JP2002175135A - Image display method for home page and image area designating method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image display method for home page and an image area designating method capable of displaying an optional part with an image of high image quality by first displaying the whole image when displaying the image by scanning a printed matter such as a catalogue in a home page. SOLUTION: This image display method for home page and this image area designating method display an image in high quality by using divided partial images corresponding to the optional part designated by a user by holding an original image by previously dividing the original image into the partial images having the continuous optional size.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for displaying an image using a homepage. The present invention relates to a method of displaying an image of a homepage, in which a necessary portion of an image is displayed with a required image quality to reduce a communication amount. The present invention also relates to a method for designating an image area of a homepage that allows a user to designate an arbitrary image area.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the spread of the Internet, a great deal of information has been transmitted on homepages. In particular, the value of the image is increasing by being able to see the image.

[0003] A home page generally means a home page transmitted by a WWW (World Wide Web) server on the Internet and displayed by a browser. WW
W server is, for example, Apache or Microsoft Internet In
formation Server. A browser is, for example, Netsca
pe's NetscapeNavigator, Microsoft's InternetEx
plorer, etc. The homepage is described in html (hyper text markup language) or the like.

[0004] The home page is W via the Internet.
It is generally transmitted by a WW server and displayed on a browser. However, if there is a medium storing data of a homepage, the homepage can be displayed without connecting to the Internet. In this case, the homepage is referred to as the homepage including the case where the Internet is not used.
Further, a method of transmitting data via a homepage and playing back moving images and music is also known. Here, these methods are collectively described as a homepage.

When viewing a homepage on a browser, there are restrictions on the devices used, and the size of the screen that can be displayed at one time is defined. When viewing images on this screen,
If you want to see the entire image at once, you must make it smaller than can be displayed on the screen. As described above, a method of displaying an image obtained by reducing an original image to show the entire image is known. The reduced image may be called a thumbnail.

Although the whole image can be seen by a thumbnail or the like, the details of the image are not clearly understood in such a display.
In particular, in an image obtained by reading a printed material such as a catalog with a scanner, small characters cannot be read when the image is displayed in a small size. In many images, it is important to be able to read the characters.

On the other hand, when a high-resolution image is displayed, only a part of the entire image is visible on the browser, so that the user moves the viewing area up, down, left, and right to see the target position, which is troublesome.

Further, since such high-resolution images have a large amount of data, when data is transferred by communication such as the Internet, a long waiting time is required until the images are displayed, and communication costs are increased. There is a problem that the traffic increases.

For this purpose, an image display method of the Internet has been used in which a low-resolution or reduced image is displayed on a home page of the Internet and a high-resolution image is displayed according to a user's instruction.

For example, a method of displaying a high-resolution image by displaying a thumbnail and clicking the thumbnail is widely used.

[0011]

If the image is high resolution and large, details can be seen and small characters can be read. But,
If the image has a high resolution and is large, the amount of communication becomes large, and it takes time and trouble to see a desired place after the display.

An object of the present invention is to provide an image display method of a homepage which displays a high-resolution image only in a required portion with a required image quality.

It is a further object of the present invention to reduce the amount of image data and the amount of Internet communication. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for displaying an image of a homepage which shortens a waiting time until a user displays an image.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for designating an image area of a home page which allows a user to select an arbitrary necessary area.

[0015]

According to the present invention, there is provided a method for displaying an image on a homepage on the Internet, in which the original image is divided into a plurality of continuous partial images of an arbitrary size and held in advance. A method of displaying an image of a homepage, which displays a reduced image of the same, allows a user to specify a display area, and displays an original image corresponding to the display area using partial images.

According to the present invention, the method of displaying the original image corresponding to the display area using the partial image is a method of dynamically creating a homepage for displaying the partial image on the terminal side. A method for displaying an image of the homepage is provided.

Further, according to the present invention, a method of displaying an original image corresponding to a display area using partial images is a method of collectively reconstructing corresponding partial images into one image file and then displaying the same. A method for displaying an image of a home page is provided.

Further, according to the present invention, in a method of displaying an image on a homepage on the Internet, the original image is divided into a plurality of continuous partial images of an arbitrary size and held in advance, and each of the partial images is subjected to arbitrary image processing. An image display method of a homepage is provided, in which an original image corresponding to an arbitrary area is displayed using partial images.

Further, according to the present invention, there is provided the image display method for a homepage as described above, wherein the image processing is at least one of a change of an image compression ratio, a change of a resolution, and a change of a gradation number. .

Further, according to the present invention, in a method of displaying an image on a home page and allowing a user to specify an arbitrary image area, a button is set on at least one of the upper and lower sides of the displayed image and at least the left and right sides of the displayed image. There is provided a method for designating an image area of a home page, characterized by arranging them side by side and designating an area by turning on and off this button.

[0021]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The method for displaying an image of a home page according to the present invention includes a server 3 for storing data of the home page, particularly image data, and a terminal 4 for displaying the home page via the Internet 2. The configuration is shown in FIG. Terminal 4
Although not shown in the figure, there is a form in which a plurality of devices exist and access the server 3 at the same time.

The server 3 and the terminal 4 are computer systems, and a block diagram showing the configuration of the computer system 1 is shown in FIG. The control unit 11 including a CPU and a memory performs input / output control, data transfer, calculation, and the like. The control means 11 is connected to a display means 12 comprising a CRT or an LCD, and an input means 13 such as a mouse, a touch screen, a keyboard and the like. The control means 11 has a storage means 14
Is connected. Further, an Internet input / output unit 15 is connected to the control unit 11. The storage means 14 stores programs and data and is used by the control means 11.

The user uses the display means of the terminal 4 and the browser to view the image held by the server 3.

The steps of this embodiment will be described with reference to a flowchart. The flowchart of FIG. 3 shows a process of dividing the original image into continuous partial images of an arbitrary size and holding the original image. A process of displaying a reduced image of the original image on a homepage and allowing a user to designate a part of the image, and the designation. The process of displaying the original image corresponding to the divided portion using the divided partial images is shown in the flowchart of FIG.

The step of dividing the original image into partial images of any size in advance and holding the divided images can be performed as shown in the flowchart of FIG. This is a preparation step performed in advance at the server. In step 1-1,
For example, an original image that has become digital data is obtained by scanning a catalog or a photograph. An image that is originally digital data, such as computer graphics, can also be used. Characters and vector data can also be used by converting them into image data. Also, a reduced image is created at the same time. The reduced image is an image whose size is reduced so that the entire image can be viewed at once with a general terminal.

In step 1-2, the original image data is divided into partial images of an arbitrary size. The image data handled here is a two-dimensional array in terms of arrangement. Here, the horizontal axis is X,
The vertical axis is represented by Y and the elements of the image are represented by pixels. For example, suppose that the original image is a color image having 800 pixels horizontally and 1000 pixels vertically, and this is represented as 800 × 1000. If this original image is divided into continuous 200 × 200 partial images, the original image is a set of partial images of 5 rows in the Y direction and 4 columns in the X direction. FIG. 5 shows a schematic diagram.

Although the size and shape of the partial image are arbitrary, rectangles and squares are easy to handle. Further, it is desirable that the partial images be divided so that they are continuous and do not have an area where the partial images overlap each other.

It is possible to adopt a method in which the size and shape of the partial image for one original image are all the same. This makes it easy to automatically process the division and to easily handle the partial image file. Further, as will be described later, there is a feature that processing is simplified when an image is displayed using a plurality of partial images.

On the other hand, the size and shape of the partial image for one original image can be changed according to the purpose.

Steps 1-3 are performed as needed. In this step, each of the divided partial images is subjected to arbitrary image processing. For example, the image processing includes a change in resolution, a change in image compression, and a change in the number of gradations. This includes image processing for changing a color image to a black and white image. The purpose is to change the image quality of each part according to the purpose of displaying the original image, thereby reducing the data amount of the image. For example, if a catalog is composed of some photos and some characters on a white background, among the divided partial images, characters may be black and white but high resolution, white background is low resolution,
Photos are color, but medium resolution may be fine. When this is stored in a file such as JPEG which can compress the image, it can be handled by changing the compression ratio of each partial image. That is, for example, text is subjected to low compression, white background is subjected to high compression, and photographs are subjected to medium compression.

When image processing is performed on the entire original image by the conventional method, it is impossible to cope with the purpose of each element in the image. Therefore, by performing image processing for each partial image, the data amount can be efficiently reduced.

In step 1-4, each of the divided partial images is stored in the server as a file.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described from the aspect of a user displaying an image on a terminal. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a process of displaying a reduced image of the original image on the homepage and allowing the user to designate a part of the image, and a process of displaying an image corresponding to the designated portion using the divided partial images. .

In step 2-1, a reduced image of the original image is read from the server and displayed. The reduced image of the original image is created in advance by a generally used method.

In step 2-2, the user is shown the reduced image and is asked to designate a part of the image. The following three examples are given as a method for designating a part of an image.

Method 1 for Designating Part of Image: A range is designated on the reduced image displayed on the terminal using, for example, a mouse. Specifically, click and drag the mouse at one corner of the rectangular area you want to enlarge, and release the mouse button at the opposite corner. This is an area designation method generally used in personal computer software. There is also a method of simply clicking two diagonals of a rectangular area to be enlarged in order.

Method 2 for designating a part of the image: A typical enlarged range is shown on the reduced image displayed on the terminal, and this is designated with a mouse or the like. Specifically, in the case of a catalog image, a rectangle for specifying a range is displayed as a line on the reduced image for each of a text region and an explanatory diagram region. The square itself is used as a button on the homepage, and when the square is clicked, the original image of this area is displayed.

Method 3 for designating a part of an image: A button having a width of each matrix divided into upper (or lower) and right (or left) divided images displayed on the terminal is arranged.
A region is designated by N and OFF. It is desirable that the specified range can be confirmed on the reduced image. FIG. 6 shows a schematic diagram. For example, when the number of divisions is large, if two buttons are ON, a button between them may be turned ON.
This method has a feature that the production of the homepage is simpler than the above two methods, and is intuitive and easy for the user to understand.

In step 2-3, a corresponding partial image file is selected from the area information of the designated image. If the area information is not in units of partial image files, this is processed and a corresponding partial image file is selected.

In step 2-4, the terminal displays the designated area of the original image using the selected partial image file. Although various methods are possible, the following three are shown as specific examples.

As a first method, a method of dynamically creating a homepage for displaying the designated area of the original image on the server side can be adopted. This is because the designated range of the original image is arbitrarily selected by the user, and the partial image group used for reproducing the original image is not fixed. The partial image is a file, and is identified by its file name. The name of the partial image file read from the server and the arrangement thereof are determined each time, and the server creates the home page. In this manner, creating a homepage each time, instead of a homepage created in advance, is referred to as dynamic here. Dynamic processing on the server side is C
It can be implemented by a GI (Common Gateway Interface) and a program (produced in Parl or C language, etc.). In this case, step 2-5 displays a home page for display with execution of step 2-4.

As a second method, a method of dynamically creating a home page for displaying the designated area of the original image on the terminal side can be adopted. Dynamic processing on the terminal side can be executed by JAVA (registered trademark) or the like. In step 2-5, the display home page created in step 2-4 is displayed. Thus, the terminal receives the necessary partial image from the server by communication, arranges the partial image, and displays the original image of the designated area. This method has the effect of not imposing a load on the server.

As a third method, there is a method of reconstructing into one image file and then displaying it. In this method, first, the selected partial image file groups are connected to form one image file. Determine the location and file name for this file. A home page to be displayed is created in advance so that this file is read. In this case, a home page for display can be created in advance. In step 2-5, the display home page is displayed.

When performing image processing on each partial image in step 1-3, it is possible to prepare several types of partial image files depending on the difference in image processing. In this case, a method of selecting these image processing differences in step 2-2 can be performed. For example, in the type of specified range expansion method,
"Even if black and white is fine, display quickly" or "Image quality is important"
Is possible.

FIG. 5 is an overall schematic diagram of the method for displaying an image on a home page according to the present invention. FIG. 7 shows a screen display example of the terminal. The image display method of a homepage according to the present invention is used when a printed matter such as a catalog is scanned and displayed on the homepage.

The method for displaying an image on a home page according to the present invention is as follows.
It is implemented on the WWW of the Internet, but a medium on which programs and data are recorded, for example, a CD-RO
M, and can also be implemented on commonly used computer systems. This makes it possible to easily publish catalogs and materials already owned as printed matter by electronic publishing.

[0047]

According to the present invention, it is possible to display a high quality image of an arbitrary designated area of an image in displaying an image of a homepage. By being able to display only necessary parts, the amount of data transferred on the Internet can be reduced. Further, by changing the image quality of each partial image according to the content of the image, the data amount can be further reduced, and the data transfer amount on the Internet can be reduced. Thus, an image display method of a homepage capable of high-speed image display was provided.

The present invention is particularly effective for sites that provide many such images. This is because the production of each homepage can be automated by a certain method.

For example, conventionally, when it is desired to prepare a part of an original image in advance, for example, only a small text region, as a high-resolution image, the region is selected artificially, the file name is changed, and a reduced image to be displayed first is displayed. Button was attached to the corresponding position of. These tasks require human judgment every time,
There are many changes for each home page. In addition, if the user wants to display a high-quality image in a place other than the place where the image has been created, it cannot cope naturally.

On the other hand, according to the method of the present invention, the preparation and display method can be made routine. The user can arbitrarily specify where he / she wants to be displayed, so there is no need to respond in advance. Once the program is created, it is easy to systematically create a partial image simply by specifying a new original image. In addition, a homepage with a fixed display can be used. As a concrete example, scanning a catalog with a scanner and naming the file can be almost automated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a usage form on the Internet.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a computer system used.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a preparation process in a server.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a homepage image display process mainly in the terminal.

FIG. 5 is a simple schematic diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a method of designating a region to be displayed according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an example of an image display screen of a homepage.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Computer system 2 Internet 3 Server 4 Terminal 11 Control means 12 Display means 13 Input means 14 Storage means 15 Internet input / output means

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G06F 17/30 380 G06F 17/30 380F

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A method for displaying an image on a homepage on the Internet, in which the original image is divided into continuous partial images of an arbitrary size and held in advance; A method of displaying an image of a homepage, comprising: a step of designating a display area; and a step of displaying an original image corresponding to the display area using a partial image. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of displaying the original image corresponding to the display area using the partial image is a step of dynamically creating a homepage for displaying the partial image on the terminal side. How to display the image of the homepage described. 3. The step of displaying an original image corresponding to a display area using a partial image includes the steps of:
2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of reconstructing the image into two image files and displaying the image file. 4. A method of displaying an image on a homepage on the Internet, in which the original image is divided into continuous partial images of an arbitrary size and held in advance; and each of the partial images is processed by an arbitrary image and held. And displaying an original image corresponding to an arbitrary area by using a partial image. 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the image processing is at least one of changing an image compression ratio, changing a resolution, and changing a number of gradations. 6. A method of displaying an image on a homepage and allowing a user to specify an arbitrary image area, wherein buttons are arranged side by side on at least one of the top and bottom of the displayed image and at least one of the left and right of the displayed image. A method for designating an image area of a homepage, wherein an area is designated by turning on and off a button.