItemBox data format that extends the pitm specification. The intention of this extension is to enable one or more image items to be specified as main image item information. In the process of S212, the metadata processing unit 106 selects images to be displayed in the slide show and creates a list of item IDs in the order of display. Then, a list of item IDs is created for specifying one or more item IDs to be displayed in the slide show as the main image item. In the next step S213, the metadata processing unit 106 stores the image item IDs in the description 1701 or description 1702 in Figure 17 in the order of the list based on the list of item IDs created in S212, and sets the number of stored item IDs to the item_count parameter. As a result, one or more images are specified as the main image item in the HEIF image file to be created. Also, in this embodiment, in S212, the metadata processing unit 106 creates image attribute information that specifies the display time (period) of each image in the slide show in order to set the display time (period) of each image individually. The process of setting this image attribute information is the same as the process of S807 in FIG. 8 described in the second embodiment, and the metadata processing unit 106 creates metadata for an ItemPropertiesBox (iprp) and stores it in the RAM 203. As an alternative method, although only one PrimaryItemBox can be specified in the current HEIF standard, multiple PrimaryItemBoxes can be specified, and the PrimaryItemBoxes can be stored in the order in which they will be displayed in the slide show.

Further, FIG. 18 shows another example of the PrimaryItemBox data format, which is an extension of the pitm specification. In the data format shown in FIG. 18, group_id of SlideshowEntityToGroupBox shown in Embodiment 2 can be specified as PrimaryItemBox (description 1801).

FIG. 19 shows an example of a HEIF file output in this embodiment. FIG. 19 shows an example of a file in which group_id can be specified. In FIG. 19, group_id 1001 specified in SlideshowEntityToGroupBox (description 1507) is specified in PrimaryItemBox (pitm) shown in description 1901. Descriptions 1902 to 1907 in FIG. 19 are common to descriptions 1502 to 1507 in FIG. 15 described in the second embodiment.

As described above, according to this embodiment, by specifying the image to be displayed in a slideshow in the expanded PrimaryItemBox, it is possible to easily identify and store the image intended for slideshow display among the multiple images stored in the HEIF file. In addition, by making it possible to specify the group ID grouped in EntityToGroupBox in PrimaryItemBox, it is possible to treat multiple images as a first priority image group. In addition, by storing information about the display time (period) as a group parameter or attribute information for each image, it is possible to arbitrarily specify the time for displaying the slideshow. In addition, by storing canvas position information when displaying the image as image attribute information, it is possible to specify the display position. Furthermore, by making it possible to specify the image switching (transition) effect when displaying the slideshow as image attribute information, more flexible slideshow display is possible. Note that in this embodiment, the PrimaryItemBox is expanded to enable file storage intended for slideshows, but a different expansion method may be used as long as slideshow storage can be realized.

Above, in each embodiment, the embodiments of the image file creation process and the slide show metadata creation process to be stored in the image file have been described. As shown in FIG. 6 or 14, the HEIF image file created in each embodiment has ftyp, meta, mdat (metadata storage area 602 (MetaBox (meta) in FIG. 6) and codes in the top layer. It has a structure in which digitized data storage areas 611 (MediaDataBox (mdat)) are lined up. However, the HEIF file created by the image file creation device is not limited to this internal structure. For example, any of the embodiments described above may be implemented, and moving image data may also be stored together, so that a HEIF file can also be created for MovieBox (moov) metadata.

In HEIF, a HEIF file that has an image sequence as a temporally continuous still image is defined as a video track in the HEIF file so that the application that displays the image can perform continuous display processing. There is a need to. In addition to meta, MOOV metadata may also be required as a file structure. In each of the embodiments described above, a HEIF file is created in which slide show information of a plurality of image data is stored in meta. In other words, creating an image file with slide show settings where the user can select any number of images and decide the order and display time (period) is more efficient than creating a HEIF file that stores an image sequence. It becomes possible to create HEIF files.
Further, in the above embodiment, HEIF was used as an example of the file format, but it can be applied to other formats as long as multiple image files can be stored in one file and metadata related to those image files can be retained. It's okay.

<Other embodiments>
The present invention can also be realized by a process in which a program for implementing one or more of the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or device via a network or a storage medium, and one or more processors in a computer of the system or device read and execute the program. The present invention can also be realized by a circuit (e.g., ASIC) that implements one or more of the functions.

In the description of each of the above embodiments, the process of creating an image file (FIG. 2, etc.) and the process of reproducing the created image file (FIG. 20, etc.) are executed by the same device, that is, the image file creation device 100. Although examples have been described, they may be executed on separate devices. That is, the image file reproducing apparatus that receives the image file created by the image file creating apparatus 100 via wired or wireless communication analyzes the received image file and reproduces it by executing the process shown in FIG. You can also do this.

The invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, the following claims are hereby appended to disclose the scope of the invention.

100 Image file creation device, 101 System bus, 102 CPU, 103 RAM, 104 ROM, 105 Encoding/decoding unit, 106 Metadata processing unit, 107 Display unit, 108 Communication control unit, 109 User interface unit

Claims (18)

An image file generation method for generating an image file according to a predetermined image file format having a structure including an image data area for storing an image and a metadata area for storing metadata that is information regarding the image, the method comprising:
Obtaining multiple images to be displayed sequentially in a slide show ,
A grouping data structure describing the group of the plurality of images, the grouping data structure including attribute information indicating that the group is a target of a slide show, and a plurality of identification information for identifying each of the plurality of images. generating a grouping data structure containing ;
generating the image file in which the plurality of images are stored in the image data area and the grouping data structure is stored in the metadata area;
An image file generation method comprising: The image file according to claim 1, wherein the order of the plurality of identification information included in the grouped data structure corresponds to the display order of the plurality of images that are continuously displayed in a slide show. Generation method. The image file generation method according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising generating a first property data structure including information indicating a display period of each of the plurality of images and storing the generated first property data structure in the image file. . 4. The image file generation method according to claim 3, wherein the first property data structure is stored in the image file in association with the grouping data structure. The image according to claim 3, wherein the first property data structure is stored in the image file in association with at least one of the plurality of identification information included in the grouping data structure. File generation method. Further, a second property data structure including information regarding an image transition effect when the plurality of images are displayed successively is generated and stored in the image file. The image file generation method according to any one of the items. 7. The image file generation method according to claim 6, wherein the second property data structure is stored in the image file in association with the grouping data structure. The image according to claim 6, wherein the second property data structure is stored in the image file in association with at least one of the plurality of identification information included in the grouping data structure. File generation method. 7. The information regarding the image transition effect included in the second property data structure includes information indicating at least one transition effect of zoom, fade, dissolve, cut, split, push, and wipe. 9. The image file generation method according to any one of 8 to 9. 10. The image file generation method according to claim 6, wherein the second property data structure further includes a parameter related to the image transition effect. 10. The image file generation method according to claim 6, wherein the second property data structure further includes information indicating a transition period in the image transition effect. 12. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising generating information regarding enlargement or reduction of an image when displaying at least one of the plurality of images and storing the generated information in the image file. Image file generation method. 13. The image file generation method according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined image file format is HEIF (High Efficiency Image File Format). An image file reproduction method for reading an image file according to a predetermined image file format having a structure including an image data area for storing an image and a metadata area for storing metadata that is information regarding the image, the method comprising:
obtaining, from the metadata area, a grouping data structure describing a group of a plurality of images to be displayed consecutively in a slide show, the grouping data structure including attribute information indicating that the group is a subject of the slide show and a plurality of pieces of identification information for identifying each of the plurality of images;
acquiring the plurality of images from the image data area;
Controlling a sequential display of the plurality of images in a slide show based on the obtained grouping data structure and the plurality of images;
13. A method for playing an image file comprising the steps of: A program for causing a computer to execute the image file generation method according to claim 1. A program for causing a computer to execute the image file reproducing method according to claim 14. An image file generation device that generates an image file according to a predetermined image file format having a structure including an image data area for storing an image and a metadata area for storing metadata that is information regarding the image,
means for obtaining a plurality of images to be displayed sequentially in a slide show;
A grouping data structure describing the group of the plurality of images, the grouping data structure including attribute information indicating that the group is a target of a slide show, and a plurality of identification information for identifying each of the plurality of images. means for generating a grouping data structure containing;
means for storing the plurality of images in the image data area and generating the image file in which the grouping data structure is stored in the metadata area;
An image file generation device comprising: An image file reproducing device that reads an image file according to a predetermined image file format having a structure including an image data area for storing an image and a metadata area for storing metadata that is information regarding the image,
A grouping data structure that describes a group of a plurality of images to be displayed continuously in a slide show from the metadata area, and attribute information indicating that the group is a target of a slide show, and each of the plurality of images. a plurality of identifying information for identifying; and means for obtaining a grouping data structure including;
means for acquiring the plurality of images from the image data area;
means for controlling the plurality of images to be displayed continuously in a slide show based on the acquired grouped data structure and the plurality of images;
An image file playback device comprising:

Images