JP2002369180A - Portable terminal and picture distributing server and information display method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a portable terminal capable of easily acquiring additional information related with merchandise in received picture information without inquiring of the information distribution origin. SOLUTION: A portable terminal 2 separates merchandise information 11a from received picture information, and writes it in a memory 23. A picture decoding processing part 21b decodes merchandise picture information 11b and background picture information 11c, and a picture display part 25 displays the decoded picture. A user 20 selects and decides the picture of merchandise whose merchandise information reading is desired from merchandise pictures displayed at the picture display part 25 by a prescribed key operation. A control part 21 reads the merchandise information 11a corresponding to the selected merchandise picture from the memory 23, and displays it on the picture display part 25.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a portable terminal, an image distribution server, and an information display method suitable for an image distribution service using a network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an image distribution service for distributing a moving image using a network has been provided. In this image distribution service, a moving image is encoded and transmitted, and a user's receiving terminal (for example, a portable terminal) decodes the received data and reproduces and displays the data as a moving image. As a method of encoding a moving image, a method of encoding an entire screen constituting the moving image for each determined pixel (for example, MPEG (Motion P.P.), which is an international standard for multimedia encoding).
(icture Experts Group) 1/2.

[0003]

However, in the conventional image distribution service method, since the moving image is simply coded, the user can specify a specific object (object, for example, object) on the moving image of the receiving terminal. If you are interested in the clothes and bags worn by the person appearing in the moving image, and want to know information (such as product name, price, manufacturer, etc.), use the image distribution service. It was necessary to contact the information distribution source. In addition, when the information distributor did not know the contents of the image information at all, information on those products could not be obtained.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has a portable terminal and an image processing apparatus that can easily obtain additional information on an object in image information received from an image distribution server without inquiring of an information distributor. An object is to provide a distribution server and an information display method.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, an image distribution server connected via a network comprises one or more encoded objects and additional information associated with the objects. When image information is received, image display control means for decoding the object and displaying it as an image, selecting means for selecting a predetermined object on the image, and when the object is selected by the selecting means, the object And additional information display control means for extracting and displaying the additional information associated with.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the image information includes a second object which is coded and is not associated with the additional information.

[0007] The invention described in claim 3 is the first or second invention.
Wherein the additional information includes information indicating that a product indicated by an object corresponding to the additional information is available for purchase, and a purchase availability determination that determines whether the product is available for purchase based on the information. Means, and transmission means for transmitting a purchase request for the product to the image distribution server when it is determined that the product can be purchased.

[0008] The invention described in claim 4 is the invention according to claim 2 or 3.
The image display control means displays the object so as to be visually distinguishable from the second object.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the encoded 1
An image information comprising the above object and additional information associated with the object is stored.
Wherein the image information is transmitted to the mobile terminal according to any one of the above, via a network.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in accordance with the fifth aspect of the present invention, the portable terminal according to any one of the first to fourth aspects further comprises: An image distribution server that transmits image information including the obtained additional information via a network, comprising: an encoding unit that encodes the object; and an information addition unit that appends the additional information to the encoded object. It is characterized by having.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the sixth aspect of the present invention, the image information includes a second object that is encoded and is not associated with the additional information, and the encoding unit includes: And encoding the second object.

The invention according to claim 8 is the invention according to claims 5 to 7.
In the invention according to any one of the above, when a purchase request for a product indicated by the object corresponding to the additional information is received from the mobile terminal, a purchase process is performed based on the purchase request.

[0013] According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, the coded one is transmitted from an image distribution server connected via a network.
A process of decoding the object and displaying it as an image when receiving image information including the above object and additional information associated with the object; a process of selecting a predetermined object on the image; Extracting and displaying additional information associated with the selected object.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an entire image distribution system using a mobile terminal and an image distribution server according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this figure,
The image distribution system includes an image distribution server 1, a portable terminal 2 of the user 20, and networks 50 and 51. The network 50 is, for example, the Internet, and connects the image distribution server 1 to a network 51 such as a wireless network, whereby the mobile terminal 2 connected to the network 51 and the image distribution server 1 are communicably connected. .

The image distribution server 1 encodes an image in response to a request from the portable terminal 2 and transmits the encoded image to the portable terminal 2, and includes a database 11 and an information processing unit 12. The database 11 stores merchandise information 11a (additional information) and merchandise image information 11b (object, hereinafter referred to as merchandise image information) associated with the merchandise information 11a.
And image information 11c (second object, hereinafter referred to as background image information) of the product or background to which the product information is not associated, and billing the product purchaser a fee. Payment information 11 to do
and d respectively. Here, the product information 11a is
For example, information such as the product name, price, and manufacturer of the product indicated by the product image information 11b,
And stored in the database 11. If the product can be purchased, the product information 11a includes purchase information indicating that fact.

The information processing section 12 performs each processing of the image distribution server 1, and includes an encoding processing section 12a for encoding the commodity image information 11b, an encoding processing section 12b for encoding the background image information 11c, Multiplexing section 12c for multiplexing the information coded by the multiplexing processing sections 12a and 12b, and an information adding section 1 for adding product information 11c to the multiplexed information.
2d, a network interface unit 12e, and a database interface unit 12f. The network interface unit 12e is connected to the network 50
To send and receive various information. The database interface unit 12f accesses the database 11 to call or store data. As described above, by performing the encoding process in the information processing unit 12, there is an advantage that an image distributor using the present system does not need to prepare image information encoded in advance.

The portable terminal 2 decodes and superimposes the product image information 11b and the background image information 11c received from the image distribution server 1 connected via the network 51, and superimposes and displays them. , Additional information display control means, purchase availability determination means), an input device section (selection means) 22 for selecting the displayed product image information 11b or background image information 11c, a memory 23 for storing received product information, a network 51. Network interface unit 24 (transmitting means) for transmitting and receiving various information via a computer, an image display unit 25 for displaying a decoded image, and an audio output unit 2
6 is comprised. The voice output unit 26 outputs the voice during a normal voice call or when receiving voice information from the image distribution server 1.

The control section 21 controls each section of the portable terminal 2. The information separating section 21a separates the product information 11a from the received image information, and the image decoding decodes the image information from which the product information 11a is separated. It comprises a conversion processing unit 21b, an image / audio separation unit 21c, and an audio decoding unit 21d. The image / audio separation unit 21c separates the encoded product image information 11b and the background image information 11c from the encoded image information when the encoded image information is added to the received image information. To separate. The audio decoding unit 21d decodes the encoded audio information output from the image / audio separation unit 21c.

Here, the encoding process in the encoding units 12a and 12b will be described. The encoding process includes, for example, MPEG4 (Moving Picture Experts Group phase), which is an international standard for multimedia encoding.
An object-based encoding method, which is one of techniques 4), can be used. This object-based encoding process does not collectively encode a general one screen but collectively encodes each element (object) constituting one screen.
The encoding is performed separately for each. Each element is encoded together with identification information for identifying each element and coordinate information on the screen. Thus, on the decoding side, the decoded elements can be superimposed based on these pieces of information and restored as an image of one screen. In the present embodiment, unless otherwise specified, the encoding processing unit 12a applies the above-described object encoding processing, while the encoding processing unit 12b performs a general encoding processing for encoding an entire screen collectively. Encoding is performed by applying each of them. Further, the image decoding processing unit 21b performs the decoding process by a method corresponding to each of the above-described encoding processes.

The functions of the processing units of the information processing unit 12 and the functions of the control unit 21 may be realized by dedicated hardware, or may be realized by a memory such as a computer terminal or a CPU (not shown). (Central Processing Unit), and a program (not shown) for realizing the above functions may be loaded into a memory and executed to realize the functions. The information processing unit 12
, An input device, a display device, and the like (neither is shown) are connected as peripheral devices. Here, the input device refers to an input device such as a keyboard and a mouse.
The display device refers to a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube), a liquid crystal display device, or the like.

Next, the operation of the present system will be described with reference to FIGS. 1) Transmission Operation of Image Information in Image Distribution Server 1 FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram showing a transmission operation of image information in the image distribution server 1 of the present system. First, the user 20 makes a call from the portable terminal 2 to the network 50 via the network 51, and a predetermined URL (Uniform Resource).
locator) to access the image distribution server 1 (step S1). And user 20
Transmits a desired image distribution request to the image distribution server 1 (step S2). In the image distribution server 1, the information processing unit 12 searches the database 11 based on the distribution request transmitted from the mobile terminal 2 and corresponding product information 11
a, product image information 11b, and background image information 11c are acquired (step S3). The acquired product image information 11b and background image information 11c are respectively encoded by the encoding processing units 12a and 12a.
2b (step S4) and the multiplexing unit 12
c (step S5). The product information 11a is added to the multiplexed information by the information adding unit 12d (step S6). Then, the image information to which the product information 11a is added is transmitted from the network interface unit 12e to the portable terminal 2 (Step S7).

2) Decoding Operation of Image Information in Portable Terminal 2 FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the decoding operation of image information in the portable terminal 2 of the present system. First, the portable terminal 2 receives the image information distributed from the image distribution server 1 by the network interface unit 24 (Step S1).
1). The information separating unit 21a separates the product information 11a from the received image information (Step S12), and writes the separated product information 11a into the memory 23 (Step S1).
3). The image decoding processing unit 21b performs a decoding process on the product image information 11b and the background image information 11c from which the product information 11a is separated (Step S14), and identifies the decoded image included in each image information. The information is superimposed on the basis of the information and the coordinate information and output to the image display unit 25 (step S15). The image display unit 25 displays the image output from the image decoding processing unit 21b (Step S1)
6). Thus, the user 20 can browse the desired image on the screen of the mobile terminal 2.

3) Display Operation of Product Information on Portable Terminal 2 FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of displaying the product information on the image information display section 25. Now, the image display unit 25 of the mobile terminal 2
It is assumed that an image of a product (for example, a clock A and a magazine B) obtained by decoding the product image information 11b and a background image (for example, a background C) obtained by decoding the background image information 11c are displayed in a superimposed manner. Here, when the user 20 presses the “↓” key from the input device unit 22 (step S21), the control unit 21 selects, from among the images displayed on the image display unit 25, a product to which the product information 11a is added. It is searched whether there is an image (step S22). As a result of the search, if there is an image of the corresponding product, a specific image (for example, clock A) in the product is colored and highlighted (step S2).
3). Subsequently, when the “↓” key is pressed by the user 20 (step S24), the control unit 21 highlights an image of another product (for example, magazine B) (step S25).
As described above, every time the user 20 presses the “↓” key, the control unit 21 sequentially searches for and highlights the image of the product to which the product information is added. Thereby, the user 20 can easily know the image in which the product information can be browsed.

Here, when the user 20 desires to browse the product information of the magazine B, the user presses the "decision" key from the input device 22 while the image of the magazine B is highlighted (step S26). . The control unit 21 acquires the identification information included in the image information of the highlighted magazine B (step S27), and the product information 11 corresponding to the acquired identification information.
a is read from the memory 23 (step S28). The product information 11a read from the memory 23 is displayed on the image display unit 2.
5 and displayed (step S29). Thereby, the user 20 can browse the product information 11a corresponding to the product of the selected image on the screen display unit 25. As for the timing of displaying the product information 11a, the display may be performed after the end of the distribution of the image information (the end of the image display). May be displayed simultaneously with the selection of the product image.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the transition of the display mode of the screen display unit 25 in the display operation of the product information. In this figure, the screen display unit 25 includes an image display area 25a for displaying a decoded image and an additional information display area 25b for displaying operation guidance and additional information. First,
In the image display unit 25a, an image of the product (clock A, magazine B) and an image of the background (background C) in which the image information being distributed is decrypted
Are superimposed (FIG. 5A). When the user 20 presses the “↓” key, the image of the clock A in the image display area 25a is colored and highlighted (FIG. 5B). When the user 20 further presses the “↓” key, the image of the magazine B in the image display area 25a is highlighted this time (FIG. 5).
(c)). While magazine B is highlighted, user 2
When the "0" key is pressed, the image of the magazine B is displayed in the image display area 25a after the image display in the image display area 25a is completed (FIG. 5D), while the additional information display area 25b is displayed. , The product information 11a of the magazine B is displayed.

4) Product Purchasing Operation FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram showing a product purchasing operation.
First, when the user 20 checks the displayed product information from the state where the product information 11a is displayed on the image display unit 25, the user presses the “↑” key from the input device unit 22 to purchase the product. Is requested (step S31). Then, a purchase request for a product corresponding to the displayed product information 11a is transmitted to the image distribution server 1 (step S).
32). Here, the user 20 inputs the fee payment information (for example, name, address, telephone number, account number, etc.) 11d required for the payment procedure for the purchased product from the input device unit 22 and transmits it to the image distribution server 1 ( Step S33).
The information processing unit 12 stores the fee payment information 11d transmitted from the mobile terminal 2 in the database 11 (Step S34). If the database 11 manages the stock information of the product, the information processing unit 12 updates the stock information in response to the purchase request (step S34).
a). Then, the information processing section 12 transmits a purchase request acceptance completion notice to the mobile terminal 2 (step S35),
An instruction for shipping the product to the user and a fee collection process for the product are performed (step S36). As a result, the purchase operation of the product is completed, and the product is sent to the user 20, while the price of the product is appropriately transferred to the seller of the product.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be variously changed without departing from the gist of the present invention. In the present embodiment, a case is described in which the encoding process is performed by the MPEG4 object-based encoding method. However, the encoding method is limited to the encoding method for each element (object) constituting one screen. Never.

In this embodiment, a case has been described in which the image processing is performed by the information processing unit 12 to generate image information. May be stored. By doing this,
The configuration of the information processing unit 12 can be simplified.

Further, a voice recognition device is provided in the portable terminal 2,
The operation may be performed by voice input instead of the key operation of the input device unit 22. Thereby, the user 20 can browse the product information by voice even if the key operation is not possible.

Further, a method of highlighting an image of a product is as follows.
Any method may be used as long as it can be distinguished from other images, such as making the outline thicker, and a plurality of enhancement methods may be selected. By doing so, the number of colors (color, black and white) of the display color of the screen display unit 25 of the mobile terminal 2
, The highlighting can be made easier to see. Also,
Instead of highlighting images of selectable products,
The images of all selectable products may be highlighted in a lump.

[0031]

As described above, according to the portable terminal of the present invention, when the object included in the received image information is selected by the selection means, the additional information of the object is displayed. In addition, information on a product displayed as an image can be easily viewed from the distributed image information without inquiring of the information distributor.

In the present invention, if the additional information includes information indicating that the product corresponding to the object can be purchased, it is determined that the purchase is possible based on the information, and the purchase request is issued by the purchase means. Since the image is transmitted to the image distribution server, it is possible to easily purchase a product corresponding to the object.

Further, according to the present invention, if the additional information is added to only the necessary objects separately from the object to which the additional information is associated and the second object to which the additional information is not associated, the image information The entire information amount can be reduced, and image information can be efficiently distributed from the image distribution server to the portable terminal.

Further, in the present invention, if the object and the second object are displayed so as to be distinguishable from each other, a wasteful operation caused by selecting a product for which the additional information cannot be browsed is eliminated, and the additional information is efficiently displayed. You can browse the browsing.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an entire image distribution system using a mobile terminal and an image distribution server according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram showing an operation of transmitting image information in the image distribution server 1.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a decoding operation of image information in the portable terminal 2.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a display operation of displaying product information.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing transition of a display mode of a screen display unit 25.

FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram showing a purchase operation of a product.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image distribution server 2 Mobile terminal 21 Control part (image display control means, additional information display control means, purchase availability determination means) 22 Input device part (selection means) 24 Network interface part (transmission means) 11a Product information (additional information) 11b Product image information (object) 11c Background image information (second object)

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G06F 17/30 380 G06F 17/30 380D 5E501 17/60 318 17/60 318G 326 326 336 336 336 506 506 ZEC ZEC G06T 11/80 G06T 11/80 E H04N 1/387 H04N 1/387 F-term (reference) 5B050 AA08 BA06 BA13 BA20 CA05 CA07 EA20 FA02 FA13 5B075 KK07 KK13 KK23 KK33 ND06 ND12 ND14 ND16Q23 P23P23P23P23P23 PQ32 QT03 UU40 5B085 BE07 BG07 CE06 5C064 BA07 BB01 BB10 BC01 BC04 BC18 BC23 BD02 BD08 BD09 BD14 5C076 AA14 AA16 5E501 AB21 AC33 BA20 DA02 EB05 FA14 FA15 FB28 FB44

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. An image distribution server connected via a network, comprising: at least one encoded object;
An image display control unit for decoding the object and displaying the image as an image when receiving image information including additional information associated with the object; a selection unit for selecting a predetermined object on the image; A portable terminal comprising: additional information display control means for extracting and displaying additional information associated with an object when a predetermined object is selected by the means. 2. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein the image information includes a second object that is encoded and is not associated with the additional information. 3. The additional information includes information indicating that a product indicated by an object corresponding to the additional information is available for purchase, and a purchase availability determination unit that determines availability of the product based on the information. The portable terminal according to claim 1, further comprising: a transmission unit configured to transmit a purchase request for the product to the image distribution server when it is determined that the product can be purchased. 4. The portable terminal according to claim 2, wherein the image display control means displays the object so as to be visually distinguishable from the second object. 5. The one or more encoded objects,
An image distribution server storing image information including additional information associated with the object, and transmitting the image information to the mobile terminal according to any one of claims 1 to 4 via a network. 6. An image for transmitting, via a network, one or more encoded objects and image information including additional information associated with the objects to the portable terminal according to claim 1. The distribution server according to claim 5, further comprising: an encoding unit that encodes the object; and an information adding unit that adds the additional information to the encoded object. . 7. The image information includes a second object that is encoded and is not associated with the additional information, wherein the encoding unit further encodes the second object. The image distribution server according to claim 6. 8. The method according to claim 5, wherein when a purchase request for a product indicated by the object corresponding to the additional information is received from the portable terminal, a purchase process is performed based on the purchase request. An image distribution server according to any one of the above. 9. An image distribution server connected via a network, wherein: one or more encoded objects;
When receiving image information including additional information associated with the object, decoding the object and displaying the image as an image, selecting a predetermined object on the image, and associating the selected object with the selected object. Extracting and displaying the obtained additional information.