JP2003203242A - Electronic cartoon creating system and electronic cartoon creating method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To create an electronic cartoon capable of drawing out the interest held essentially by the electronic cartoon to the utmost, and improving furthermore amusement and convenience. <P>SOLUTION: In this electronic cartoon creating system, image data formed by an image data forming device for forming the image data as visual information presented to a reader is associated in each balloon or frame area with voice data formed by a voice data forming device for forming the voice data as auditory information presented to the reader in a discriminable configuration in each balloon or frame area where literal information for expressing one voice such as words, an explanation sentence and/or an effective sound in each scene is described, and electronic cartoon data are created, wherein voice data corresponding to the balloon or the frame area are reproduced corresponding to optional selection of the balloon or the frame area drawn in the image data displayed on a display screen of a reproducing device. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic manga production system and an electronic manga production method for producing electronic manga data that can be viewed on a display screen of a reproducing device capable of displaying at least image data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, information processing devices such as personal computers, televisions, mobile phones, and so-called personal digital assistants (PDs) are available.
With the rapid spread and progress of various devices capable of displaying image data such as portable electronic devices such as A), electronic comics have been digitized by digitizing comics that were conventionally a medium for viewing on paper. A technology has been realized in which the electronic cartoon is manufactured and can be viewed on these various devices.

Digitization of contents such as comics on a paper is performed by, for example, a CD-ROM (Compac
This is often done from the viewpoint of saving storage space and facilitating retrieval by enabling storage in a predetermined recording medium such as t Disc-Read Only Memory) that is resistant to deterioration. Also, in the process of manufacturing publications such as comics, digitalization of information is progressing, but in reality, most of the final products to be shipped are mainly paper media. Further, although there is an example in which contents such as comics are distributed in a state of being recorded in a predetermined recording medium, it is only to the extent that the operability due to the digitized contents is recognized.

In response to such a situation, various techniques for improving the entertainment and convenience of electronic comics are being proposed. For example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-75581,
In order to be able to output the speech described in the speech balloon drawn in the electronic comics by voice recognition, the speech is extracted by character recognition, and the character string is synthesized by speech according to the order of the speech balloons. A technique is disclosed in which speech is output according to the order of balloons by manufacturing content. This technique is believed to provide one guide to achieving such an objective.

[0005]

By the way, as a technique relating to the conventional electronic comics capable of outputting the above-mentioned voice,
There are some other than this publication, but since these technologies read speech by speech synthesis using a predetermined speech synthesis engine, it is undeniable that they lack a sense of presence compared to video animation. It has a drawback that the content is likely to be dull.

Further, in the conventional technique relating to electronic comics, since the reading order of words in time is predetermined as in the publication, the reader browses the contents according to the voice. However, since the medium of comics has the advantage that even if the visual information is the same, various worlds can be expanded from one still image depending on the imagination of the reader.
The action of reading dialogue in a predetermined order may reduce the fun of the manga. Specifically, manga has the characteristic that the time progresses for each frame, but since there is a time progress even though it is extremely short in one frame, the order of reading lines in this extremely short time is It is considered that if you leave it to the taste of the reader, you can maximize the fun of the manga.

[0007] The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and manufactures electronic comics which can maximize the interestingness inherent in the electronic comics and which are more entertaining and convenient. An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic cartoon manufacturing system and an electronic cartoon manufacturing method.

[0008]

In the electronic comic book manufacturing system according to the present invention which achieves the above-mentioned object, electronic comic book data which can be browsed on a display screen of a reproducing device capable of displaying at least image data. An electronic manga production system for producing an image data, a predetermined unit in which image data creating means for creating image data as visual information to be presented to a reader and character information expressing one voice in each frame are described. Audio data creating means for creating audio data as auditory information presented to the reader in a form that can be identified for each, and image data created by the image data creating means and audio data created by the audio data creating means Is associated with each predetermined unit, and the predetermined unit drawn in the image data displayed on the display screen of the playback device can be arbitrarily selected. Flip and registers the operation instruction to the audio data corresponding to the predetermined unit is reproduced, it is characterized by comprising a authoring means for creating electric comic book data.

Further, the electronic comics manufacturing method according to the present invention which achieves the above-mentioned object is an electronic comics manufacturing method for producing electronic comics data which can be browsed at least on a display screen of a reproducing apparatus capable of displaying image data. It is a manga manufacturing method, and it is possible to identify by a predetermined unit in which an image data creating process for creating image data as visual information to be presented to the reader and a character information representing one voice in each frame are described. The audio data creation process for creating audio data as auditory information to be presented to the reader in a different form, and the image data created in the image data creation process and the audio data created in the audio data creation process. In association with each predetermined unit, the predetermined unit drawn in the image data displayed on the display screen of the playback device is selected according to the predetermined unit. Audio data registering an operation instruction to be played for, is characterized by comprising a authoring step of creating an electric comic book data.

In the electronic comic book manufacturing system and the electronic comic book manufacturing method according to the present invention as described above, the predetermined unit drawn in the image data displayed on the display screen of the reproducing apparatus is arbitrarily selected. , Producing electronic comic data in which audio data corresponding to the predetermined unit is reproduced.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Specific embodiments to which the present invention is applied will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

In this embodiment, an information processing device such as a personal computer or a television, a mobile phone or a so-called personal digital assistant (Personal Digital Assista) is used.
This is an electronic comics production system for producing electronic comics that can be viewed on the display screens of various playback devices capable of displaying at least image data such as portable electronic devices (NTS; PDAs). This electronic manga production system is a balloon that describes the dialogue in each frame of the manga,
When the reader arbitrarily selects a predetermined unit in which character information expressing a voice is described, such as a frame area in which a commentary is described, and / or a balloon or a frame area in which a sound effect is described, these balloons and Dialogue written in the frame area,
The purpose of the present invention is to produce an electronic comic that can output a commentary text and / or a sound effect.

As shown in FIG. 1, the electronic manga production system scans a manga original CMS on a paper as an original image using a predetermined image capturing device or the like to create original image data,
Image data IM as visual information to be presented to the reader by performing various types of image processing described below on the original image data.
Based on the image data creation process of creating D, the cartoon manuscript CMS, the character information described as speech, commentary and / or sound effects described in balloons and frame areas is recorded as voice by an actual voice actor or musical instrument. Then, a voice data creating step of creating voice data ADD as auditory information to be presented to the reader, and image data IMD obtained by the image data creating step and voice data ADD obtained by the voice data creating step. On the other hand, a process which is roughly divided into three processes, that is, a multimedia process for performing the synthesizing process and the authoring process to create the electronic comic data ECD as a multimedia file is performed.

First, the image data creating process will be described.

The image data creation step, as shown in FIG. 2, is performed using the image data generation apparatus MC _I is image data creating means of the personal computer or the like in which a predetermined image capture device SC is connected. The image data creation process is roughly divided into an image import process of importing the original image data from the comic original CMS and an image processing process of performing image processing on the imported original image data.

Specifically, in the image data creating process, first, an image capturing process is performed.

That is, in the image capturing step, the comic original CMS is scanned using the image capturing device SC.
At this time, in the image capturing step, the comic original CMS is scanned in a predetermined unit such as a unit of one page, a unit of two pages of spreads, or a unit of one or more frames, so that one image file IF is output for each unit. 'Is created. In the image capturing step, a plurality of image files obtained by scanning IF ₁ ′, IF ₂ ′, IF ₃ ′, IF
₄ ', the original image data PID consisting ... are incorporated in predetermined storage means of a hard disk HD or the like in the image data creating device MC _I.

Subsequently, in the image data creating process, an image processing process is performed.

That is, in the image processing step, the original image data PI captured in the storage means such as the hard disk HD.
Image processing for improving image quality such as noise removal and color correction is performed on D, and a plurality of image files I as visual information to be finally presented to the reader.
Image data IMD including F ₁ , IF ₂ , IF ₃ , IF ₄ , ... Is created. For detailed character information such as dialogue in the balloon in the image data IMD,
Since the image quality is hard to be clear, the image data is erased and replaced by the character data in the multimedia process, which will be described later.

[0020] In the image data producing step, by such processing is performed by the image data generating apparatus MC _I, image data IMD comprising a plurality of image files IF
Is created.

Next, the voice data creating process will be described.

As shown in FIG. 3, the voice data creating step includes a voice recording step of recording voice according to a script based on the comic original CMS, and a voice data creating means which is a voice data creating means of a personal computer or the like. It is classified roughly into a voice processing step for creating voice data ADD is treated by the apparatus MC _a.

Specifically, in the voice data creation process, first, the voice recording process is performed.

That is, in the voice recording process, the manga manuscript C
According to the script based on MS, for each dialogue described in each speech bubble, the acting sound by a predetermined voice actor assigned for each casting is recorded, and for each commentary, a reading sound by a predetermined narrator is recorded. At the same time, for each sound effect, a performance using a musical instrument or the like and a pseudo sound generated artificially are recorded. This voice recording process is
In order to improve the presence, it is desirable to use a recording studio suitable for recording audio. In the voice recording step, the recorded voice material is recorded in a predetermined recording means such as a tape recorder TR.

Next, in the voice data creating step, a voice processing step is performed.

[0026] Namely, in the audio processing step, the audio material recorded on the recording means such as a tape recorder TR is taken in the audio data generation apparatus MC _A, necessary for this sound material by the voice data generating unit MC _A Accordingly, the editing work is performed, and the obtained audio material is converted into the audio data ADD according to the divided form determined based on the final audio output form. Specifically, in the voice processing step, as shown in FIG. 4A, a predetermined unit for expressing one voice such as each dialogue, each commentary (narration), and each sound effect based on the voice output form. One audio file AF _A1 , AF _A2 , AF _B1 , AF _B2 , A for each
Audio data ADD is created as F _N1 , AF _N2 , AF _E1 , AF _E2 , .... In the audio processing step, as another division mode, as shown in FIG. 7B, one audio file AF ₁ , AF ₂ , AF ₃ , AF ₄ , in units of frames, pages, or any other units is used. ... and these audio files AF ₁ , AF ₂ , AF ₃ , A
In each of F ₄ , ..., Voice data A is divided and recorded for each track for each predetermined unit expressing one voice such as each dialogue, each commentary (narration) and each sound effect.
DD is created. In any case, in the voice processing step,
The voice data ADD is created in a divided form that can be identified for each predetermined unit expressing one voice such as each dialogue, each commentary, and / or each sound effect. In the voice processing step,
The data format of the audio data ADD is, for example, a so-called WAV file or a so-called MP3 (MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) -1 A based on the audio output form.
Any format such as udio Layer 3) can be adopted.

In the voice data creating step, the voice data ADD including the plurality of voice files AF as the auditory information to be finally presented to the reader is created by performing such processing.

Finally, the multimedia process will be described.

The multimedia step, as shown in FIG. 5 is carried out using a multimedia device MC _M is authoring means such as a personal computer. In the multimedia process, the image data IMD obtained in the image data creating process and the audio data ADD obtained in the audio data creating process are associated with each other in a predetermined unit such as a balloon or a frame area to browse the electronic comic data ECD. In response to the arbitrary selection of a predetermined unit such as a balloon or a frame area drawn on the image data displayed on the display screen of the reproduction device, the audio data corresponding to the predetermined unit is reproduced. The electronic cartoon data EC as the final multimedia file is processed by the composition process and the authoring process for registering the operation instruction.
D is created.

Here, as to the detailed character information such as the dialogue in the balloon in the image data IMD, the image quality is hard to be clear as described above. Therefore, in the multimedia process, the character information is erased and the image data is replaced with the character data as in the case of electronic typesetting in actual printing / publishing of comic magazines. That is, for example, if there is an image file IF indicating the frame shown in FIG. 6, two balloons BL are used in the multimedia conversion process.
_1, and the character information of each of the words of two of the characters described in the BL _2, is erased and the character information of the commentary, which is described in the frame area NR, of these that have been erased character information separately of multiple It is created as character data TXD including a character file. Therefore, in the electronic comics data ECD, these character files are displayed in duplicate on the image file IF of the deletion source in the image data IMD on the display screen of the playback device for browsing the electronic comics data ECD. become.

As the electronic comic data ECD, an advertisement space may be provided like an actual comic magazine, and since it is necessary to provide an operation button or the like as a graphical user interface for the reader, In order to realize the above, in the multimedia process, option image data OPD to be pasted as an advertisement banner or a graphical user interface is created. The electronic comics data ECD is displayed as image data IM on the display screen of the playback device for browsing the electronic comics data ECD.
The image file IF in D is displayed in duplicate.

As shown in FIG. 7, the electronic comic book data ECD created through the multimedia process is composed of image data IMD, character data TXD, voice data ADD, and optional image data OPD. ,
The image data hierarchy, the character data hierarchy, the audio data hierarchy, and the optional image data and / or the operation instruction program hierarchy (hereinafter abbreviated as the operation instruction program hierarchy) have four hierarchical structures.

More specifically, in the electronic comic data ECD,
For example, FIG. 8 shows a hierarchical structure for two pages.
As described above, an image for each of the above-mentioned predetermined units such as one page unit
Image file IF₁, IF_TwoImage data hierarchy in which is stored
Is provided. In the comic data ECD,
Character data TXD is configured below the image data hierarchy of
Character file TXF₁, TXF_TwoIs the image file IF
₁Is stored in association with a character file
TXF_Three, TXF_FourIs the image file IF_TwoAssociated with
There is provided a character data hierarchy that is stored as a string. further,
In the electronic comic data ECD, this character data hierarchy
Audio file AF in the lower layer₁, AF_TwoIs an image file
IF₁Is stored in association with
Ile AF _Three, AF_FourIs the image file IF_TwoAssociated with
An audio data hierarchy is stored that is stored separately. And
In the electronic comic data ECD, this audio data hierarchy
In the lower layer, the audio file as an operation instruction program
Graphical user interface such as raw information and page break buttons
Optional image data OPD as interface
Optional image file OPF₁Is the image file I
F₁Stored in association with the ad banner
Optional image file OPF_TwoAnd this advertising banner
With an operation instruction program that shows a link to
The link information of the image file IF_TwoAssociated with
An operation instruction program hierarchy that is stored as a file is provided.

Here, the character file TXF₁, TX
F_Two, TXF_Three, TKF_FourAre the corresponding images
File IF₁, IF_Two, IF_Three, IF_FourEach of
It has two-dimensional position information of the same size.
Display on playback device for viewing image data ECD
On the screen, the corresponding image file IF₁, IF_Two, IF
_Three, IF_FourIs displayed repeatedly for each of. Also,
Character file TXF₁, TXF_Two, TXF_Three, TKF_Four
Respectively, the corresponding audio file AF₁, AF _Two，
AF_Three, AF_FourAs an operation trigger to play each of
With all the calling keys as hidden data
is there.

The audio files AF ₁ , AF ₂ , AF
₃ and AF ₄ respectively correspond to the corresponding character file TXF
_When the voice reproduction instruction is received from the operation instruction program hierarchy based on the call key of each of ₁ , ₁ , TXF ₂ , TXF ₃ , and TXF ₄ , the voice is reproduced.

[0036] In the multimedia process of creating such an electric comic book data ECD, particularly by passing through a series of processes shown in FIG. 9 by the multimedia apparatus MC _M, electric comic book data ECD is created .

That is, the multimedia device MC
_As shown in the same figure, in step S1, the _M registers the image design of the operation button and the like corresponding to each operation command program and its operation content in the operation instruction program hierarchy.

[0038] Subsequently, the multi-media apparatus MC _M is,
In step S2, of the image files IF forming the image data IMD, for example, the first one image file IF is fetched, and in step S3, the character information described in the balloon or the like drawn in the fetched image file IF The character data TXD is created based on The character data TXD is composed of a character file TXF according to the number of balloons and the like.

[0039] Subsequently, the multi-media apparatus MC _M is,
In step S4, the character information converted from the image file IF into the character data TXD is erased, and in step S5, the character data TXD is moved to the position of the image data hierarchy on the display screen of the playback device for browsing the electronic comic data ECD. A character data hierarchy composed of the character data TXD is constructed so that it can be displayed according to the information.

[0040] Subsequently, the multi-media apparatus MC _M is,
In step S6, information for associating with the display coordinates of the corresponding character file TXF is added to each sound file AF corresponding to each character file TXF forming the character data TXD.
That is, an audio data hierarchy composed of audio data AAD is constructed.

[0041] Subsequently, the multi-media apparatus MC _M is,
In step S7, the display coordinates of each character file TXF is registered as a call key as an operation trigger in the operation instruction program hierarchy, and in step S8, the display coordinates of each character file TXF is clicked by the reader using a mouse to be described later. The operation instruction program hierarchy is constructed so that the corresponding audio file AF is reproduced when instructed according to the operation execution instruction such as.

[0042] Then, a multi-media apparatus MC _M is,
In step S9, it is determined whether or not the next image file IF exists, and when it is determined that the image file IF exists, the processing from step S2 is repeated, and all the image file IFs forming the image data IMD. For, the processing of steps S2 to S8 is performed. On the other hand, multi-media apparatus MC _M, the image file IF
If it is determined that there is no such item, the process proceeds to step S10, and various option image files OPF that form the option image data OPD are loaded into the operation instruction program hierarchy.

[0043] Subsequently, the multi-media apparatus MC _M is,
In step S11, when each of the fetched option image files OPF is instructed according to the operation execution command such as the click operation using the mouse by the reader, the option image files OPF show a graphical user interface such as operation buttons. In some cases, another program that performs the corresponding operation is started, or when the optional image file OPF indicates an advertisement banner, the URL (Uniform of the corresponding home page)
Resource Locator) is constructed to build the operation instruction program hierarchy.

[0044] Then, a multi-media apparatus MC _M is,
In step S12, the URL of any home page
Each URL is registered in the operation instruction program hierarchy in accordance with the program in which the instruction command is written so as to access, and a series of processing is ended.

[0045] In the multimedia step, by going through such a series of processing by the multimedia apparatus MC _M, electric comic book data ECD is created.

In the multimedia process, the format of the electronic comics data ECD can be arbitrarily changed according to the reproducing device for browsing the electronic comics data ECD. For example, in the process of multimedia conversion, electronic cartoon data EC
When the playback device for browsing D is a personal computer or the like having a relatively large display screen, as described later, it is possible to display electronic manga data so that two pages of the spread can be displayed at one time. While the ECD is created,
When the playback device for browsing the electronic comic data ECD has a relatively small display screen such as a mobile phone, it is possible to display a small amount of information such as one page or one frame at a time. , Electronic manga data ECD
Is created.

Further, since the electronic comics data ECD is composed of a plurality of files divided into four layers as described above, in the multimedia process, for the convenience of the reader's operation. It is desirable to create the electronic comic book data ECD as one execution file by combining these various files. For example, in the multimedia process, the electronic cartoon data ECD can be created as hypertext in HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) format with image data and audio data pasted, and the so-called MPEG-4 format and real format can be created. The electronic comics data ECD can be created as a file based on any multimedia format such as.

Now, the electronic comic book data ECD produced by the electronic comic book production system performing the image data producing step, the audio data producing step, and the multimedia producing step are the reproduction devices for browsing the electronic comic book data ECD. 10 is displayed on the display screen in FIG. In the figure, the electronic comic data E
Assuming that the playback device for browsing the CD has a relatively large display screen such as a personal computer, it shows two pages of two-page spread with one page being displayed at a time. ing.

That is, on the display screen, for each frame, the speech balloon BL in which the speech is described, the comment-statement frame area NR in which the commentary (narration) is described, and / or the effect in which the sound effect is described. A main display area MD for displaying the contents of two pages provided with a sound balloon or a frame area EA;
This is a part of the blank space other than the main display area MD, and is used to page forward and backward by two pages in order to give the reader a work feeling similar to the page turning operation in an actual comic magazine. An operation button display area BD to which images as various operation buttons such as a “forward” button FB and a “return” button BB, and an “end” button EB for terminating the application, and a margin other than the main display area MD An advertisement banner display area AD, which is a part of the space and is pasted with an image as an advertisement banner in which a link to a home page is embedded, is displayed.

In the electronic comic data ECD, any of the speech balloon BL, commentary frame area NR, and / or sound effect balloon or frame area EA in each frame is displayed on the display screen as described above. When the reader selects it using a predetermined pointing device such as a click operation with a mouse or a touch operation with a touch pen, the audio file AF corresponding to the selected balloon or frame area is reproduced. At this time, the electronic manga data E
On the CD, the audio file AF corresponding to an arbitrary balloon or frame area selected by the reader is reproduced without being obsessed with the reproduction direction.

In the electronic comic data ECD,
When the "forward" button FB is selected by the reader using a predetermined pointing device while being displayed on the display screen in this way, the display of the main display area MD shifts to the next two pages, When the "return" button BB is selected by the reader using a predetermined pointing device, the display of the main display area MD shifts to the previous two pages. Further, in the electronic comic book data ECD, when the reader selects the “end” button EB using the predetermined pointing device in the state where the electronic comic book data ECD is displayed on the display screen as described above, the application of the electronic comic book data ECD is finished. To do. Furthermore, electronic manga data EC
In D, when the reader selects each advertisement banner in the advertisement banner display area AD using a predetermined pointing device while being displayed on the display screen as described above, a predetermined browser is activated and the advertisement home page is displayed. The display content shifts to.

In such electronic comic book data ECD, the reader browses the electronic comic book data ECD by performing a series of operations shown in FIG. 11 using a reproducing device for browsing the electronic comic book data ECD. .

First, as shown in FIG. 10, the reproducing apparatus starts the execution file of the electronic comics data ECD in response to a predetermined operation by the reader in step S21, and then, as shown in FIG.
Display a page like the one shown on the display screen.

In response to this, the reader browses the pictures of each frame displayed on the display screen in step S22,
In step S23, if the picture being browsed does not have characters such as dialogue, the operation moves to step S26, while if the picture being browsed has characters such as dialogue,
Then, the process proceeds to the reproduction device process in step S24.

If the picture being browsed has characters such as dialogue, the reproducing device, in step S24, causes the reader to move around the characters such as dialogue, that is, a balloon or a frame area by clicking with a mouse or the like. It is determined whether or not it is selected. Here, when the area around the character is selected, the reproducing device reproduces the corresponding audio file AF in step S25, and shifts to the standby process according to the reader's operation in step S26. On the other hand, when the area around the character is not selected, the reproducing device does not reproduce the audio file AF, and shifts to the standby process according to the reader's operation in step S26.

Then, in step S26, if the reader has not browsed all the pictures on the page displayed on the display screen, the reader repeats the operation from step S22, and the reproducing device responds accordingly. Repeat the process. On the other hand, if the reader browses all the pictures on the page displayed on the display screen in step S26,
In step S27, it is determined whether or not to proceed to the next page.

When the reader decides to proceed to the next page, he / she selects the "advance" button FB. In response to this, the playback device repeats the processing from step S21. On the other hand, when the reader determines that the next page cannot be reached, the process proceeds to the processing of the reproducing device in step S28.

When the reproducing device does not proceed to the next page, in step S28, the reproducing device determines whether or not the advertisement banner is selected by the reader by a click operation using the mouse. Here, when the advertisement banner is selected, the reproducing device activates a predetermined browser to connect to a network such as the Internet in step S29, accesses the homepage of the advertisement, and displays the homepage on the display screen. Then, a series of processing is ended. On the other hand, when the advertisement banner is selected, the reproducing device ends the series of processes as it is.

In the electronic comic book data ECD, the reader can browse the electronic comic book data ECD by performing such a series of operations using the playback device.

As described above, the electronic manga manufacturing system has a predetermined expression such as a speech bubble or a frame area in which dialogues, commentary texts and / or sound effects recorded as voices by an actual voice actor or musical instrument are expressed. By arbitrarily selecting the unit of the above, the electronic comic data ECD capable of arbitrarily outputting the speech, the commentary and / or the sound effect described in the balloon or the frame area can be manufactured. .

Therefore, the electronic manga data ECD produced by the electronic manga production system reproduces and outputs sound without taking an eye from the frame being viewed, as if the reader were reading an actual manga magazine. It is possible to That is, the actions of reading comics are roughly classified into the actions of viewing pictures, the actions of reading characters, and the actions of turning pages. When reading a normal comic magazine, the reader moves the eyes between the frames on the page to see the picture, and is described in the balloon or frame area with the movement of the eyes looking at the picture and the minimum error. The operation of reading the characters is performed, and the operation of turning the page is performed when all the information in the page is read or when the read part is checked later. On the other hand, in the electronic comics data ECD, the contents can be browsed with a feeling substantially equivalent to those operations. That is, when browsing the electronic manga data ECD, the reader moves the eyes between the frames in the page to see the picture, and moves the eyes to see the picture and makes a speech bubble or a frame area with a minimum error. When selecting the periphery of the character information described in section 7 and listening to the voice, and when reading all the information on the page or checking the read part later, the "Forward" button FB or " The operation of turning the page can be performed by selecting the "Back" button BB.

As described above, the electronic manga production system can make the reader enjoy the browsing according to the taste of the reader, with the feeling of being as close to the action of reading an actual cartoon magazine as possible. In addition, it is possible to maximize the original fun of electronic comics and further improve the entertainment and convenience.

The electronic comic book data ECD produced by the electronic comic book production system is a CD-ROM (Compac
It may be distributed in a state of being recorded in a predetermined recording medium such as a t Disc-Read Only Memory), or may be distributed by distribution via a network such as the Internet.

Since the electronic cartoon data ECD can be manufactured with a very small capacity as compared with a large capacity content such as a moving image animation, a plurality of electronic cartoons can be recorded on one recording medium. The distribution time is very short, and the distribution is very good, and it is suitable for personal contents that match the lifestyle of the reader. In particular, the electronic manga data ECD overcomes the difficulty of browsing the character information even in a reproducing device such as a mobile phone or a portable information terminal which is forced to have a reproducing environment on a relatively small display screen.
Since there is no need to impose any restrictions on the expression method of the original manga, it is also the most suitable content for these playback devices.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the description has been made assuming that a click operation with a mouse or a touch operation with a touch pen is performed as a selection operation of a balloon or a frame area, but the present invention is a means for arbitrarily selecting a balloon or a frame area. Anything can be applied.

Of course, the present invention may have a layout other than the display contents shown in FIG.

[0067] Further, in the embodiment described above, performs image data generation step by using the image data generation apparatus MC _I, performs voice data producing step by using the voice data generation device MC _A, multi multimedia step has been described as being carried out using a media apparatus MC _M, the present invention may be those that constitute collectively these devices as one electric comic book manufacturing equipment. That is, the present invention uses the image data IMD created by the image data creation process and the audio data ADD created by the audio data creation process as the material to obtain the final electronic comic data E.
Any form can be applied as long as a CD can be manufactured.

As described above, it goes without saying that the present invention can be appropriately modified without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[0069]

As described in detail above, the electronic comic book manufacturing system according to the present invention manufactures electronic comic book data that can be browsed at least on the display screen of a playback device capable of displaying image data. In the electronic manga manufacturing system, an image data creating means for creating image data as visual information to be presented to a reader, and a predetermined unit in which character information expressing one voice in each frame is described. A voice data creating means for creating voice data as auditory information to be presented to the reader in an identifiable form;
The image data created by the image data creating means and the audio data created by the audio data creating means are associated with each other by a predetermined unit, and the predetermined unit drawn in the image data displayed on the display screen of the reproducing device is And an authoring means for registering an operation instruction so that the audio data corresponding to the predetermined unit is reproduced in response to the arbitrary selection and creating the electronic comic data.

Further, the electronic comic strip manufacturing method according to the present invention is a method for producing electronic comic strip data which can be browsed at least on a display screen of a reproducing device capable of displaying image data. , An image data creation process of creating image data as visual information to be presented to the reader, and a form that allows the reader to identify in a predetermined unit in which character information expressing one voice in each frame is described. The audio data creation process for creating audio data as presented auditory information, and the image data created in the image data creation process and the audio data created in the audio data creation process are associated with each other in predetermined units. , The audio data corresponding to the predetermined unit is reproduced in response to the predetermined unit drawn on the image data displayed on the display screen of the reproducing device being arbitrarily selected. Register the operation instruction as, and a authoring step of creating an electric comic book data.

Therefore, according to the electronic comic book manufacturing system and the electronic comic book manufacturing method of the present invention, the predetermined unit drawn in the image data displayed on the display screen of the reproducing device is arbitrarily selected. By producing electronic comics data in which voice data corresponding to the predetermined unit is reproduced, it is possible to bring out the original fun of the electronic comics to the maximum, and greatly improve entertainment and convenience. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an electronic comics manufacturing system shown as an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a process in an image data creating process performed in the electronic manga manufacturing system.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a process in a voice data creating process performed in the electronic comics manufacturing system.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the structure of audio data created in the audio data creating step, in which (A) is an audio file created as one audio file for each predetermined unit expressing one audio; The data structure is shown in (B), which is a sound file in units of frames, pages, or any other units, and in each of these sound files, a predetermined unit for expressing one sound is provided for each track. It is a figure which shows the structure of the audio | voice data created by carrying out division recording.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a process in a multimedia conversion process performed in the electronic manga manufacturing system.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining an example of an image file showing a certain frame, and is a diagram for explaining character information to be erased.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a structure of electronic comic data.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a specific structure of electronic comics data.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a series of processes when electronic comics data is created by a multimedia conversion device that performs the same multimedia conversion process.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating display contents on a display screen of a playback device for browsing electronic comic data,
It is a figure which shows a mode that the manufactured electronic comics data is displayed.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a series of operations performed by a reader when browsing electronic comic data and a series of processes performed by a playback device.

[Explanation of symbols]

AD advertising banner display area, ADD audio data,
AF audio file, BB "Return" button, BD
Operation button display area, BL speech bubble, CM
S cartoon manuscript, EA sound effect balloon or frame area,
  EB "End" button, ECD electronic cartoon data,
  FB "Forward" button, HD hard disk,
IMD image data, MC_A  Voice data creation device,
  MC _I  Image data creation device, MC_M  Multimed
Earing device, MD main display area, NR frame for commentary
Area, OPD option image data, OPF option
Option image file, SC image capture device,
TR tape recorder, TXD character data, TXF
  Character file

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Toru Yamamoto             7-15-17 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo Uni Roppongi             Building 10th floor Sky Banana Enter Co., Ltd.             In tament F term (reference) 5B050 AA09 BA08 BA12 BA18 DA06                       FA02 FA09 FA10 FA13                 5D045 AA01 AB01 AB11

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. An electronic manga production system for producing electronic manga data that can be viewed on a display screen of a playback device capable of displaying at least image data, the visual manga information being presented to a reader. Image data creating means for creating the image data of the above, and voice data as auditory information presented to the reader in a form that can be identified for each predetermined unit in which character information expressing one voice in each frame is described. A sound data creating means for creating the sound data, the image data created by the image data creating means, and the sound data created by the sound data creating means are associated with each other for each of the predetermined units, and the display screen of the playback device is displayed. In response to the predetermined unit drawn in the image data displayed above being arbitrarily selected, the audio data corresponding to the predetermined unit is selected. An electronic comic book manufacturing system, comprising: an authoring means for registering an operation instruction so that the data is reproduced and creating the electronic comic book data. 2. The electronic comic according to claim 1, wherein the voice data creating means creates one voice file for each of the predetermined units and creates the voice data composed of a plurality of voice files. Manufacturing system. 3. The audio data creating means creates one audio file in units of frames, pages or any other units, and divides and records each of the plurality of audio files into tracks for each of the predetermined units. The electronic comic book manufacturing system according to claim 1, wherein the voice data is created by the above. 4. The electronic manga manufacturing system according to claim 1, wherein the voice data is made of recorded voices. 5. The character, wherein the authoring means makes character information described in the predetermined unit drawn in the image data created by the image data creating means into a character file for each of the predetermined units. The electronic manga production system according to claim 1, wherein data is separately created and the character information is erased from the image data. 6. The character file has position information of the same size as a corresponding image file among a plurality of image files forming the image data, and the authoring means is a reproducing device of the reproducing device. 6. The electronic comics manufacturing system according to claim 5, wherein the electronic comics data is created such that the character files are overlapped and displayed on the display screen in accordance with the position information of the corresponding image files. 7. Each of the character files does not display a call key as an operation trigger for reproducing a corresponding audio file among a plurality of audio files for each of the predetermined units that form the audio data. 7. The electronic comic book manufacturing system according to claim 6, wherein the electronic comic book manufacturing system is provided as data. 8. The authoring means displays image data showing a predetermined graphical user interface in duplicate on the image data created by the image data creating means on the display screen of the playback device. The electronic comics manufacturing system according to claim 1, wherein the electronic comics data is created. 9. The electronic authoring unit is configured to display the electronic data on the display screen of the playback device so that image data representing a predetermined advertisement is displayed in duplicate on the image data created by the image data creating unit. The electronic manga production system according to claim 1, wherein manga data is created. 10. The predetermined unit is a balloon in which dialogue is described, a frame area in which commentary text is described, and / or a balloon or frame area in which a sound effect is described. Electronic cartoon production system described. 11. A method for manufacturing electronic comics, which produces at least image data that can be viewed on a display screen of a playback device capable of displaying image data, and is provided as visual information to present to a reader. Image data creating step of creating the image data of the above, and audio data as auditory information presented to the reader in a form that can be identified for each predetermined unit in which character information expressing one voice in each frame is described The audio data creating step of creating the audio data, the image data created in the image data creating step, and the audio data created in the audio data creating step are associated with each other in the predetermined unit, In response to the arbitrary selection of the predetermined unit drawn in the image data displayed on the display screen, the audio data corresponding to the predetermined unit is reproduced. And a step of registering an operation instruction as described above and creating the above-mentioned electronic comics data.