JP2000023147A - Device and system for picture information providing - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a picture information providing device which can perform appropriate picture display on a picture display device side by selecting and outputting picture information in a format in accordance with performance of the picture display device from the picture information in plural formats stored in a storage means on the basis of performance information for specifying the performance of the picture display device. SOLUTION: A video collection part 157 converts a video obtained from an image pickup camera 160 into picture data in plural formats and these picture data in plural formats are stored in a video storage part 158. That is, the video collection part 157 prepares a still picture from a moving picture of a video photographed by the image pickup camera 160 on the basis of performance information or performs processing for converting the image into a picture file of a resolution lower than the resolution at the time of image pickup of the moving picture or the still picture. The picture information on this compressed moving picture or the still picture is transmitted an on-vehicle terminal 100 by way of communication equipment 152a such as a modem or a terminal adapter or a general wire/radio telephone line (including analog and digital ones).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication-type image information providing apparatus and an image providing system for providing image information from an image providing apparatus to an image display apparatus. The present invention relates to an image providing apparatus and an image information providing system that transmit according to performance.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a terminal having an image display device transmits a request for image information, image information captured by a camera installed at a position corresponding to the request is acquired and transmitted to the terminal that made the request. There has been an image information providing apparatus and an image information providing system using the same.

[0003]

However, in general, the image display capability (for example, the number of colors that can be displayed, the file format that can be displayed, etc.) and the communication function (for example, the data transmission speed, etc.) of the image display device are different from those of the terminal. Each is different.
In the conventional image providing device, the format of the image information to be transmitted is
Since the image display capability of all the image display devices is not fully supported, there is a problem that a problem occurs when displaying images on the image display device side. For example, when the image information providing apparatus creates and provides image information of a certain number of colors, a terminal having only a displayable number of colors less than the number of colors cannot appropriately display an image. Further, when creating and providing image information of a certain file format (for example, GIF), a terminal that can handle only image information of a format other than that format cannot display an image.

[0004] In addition, since high-resolution image information has a large data amount, if it is received by a terminal having a low data transmission speed, there is a problem that the communication time with the image providing apparatus becomes long.

An object of the present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and by providing image information according to the image display capability of each image display device of each terminal, the image display device side To provide an image information providing apparatus and an image information providing system capable of performing an appropriate image display. Another object of the present invention is to provide an image information providing apparatus capable of reducing the communication time to an image display device by providing image information according to the communication capability of each image display device of each terminal, and the image information To provide a providing system. Another object of the present invention is to prepare a plurality of pieces of image information corresponding to the image display capability or communication capability of the terminal in advance, and to prepare a plurality of image information when a request for the same spot is made from a plurality of terminals. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image information providing apparatus and an image information providing system capable of providing image information quickly by selecting and providing information from information.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication-type image information providing apparatus for creating and transmitting image information of a specific point requested by an image display apparatus. In, a video acquisition unit that captures an image of a predetermined point to create an imaging signal, and a reception unit that receives request information regarding image acquisition transmitted from the image display device, and the imaging signal, A storage unit that converts the image information into a plurality of predetermined types of image information and stores the information, and based on the performance information that specifies the performance of the image display device, based on the plurality of types of image information stored in the storage unit. An image information output unit that selects and outputs image information in a format according to the performance of the image display device, and a transmission unit that transmits the image information to the image display device that has transmitted the request information. Characterized by comprising a.

In the present invention, the image pickup signal created by the image acquisition means is converted into image information of a plurality of predetermined formats by the storage means and stored, respectively, and the image information is output by the image information output means. And selecting image information in a format corresponding to the performance of the image display device that has received the request information based on the performance information, and transmits the selected image information by the transmission means.

[0008] For this reason, it is possible to avoid a problem that the received image information cannot be displayed on the image display device side or the image information is not properly displayed, and the image display device can appropriately display the image information.

In the present invention, the storage means stores the video signal in advance as image information obtained by converting the video signal into a plurality of types of image information corresponding to a plurality of performances. Even when the image information is received from a plurality of image display devices, it is only necessary to select the image information corresponding to the performance of the image display device from the stored plurality of image information. Therefore, it is possible to omit the trouble of acquiring a video for each of the plurality of image display devices that have made the request and creating image information according to the respective performances, and it is possible to quickly provide the image information to the image display devices.

[0010] The request information of the present invention is data for requesting image information of a specific point, and corresponds to, for example, a point code of a point where video acquisition is desired.

The performance information is information for specifying display performance or communication performance of image information of the image display device. As the display performance, for example, a displayable image type such as a still image or a moving image, the number of colors of a displayable image, a displayable image file format, and the like are applicable. The performance information may be information managed in advance by the image providing device or information received from the image display device. The communication performance corresponds to the data transmission speed of the image processing apparatus. For simplification of the process, terminal information transmitted when logging in to the image information providing apparatus may be used as performance information for specifying communication performance.

The format of the image information that is converted and stored by the storage means is a moving image and a still image, high-resolution and low-resolution image information, a plurality of image information of different colors (for example, about 167 images).
Image information of different colors (GIF format, JPEG format, MPEG format, etc.).

[0013] The image information output means may be configured as follows.
These include:

According to a first aspect, the image information output means selects a still image from a plurality of types of image information when the performance information indicates that only a still image can be displayed. In this case, the image display device can avoid a problem that the received image information cannot be displayed regardless of the image type that can be displayed.

According to a second aspect, when the performance information indicates that both a still image and a moving image can be displayed, the image information output means converts both the still image and the moving image from the plurality of types of image information. Is to select. In this case, the image display device can arbitrarily select image information of a still image and a moving image or reproduce both of them.

According to a third aspect, when the performance information indicates the number of colors that can be displayed, the image information output means selects image information of a corresponding number of colors from a plurality of types of image information. In this case, the image display device can appropriately reproduce the image information regardless of the number of colors that can be displayed.

According to a fourth aspect, when the performance information indicates a displayable file format, the image information output means selects the corresponding file-for-match image information from a plurality of types of image information. . In this case, the image display device can avoid a problem that the received image information cannot be displayed regardless of the displayable file format.

According to a fifth aspect, when the performance information indicates a data transmission speed, the image information output means outputs low-resolution image information from a plurality of types of image information when the transmission speed is low. When the transmission speed is high, the high-resolution image information is selected from a plurality of types of image information. In this case, it is possible to transmit video information having a resolution that is a transmission data amount within a predetermined communication time for each transmission speed of the image display device, so that the communication time can be reduced.

The image acquisition means according to the present invention corresponds to, for example, an imaging camera which is installed at an intersection of roads and shoots a road condition as a real image.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication-type image information providing apparatus for creating and transmitting image information of a specific point requested by an image display device, wherein the communication type image information providing apparatus captures an image of a predetermined point. Video acquisition means for generating an imaging signal by using the video acquisition means, storage means for storing the video signal created by the video acquisition means, reception means for receiving request information on video acquisition transmitted from the image display device, An image information output unit that converts a signal into image information in a format corresponding to the performance of the image display device based on performance information that specifies the performance of the image display device, and outputs the image information; And transmitting means for transmitting the image data to the image display device which has transmitted the image data.

According to the present invention, the image information output means converts the image pickup signal acquired by the image acquisition means into image information in a format corresponding to the performance of the image display device based on the performance information and outputs the image information. It is possible to avoid problems such as the inability of the image display device to display the received image information and the inability to properly display the image information, and to enable the image display device to perform appropriate display.

The format of the request information, performance information and image information converted by the image information output means in the present invention is the same as that of the first aspect.

The following are examples of the image information output means of the present invention. That is, when the image information output unit converts a moving image pickup signal into still image information or indicates a file format in which the performance information can be displayed, when the performance information indicates that only a still image can be displayed. In addition, it can be configured to convert image information of a corresponding file format from an imaging signal. In this case, the image display device can avoid a problem that the received image information cannot be displayed.

Further, when the performance information indicates that both a still image and a moving image can be displayed, the image information output means converts the image pickup signal of the moving image into image information of both the still image and the moving image. Can be configured. In this case, either the moving image or the still image can be selected by the image display device, or both images can be displayed.

When the performance information indicates the number of colors that can be displayed, the image information output means can be configured to convert the image signal into image information reduced in color to the corresponding number of colors. In this case, the image display device can appropriately reproduce the image information.

When the performance information indicates the data transmission speed, the image information output means converts the image pickup signal into low-resolution image information when the transmission speed is low, and outputs high-resolution image information when the transmission speed is high. It can be configured to convert resolution image information. In this case, since the video information having a resolution that is the transmission data amount within the predetermined communication time for each transmission speed of the image display device is transmitted, the communication time can be reduced.

The storage means of the present invention is for temporarily storing the video signal created by the video acquisition means, and can be used, for example, when decompressing a compressed video. However, the conversion may be performed by the image information output unit directly from the video acquisition unit without using the storage unit.

Another aspect of the present invention is a communication-type image information providing apparatus for creating and transmitting image information of a specific point requested by an image display apparatus, wherein the apparatus captures an image of a predetermined point. Image acquisition means for creating an imaging signal, and image information created by the image acquisition means, based on performance information specifying the performance of the image display device, image information in a format corresponding to the performance of the image display device Image information output means for outputting as the image information, reception means for receiving request information related to video acquisition transmitted from the image display device, and transmission means for transmitting the image information to the image display device that transmitted the request information. It is characterized by having.

The image information output means of the present invention includes both the image information output means of the invention according to claim 1 and the image information output means and storage means of the invention according to claim 2. . That is, when an image information signal is created from an image signal, the image signal is converted into a plurality of types of image information and stored in a storage unit, and when request information is received, an image of a format corresponding to performance is received from the storage unit. This includes both the case where information is selected and transmitted to the image display device, and the case where the request information is received and the image signal is converted into image information of a format corresponding to the performance and transmitted to the image display device when receiving the request information .

Therefore, according to the present invention, the image information output unit can avoid a problem that the image information received by the image display device cannot be displayed or is not properly displayed, and display an appropriate display on the image display device. Can be made possible.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the image information providing device according to the first or second aspect, the request information includes performance information for specifying the performance of the image display device that has transmitted the request information. Preferably, the image information output means selects and outputs image information based on performance information included in the received request information.

In the present invention, since the performance information is included in the request information, even if the display performance or the communication performance of the image display device is changed, the performance information is obtained based on the performance information at the time of receiving the request information. Since the image information according to the performance can be provided, the image information can always be appropriately displayed on the image display device.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the image information providing apparatus according to the first or second aspect, the performance information for specifying the performance of the specific image display device is replaced with the identification information for specifying the individual image display device. The apparatus further comprises performance information storage means for storing the request information in association with each other, wherein the request information includes identification information for specifying an image display device that has transmitted the request information, and wherein the image information output means includes the received request information. Performance information corresponding to the identification information included in the information is called from the performance information storage means, and image information is selected and output based on the called performance information.

According to the present invention, the image information providing apparatus manages identification information and performance information for each image display apparatus in association with performance information storage means, and receives request information from the image display apparatus. And identifying the image display device based on the identification information included in the request information, and transmitting the image information according to the performance of the image display device.

Therefore, the processing of the image information providing device can be speeded up, and the image information required for the image display device can be provided quickly. Further, management for each image display device is also facilitated.

The identification information of the present invention corresponds to, for example, a vehicle ID.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the image providing device according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, when the receiving means receives request information from any one of the image display devices, An image capturing instruction unit for transmitting an image capturing instruction signal to the image acquisition unit is further provided.

In the present invention, when the request information from any one of the image display devices is received by the imaging command means, the imaging command signal is transmitted to the video acquisition means. , It is only necessary to acquire the video signal from the image capturing / acquiring means only once, and it is not necessary to acquire the video signal for each image display device, thereby providing quick image information. be able to.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the image providing apparatus according to the fifth aspect, the image capturing instruction unit is configured to, when the receiving unit receives request information from any one of the image display devices, When the imaging time of the image information already stored in the storage means is out of the predetermined time range, an imaging instruction signal is transmitted to the video acquisition means.

In the present invention, the imaging command signal is transmitted to the video acquisition means when the imaging time of the image information already stored by the imaging command means is out of the predetermined time range. Even if a request for video acquisition is made after a lapse of a predetermined time from the time and the stored image information becomes old, the latest image information can be provided to the image display device.

Note that the predetermined time can be arbitrarily determined, and may be different for each image acquisition means.

The following are examples of image display devices corresponding to the above-described image information providing device.

The image display device according to the first aspect includes: a transmission unit that transmits request information for acquiring a video at a predetermined point and performance information that specifies the performance of the image display device to the image information providing device; The image processing apparatus further includes a receiving unit that receives image information created based on the request information and the performance information from an image information providing device, and a display unit that displays the received image information.

The request information and the performance information of the present invention are the same as those of the first aspect.

According to the present invention, the transmission means transmits the performance information and receives the image information created by the image information providing apparatus based on the performance information. Inconveniences such as inappropriate performance of the device can be avoided.

When the performance information includes information for specifying the communication performance such as the data transmission speed, the image information having a data amount enough to fit within a short communication time is set according to the transmission speed of the image display device. , The communication time can be reduced.

Further, since only image information suitable for the function of the image display device can be received, reception of unreproducible or unnecessary video information can be avoided, and communication time can be effectively used.

An image display device according to another aspect includes a transmission unit for transmitting request information for acquiring a video at a predetermined point and identification information for specifying the image display device itself to an image information providing device; The image processing apparatus further includes: a receiving unit that receives image information created based on the request information and the identification information from an image information providing device; and an output unit that displays the received image information.

According to the present invention, there is provided an image display apparatus corresponding to the image information providing apparatus according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, wherein request information and performance information are the same as those of the fourth aspect.

In the present invention, since the performance information of the image display device is stored in the image information providing device in advance, the transmitting unit may transmit the identification information in addition to the request information. For this reason, it is possible to avoid such inconveniences as not being able to display image information on the display means, or not being suitable for the performance of the display means. In addition, there is no need to perform performance information creation processing, and the processing is simplified. The advantage is that

According to another aspect of the present invention, in the above-described image display device, when the display means is capable of displaying both a moving image and a still image, the display means requests the image information providing device as image information. An output mode selection unit for selecting one or both output modes of a moving image and a still image is further provided, and the request information includes an image selection signal for specifying the selected output mode. .

In the present invention, when the display means is capable of displaying both a moving picture and a still picture, the output form selecting means selects either one or both of the output forms of the moving picture and the still picture, and selects the output form. Since the request information including the image selection signal for specifying the output form is transmitted by the transmission means, only the image information of the desired output form can be received from the image information providing device and output by the output means. For example, when it is desired to display an image over time, if request information including an image selection signal for specifying a moving image is transmitted, only a moving image or both a moving image and a still image can be received from the image information providing apparatus. When still images are sufficient or when communication time is desired to be reduced, by transmitting request information including an image selection signal for specifying a still image, only a still image can be received from the image information providing apparatus.

The image information providing system as a whole of the image information providing device and the image display device described above includes the following.

That is, the invention according to claim 7 is a communication type image information providing system in which an image information providing device creates and transmits image information of a predetermined point requested by an image display device. A video acquisition unit configured to capture an image of a predetermined point to generate an imaging signal, a storage unit configured to convert the imaging signal into image information of a plurality of predetermined formats and store the image information, and the image display device. Image information output means for selecting and outputting image information in a format corresponding to the performance of the image display device from a plurality of types of image information stored in the storage means, based on performance information specifying the performance of Communication means for receiving, from the image display device, request information for requesting acquisition of a video at a predetermined point, and transmitting the image information from the image information providing device. .

According to the present invention, the image information output means selects image information in a format corresponding to the performance of the image display device from a plurality of image information converted from the image pickup signal into a plurality of formats and stored. As described above, in the same manner as in the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to prevent a problem that the image information received by the image display device cannot be displayed or is not properly displayed, and to cause the image display device to appropriately display the image information. be able to.

According to the present invention, the storage means stores the video signal in advance as image information obtained by converting the video signal into a plurality of types of image information corresponding to a plurality of performances. Even when the image information is received from a plurality of image display devices, it is only necessary to select the image information corresponding to the performance of the image display device from the stored plurality of image information. Therefore, it is possible to omit the trouble of acquiring a video for each of the plurality of image display devices that have made the request and creating image information according to the respective performances, and it is possible to quickly provide the image information to the image display devices.

Another aspect of the image information providing system is a communication type image information providing system in which image information of a predetermined point requested by an image display device is created and transmitted by the image information providing device. A video acquisition unit that captures a video at a predetermined point to create an imaging signal, and an imaging signal created by the video acquisition unit, based on performance information that specifies the performance of the image display device. Image information output means for outputting as image information in a format according to the performance of the display device, and request information for requesting acquisition of a video at a predetermined point from the image display device, and receiving the image information from the image information providing device. Some include communication means for transmitting information.

Also in the present invention, the image information output means
Outputs image information in a format according to the performance of the image display device, so that image information received on the image display device side cannot be displayed or is not displayed properly. Can be made possible.

[0059]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The image information providing system according to the present embodiment includes an in-vehicle terminal as an image display device mounted on a vehicle and an image information providing device, and transmits image information from the image information providing device to the in-vehicle terminal in response to a request from the in-vehicle terminal. Is what you do. FIG. 1 shows a configuration diagram of the entire image information providing system.

As shown in FIG. 1, the image information providing device 150 is a communication device 152 for transmitting and receiving data between the imaging camera 160 as a video acquisition unit and the on-board terminal 100.
a, a distribution unit 151 for performing the control, and the imaging camera 16
0, and a video collection unit 1 that collects video data from the imaging camera 160.
57, a video storage unit 158 as storage means for storing image data created from video data, and a determination unit 159 as image information output means for selecting image data from the video storage unit 158 based on request information. Is done.

The communication device 152 receives data such as request information, performance information, and terminal information at the time of login from the on-board terminal 100, and transmits data such as image data of the requested video to the on-board terminal 100. And the control of data transmission is performed by the distribution unit 151.

Here, the request information is information for requesting video information of an image at a predetermined location, and includes a location code for which video is desired to be acquired.

The performance information is information for specifying the display performance of the video display device of the vehicle-mounted terminal 100. Specifically, the performance information includes image types that can be displayed by the video display device 106, that is, data indicating whether only a still image can be displayed or both a still image and a moving image can be displayed, and the number of colors that can be displayed (16 colors). ,
256 colors, about 16.7 million colors, black and white, etc.) and displayable image file formats (GIF, JPEG, etc.).

In the image information providing system of this embodiment, terminal information at the time of logging in to the image information providing device of the vehicle-mounted terminal is used as performance information.
Data indicating the transmission speed of the communication device of the in-vehicle terminal 100 is included.

The video collection unit 157 converts the video obtained from the imaging camera 160 into image data of a plurality of formats,
These plural types of image data are stored in the video storage unit 158. The plurality of types of image data are in a format based on the performance information. Specifically, the video collection unit 157
Performs a process of creating a still image from a moving image, which is a video image captured by the imaging camera 160, based on performance information, or converting the moving image or the still image into an image file with a lower resolution than the resolution at the time of imaging. Has become.

As shown in FIG. 1, the in-vehicle terminal 100 includes a request issuing device 105 as request means for issuing request information, a communication device 108 for transmitting and receiving various data such as image data, and a display means for displaying image data. And a video display device 106 as the main unit.

Next, a description will be given of a method of providing image data to the in-vehicle terminal by the thus configured image information providing system of the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a request accepting routine executed when request information is received from a vehicle-mounted terminal in the image information providing apparatus of the present embodiment. FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a data acquisition routine executed when image data is acquired from the imaging camera 160. FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a frame data receiving routine for receiving a plurality of frame data constituting a moving image.

First, in the in-vehicle terminal 100, a user requests an image of a predetermined point, so that request information including a point code of a desired point and an image type that can be displayed on the video display device (only a still image is displayed) Is transmitted to the image information providing apparatus 150, including whether the image data can be displayed and whether a still image and a moving image can be displayed). When logging in to the image information providing apparatus, performance information indicating the data transmission speed is transmitted as terminal information. The transmission of the request information and the performance information may be performed manually by the user, or may be performed automatically. Needless to say, the request information may include a plurality of point codes.

In the image information providing apparatus 150 which has received the request information and the performance information, first, a request receiving routine is started. In the request reception routine, it is checked whether or not the point code in the request information already exists, and if so, the request is received and registered.

Next, it is determined whether or not the video at the point where the request has been made has already been obtained from the imaging camera 160, and whether or not the plurality of converted image data exists in the video storage unit 158. When the image data is already stored in the video storage unit 158, image data corresponding to the performance of the vehicle-mounted terminal 100 is selected from the plurality of image data stored in the video storage unit 158 based on the performance information, and the image data is transmitted. Execute the routine.

On the other hand, if there is no image data corresponding to the point in the video storage unit 158, a data acquisition routine is executed.

In the data acquisition routine, the imaging camera 16
0, and video data (moving image) captured by the imaging camera 160 is received in frame units by a frame data reception routine. In the frame data reception routine, a video of a moving image is received for each frame, and in the case of the first frame of the moving image, a still image creation routine of the video collection unit is executed. When all the frames of the video data have been received, the moving image creation routine is executed. After the reception is completed, the communication with the imaging camera 160 is disconnected.

Here, the acquisition of the video data is performed as follows. Video data of a moving image (consisting of a plurality of still images) captured by the camera 161 is supplied to the video transmission device 162 and compressed by various existing compression methods. The video data of the moving image after compression is transmitted to the image information providing device 150 via a communication device 163 such as a modem or a terminal adapter, and a general wired / wireless telephone line (including analog and digital). Thereby, the image information providing device 150 acquires the video data. It should be noted that video data of a moving image transmitted from the camera to the image information providing apparatus 150 can be created at a plurality of resolutions. In this case, the video transmission device 162 can perform compression at a plurality of resolutions.
A plurality of compression memories are provided. This makes it possible to create video data of a moving image compressed for each of a plurality of resolutions.

Next, the video data received by the frame data receiving routine is subjected to image processing based on the performance information by the still image creating routine and the moving image creating routine of the image collection unit 157.

The image information providing device 150 decodes the image information of the compressed moving image by a predetermined method, and
The image information of the moving image decoded by the existing compression method is compressed again according to the image display capability (the number of colors that can be displayed, the file format that can be displayed, etc.). This is because the in-vehicle terminals 100 may have different image display capabilities.

When the in-vehicle terminal 100 can display only a still image, or when there is a request for a still image, a still image is extracted from the decoded moving image image information and compressed.

The image information of the moving image or the still image thus compressed is transmitted to the in-vehicle terminal 100 via a communication device 152a such as a modem or a terminal adapter, and a general wired / wireless telephone line (including analog and digital). Sent.

As a method for compressing the image information of the moving image,
For example, FST compression described in JP-A-5-227547 can be used.

In the FST compression, the A / D-converted video signal is coded into a block of a matrix including a plurality of pixels representing one of two types of reference values and a bit map, and the non-coded data within the coded block is encoded. Redundancy information is found, identified and coded, and each block is compared with the corresponding block in the immediately preceding frame to eliminate inter-block and inter-frame redundancy, and furthermore, the current color value is Is encoded in the form of a difference with respect to the color value of, thereby compressing the amount of information.

Also, TIM compression described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-154261 can be applied to image information of a moving image for compression. In this case, a moving image (N still images) is apparently treated as one still image, so that a CLUT (color lookup) including image information of the compressed moving image and color information corresponding to the index value of each block is performed. Table) is created.

Further, MPEG or the like can be used.

As a method for compressing the image information of a still image, for example, the above-mentioned TIM compression, JPEG compression or the like can be used.

[0108] The image information providing device 1
It is desirable to use the above-mentioned FST compression as a method of compressing the image information of the moving image transmitted to 50. According to the FST compression, the first still image compressed in the frame is first transmitted to the video transmission device 162. Therefore, when there is a request for a still image, it waits to receive all the image information of the compressed moving image. This is because the data can be decoded at the stage when the first one is received without any need, compressed according to the image display capability of the vehicle-mounted terminal, and transmitted to the vehicle-mounted terminal.

Hereinafter, the image processing when the performance information is the image type and the resolution will be described. FIG. 5A is a flowchart of a routine for creating two types of still images of high resolution and low resolution, and FIG. 5B is a flowchart of a routine of creating two types of moving images of high resolution and low resolution. It is.

The still picture creation routine creates a bit map by decoding data for one frame to create a still picture. At this time, two types of still images, a high-resolution still image and a low-resolution still image, are created.

On the other hand, the moving picture creation routine decodes data of all frames and creates a series of moving picture image data. At this time, two types of moving images, a high-resolution moving image and a low-resolution image, are created as in the case of the still image.

In this way, a total of four types of image data having different image types and resolutions are created from one piece of video data, and all are stored in the video storage unit 158.

Next, an image data transmission routine selects and transmits image data corresponding to the function of the vehicle-mounted terminal 100. FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of the image data transmission routine. In the image data transmission routine, first, the image data is compared with the request information, and the location code and the image type that can be displayed on the in-vehicle terminal 100 are confirmed. For the point code, whether or not the image is the image of the point code specified in the request information. For the image type, if the image type that can be displayed is only a still image, the image data of the still image can be displayed. When the image type is a still image or a moving image, it is confirmed whether or not the image data of the still image and the moving image is selected.

Next, the transmission speed of the vehicle-mounted terminal 100 is confirmed from the terminal information at the time of login, and it is confirmed whether an image having a resolution corresponding to the transmission speed is selected. Specifically, when the transmission speed is low, it is determined whether low-resolution image data (moving image or still image) is selected. When the transmission speed is high, whether high-resolution image data is selected. And
If correctly selected, the respective image data is stored in the on-board terminal 1
Send to 00. Here, in this embodiment, the low transmission speed is 9600 bps, and the high transmission speed is 33.6K.
bps and 64 Kbps, but are not necessarily limited thereto.

As a result of the processing by the image data transmission routine, image data transmitted to the vehicle-mounted terminal 100 having different displayable image types and transmission speeds is as shown in FIG. That is, only the low-resolution still image data is transmitted to the in-vehicle terminal A that can display only a still image and has a low transmission speed (9600 bps), can display a still image and a moving image, and has a low transmission speed. Low speed (9600 bps)
The low resolution still image and the low resolution moving image data are transmitted to the in-vehicle terminal B. Still images and moving images can be displayed, and the transmission speed is high (33.6 Kbps,
Or 64Kbps) PC (personal computer)
-A and PC-B both transmit high-resolution still image data and high-resolution moving image image data.

As described above, according to the image information providing system of the present embodiment, appropriate image data can be transmitted in accordance with the type of image that can be displayed on the video display device of the in-vehicle terminal 100. Impossibility or improper reproduction can be prevented. In addition, since an image having a data amount corresponding to the transmission speed of the communication device of the vehicle-mounted terminal 100 is transmitted, there is an advantage that the communication time can be reduced.

Further, all image data corresponding to all displayable image types and all image data corresponding to the high transmission speed and the low transmission speed are created by the video collection unit 157, and the video storage unit 158 is prepared in advance. Therefore, even when request information for acquiring a video at the same point is received from a plurality of in-vehicle terminals 100, image data corresponding to the function of each in-vehicle terminal 100 is selected and transmitted from the video storage unit 158. I just need. Therefore, it is not necessary to acquire a new video from the imaging camera for each of a plurality of in-vehicle terminals that have made a request,
Image data can be provided quickly.

In the image information providing system according to the present embodiment, the performance information is extracted from the request information when the request information is received from the on-board terminal 100. , And may be stored so that the request information from the in-vehicle terminal 100 is used only for the vehicle ID and the point code to make a request for image acquisition. In this case, there is no need to perform the process of determining the performance information from the request information.
Even faster processing can be performed.

In the image information providing system of the present embodiment, the in-vehicle terminal 10 mounted on the vehicle as an image display device
Although 0 is described as an example, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to, for example, a portable image display device that can be carried by a person.

[0096]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to transmit image information in a format corresponding to the performance of the image display device based on the performance information for specifying the performance of the image display device. On the device side, it is possible to avoid problems such that the received image information cannot be displayed or the image information is not properly displayed, and it is possible to enable the image display device to perform appropriate display. Further, when the performance information is communication performance such as data transmission speed, image information having a resolution corresponding to a transmission data amount within a predetermined communication time can be transmitted for each transmission speed of the image display device. Can be reduced.

In the present invention, the image pickup signal is converted into a plurality of types of image information in advance and stored, and based on the performance information, the stored plurality of types of image information are
Since the image information in the format corresponding to the performance of the image display device is selected and transmitted, even when the request information of the video acquisition for the same point is received from a plurality of image display devices, the image information is transmitted to each of the plurality of requesting image display devices. There is an advantage in that it is possible to save the trouble of photographing a plurality of videos by the imaging unit and newly creating image information corresponding to each performance, and to quickly provide the image information to the image display device.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an image information providing system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a request reception routine according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a video data acquisition routine according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a frame data reception routine according to the embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of an image creation routine of a video collection unit according to the embodiment. FIG. 5A is a flowchart of a still image image creation routine, and FIG.
FIG. 6B is a flowchart of a moving image creating routine.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an image data transmission routine of a distribution unit according to the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a state diagram illustrating an example of transmitting image data in the image information providing system according to the embodiment;

[Explanation of symbols]

 100: In-vehicle terminal 105: Request issuing device 106: Video display device 108: Communication device 150: Image information providing device 151: Distribution unit 152a, 152b: Communication device 157: Video collection unit 158: Video storage unit 159: Judgment unit 160: Imaging device 161: Camera 162: Video transmission device 163: Communication device

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A communication-type image information providing apparatus for creating and transmitting image information of a specific point requested by an image display device, wherein an image of a predetermined point is photographed to generate an imaging signal. Video acquisition means, reception means for receiving request information related to video acquisition transmitted from the image display device, and storage means for converting the imaging signal into image information in a plurality of predetermined formats and storing the image information, respectively. And selecting and outputting image information in a format corresponding to the performance of the image display device from a plurality of types of image information stored in the storage unit based on performance information for specifying the performance of the image display device. A communication-type image information providing device, comprising: image information output means; and transmission means for transmitting the image information to the image display device that has transmitted the request information. 2. A communication-type image information providing device for creating and transmitting image information of a specific point requested by an image display device, wherein an image of a predetermined point is photographed to generate an image pickup signal. A video acquisition unit; a storage unit that stores a video signal created by the video acquisition unit; a reception unit that receives request information related to video acquisition transmitted from the image display device; Image information output means for converting the image information into image information in a format corresponding to the performance of the image display device based on the performance information for specifying the performance of the device, and outputting the image information; A communication type image information providing apparatus, comprising: 3. The request information includes performance information that specifies the performance of the image display device that has transmitted the request information, and the image information output unit includes a request for the performance information included in the received request information. 3. The image information providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus selects and outputs image information based on the information. 4. Performance information storage means for storing performance information for specifying the performance of a specific image display device in association with identification information for specifying each image display device, wherein the request information is The image information output unit includes, from the performance information storage unit, performance information corresponding to the identification information included in the received request information. The image information providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image information is selected and output based on the performance information called here. 5. An image capturing command means for transmitting an image capturing command signal to said video image obtaining means when said receiving means receives request information from any one of the image display devices. The image providing device according to claim 1, wherein 6. The imaging command means, wherein when the reception means receives request information from any one of the image display devices, the imaging time of the image information already stored in the storage means is determined in advance. The image providing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the image providing apparatus transmits an image capturing command signal to the video acquiring unit when the time is out of the specified time range. 7. A communication-type image information providing system in which image information of a predetermined point requested by an image display device is created and transmitted by an image information providing device, wherein an image of a predetermined point is photographed. Video acquisition means for creating an imaging signal by converting the imaging signal into image information in a plurality of predetermined formats and storing the image information, and performance information for specifying the performance of the image display device. Image information output means for selecting and outputting image information in a format corresponding to the performance of the image display device from a plurality of types of image information stored in the storage device based on the image information; A communication unit for receiving request information for requesting acquisition of an image of a designated point, and transmitting the image information from the image information providing apparatus.