JP2003153142A - Image display device, image managing server and image managing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image display device, an image managing server and an image managing system in which the reduced images matching with the narrowed-down search information are received from the server managing images and a user can look through that list of reduced images. SOLUTION: An electronic camera 10 (image display device) is provided with a transmitting means (transmitting/receiving means 157) for transmitting the search narrowing-down information of an image such as image size, the machine type information of the electronic camera 10 used for picking up an image, comment information on the image, information on the date of image pickup or on the place of image pickup or the like to a server 90 recording a plurality of images, a receiving means (transmitting/receiving means 157) for receiving the reduced images matched to the narrowed-down search information from the server 90, and a display means 168 for displaying the list of the received reduced images.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image display device, an image management server, and an image management system, and in particular, an image managed by the image management server can be viewed on the terminal side image display device. The present invention relates to an image display device, an image management server, and an image management system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An image captured by an electronic camera is generally recorded on a recording medium mounted on the electronic camera. However, since the recording capacity of this recording medium is a finite value that is not so large compared to the file size of an image, it is the current situation that many images cannot be recorded. Therefore, once shot images are saved or saved in an external storage device such as a personal computer at home or an image management server on the network, and the images recorded in the recording medium mounted on the electronic camera are deleted. After that, a usage method is used in which the photographed image is recorded again on the recording medium.

In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-350174, data of an image taken by a digital camera is stored in a storage device of a server computer, and the server computer creates reduced image data (thumbnail) based on the image data. An image data processing system adapted for transmission to a digital camera is shown.

In the image data processing system, the reduced image data transmitted to the digital camera is stored in the flash memory of the digital camera, and the user can search for desired image data while looking at the thumbnail.

Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-215379 discloses an image pickup means, a storage means for storing picked-up image information in a storage medium, a communication circuit for performing data communication, and encoding and combining various information. In the digital electronic camera having a codec circuit for performing the above, a digital electronic camera is shown in which the receiving side can confirm a part of the image information in the storage means of the transmitting side.

In the above digital electronic camera and image data processing system, the photographing device (electronic camera or the like) receives a thumbnail image which is a part of the image information from the external storage device (server or the like), and the thumbnail image is received by the photographing device. It is a system that displays thumbnails and browses or searches for images.

[0007]

However, when the captured image is saved in the image management server, there is also a demand for viewing the image captured previously at the destination. In this case, it is impossible for the user to view an image that has already been erased from the recording medium mounted on the electronic camera by displaying it on the display means of the electronic camera.

Further, the image data processing system disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-350174 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
In the digital electronic camera disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 215379, the same number of thumbnail images as the number of images stored in the external storage device are transferred to the user's electronic camera or the like. Since the communication information amount of the image data increases in proportion to the increase in the number of stored image data, the communication time is long and the communication cost is increased.

[0009] In addition, since generally received thumbnail images often include many unnecessary images, there is a problem in that the search efficiency after acquiring image data is deteriorated.

According to the present invention, an image recorded on a recording medium of an electronic camera is transmitted to an image management server for storage and registration, and then a reduced image group for display designated by the date is received from the image management server. The list of the reduced images or the reduced images themselves are quickly displayed on the display means of the electronic camera for browsing.

According to the present invention, the image display device uses an image management server (external storage device) by using the date information, which is a part of the photographing information, and other image search narrowing-down information as keywords for the search. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image display device, an image management server, and an image management system capable of efficiently performing browsing and searching by reducing the amount of thumbnail images received from the.

Further, the image display device receives from the image management server the information for narrowing down the images such as a list of shooting dates and other information, and the information is displayed on the display means, so that useless date information from the user is input. An object is to provide an image display device, an image management server, and an image management system that can be omitted.

[0013]

In order to achieve the above object, an image display device according to the present invention is an electronic camera used for image size and image pickup for an image management server recording a plurality of images. A device for transmitting the model information, comment information about the image, information about the date when the image was taken, information about the place where the image was taken, and other image search narrowing-down information,
It is characterized by further comprising: a receiving unit that receives a reduced image that matches the search narrowed-down information from the image management server, and a display unit that displays a list of the received reduced images.

According to the present invention, the image display device reduces the amount of thumbnail images received from the image management server,
It becomes possible to carry out efficient browsing and searching.

Further, in order to achieve the above object, the image display device according to the present invention comprises an image pickup means for picking up a subject image, and the transmitting means transmits the picked-up image to an image management server. There is.

According to the present invention, the image captured by the image display device (electronic camera) can be transmitted to the image management server. Therefore, the image can be stored in the image display device (electronic camera). Even if it does not exist, it is possible to efficiently download, browse and search the images managed by the image management server side.

Further, in order to achieve the above object, the image display device according to the present invention comprises a designating unit for designating a desired image from the reduced image group displayed on the display unit. The display means enlarges and displays only the image designated by the user instead of the displayed list display.

According to the present invention, the user can easily browse the enlarged display from the list display of the reduced images.

Further, in order to achieve the above object, in the image display device according to the present invention, the display means has an image size, model information of an electronic camera used for image pickup, comment information regarding the image, date information of the image pickup, or Information relating to the location where the image was captured and other search narrowing-down information of the image are displayed, and the image display device displays the search narrowing-down information of a predetermined image from the search narrowing-down information of the image displayed on the display unit by the user. It is characterized in that it comprises an input means for inputting information for designating, and the transmitting means transmits the search narrowing-down information of the image inputted via the input means to the image management server.

According to the present invention, it is possible to omit useless input of date information from the user by displaying the search narrowed-down information of the shooting date list and other images on the display means. Makes it possible to easily search or browse images.

In order to achieve the above object, the image display device according to the present invention is such that the image size displayed on the display means, the model information of the electronic camera used for image pickup, the comment information regarding the image, and the information of the image pickup date. , Or information about the location where the image was picked up and other image search narrowing-down information from the image management server.

According to the present invention, useless input of date information by a user is omitted by receiving a list of shooting dates and other image search narrowing-down information from the image management server and displaying the information on the display means. Therefore, the user can easily search or browse the image.

In order to achieve the above object, the image management server according to the present invention relates to a reduced image for a main image provided by a user, the size of the image, model information of an electronic camera used for image pickup, and an image. Receiving the image search narrowing information from a recording unit that records the comment information, the image pickup date information, the image pickup place information, and other image search narrowing information in association with each other, and the image display device on the user side. Receiving means, extracting means for extracting a reduced image for the main image provided by the user recorded in the recording means based on the received search narrowing information of the image, and the extracted reduced image for the user And a transmitting means for transmitting to the image display device on the side.

According to the present invention, the image management server records the image provided by the user and the search narrowing-down information of the image in association with each other, and records them in the search narrowing-down information of the image received from the user side. Based on this, we extracted the image provided by the user and sent it to the image display device on the user side.
The user can efficiently browse and search on the image display device side.

In order to achieve the above object, the image management system according to the present invention is directed to an image management server which stores a plurality of images, the image size, the model information of the electronic camera used for image pickup, and the image. Comment information about the captured image, information about the date when the image was captured, or information about the place where the image was captured, and other first image transmitting means for transmitting search narrowed-down information, and a reduced image that matches the search narrowed-down information from the image management server. An image display device including a first receiving unit for displaying the received reduced image, a reduced image for the main image provided by the user, the size of the image, and an electronic camera used for capturing the image. A record for associating and recording the device type information, the comment information about the image, the information about the date when the image was taken, or the information about the place where the image was taken and other search narrowing down information of the image. A stage, and a second receiving means for receiving a search refinement information of the image from the image display device of the user side,
Extraction means for extracting a reduced image for the main image recorded in the recording means and provided by the user based on the received search narrowing-down information of the image; and displaying the extracted reduced image on the user side. And an image management server having a second transmission unit for transmitting to the apparatus.

According to the present invention, the amount of thumbnail images received by the image display device from the image management server is reduced by using date information and other image search narrowing-down information as one of the search keywords. It becomes possible to carry out efficient browsing and searching.

[0027]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Preferred embodiments of an image display device, an image management server and an image management system according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of the image management system.

As shown in the figure, in the image management system, it is possible to transmit and receive information such as an image using the electronic camera 10 for picking up a subject image and the electronic camera 10 using a wireless or wired communication means. Server 90 and electronic camera 10
A printer 70 capable of printing an image transmitted from the server 90 to the server 90 is provided.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a signal processing system of the image display device according to the present invention.

In the image processing section of the electronic camera 10 which is one form of the image display device provided with the image pickup means, an image pickup means 150 for forming an image of a subject on the light receiving surface, photoelectrically converting it, and outputting it as an image signal. An image processing unit 153 for performing analog processing such as image size change, sharpness correction, contour processing, and contrast correction, and an A / D converter 154 for converting an analog image signal into digital image data are provided. There is.

Further, the communication means of the electronic camera 10 for transmitting and receiving information such as image data to and from other communication equipment by communication is a short-distance transmitting and receiving for transmitting or receiving information such as image data on carrier waves such as radio waves. Means 157 (transmitting means,
A first transmitting unit, a receiving unit, or a function of the first receiving unit), an antenna 156 for transmitting and receiving a carrier wave and image data, and other communication devices for transmitting information such as image data via a communication cable. A communication connector 162 for transmitting and receiving,
A cradle connector 163 configured to transmit / receive information to / from another communication device via a cradle in which the electronic camera 10 is mounted.

Further, the electronic camera 10 is provided with a compression / expansion unit 167 for performing compression processing or thinning processing on information such as image data by a method typified by JPEG or motion JPEG, and expansion / expansion processing of compressed image data. OS for displaying on-screen various characters and message data displayed on the display unit 168 together with images
D169, and a signal processing unit 170 that performs white balance processing, gamma conversion, YC conversion processing, pixel number conversion processing, electronic zoom processing, trimming processing, and the like on image data obtained by imaging. A frame memory 171 for temporarily storing image data for display,
A D / A converter 172 that converts digital image data into a composite signal for display and the like, and a connector 173 that outputs a signal for display to a display device of each unit are provided.

Further, the electronic camera 10 has an input means 174 (including a function of a designation means) including a power switch, a release button, a communication button, a transmission button, a function switch, a cross button, a decision switch, a mode changeover switch and the like. ), An I / O 175 which is an interface for inputting / outputting input information input through the inputting means 174 and information for display means such as LEDs, and the recording medium 17
A recording medium mounting portion 178 for detachably mounting the recording medium 7 and a recording medium interface 179 for recording and reading information such as image data with respect to the recording medium 177 are provided. The recording medium 177 is a semiconductor such as a memory card, or a removable recording medium typified by a magnetic recording type typified by MO or the like, or an optical recording type.

The electronic camera 10 includes the electronic camera 1
It is possible to rewrite information with the information processing unit 180 that controls the whole of the image data 0, and controls image data sampling timing, image data recording control, communication control, image and audio recording control, display control, and the like. A non-volatile memory 182 capable of continuing to store the stored information such as various constants for adjustment stored even after the power is cut off.
And a ROM 183 in which an operation program of the electronic camera 10, constants, display information, model information unique to the electronic camera 10 and the like are stored, and a RAM 1 which is a high-speed readable / writable storage unit serving as a work area during program execution.
84 are provided.

Further, the electronic camera 10 has a calendar clock 190 for keeping time, a power source 191 for supplying various kinds of electric power for driving the electronic camera 10, a power source connector 192 for receiving electric power from an external power source, A light emitting unit 193 that emits light to the subject at the time of image capturing to make up for the insufficient light amount, and a light emission control unit 194 that adjusts the light emission timing of the light emitting unit 193 and the amount of light emitted are provided.

As shown in the figure, the information processing means 180 of the electronic camera 10 and each circuit around it are connected by a bus 199, so that information can be transmitted at high speed to each other, and at the same time, the information processing means. It is possible to control each peripheral circuit based on the processing program executed by 180.

An image pickup process of the electronic camera 10 configured as described above will be described.

The image to be picked up is formed on the light receiving surface of the image pickup means 150 by the lens 102, and the formed subject image is photoelectrically converted and output to the image processing means 153. The image processing means 153 performs image processing such as correlated double sampling, amplification and noise reduction processing on this image signal, and the A / D converter 154 converts it into digital data.

The image data converted into the digital data is transferred to the signal processing means 170 according to a command from the information processing means 180, and the image white balance, gamma correction, and YC correction are performed.
After being subjected to image processing such as conversion, zoom processing, and pixel number conversion processing, they are temporarily stored in the frame memory 171 such as VRAM.

The information processing means 180 is the frame memory 1
The image data stored in 71 is sequentially added to the D / A converter 1
An instruction to transmit to 72 is given, and it is displayed on the display unit 168 together with information such as characters generated from the OSD 169.

When the user presses a release button for inputting an image pickup instruction provided in the input means 174, the information processing means 180 enters a mode for picking up an image of a subject. Then, the information processing means 180 records the image data converted into digital data by the A / D converter 154 in the RAM 184.

When recording the picked-up image on the recording medium 177, the images stored in the RAM 184 are sequentially read and transferred to the signal processing means 170, and the image white balance, gamma correction, YC conversion, and zoom are performed. processing,
Image processing such as pixel number conversion processing is performed to convert the gradation of each color,
After the image size conversion processing and the like are performed, the image data is transferred to the compression / expansion unit 167.

The image data compressed by the compression / expansion means 167 under a predetermined condition is converted into image data for recording and then output to the recording medium interface 179 and sequentially recorded on the recording medium 177. It

When the captured image is transmitted to another communication device such as the server 90 to store the image, the electronic camera 1
The information processing unit 180 of 0 performs processing of communicating the image recorded in the recording medium 177 to another communication device such as the server 90 using the wired or wireless communication unit via the transmission / reception unit 157.

In the above description, the image display device is described as an electronic camera having an image pickup means, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the image is obtained from an external device. PDA (Personal Data) that can display a list of images recorded in the image management server.
a Assistance), a mobile phone, or the like, the object of the present invention can be achieved.

The transmission / reception means 157 (transmission means or first transmission means) is used for the server 90 (image management server) recording a plurality of images, the image size, and the electronic device used for image pickup. It is possible to transmit camera model information, image comment information, image capture date information, image capture location information, and other image search narrowing information.

Further, the transmission / reception means 157 (reception means or first reception means) can receive from the server 90 (image management server) an image matching the search narrowing information or a reduced image of the main image. Has become.

The display means 168 is the information processing means 1
Based on the instruction from 80, it is possible to display a list of images or reduced images received from the server 90.

By operating the input unit 174 (designating unit), the user can designate an image desired by the user from the image group or reduced image group displayed on the display unit 168. It is possible.

The display means 168 is the information processing means 18.
Based on the instruction of 0, instead of the list display displayed on the display unit 168, only the image designated by the user can be enlarged and displayed.

The display means 168 is the information processing means 18.
Based on the instruction of 0, the image size, the model information of the electronic camera used for the image capturing, the comment information regarding the image, the information regarding the image capturing date, the information regarding the image capturing location, and other image search narrowing information are displayed, It is possible to notify the user.

By operating the input means 174, the user inputs information to the effect that the search narrowing information of a desired image is designated from the search narrowing information of images displayed on the display means 168. It is possible to do.

The transmitting / receiving means 157 (transmitting means, first
Of the image) can be transmitted to the server 90 (image management server) with the image search narrowing-down information input through the input unit 174.

Further, the transmission / reception means 157 (reception means, first
Means for receiving the image size displayed on the display unit 168, model information of the electronic camera used for image capturing, comment information regarding the image, information regarding the date of image capturing, information regarding the image capturing location, and other image search narrowing information. Can be received from the server 90 (image management server).

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a signal processing system of the image management server.

According to the figure, the information transmitter / receiver of the server 90 (image management server) has an antenna 956 used as a wireless network communication means and data in a predetermined format for transmitting / receiving information wirelessly or by wire. Transmitting / receiving means 957 (transmission means, second transmission means, reception means,
(Including the function of the second receiving means) and a public line 960 or a public line for transmitting / receiving information to / from other communication devices (electronic camera 10, print server, etc.) via a communication network such as a communication network And the transmitting / receiving means 965 (including the functions of the transmitting means, the second transmitting means, the receiving means, and the second receiving means).

The server 90 also has a display unit 968 for displaying information such as images and characters for confirmation, if necessary.
And a display control means 969 for outputting an image signal for display to the display means 968 based on a command from the information processing means.
I / I that various information input by the administrator through the input unit 974 is read and transmitted to the information processing unit described later, or a display command is output to a notification unit such as an LED based on an instruction from the information processing unit. O975 is provided.

Further, the server 90 has an information processing means (including a function of an extracting means) 9 for controlling the entire server 90.
80, a ROM in which a program for operating the information processing unit 980 and various constants are recorded, and an information processing unit 980
Is a recording unit that serves as a work area when executing a process.
A memory 981 including an AM, various constants related to processing of the server 90, own attribute information on the network, URL (Uniform Resource Locators), address, site address, gateway information DNS (Domain)
A recording unit 986 such as a hard disk for recording information such as connection information such as Name System) and a calendar clock 990 for keeping time are provided.

Although not shown in FIG. 3, the recording means 9 is used when an image printing order is received from the user.
The server 90 may include a dedicated printer interface that directly outputs print information to the printer 70 when the image recorded in 86 is printed by the printer 70.

As shown in the figure, the information processing means 980,
The peripheral circuits including the display control unit 969, the I / O 975, the memory 981, the recording unit 986, the calendar clock 990, etc. are connected by the bus 999, and the information processing unit 980 can control each peripheral circuit. Along with
It is possible to control each peripheral device based on the processing program executed by the information processing unit 980.

The recording means 986 stores the reduced image of the main image provided from the communication device (electronic camera 10 etc.) on the user side and the size of the image, the model information of the electronic camera used for the image pickup, and the comment information about the image. It is possible to record the information of the date when the image was taken, the information about the place where the image was taken, and other search narrowed-down information of the image in association with each other.

Further, the transmitting / receiving means 957 or the transmitting / receiving means 9
The reference numeral 65 (reception means, second reception means) can receive the image search narrowing information from the electronic camera 10 (image display device) on the user side.

Information processing means 980 (extraction means)
Is capable of extracting the image provided by the user recorded in the recording unit 986 or the reduced image corresponding to the main image based on the search narrowing-down information of the image received from the image display device on the user side. Has become.

Further, the transmitting / receiving means 957 or the transmitting / receiving means 9
65 (transmitting means, second transmitting means) is the recording means 9
The image or reduced image extracted from 86 can be transmitted to the electronic camera 10 (image display device) on the user side.

FIG. 4 shows a flowchart relating to image browsing.

When the user operates the communication terminal such as the electronic camera 10 and desires to browse the image recorded in the server 90, the user uses the input means 17 of the electronic camera 10.
4 is operated to set the processing mode of the electronic camera 10 to the image display mode.

Then, the information processing means 1 of the electronic camera 10
The process carried out by 80 branches to S100 "start" and proceeds to the next process of S102 "search condition inquiry".

In S102, the information processing unit 180 performs a process of establishing communication with the server 90 via the transmission / reception unit 157. When communication is established between the electronic camera 10 and the server 90, the information processing unit 180 outputs to the server 90 an instruction to request transmission of search conditions for images registered by the user in the server 90. .

Sending / receiving means 96 sends a request for sending the search condition.
In step S202, the information processing unit 980 of the server 90 received via S5 receives search conditions for narrowing down images of the user (image size, electronic camera model, comment regarding captured image, date when image was captured). , A search condition for narrowing down information about a place where an image is captured, etc. is read from the recording unit 986 and transmitted to the electronic camera 10 via the transmitting / receiving unit 965.

In the electronic camera 10 which has received the search condition of the image, the process proceeds to S104 "search condition designation". S
In 104, the information processing unit 180 displays the search condition items for narrowing down received from the server 90 by the display unit 168.
To notify the user. In the following process, a case where the user sets “date” as the search narrowing condition will be described.

If the user has set "date" as the search narrowing condition, the process proceeds to the next step S106, "Is there a shooting date history?" When it is determined in S106 that the search condition of the date history is not recorded in the recording unit such as the recording medium 177, the process performed by the information processing unit 180 proceeds to S108 “shooting date list request” process. .

Further, in the judgment of S106, the recording medium 177
When it is determined that the search condition of the date history is recorded in the recording means such as the recording means, the process proceeds to S110 “Display shooting date list”, and the image recorded in the recording means such as the recording medium 177 is captured. Display means 1 for displaying a list of image dates
The process of displaying at 68 is performed.

In step S108, the information processing means 180 outputs an instruction to request transmission of information regarding the list of shooting dates of images registered by the user in the server 90.

When the server 90 receives the request for transmitting the information regarding the photographing date list through the transmitting / receiving means 965,
The process performed by the information processing unit 980 proceeds to S204 “extract shooting information from registered images, collect statistics, and create shooting date list”. In S204, the information processing unit 980 causes the image file (recording unit 98) of the corresponding user to be registered.
After the shooting information is extracted from the image file recorded in (6), statistics are taken and a list of shooting dates is created, and the process proceeds to the next step S206, “Send shooting date list”.

In step S206, the information processing means 980 determines
A process of transmitting the shooting date list of the registered images created in 204 to the electronic camera 10 of the corresponding user via the transmitting / receiving unit 965 or the transmitting / receiving unit 957 is performed.

When the electronic camera 10 receives the shooting date list from the server 90, in the process of S110, the list relating to the received date is displayed on the display means 168.

When the user operates the input means 174 such as the cross button to select a desired date from the date list of the images displayed on the display means 168, the information processing means 1
The process performed by 80 proceeds to S112 “User selects date from list”, and the process proceeds to S114 “Date transmission” so as to transmit the information of the date selected by the user to the server 90.

In S114, the information processing unit 180 performs a process of transmitting the information of the date selected by the user to the server 90 via the transmitting / receiving unit 157.

On the other hand, when the server 90 acquires the date information via the transmitting / receiving means 965 or the transmitting / receiving means 957,
The process performed by the information processing unit 980 proceeds to S208 “Search for images matching the reception date, group, and sort by shooting time”. In S208, the information processing means 98
0 performs a process of searching and extracting an image of the image capturing date and time that matches the received date from the image file of the user recorded in the recording unit 986. Then, the file names of the extracted image files are grouped and further sorted in the order of shooting time.

Next, the information processing means 980 selects the thumbnail only from the images in the group in S210, and the S210
The process of reading out the reduced images (thumbnails) from the image files grouped in is performed. Then, when the process of extracting the reduced image recorded in each image file is completed,
The process proceeds to the next process of S212 “send thumbnail group” to perform a process of transmitting the extracted reduced image to the electronic camera 10.

In the electronic camera 10 that has received the reduced image from the server 90, the processing proceeds to S116 "Associate with index value in the order of reception", and the information processing means 180
A process of associating the received reduced image with the image file name (index value) including the reduced image is performed.

In the next step S118 "Display thumbnail (reduced) list", the information processing means 180 further reduces the reduced images associated with the image file in step S116 and displays the list on the display means 168.

The user browses the reduced image list displayed on the display unit 168, and if the desired image is present in the list display, operates the input unit 174 to browse. Select the reduced image to be used. Then, the information processing unit 180 reads the information input through the input unit 174, and the process proceeds to S120 "thumbnail full size display".

In step S120, the information processing unit 180 instructs the display unit 168 to display a full-size image of the reduced image of the images selected by the user, instead of displaying the list of reduced images displayed on the display unit 168. Signal processing means 170
Output to. Then, the display unit 168 displays the full-size image of the reduced image selected by the user. Also, S
When the user again instructs to display a list of reduced images at 120, the process performed by information processing unit 180 returns to S118, and display unit 168 displays a list of a plurality of reduced images again.

FIG. 5 shows a flowchart relating to image printing.

When the user operates the communication terminal such as the electronic camera 10 and desires to print the image recorded in the server 90, the user uses the input means 17 of the electronic camera 10.
4 is operated to set the processing mode of the electronic camera 10 to the image ordering mode.

Then, the information processing means 1 of the electronic camera 10
The processing carried out by 80 branches to S300 "start" and proceeds to the next processing of S302 "thumbnail selection and order".

The user browses the list of reduced images displayed on the display unit 168, and if the image desired to be printed is present in the list display, operates the input unit 174 to display it. Select the reduced image you want to print. The information processing unit 180 reads the information input via the input unit 174, and proceeds to the processing of the next S304 “transmit index value”. Information processing means 180 in S304
Performs a process of transmitting the index value such as the file name of the image selected by the user to the server 90 via the transmitting / receiving unit 157.

The server 90 which receives the index value via the transmitting / receiving means 965 or the transmitting / receiving means 957,
The processing of S402 "select image data matching index value" is performed. Information processing means 980 at S402
Performs the process of reading the main image of the image file recorded in the recording unit 986 in association with the image file name (index value). When the information processing unit 980 reads the corresponding main image from the recording unit 986, the process proceeds to the next S404 “image data transmission”.

In S404, the information processing means 980 transmits the image data read from the recording means 986 to the transmitting / receiving means 96.
5. Through the transmission / reception unit 957 or the dedicated printer interface, the process of transmitting to the printer 70 or a print server (not shown in FIG. 1) to which the printer 70 is connected is performed.

If the printer 70 is connected via the print server via a communication network such as the Internet, the print server that has received the image data is S504.
A “reception Msg transmission” may be used to transmit a reception message indicating that the printing process has been received, to the electronic camera 10 of the user who is the orderer of the print order.

Further, the printer 70 which has received the image data from the server 90 carries out an image printing process using the received image data in S506 "print execution". In the printer 70, the image received from the server 90 is printed on the paper 72.
After performing the process of printing on,
The printing process ends.

When the discharged paper 72 is shipped to the user's house, the printer 70 receives the image data and the delivery address and name of the paper 72 in advance from the server 90, and receives the received data. The completed photograph (paper 72) is delivered to the delivery destination.

[0095]

As described above, according to the image display device of the present invention, the image size, the model information of the electronic camera used for image pickup, and the image are recorded with respect to the image management server which records a plurality of images. Comment information, information on the date when the image was taken, information about the place where the image was taken, and other means for transmitting search narrowing information for the image, and receiving means for receiving a reduced image that matches the search narrowing information from the image management server. And a display unit for displaying the received reduced images as a list, it is possible to reduce the amount of thumbnail images received from the image management server by the image display device, and perform efficient browsing and searching. Becomes

Further, the image management server according to the present invention records the image provided by the user and the search narrowing information of the image in association with each other, and the search narrowing information of the image received from the user side. Since the image provided by the user is extracted and transmitted to the image display device on the user side based on the above, the user can perform efficient browsing and search on the image display device side. Becomes

Further, according to the present invention, since it is not necessary to receive all the reduced images from the server, the user can quickly search and browse for the desired image on the image display device side.

Further, according to the present invention, since an image to be browsed can be selected in units of shooting date, it is possible to omit useless communication and quickly search for a desired image.

Further, according to the present invention, since the image management server has a function of notifying the image display device side of the date when the image was captured, it is not necessary for the user to remember the date when the image was captured. It is possible to receive and browse a desired image without stress.

Further, according to the present invention, since the date when the image is captured is stored on the image display device side, the user does not need to remember the date when the image was captured, and the desired image can be received without stress. It becomes possible to browse.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an image management system.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a signal processing system of the image display device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a signal processing system of a server that records an image.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart regarding image browsing according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart regarding image printing according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Electronic camera, 70 ... Printer, 72 ... Paper, 90
... server, 150 ... imaging means, 153 ... image processing means,
154 ... A / D converter, 156 ... Antenna, 157 ... Transmitting / receiving means, 162 ... Communication connector, 163 ... Cradle connector, 167 ... Compression / expansion means, 168 ... Display means,
169 ... OSD, 170 ... Signal processing means, 171 ... Frame memory, 172 ... D / A converter, 174 ... Input means, 175 ... I / O, 177 ... Recording medium, 178 ... Recording medium mounting section, 179 ... Recording medium Interface, 18
0 ... Information processing means, 182 ... Nonvolatile memory, 183 ...
ROM, 184 ... RAM, 190 ... Calendar clock, 19
1 ... Power supply, 192 ... Power supply connector, 193 ... Light emitting means,
194 ... Emission control means, 199 ... Bus, 956 ... Antenna, 957 ... Transmitting / receiving means, 960 ... Public line, 965 ...
Transmitting / receiving means, 968 ... Display means, 969 ... Display control means, 974 ... Input means, 975 ... I / O, 980 ... Information processing means, 981 ... Memory, 986 ... Recording means, 990
… Calendar clock, 999… Bus

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) H04N 5/225 H04N 5/225 AF 5/765 5/907 B 5/781 101: 00 5/907 5 / 781 510L // H04N 101: 00 5/91 LF Term (reference) 5B075 KK03 KK07 KK34 KK39 ND06 NK02 PP22 PQ02 PQ46 PQ48 UU40 5C022 AA13 AC01 AC13 AC69 CA00 5C052 AA17 AB04 AC08 CC11 DD04 GA04 5C05 GB05 GB09 GB09 GB06 GB06 GB09 GB06 GB06 GB09 GB09 FA08 FA23 FA27 GA11 GB06 GB21 HA30 JA16 JA22 JA24 KA01 KA24 LA01 LA11 LA14 5E501 AC33 BA01 CA04 DA02 DA15 FA23 FB46

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An image size for an image management server which records a plurality of images, model information of an electronic camera used for image capturing, comment information about the image, date information about the image capturing, information about the image capturing location, and others. Image display device, which transmits the search narrowing information of the image, receives the reduced images matching the search narrowing information from the image management server, and displays the received reduced images in a list on the display unit. . 2. The image display device according to claim 1, wherein the transmitting unit transmits the image captured by the image capturing unit provided in the image display device to the image management server. 3. When a specific image is designated by the user from the reduced image group displayed as a list on the display means, only the designated image is enlarged and displayed. The image display device according to claim 1. 4. The display means displays image size, model information of the electronic camera used for image capturing, comment information regarding the image, date information regarding the image capturing, information regarding the image capturing location, and other image search narrowing information. When the user inputs information indicating that search narrowing information of a predetermined image is selected from the search narrowing information of images displayed on the display means, the search narrowing information of the image is input to the image management server. The image display device according to claim 1, wherein the image is transmitted. 5. The image size displayed on the display unit, model information of the electronic camera used for image capturing, comment information regarding the image, date information regarding the image capturing, information regarding the image capturing location, and other image search narrowing-down information The image display device according to claim 4, wherein the search narrowing information is received from the image management server. 6. A reduced image of a main image provided by a user, a size of the image, model information of an electronic camera used for image capturing, comment information regarding the image, information regarding the image capturing date, or information regarding the image capturing location. A recording unit that records the search narrowing information of other images in association with each other is provided, and when the image search narrowing information is received from the image display device on the user side, the recording is performed based on the received search narrowing information of the image. An image management server, which extracts an image recorded in the means and sends it to an image display device on the user side. 7. An image size for an image management server recording a plurality of images, model information of an electronic camera used for image capturing, comment information about the image, date information of the image capturing, information about the image capturing location, etc. From the image management server that transmits the search narrowing-down information of the image, receives a reduced image matching the search narrowing-down information from the image management server, and displays a list of the received reduced images on the display unit. A reduced image of the provided main image, the size of the image, model information of the electronic camera used for imaging,
A recording unit is provided which records in association with comment information about an image, information about the date when the image was taken, information about the place where the image was taken, and other search narrowing-down information of the image, and the image search narrowing-down information from the image display device on the user side When the image is received, an image management server that extracts the image recorded in the recording means based on the received search narrowing-down information of the received image and transmits the image to the image display device on the user side. Characteristic image Image management system.