JP2002099490A - Online greeting card service system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simply and easily prepare card high in a degree of originality by enlarging the selection range of image data added to the cards when the user preparation of the online greeting cards transmitted and received through Internet is supported. SOLUTION: A user acquires the image data hyper-linked to the online greeting cards 21 from URL of arbitrarily designated Internet, the user judges whether the size of the acquired image data is in the range applied to the layout form of the cards 21, and in the case that it is not applied, size conversion is performed so as to be applied.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an online greeting card service system for supporting the creation and transmission of online greeting cards transmitted and received on the Internet, and more particularly, to a method for transmitting image data such as photographs and illustrations to text messages. It is effective when applied to a card that is pasted together with data by a hyperlink.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An online greeting card is a type of electronic mail transmitted and received on the Internet, and its main body is composed of hypertext such as HTML. The hypertext is hyperlinked so that text message data such as a seasonal greeting or a wedding invitation and image data such as a photograph or illustration are laid out and pasted in a predetermined display frame.
An online greeting card that assists in creating and sending this online greeting card
Service system is online and online
Practical as a service providing system.

[0003] In this service system, a user of an online greeting card on which image data in a predetermined file format is pasted by a hyperlink is supported online, and the online greeting card created with this support is sent to a WWW server. Place and the URL of the online greeting card
To the Internet address specified by the user. The recipient who has received the e-mail notification can browse the greeting card addressed to him / her online by clicking on the URL described in the e-mail.

[0004] In order to support the creation of a greeting card user, the service system prepares in advance various types of image data of a size suitable for the layout format of the greeting card, and organizes the image data by genre. It has a function to present it in a state and let the user select it arbitrarily. With this function, a user can easily create a greeting card on which both text and image messages are laid out without creating image data such as a photograph or an illustration by himself / herself.

[0005]

However, in the above-described conventional system, the types of images that the user can paste on the greeting card are limited, so that the user creates a highly original greeting card. There is a problem that it is difficult to respond to this when sent.

[0006] Therefore, in order to enable the creation of a highly original online greeting card without increasing the burden on the user, the inventor instructs the user to input an arbitrary URL on the Internet, and inputs the URL. We considered hyperlinking the image data to the greeting card. According to this, since the user can select any image data from the Internet and paste it on the greeting card, it is possible to create an online greeting card with a high degree of originality.

However, although there are countless image data on the Internet, their sizes (physical size such as vertical / horizontal pixel ratio and capacity size such as file size)
Is unspecified, and when it is of a size that can fit in the layout format of the greeting card, the selection range is greatly reduced, and there are almost no cases where both the image content and the image size desired by the user match. I will. For this reason, it turned out that it is not so effective in creating a highly original greeting card.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and has as its object to expand the selection range of image data that can be pasted on an online greeting card by a user, thereby increasing the degree of originality. Online and easy to create greeting cards
To provide a greeting card service system.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention supports online creation of an online greeting card on which image data in a predetermined file format is pasted by a hyperlink, and creates the online greeting card online. Online Greeting Card W
An online greeting card service system which is placed on a WW server and notifies the URL of the online greeting card by mail to the Internet address designated by the user, and satisfies the following specific items (11) and (12). It is characterized by the following. (11) Obtain image data to be hyperlinked to the online greeting card from a URL on the Internet arbitrarily specified by the user. (12) The size of the acquired image data is
It is determined whether or not the range is suitable for the layout format of the greeting card, and if not, the size conversion process is performed so as to be suitable. According to this, the user can select the desired image data from the Internet and create a highly original online greeting card without being limited by the size.

Further, by satisfying the following specific items (21) and (22) in addition to the above requirements, it is possible to greatly save the user from inputting URLs of image data. (21) The user inputs the URL of the hypertext to which the image data is linked. (22) The URL of the image data in a predetermined file format is extracted from the hypertext of the URL input by the user, and the extracted URL is presented to the user and arbitrarily selected, thereby causing the user to specify the acquisition destination of the image data. The size conversion process may be performed by a process of reducing or expanding the image size of the acquired image data,
As a means for reducing the image size, a trimming process for cutting out only a suitable size portion may be performed.

[0011]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of an online greeting card service system according to one embodiment of the present invention. This system is
It is constructed by WWW software operating on a WWW server 1 connected to the Internet, and its main part is interactively supporting creation of an online greeting card 21 by a user (sending user terminal) and created. A card creation unit 11 for notifying the URL of the card 21 to a destination address specified by the user by mail; a card server 12 for storing the card 21 together with message data and image data; A size inspection unit 14 for inspecting whether or not the display size of the image data conforms to the layout format of the card 21. The image data determined to be incompatible by the size inspection unit 14 is converted into a conformable size (resize). And a processing function such as a size conversion unit 15. To have.

Online greeting card 21
Has a body portion created in a hypertext (HTML) file format, and a predetermined format is prepared in advance. Message data (text) arbitrarily input by the user and image data in a predetermined file format arbitrarily specified by the user are pasted on the card 21 in a predetermined layout format by hyperlinks (see FIG. 2). ).

The card creation section 11 allows the user to arbitrarily designate image data to be hyperlinked to the online greeting card 21. One of the designation modes is a URL designation for inputting an arbitrary URL on the Internet. Mode. In this URL designation mode, the user inputs an arbitrary URL, and acquires image data of the input URL from the Internet. The acquired image data is transmitted to the size conversion unit 1 if necessary.
After resizing at step 5, a hyperlink is made to the card 21.

The created online greeting card 21 is stored in a card server (WWW server) 12 which can be browsed and accessed from the Internet. At the same time, it creates a hypertext-formatted mail in which the URL of the storage destination is described and sends it to the Internet address specified by the user.

[0015] The user who has received the standard mail can click on the URL described in the standard mail to view the card 21 on the Internet.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a browsing image of the card 21. Reference numeral 22 denotes an image pasting frame, and reference numeral 23 denotes a text message pasting frame. FIG.
9 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the main part of the system described above. In the flowchart shown in the figure, first, a selection screen of image data to be pasted on the online greeting card 21 is transmitted to the user terminal (S1). On this selection screen, the following three types of selection methods (S
A dialog for selecting (1) to (S3) is included (S2).

S21: Various kinds of pre-made image data prepared in advance are presented in a state of being arranged according to genre, and the user is arbitrarily selected. S22: The user is allowed to upload arbitrary image data. S23: The user is allowed to input an arbitrary URL on the Internet. Here, when the user selects the existing image data in S21, the selected image data is hyperlinked to the card 21. When the user selects the selection method of S22, a screen (dialog) for supporting the execution of the upload is transmitted, and the image data uploaded from the user terminal is acquired (S24).

If the user selects the selection method in S23, a screen (dialog) for supporting the input of the URL is transmitted, and the URL arbitrarily input from the user terminal is acquired (S3). When the URL is obtained, the data of the URL is stored in a predetermined file format (for example, JPEG or GI
(F format) image data is determined (S
4). If the result of the determination is that the URL data is not image data in a predetermined file format, the URL is invalidated and the process returns to the first step (S1). That is, data other than the predetermined file format is excluded. If the image data is in a predetermined file format, the image data of the URL is obtained on the Internet (S5). Further, it is checked whether or not the display size of the obtained image data conforms to the layout format of the card 21 (see FIG. 2) (S5).

If the size is determined to be appropriate in the size inspection, the acquired image data is stored in the card server 12 and hyperlinked to the card 21 (S6). Thus, the image data arbitrarily selected by the user on the Internet can be pasted on the card 21 by a hyperlink. However, since the image data arbitrarily selected from the Internet is not originally created with the intention of conforming to the layout format of the card 21, it is inconsistent in size in many cases.

In this case, the obtained image data is subjected to size conversion processing so as to conform to the layout format (S
51). Then, the image data subjected to the size conversion processing (resizing) is stored in the card server 12 and is hyperlinked to the card 21 (S6). Thereafter, text message data is acquired from the user terminal by interactive processing, and this is pasted to the card 21 by a hyperlink (S7). As a result, an online greeting card in which the image and the message are pasted in a predetermined layout format is created. Card 21 created
Are stored in the card server 12 in a state where they can be browsed and accessed on the Internet.

After the card 21 has been created, the destination address (Internet address) to which the card 21 is to be sent is obtained from the user terminal by interactive input processing.
Then, an e-mail in a hypertext format in which the URL of the card 21 is described is transmitted to the destination address (S7). Thus, the user at the destination address can browse the card 21 by clicking the URL described in the e-mail.

With the processing functions described above, the user can easily create a highly original online greeting card by selecting desired image data from the Internet without being restricted by the image size.

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the present invention in the form of an operation flowchart in its main part. To explain the difference from the above-described embodiment, in this embodiment, when a user inputs a URL of arbitrary image data on the Internet, the image data is not a URL of the image data itself but a link. UR of the hypertext (the so-called main body of the homepage)
L can be input.

That is, in this embodiment, the URL of the image data is extracted from the hypertext of the URL acquired from the user terminal by the interactive input processing, and the extracted URL is presented to allow the user to arbitrarily select the image data. A process for allowing the user to specify the URL from which the image data is obtained is executed (S40).

In general, a hypertext to which image data is pasted by a hyperlink is often placed in a directory higher than the image data. Therefore, when the user inputs a URL, the URL of the hypertext to which the pixel data is linked is higher than the URL of directly specifying the image data.
The RL character string configuration is simple, and inputting labor can be greatly reduced. This allows the user to create a highly original online greeting card with a simpler operation.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the typical embodiments, the present invention can be implemented in various embodiments other than the above. For example, the size conversion of the image data may be performed by a trimming process of cutting unnecessary portions in addition to the reduction / enlargement process.

[0027]

As described above, in the online greeting card service system of the present invention, the image data to be hyperlinked to the online greeting card is obtained from the URL on the Internet arbitrarily designated by the user and obtained. By determining whether or not the size of the image data obtained is within the range compatible with the layout format of the card, and performing a size conversion so as to be suitable if the size is not suitable, the user can paste the image on the card. The selection range of the image data that can be created can be expanded, and a greeting card with a high degree of originality can be easily created.

Also, the user is required to input the URL of the hypertext linked to the image data, extract the URL of the image data in a predetermined file format from the hypertext of the URL input by the user, and present the extracted URL to the user. If the user is arbitrarily selected to specify the acquisition destination of the image data, the user can greatly reduce the labor required to input the URL of the image data, and can more easily create a highly original greeting card. be able to.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an online greeting card service system according to an embodiment of the present invention, focusing on its functions and data flow.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a browsing image of an online greeting card created by the system of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation example of a main part of the system according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 WWW server 11 Card creation part 12 Card server 14 Size inspection part 15 Size conversion part 21 Online greeting card 22 Image pasting frame 23 Text message pasting frame

Claims (3)

[Claims] An online greeting card on which image data in a predetermined file format is pasted by a hyperlink is assisted by a user online, and the created online greeting card is saved in W format.
An online greeting card service system which is placed on a WW server and notifies the URL of the online greeting card to the Internet address designated by the user by mail, and which satisfies the following specific items (11) and (12). . (11) Obtain image data to be hyperlinked to the online greeting card from a URL on the Internet arbitrarily specified by the user. (12) The size of the acquired image data is
It is determined whether or not the range is suitable for the layout format of the greeting card, and if not, the size conversion process is performed so as to be suitable. 2. The invention which satisfies the following specific items (21) and (22) in the online greeting card service system according to claim 1. (21) The user inputs the URL of the hypertext to which the image data is linked. (22) The URL of the image data in a predetermined file format is extracted from the hypertext of the URL input by the user, and the extracted URL is presented to the user and arbitrarily selected, thereby causing the user to specify the acquisition destination of the image data. 3. The on-line computer according to claim 1 or 2,
An invention that satisfies the following specific matter (31) in the greeting card service system. (31) The image size of the acquired image data is converted by reduction or enlargement.