JP2003099434A - Electronic album device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that it is troublesome to find a desired picture out of pictures stored in a storage means. SOLUTION: An electronic album device 100 is provided with a picture storing part 128 for storing a photographic picture coordinating positional information in an actual area, an input part 120 for receiving designation of a position from a user, a setting part for deciding the range of an area including the received position, a retrieval part 110 for selecting the photographic picture including a position specified by the positional information in the range, and a display processing part 112 for displaying the selected photographic picture on a display unit. Thus, the photographic picture can be retrieved based on the relevant position.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image management technique, and more particularly to a device for managing accumulated images and displaying the images according to a user's instruction.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art People photograph various scenes such as entrance ceremony, graduation ceremony, and travel, and keep them in albums. Photos are one way to record memories of a moment, and people can always look back and feel nostalgia by looking at the album.

In recent years, digital cameras have become widespread as photographing means. A digital camera records a subject as digital data, and the recorded data can be easily edited, saved, erased, and rewritten, and together with the spread of personal computers and color printers, digital cameras have It is spreading rapidly. Because of this convenience, the number of opportunities to take pictures with a digital camera has increased dramatically compared to silver halide cameras. The taken photographic image is stored as a file in a storage means such as a hard disk of a computer and displayed by viewer software, image editing software, or the like.

[0004]

At present, since photographic images are recorded in the hard disk in folders at most by shooting date, it is troublesome for the user to search for a desired photographic image later. There is a problem that is. The present inventor has made the present invention by paying attention to such a current situation, and an object of the present invention is to provide a technique for easily managing accumulated photographic images over a very long period.

[0005]

With the increase in capacity of hard disks, the popularization of digital cameras, and the advancement of image compression technology, users will be able to store more and more photographic images in the hard disk in the future. If a user's lifetime photographic images can be stored in one electronic album, the electronic album becomes a tool for expressing the history of the person and is extremely valuable to the person. Ultimately, if the electronic album can be used from parent to child and from child to grandchild for generations, it will be a valuable asset for the family.

Based on such an idea, the present inventor has a function of easily finding a photographic image desired by a user from a large amount of photographic images accumulated, and a function of enabling sharing of photographic images across generations. I came to create an electronic album.

According to the present invention, by storing additional information in association with each photographic image, the photographic image desired by the user can be easily searched and a part of the photographic image is transferred to another device. It facilitates the work to do and provides the user with a new added value created by accumulating a large amount of photographic images.

One aspect of the present invention is an electronic album device. This device includes a first storage unit that stores photographic images in association with position information in a real area, an input unit that receives a position designation from a user via an input device such as a mouse, a keyboard, and a touch panel, and a reception unit. A setting unit that determines the range of a region including the position, a search unit that selects a photographic image included in the region by the position specified by the position information, and a display unit that displays the selected photographic image on the display unit. 1 display processing unit. The photographic image is not limited to a still image, but may be a moving image including sound. The real area indicates the actual space in which a person exists. For example, the position information in the real area includes GPS (Global Positioning System) data having latitude and longitude information, a place name,
Contains information that identifies the location, such as postal code or address.

In this apparatus, a second display processing section for displaying a virtual area including a map on the display unit, and a virtual position in the virtual area accepted by the input section are displayed.
The setting unit further includes a first conversion unit that converts the position data in the real area and outputs the position data to the setting unit.
A range in the real area including the position specified by the position data is set, and the search unit selects a photographic image whose position information in the real area is included in the range in the real area. The virtual area is a virtual space that does not actually exist, and indicates a space formed as a set of data inside the computer. For example, the position information in the virtual area is the coordinate position on the map or the coordinate position on the display unit.

This apparatus further comprises a second conversion unit for converting the position information in the real area associated with the photographic image into the coordinates on the map, and the second display processing unit on the map. A mark may be displayed at the coordinate of. As a result, the user can easily find the shooting location of the photographic image, and thus can easily find the desired photographic image. Further, the first storage unit holds information identifying the attribute of the photographic image in association with the photographic image, and the second display processing unit displays a different mark for each attribute. Good. The attribute is information for identifying the subject included in the photographic image, and is a keyword such as “oldest son” and “second son”. As a result, the user can know who the photographic image is by the mark, which makes it easier to search for the photographic image.

In this device, a second display processing unit for displaying a virtual area including a map on the display unit and position information in a real area associated with the photographic image are converted into coordinates on the map. The setting unit may set a range of the region in the virtual region, and the search unit may select a photographic image whose coordinates are included in the region. As a result, the photographic image can be selected without converting the position in the virtual region into the position in the real region, so that the processing steps required for selection can be reduced. The conversion unit performs conversion based on a scale of the map, a range indicated by the map, and the like, and stores the coordinates in association with the photographic image each time the conversion is performed. This coordinate may be temporarily stored in memory.

The first storage unit may further include a third display processing unit that further stores date and time in association with a photographic image and displays a time axis with a mark at a position corresponding to the date and time. . Thereby, the user can select a desired photo image from the photo images arranged in time series.

The first storage unit further holds information for setting transfer permission / prohibition in association with a photographic image, and further has an output unit for transferring the photographic image set as transferable to the other device. You may be prepared. This facilitates the transfer of photographic images to other devices. The apparatus further includes an acquisition unit that captures a photographic image from another device, and a storage processing unit that stores the captured photographic image in association with information designating that the photographic image is captured from another device. The second display processing unit may display a photographic image captured from another device so as to be visually distinguishable from other photographic images. The apparatus may further include an instruction unit that sets a photographic image to be transferred based on the attribute, and the output unit may transfer the photographic image associated with the attribute set by the instruction unit.

The first storage unit further holds information for identifying a category of a photographic image in association with the photographic image,
The second display processing unit may display the marks of the photographic images associated with the same category by connecting the marks in a time series with a line. The category is an event or the like that triggered the shooting of a photographic image. For example, “travel”,
For example, "tournament" or "ski". As a result, for example, by performing a search in the category “travel”, the user can visually check the travel locations that have been visited in the past and the order of visit.

Another aspect of the present invention is also an electronic album device. This apparatus includes a storage unit that stores images in association with time information, an input unit that receives a time designation from a user, a setting unit that determines a period including the received time, and the time information is included in the period. And a first display processing unit for displaying the selected image on the display unit.

Another aspect of the present invention is also an electronic album device. This apparatus includes a storage unit that stores images in association with information that sets transfer availability, a storage processing unit that associates information that specifies transfer availability with the images, and an image that is set to transfer enabled. And an output unit for transferring the selected image.

Another aspect of the present invention is also an electronic album device. This device is based on a storage unit having a capacity suitable for storing image data of a photograph taken by the user over his / her life, and a time enough to cover the user's life with the image data stored in the storage unit. A first display processing unit arranged and shown on the time axis set in, and a virtual space set based on a space in which the user may move the image data stored in the storage unit in his or her lifetime. And a second display processing unit shown in FIG. For example, if a user shoots 10 kb of image data each 10 times a day and accumulates the data for 80 years, a storage capacity of about 30 GB is required. Therefore, the storage capacity should be set to about 50 GB. .

It is to be noted that any combination of the above constituent elements and the expression of the present invention converted between an apparatus, a method, a system and a computer program are also effective as an aspect of the present invention.

[0019]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A device according to an embodiment is an electronic album embodying the concept of storing a lifetime of photographic images. This apparatus may include a storage unit such as a large-capacity hard disk for accumulating photographic images and a unit for acquiring the photographic images in a housing having a size that can be carried by a user. Also, a means for transferring the photographic image to another electronic album device may be provided. In another embodiment, a stationary computer may be used. The following is an example of how to use this device.

For example, parents store the state of child's growth, photographic images taken at the entrance ceremony, athletic meet, etc. in the electronic album device at any time. Then, when the child becomes an adult, the child's photographic images that have been accumulated in his / her own device are copied to a new electronic album device and presented to the child. A child can see the growth record from birth to adulthood, and can record his or her own history in the electronic album device. In this way, this electronic album device can be passed down from generation to generation for generations, and record a new history in which the child walks.

The electronic album device accumulates photographic images in association with position information such as shooting location, comments, shooting date and time. By this association, the electronic album device displays the stored photographic images side by side on the time axis, or arranges and displays the photographic images at a corresponding position on the map,
It is possible to easily visually recognize the shooting date and time and the shooting place of a photographic image. Also, when the user searches for a photographic image, a part of the map is specified to search for and display the photographic image taken in that area, or a part of the time axis is specified, so that the image was taken at that time You can search for and display photographic images.

FIG. 1 is an example of a screen for performing a search based on a position. This search screen is a two-dimensional representation of the shooting location of the photographic image recorded in the electronic album device on the map 306. Let this space be a virtual region and the real space be a real region. The virtual area has latitude and longitude on two orthogonal axes, respectively. The photographic image is
The shooting location in the real area is associated and recorded as the position information in advance, and the mark 302 is displayed at the position in the virtual area corresponding to the position information. In this example, marks 302a to 302d are displayed on the map 306.
Are displayed in four positions.

When a user desires to find a desired photographic image, a specific position of the virtual area (hereinafter, referred to as virtual position) is designated by using an input device so that the position of the real area corresponding to the virtual position (hereinafter, A photographic image taken in an area including the actual position (hereinafter referred to as the actual area) is selected. By using such a search screen, the user can visually find a photographic image from a large number of photographic images based on the shooting location. At this time, the search screen may display an input field for inputting a place or area to be searched.

As another example of the retrieval method, the time axis up to the present may be displayed on the screen, and a point on the time axis may be designated to extract and display the photographic image of that era. Good. At this time, as the search screen, not only the time axis display but also an input field for inputting the year to be searched and one's age may be displayed.

FIG. 2 is an example of a screen for performing a search based on the time axis. The first time axis 320 is displayed so that the date from the birth of the user to the present may fit on the entire screen. For example, the year 326a in which the user was born to the current year 326e are marked on the time axis, and the years 326b, 326c, 32 are spaced at intervals of 10 years between the marks.
6d is marked. The mark 328 is marked at a position corresponding to the shooting date and time of the photographic image stored in the electronic album device. Such a first time axis 320
Is first displayed on the display unit.

Next, when the user designates a part on the first time axis 320, the electronic album device enlarges a part of the axis and displays the second time axis 322 in accordance with the instruction. Similarly, mark the shooting date and time. Second time axis 32
2 displays January to December of the year in which the user's instruction is included. Next, when the user specifies a part on the second time axis 322, the electronic album device displays the third time axis 324 including the first day of the month including the instructed date and time to the end of the month. . By repeating such processing, the time axis is reduced from the length of the life to a position that matches the sense of time of daily life, and the photographic image 330 is finally displayed. By presenting the time axis in a hierarchical manner to the user in this way, it becomes easier to understand visually. Even when searching for a photographic image based on the position described with reference to FIG. 1, the virtual area may be hierarchized and the search may be performed by dropping from a wide area to a narrow area such as a living area.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the electronic album device 100. In terms of hardware components, each component of the electronic album device 100 is mainly implemented by a CPU of a computer, a memory, a storage device such as a hard disk, and an interface for communication with other devices.
It will be understood by those skilled in the art that there are various modified examples of the method for realizing it and the device. The configuration in this embodiment is not a hardware-based configuration but a functional-unit block.

The acquisition unit 105 acquires a photographic image stored in a storage unit of a digital camera or the like, or a photographic image of another electronic album device (hereinafter referred to as another device). The storage processing unit 102 converts the acquired photographic image into
The information is stored in the image storage unit 128, and the information related to the photographic image is stored in the image information database 126. The storage processing unit 102 includes an addition unit 104, a shooting date / time acquisition unit 106, and a shooting location acquisition unit 108.

The photographing date / time acquisition unit 106 extracts the photographing date / time included in the photographic image and extracts it from the image information database 12.
Store in 6. The shooting location acquisition unit 108 also extracts the position information included in the photographic image and stores it in the image information database 126. This position information is data indicating the shooting location, and if the digital camera has a GPS data acquisition function or a function to acquire the position information via a mobile phone, the latitude and longitude added to the photographic image at the time of shooting. Information may be used. In another embodiment, the position information and the shooting date / time may be input by the user. Further, when the area information, the postal code, the address, and the like are associated as the position information, the position information may be converted into latitude and longitude information and then stored in the image information database 126.

The adding unit 104 stores the acquired information about the attribute of the photographic image in the image information database 126 in association with the photographic image. This information specifies whether or not the image can be transferred to another device, and whether or not the image can be displayed during image reproduction. By previously adding the information designating whether or not the transfer is possible, it becomes possible to transfer only the desired photographic image without the user having to select the photographic image when transferring the image to another device. Further, information for distinguishing a transfer destination of a photographic image, for example, keywords such as "oldest son" and "oldest daughter" may be used as attributes and associated with each photographic image.

The information for designating whether or not to display is information for designating for disclosure to the public. For example, among the photographic images stored in this electronic album at a wedding ceremony, the photos which are permitted to be disclosed to the public. It can be used as a slide show of only images.

The display processing unit 112 performs processing for displaying a photographic image on the display unit 118, and the image display processing unit 11
6 and a search screen display processing unit 114. The image display processing unit 116 uses the image storage unit 128 in various data formats.
Processing for displaying the photographic image stored in the display unit 118 on the display unit 118 is performed. The search screen display processing unit 114 generates search screen data for searching for photographic images stored in the image storage unit 128. Search screen display processing unit 114
Has a virtual area processing unit 117 that generates screen data for searching a photographic image based on position information, and a time axis processing unit 115 that generates screen data for searching a photographic image based on time. . The search screen has been described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, for example.

The input section 120 is connected via an input device.
The virtual position designated by the user is accepted. Search unit 11
0 searches for a photographic image based on the virtual position supplied from the input unit 120. The photographic image obtained by the search is displayed on the display unit 118 by the image display processing unit 116.

The output unit 122 transfers the photographic image to another device in accordance with the instruction from the output instruction unit 124. The output instruction unit 124 instructs the search unit 110 on the type of photographic image to be transferred, the search unit 110 performs a search based on the instruction, and provides the search result to the output unit 122. Output unit 122
Displays the photographic image on the basis of the search result.
Select from 8 and output to another device. For example, the type of photographic image to be transferred can be specified by the attribute added by the addition unit 104, and the output instruction unit 124 instructs to transfer the photographic image to which the same attribute is added. Also, the output unit 122
Has a function of displaying a photographic image on an external display device such as a video terminal. Thereby, a large number of people can enjoy the photographic image displayed on the external display device.

FIG. 4 is an internal block diagram of the virtual area processing unit 117 included in the electronic album device 100. The map storage unit 134 stores map images of various scales in various regions such as the whole world, each country, all Japan, prefecture areas, and municipal areas. The map selection unit 136 selects a map indicating a range including the position information based on the position information held in the image information database 126, the scale of the map, the range of the real space indicated by the map, The size of the map image and the like are output to the first conversion unit 130.

The first conversion unit 130 converts the position information acquired from the image information database 126 into coordinates in the virtual area, based on the map information from the map selection unit 136. For example, the first conversion unit 130 generates a conversion matrix for converting the coordinates in the real area into the coordinates in the virtual area based on the information about the map, and performs the primary conversion using the matrix. By this conversion, the shooting location of the photographic image can be displayed at the corresponding position in the virtual area.
The first conversion unit 130 also outputs information about the map used for conversion to the search unit 110. The combining unit 132
A mark is combined with a predetermined coordinate in the map image extracted from the map storage unit 134.

FIG. 5 is an internal block diagram of the search unit 110. The second conversion unit 140 converts the designated virtual position into a real position. For example, the second conversion unit 140 generates an inverse matrix of the conversion matrix used by the first conversion unit 130, and uses the matrix to perform a primary conversion for converting a virtual position into a real position. The range setting unit 142 sets a predetermined range including the actual position as a real area. With this configuration, even if the user roughly specifies the virtual position, the range around the corresponding actual position can be the search target. The selection unit 144 selects a photo image taken in the real area,
It is instructed to display the photographic image on the image display processing unit 116. In another embodiment, the selection unit 144 is
If the photograph image taken in the real area cannot be searched, the range setting unit 142 may be instructed to widen the range to find the photograph image taken at the position closest to the actual position. Also, when performing a search based on the time axis,
The second conversion unit 140 converts the position designated by the user on the time axis into time. The range setting unit 142 determines a period including the time. The selection unit 144 selects an image captured within the period.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the image search process in the electronic album device 100. The search screen display processing unit 114 acquires position information from the image information database 126 (S10) and converts it into coordinates in the virtual area (S12). The combining unit 132 combines the map and the mark 302 and displays them on the display unit 118 (S14). Input section 1
The search unit 110 waits until the virtual position is designated by 20 (N in S16). When the virtual position is designated by the input unit 120 (Y of S16), the second conversion unit 140
Converts the virtual position into a real position (S18). The range setting unit 142 sets a real area including the real position (S2).
0). The selection unit 144 outputs the storage location of the photographic image taken in the real area to the image display processing unit 116 (S22,
S24). The image display processing unit 116 acquires the photographic image in the designated storage location from the image storage unit 128 and displays it on the display unit 118.

The present invention has been described above based on the embodiments. It is understood by those skilled in the art that the embodiments are exemplifications, that various modifications can be made to combinations of respective constituent elements and respective processing processes, and that such modifications are within the scope of the present invention. .

The first modification relates to a search based on the shooting location. The search unit 110 described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 5.
Said that after converting the virtual position into the real position, the photograph image taken in the real area is searched, but this may be modified as follows. The electronic album device 100 is the first of FIG.
The conversion unit 130 further includes a unit that stores the coordinates in the virtual area and the photographic image in association with each other. Then, the search unit 110 sets an area in the virtual area including the virtual position, and selects the photographic image included in the area from the units described above. This can reduce the process of converting the virtual position to the real position. The unit may be, for example, a new field for holding the coordinates in the virtual area in the image information database 126, or information for specifying the coordinates and the image in a storage means such as a memory. It may be an area that holds and are associated with each other.

In the second modification, a category is set for each photographic image, and a search based on the category is made possible to further facilitate the search for a desired photographic image. In order to realize this, the image information database 12
6 further holds the category of the photographic image in association with the photographic image. The search screen display processing unit 114 changes the shape of the mark for each category or displays only the same category.

Further, the search screen display processing section 114 may perform a search in the same category and display the displayed marks by connecting the marks with lines in the order of photographing date and time. With such a display, the user can visually understand the temporal relationship with the shooting location. For example, if photographic images are stored in the category of "residential place", it is possible to visualize the path related to living from birth to the present.

FIG. 7 is an example of a display screen. By using the electronic album according to the present embodiment, for example, when married, the photograph images that each other has are collected in one electronic album, and the search is performed in the category of “place of residence”, so that the respective journeys can be performed. It can be visualized at the same time. This figure is an example of the screen thus displayed.

Marks 302 and 310 indicate the residences of Mr. A and Mr. B, respectively. Each mark is connected in time series by a solid line and a dotted line. Also, mark 30
The shooting date and time 308 of the photographic image is displayed around 2, 310. With such a display, Mr. A and Mr. B can look back on the path to the encounter as an action history in the play area called the earth. This display is interesting because the processes of each user up to the present are sequentially accumulated. The electronic album in the present embodiment has such a function, and can exhibit the merit of accumulating a large number of photographic images.

[0045]

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an electronic album device capable of easily managing images.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a screen for performing a position-based search according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a screen for performing a time-based search according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of an electronic album device according to an embodiment.

4 is an internal configuration diagram of a virtual area processing unit included in the electronic album device of FIG.

5 is an internal block diagram of a search unit included in the electronic album device of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of image search processing according to the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 electronic album device, 102 storage processing unit, 10
5 acquisition unit, 110 search unit, 114 search screen display processing unit, 115 time axis processing unit, 116 image display processing unit,
117 virtual area processing unit, 118 display unit, 120 input unit, 126 image information database, 128 image storage unit, 130 first conversion unit, 132 composition unit, 134 map storage unit, 140 second conversion unit, 142 range setting unit, 1
44 Selector.

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Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. A first storage unit for accumulating an image by associating position information in a real area, an input unit for receiving a position designation from a user, and a setting unit for defining a range of an area including the received position. An electronic device comprising: a search unit that selects an image including a position specified by the position information in the range; and a first display processing unit that displays the selected image on a display unit. Album device. 2. A second display processing section for displaying a virtual area including a map on the display unit, and converting a virtual position in the virtual area, which is received by the input section, into position data in the real area. A first conversion unit for outputting to the setting unit, the setting unit sets a range in the real region, and the search unit sets position information in the real region to be a range in the real region. The electronic album device according to claim 1, wherein an image included in is selected. 3. A second conversion unit for converting the position information in the real area associated with the image into coordinates on the map, wherein the second display processing unit includes the coordinates on the map. The electronic album device according to claim 2, wherein a mark is displayed on the screen. 4. A second display processing unit that causes the display unit to display a virtual area including a map, and position information in a real area associated with the image,
A conversion unit for converting the coordinates into a coordinate on the map; the setting unit sets a range in the virtual region; and the search unit selects an image in which the coordinates are included in the range. The electronic album device according to claim 1. 5. An acquisition unit that captures an image from another device, and a storage processing unit that stores the captured image in association with information that specifies an image captured from another device. 5. The electronic album device according to claim 2, wherein the second display processing unit displays an image captured from another device so as to be visually distinguishable from the other images. 6. The first storage unit further holds information specifying an image attribute in association with the image, and the second display processing unit displays a different mark for each attribute. The electronic album device according to any one of claims 2 to 5. 7. The first storage unit further holds information identifying a category of an image in association with each other, and the second display processing unit stores a mark of an image associated with the same category. 7. The electronic album device according to claim 2, wherein the electronic album device is displayed by connecting with a line in time series. 8. A storage unit that stores images in association with time information, an input unit that receives a time designation from a user, a setting unit that defines a period including the received time, and the time information is stored in the period. An electronic album device, comprising: a search unit that selects an image included therein; and a first display processing unit that displays the selected image on a display unit. 9. The electronic album apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising a second display processing unit that causes the display unit to display a time axis with a mark at a position corresponding to the time information. 10. A storage unit that stores images by associating information that sets transfer availability with each other, a storage processing unit that associates information that specifies transfer availability with the images, and transfer enabled An electronic album device, comprising: an instruction unit for instructing selection of an image; and an output unit for transferring the selected image. 11. The storage unit further holds information specifying an image attribute in association with the image, and the instruction unit gives an instruction to select an image to be transferred based on the attribute. The electronic album device according to claim 10. 12. A storage unit having a capacity suitable for storing image data of a photograph taken by the user over his or her lifetime, and a time sufficient to cover the user's lifetime with the image data stored in the storage unit. A first display processing unit arranged and shown on a time axis set as a reference, and a virtual image set based on a space where a user may move the image data stored in the storage unit in his / her life. A second display processing unit arranged in a space and shown, and an electronic album device.