EP1020070A1

EP1020070A1 - Communication system for recording and managing digital images

Info

Publication number: EP1020070A1
Application number: EP98946243A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Joachim Laier; Heinz Mattes; Ralf-Joachim SCHÄFER
Original assignee: Siemens AG
Current assignee: Siemens AG
Priority date: 1997-09-29
Filing date: 1998-07-27
Publication date: 2000-07-19
Also published as: WO1999017529A1

Abstract

A communication system presents a camera (102) coupled with an image transmission unit (103) enabling images to be selected from the camera memory and to be transferred (104) to a transmitting unit. The inventive camera also comprises a transmitting unit for transmission of digital data, including at least the images and image-specific ordering signs. A server is also provided which has a receiving unit, an evaluation unit for analyzing the ordering signs and, coupled thereto, a memory intended for archiving images on the basis of the ordering signs.

Description

description

Communication system for taking and managing digital images

The invention relates to a communication system for recording and managing digital images.

A camera for recording digital images is known from [1].

A message transmission system is known from document [2].

An arrangement with a TV camera and a telephone is known from document [3], in which audio data and image data are transmitted together via a telephone line. With the a-arrangement known from [3], it is also possible to digitize, compress and transmit individual still images, for example photographs.

If, however, an increased number of digital images are recorded and these are to be archived, for example, in a central computer unit (server), the problem of data retention and in particular data retrieval of the image data arises to an increased extent with an increasing number of images to be archived.

The invention is therefore based on the problem of creating a communication system for recording and managing digital images, in which the management and archiving of digital images can be carried out simply, quickly and clearly.

The problem is solved by the communication system according to claim 1. The communication system has at least one camera for recording images, an image transmission unit as well as a transmission unit and a server.

The camera is set up to take pictures that are stored in digital form in a camera memory of the camera. An image transmission unit is coupled to the camera. With the image transmission unit, the images are read out of the camera memory and fed to the transmission unit. With the sending unit, the images and the ordering features associated with the images, which characterize the images, are sent to a server. The server has a receiving unit, an analysis unit and an archive store. The transmitted data is received in the server with the receiving unit. The data are analyzed with the analysis unit with regard to the order features contained in the data and the images are archived in an archive memory coupled to the analysis unit, taking into account the order features.

The communication system has a number of advantages. In addition to the voice transmitted in conventional telephone systems, this communication system can also transmit still images, that is, photographs. The transmitted data contain the images as well as the order features clearly assigned to the images, which characterize the images. The order features are extracted from the data and used to store the digital images in such a way that they can be easily found in the server's archive memory, even with a large number of digital images to be archived and managed. In this way it is possible to ensure automatic archiving of the digital images in the server. Storage takes place depending on the extracted classification features, which enables simple, fast, clear archiving of digital images. Further developments of the invention result from the dependent claims.

In a further development it is provided that the transmission unit is a mobile telephone. This makes it possible to record the recorded image / voice information directly at any location and send it to a central server and thus to distribute the data in duplicate form without losing time.

A further development of the communication system around a speech recognition unit in the telephone unit achieves additional compression of the data to be transmitted, since the audio information to be transmitted can be further compressed.

In a further embodiment of the communication system, it is advantageous for the ordering features to have audio data. In this way, very simple, user-friendly archiving of the image data is achieved, since the user only has to speak information into the telephone unit about the captured image, as in the case of a telephone conversation.

The audio data can also be provided in a form other than in speech as order features. The audio data can be present, for example, in specific noises characterizing the image data or in freely selectable music.

In a further embodiment of the communication system, it is provided that the date and / or time of the acquisition of the image and / or the time of transmission of the data are used as ordering features. In this way, the order features can be extracted in the server in an extremely simple manner and converted directly into the information as to where in the archive store the digital images are to be stored in the server. The implementation can, for example take place that the received digital images are stored in directories of the archive memory in the server, which are divided according to the transmitted order features.

With a further design of the communication system, in which the order features contain an indication of the location of the archive memory at which the images are to be stored, the communication system can be implemented with less hardware expenditure and is therefore more cost-effective, since an extremely simple extraction of the order features and subsequent ones Implementation in the memory address of the archive store is achieved.

In order to improve the relationship between the image quality required for the transmission of the images and the required data transmission rate in the message transmission system, it is advantageous in a further embodiment to provide an image analysis unit in the server for determining the quality of the images. If the required quality is higher than that supplied, a higher image resolution of the images can be requested from the server in a further embodiment. However, if the image quality compared to the actually required image quality in the server is higher than required, a lower data transmission rate can be set and images with lower image quality can be requested from the telephone unit. This enables the required transfer rate and the associated costs for transferring the images to be reduced.

It is also advantageous in one embodiment that the

Image transmission unit is integrated in a connection between the camera and the transmission unit. This configuration makes the communication system even more flexible, since the camera, the image transmission unit and the transmission unit can be physically separate and only interact when the images are transmitted. An embodiment of the invention is shown in the figures and is explained in more detail below.

Show it

1 shows part of the communication system with a camera, an image transmission unit and a transmission unit; Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the individual components of the image transmission unit; Figure 3 is a sketch of the communication system with a plurality of the units shown in Figure 1; Figure 4 is a flowchart showing the process steps of the recording, transmission and

Archiving of digital images are shown; Figure 5 is a block diagram showing the various ordering features; FIG. 6 shows a flowchart which shows the method steps which take place when the camera communicates with the image transmission unit; FIG. 7 shows a flow chart in which the method steps of communication between the image transmission unit and the transmission unit and the transmission of the

Images are shown to the server.

FIG. 1 shows a first unit 101 of a communication system 301.

The first unit 101 has a digital camera 102, an image transmission unit 103 and a mobile radio telephone (cell phone) 104. The camera 102 is connected to the image transmission unit 103 via a first cable 105. The image transmission unit 103 is connected to the via a second cable 106

Radiotelephone 104 connected. Instead of the cables 105, 106 can plugs, ie plug connections, a plug-in card or an infrared connection can also be used.

Digital images are recorded with the camera 102. The images are stored in a camera memory 107 of the camera 102. The digital images stored in the camera memory 107 are read out from the camera memory 107 by the image transmission unit 103 via a first data interface 108. The camera 102 is controlled via the data interface 108, so that manual, automatic or also semi-automatic operation of the camera 102 is possible.

From the image transmission unit 103 described in detail below, the image data is transmitted to the radio telephone 104, i.e. fed to the transmitter unit. With the radio telephone 104, the images are transmitted wirelessly to a receiving device, a server 304. The radio telephone 104 has a data input device (keyboard) and a display unit (LCD display). The image transmission unit 103 is connected to the radio telephone 104 via the second cable 106 through a second data interface 109.

The image transmission unit 103 has the following components (see FIG. 2):

a camera interface 201 to the digital camera 102;

a transmission interface 202 to the transmission unit, i.e. to radiotelephone 104;

a program memory 203; a data memory 204;

a processor unit 205;

a programming interface 206.

The program code for coordinating the communication between the digital camera 102 and the radio telephone 104 is stored in the program memory 203. The program code is executed by the processor unit 205. The operation of the pro gram takes place via the data input device and the display unit of the radio telephone 104. The corresponding commands are transmitted via the transmission interface 102 to the image transmission unit 103.

Thus, the command to take an image in an automatic mode can be given by the program stored in the program memory 203 or by the manual actuation of the camera trigger.

When the image transmission unit 103 is activated, the following method is carried out between the camera 102 and the image transmission unit 103 (cf. FIG. 6).

The method is implemented in the form of a process in the image transmission unit 103.

In a first step 601, it is checked in the image transmission unit 103 whether image data are stored in the camera 102 in the camera memory 107.

If there are no images (step 602), step 601 is carried out periodically, i.e. camera 102 is periodically polled for new image data.

If images are stored in the camera memory 107, the images from the camera 102 are loaded into a buffer of the image transmission unit 103 (step 603) and the camera memory 107 is deleted (step 604).

In a further step 605, the images are processed (step 605). Furthermore audio data (spoken speech, noises, etc.) are processed in step 606, e.g. digitized and / or compressed.

In a further step 607, the images and sound data are synchronized with a time stamp and the images in one Transmission directory of the image transmission unit stored (step 608).

In a further step 609, a data information file is generated, which is stored in a further step 610 in the transmission directory in which the synchronized image and sound data are located. The data information file contains the following information, which is stored in readable, unencrypted form in ASCII format:

- time information,

- telephone number of the transmitter,

- name of the sender,

- possibly a designation of a project to which the data should be assigned.

The communication between the image transmission unit 103 and the radio telephone 104 is regulated by a second process which is carried out in the image transmission unit 103 and is shown in its procedural steps in FIG.

The second process remains in a wait state until the radio telephone 104 requests transmission of images (step 701).

If the service is requested by the radio telephone 104, the image transmission unit 103 checks whether the transmission directory is empty (step 702).

If the transmission directory is empty, a message is transmitted to the radio telephone 104 that there is no data (images and order features associated with the images that characterize the images) (step 703). If there is data in the transmission directory, a recipient, the server 303, is selected (step 704).

In a further step 705, an attempt is made to establish a connection between the radio telephone 104 and the server 303.

If the connection has been successfully established (step 706), the data from the transmission directory are transmitted in a further step 707 from the image transmission unit 103 via the radio telephone 104 to the server 303.

In a further step 708, the data are deleted from the transmission directory.

Furthermore, status data is sent to the display unit of the radio telephone 104 (step 709).

After successful transmission, the connection between the radio telephone 104 and the server 303 is ended (step 710).

If no connection has been established between the radio telephone 104 and the server 303, a status information is transmitted to the display unit of the radio telephone 104 that no connection could be established (step 711).

The communication system 301 has the following components, which are shown in FIG. 3:

any number of the units 101 shown in FIG. 1, consisting of camera 102, image transmission unit 103 and transmission unit 104;

a transmission system 302, which is coupled both to a first unit 101 and to the server 303 and is used to transmit the data between the first unit 101 and the server 303;

the server 303. The server 303 is a computer arrangement which is used for data storage of a larger number of digital images and, in addition, any order features OM associated with the images.

The server 303 has at least the following components:

a receiving unit EE for receiving data which are each transmitted by a first unit 101 via the transmission system 302;

an analysis unit AE, which is coupled to the receiving unit EE and with which order features are extracted from the received data. Different implementation options for the analysis unit AE are described below;

- Furthermore, a memory SP for storing the data and the digital images contained in the data is provided in the server 303.

An image analysis unit BAE is also provided in the server 303, with which the quality of a digital image is determined. For example, the noise that the digital image has is determined in the image analysis unit BAE and the quality of the image is estimated as a function of the noise.

Furthermore, a selection unit OFF is provided in the server 303. The selection unit AUS is used to control the image resolution of the digital images, as is used in the first unit 101 for image compression. In known compression methods (JPEG), a control parameter for setting the image compression of digital images lies in the control of the quantization factor in the image data compression.

The compression of the images according to the JPEG standard takes place in the image transmission unit 103 or in the camera 102. The selection unit OFF also serves to control the transmission rate during the transmission of the data via the transmission system 302.

Furthermore, a means for analyzing speech signals from which parts of the order features OM are extracted is provided in the server 303 in the analysis unit AE. A speech synthesis unit is also provided in the server 303. Via the speech synthesis unit, digitally stored speech information is converted into speech, which is displayed to a user of the server 303 in natural speech.

The server 303 is set up to manage the digital images, as will be described below, as a database system. The mode of operation of the analysis unit AE is explained in detail in the description of the method which is shown in FIG. 4.

5 shows various possibilities for the order features OM. The order features are clearly assigned to the digital images and characterize them. The order features OM serve, as will be described below, for the clear, unambiguous storage of the digital images in the server 303 in such a way that the digital images can be found again quickly.

The order features OM can be implicitly contained in the digital image itself, in particular in a specific semantics of the image content, in buildings, in a recorded landscape or in a recorded vehicle type. In accordance with the recorded semantics, the analysis unit AE must be designed to analyze the image semantics. If the order features OM are implicitly contained in the digital image, the analysis unit AE is designed as a pattern recognition unit that searches for specific, predetermined features in the digital image. The order features OM can also be contained in the transmitted data which contain the digital images, in particular the address or the telephone number of the radio telephone 104 which transmits the data. Furthermore, the information about the date and / or the time of the recording time of the respective digital image and / or the sending of the respective digital image to the server 303 can also be contained in the data. If this is the case, the analysis unit AE is designed in such a way that this information can be extracted from the data. This corresponds to a simple analysis of the header field of the transmitted message that contains the data.

In general, the order features OM can contain the following types of information:

arbitrary forms of audio data 501, for example melodies, songs, noises or also speech 502 spoken by the user into the radio telephone 104,

the time and / or the date of taking the picture and / or the time and / or the date of sending the data 503,

the telephone number 504 of the radio telephone 104 and / or the telephone number of the server 303 or another type of identification of the radio telephone 104 and / or the server 303, e.g. a unique address of radiotelephone 104 or server 303;

- At least one indication of the location in the archive memory of the server 303 where the digital images are to be stored 505. This is done by means of a clear path specification which indicates the location at which the directory within the file system of the server 303 the respective digital image should be saved;

further alphanumeric data, which are entered, for example, via the keyboard of the radio telephone 104, in particular in the ASCII format 506. Of course, the analysis unit AE is set up according to the type of the order features OM, so that the analysis unit AE is able to extract the order features OM from the data. Different forms of implementation can be used for this, for example any type of parser with which the respective information is extracted. Parsers are known from document [4].

FIG. 4 shows the process for recording, transmission and archiving of recorded digital images in its individual process steps in a flow chart. In a first step 401, the images are recorded with the camera 102. The images are stored in digital form as digital images in the camera memory 107 (step 402).

The images are transmitted from the cellular phone 104 to the server 303 via the transmission system 302 (step 403).

At the server 303, the data are received (step 404) and the order features OM, which characterize the digital images, are extracted (step 405) from the received data.

The images and possibly additionally the order features OM and further information characterizing or describing the pictures are archived in the server 303, ie stored (step 406), the order features OM being taken into account during the archiving. The following publications are cited in this document:

[1] Market overview: low-cost digital cameras, Canon: Power Shot 600, MACup, pp. 100-101, No. 4, 1996

[2] U.S. Patent 5,260,989

[3] U.S. Patent 5,063,587

[4] S. Naumann et al, Parsing, Teubner Verlag, Stuttgart, 1st edition, ISBN 3-519-02139-0, pp. 155-166, 1994

Claims

claims

1. Communication system for taking and managing digital pictures, - with at least one camera for taking pictures,

in which the camera has a camera memory for storing the recorded images,

with an image transmission unit coupled to the camera, with which the images are read out of the camera memory and fed to a transmission unit,

with the transmitting unit for transmitting digital data which have at least the ordering features associated with the pictures and characterizing the pictures,

with a server which has the following components: a receiving unit for receiving the transmitted data,

an analysis unit for analyzing the data with regard to the order features, and

- With an archive memory coupled to the analysis unit, in which the images are archived taking into account the order features.

2. Communication system according to claim 1, wherein the transmitter unit is a telephone.

3. Communication system according to claim 2, wherein the transmission unit is a mobile phone.

4. Communication system according to one of claims 1 to 3, in which a means for assigning the ordering features to the images is provided in the camera.

5. Communication system according to one of claims 1 to 3, in which a means for assigning the ordering features to the images is provided in the image transmission unit.

6. Communication system according to one of claims 1 to 3, in which a means for assigning the order features to the images is provided in the transmission unit.

7. Communication system according to one of claims 1 to 6, in which the image transmission unit is integrated in a connection between the camera and the transmission unit.

8. Communication system according to one of claims 1 to 7, in which the image transmission unit is set up such that compression of the images is carried out.

9. Communication system according to one of claims 2 to 7, in which a speech recognition unit is provided in the telephone.

10. Communication system according to one of claims 1 to 9, in which the ordering features contain audio data.

11. Communication system according to claim 10, wherein the audio data contains speech spoken into the telephone.

12. Communication system according to one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the ordering features contain at least one of the following information:

- a date of the picture taken,

- an indication of the time the picture was taken,

- a date of sending the respective picture,

a time indication of the sending of the respective picture, a telephone number of the sending unit,

- a server phone number,

- an indication of where the images are to be stored in the server.

13. Communication system according to one of claims 1 to 12, in which a database system is provided in the server.

14. Communication system according to one of claims 1 to 13, in which an image analysis unit is provided in the server for determining the quality of the images.

15. Communication system according to one of claims 1 to 14, in which in the server a selection unit for selecting the image resolution of the images and / or for selecting a transmission rate to be used in the transmission of the images.