JP2003259264A - Image transfer system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image transfer system capable of quickly sending image data photographed in a specific place to a publishing company in a remote place. <P>SOLUTION: A cameraman 1 preserves image data photographed by a digital camera 11 in a CF card 12 in the specific place wherein the action area of the cameraman 1 is restricted. When the CF card 12 is set to a PDA 13, the image data is transferred to a PC 14 of an editor 2 connected to the PDA 13 through a radio LAN. Thus the editor waiting in another area can collect a plurality of image data photographed by individual cameramen 1, in a short time and can select image data to be published out of the image data to quickly transmit the selected image data to a publishing company 20 in the remote place. <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 image transfer system for transferring image data taken by a cameraman with a digital camera to a remote environment at a specific place.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in a stadium where a special match such as an international soccer match is held, the photographer's action area is regulated, and photography is permitted only within a predetermined area. In such an environment, when publishing a game publication at a publishing company, for example, conventionally,
The image data taken at the stadium was obtained by the following method.

(1) First, a photographer uses a digital camera to take a picture in a specific area (close-up area) of a stadium. (2) Save the image data (still image) taken by the cameraman in a CF (Compact Flash) card, and use a messenger boy to put a CF card on the editor (reporter) waiting at the editor's seat (participant area) Hand over. The messenger boy is a person who is specifically permitted to enter the restricted area. However, this messenger boy can only be used during a predetermined time period. (3) The editor who receives the CF card selects the image data in the CF card using a terminal device such as a personal computer, and then transmits the image data to the publishing company by wire or wirelessly.

In the above (3), in some cases, the person who selects the image data in the CF card and the person who transmits the image data to the publishing company are arranged separately.

[0005]

As described above, in a specific place where the action area of the photographer is restricted, conventionally, the image data taken by the photographer is FCed.
The image data for publication was sent to a printing company by saving it on a card and handing it to an editor who was waiting in another area manually.

However, in such a method, it is necessary to manually transfer the image data during the game from the cameraman to the editor, and it takes time for the image data to be transferred to the editor. As a result, there was a problem that the transmission to the publisher was delayed. On the publisher side,
We are waiting to publish a publication about the game as soon as possible, so we need to send image data quickly from the scene.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an image transfer capable of promptly transmitting image data photographed by a cameraman at a specific place to a publishing company at a remote place without burdening the cameraman. The purpose is to provide a system.

[0008]

An image transfer system according to claim 1 of the present invention stands by in a different area from the first terminal device possessed by the photographer at a specific place where the action area of the photographer is restricted. An image transfer system in which a network is constructed with a second terminal device possessed by an editor and at the same time, image data taken at the above-mentioned specific place is sent to a publishing company at a remote place. Image transfer means for transferring captured image data from the first terminal device to the second terminal device, and image storage means for sequentially storing the image data transferred by the image transfer means to the second terminal device. And transmitting the image data selected by the editor among the image data stored in the image storage means from the second terminal device to the publishing company. Constituted by and a data transmission unit.

With such a configuration, the image data photographed by the digital camera by the cameraman in the predetermined area can be transferred from the first terminal device to the second terminal device of the editor in another area, and the editor Can select the image data collected from each cameraman and send it from the second terminal device to a publishing company in a remote place.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a recording medium for storing image data taken by the digital camera is provided, and the image transfer means has the recording medium mounted on the first terminal device. At this time, the image data is extracted from the recording medium and transferred to the second terminal device.

With such a configuration, the image data captured by the digital camera can be saved in the recording medium and mounted on the first terminal device, and the image data in the recording medium can be automatically extracted. It can be transferred to two terminal devices.

Further, according to a third aspect of the present invention, the first terminal device and the second terminal device are connected by a wireless LAN, and the image transfer means operates from the first terminal device to the second terminal device. It is characterized in that the image data is transferred to the terminal device by a radio wave defined by the wireless LAN.

With such a configuration, it is possible to stably transfer the image data from the first terminal device to the second terminal device using the wireless LAN.

Further, in claim 4 of the present invention, the image storage means is provided when the image data transferred to the second terminal device is accessed by the first terminal device to the second terminal device. It is characterized by managing based on the day and time.

With such a configuration, when the image data is transferred from the first terminal device to the second terminal device, it is determined from the access date and time when the image data was captured. be able to.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the data transmitting means transmits the image data from the second terminal device to the publishing company using any one of PHS, ISDN and Inmarsat. And

According to such a configuration, the image data is promptly transferred from the second terminal device to the publisher through the communication network of PHS, ISDN, or Inmarsat.

[0018]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of an image transfer system according to an embodiment of the present invention. This system uses, for example, a specific stadium 10 where an international soccer game is held as a shooting site, and transfers image data shot at the stadium 10 to a publishing company 20 in a remote place to publish a publication such as a magazine. It is applied when printing.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a cameraman, 2 is an editor (reporter), and 3 is a sender. In the stadium 10, the action area of the cameraman 1 is regulated, and shooting is permitted only within a specific area (prevention area) designated in advance. Further, the editor 2 is on standby in the person concerned area, and by acquiring the image data photographed by the cameraman 1, the image data is selected and transmitted to the publishing company 20. There is also a case where the sender 3 is made to stand by in the vicinity of the stadium 10 and the image data selected by the editor 2 is passed to the sender 3 and then transmitted to the publishing company 20.

A plurality of photographers 1 are dispatched from a publishing company 20, and each photographer uses a digital camera 11 to take pictures during a match. The digital camera 11 includes a CF (Compact Flash) card 12 as a recording medium.

In this system, each of the plurality of cameramen 1 serves as a terminal device for transferring image data.
By carrying a DA (Personal Digital Assistant) 13 and mounting the CF card 12 on the PDA 13, a PC (Personal Computer) held by the editor 2 who is waiting for the image data in the CF card 12 in the concerned area )
It is characterized in that it is transferred to 14. In this case, the PDA 13 is equipped with an application that can automatically transfer the image data in the CF card 12.

The PDA 13 of each cameraman 1 and the PC 14 of the editor 2 are wireless LAN (Local Area Network).
connected by k). In addition, PDA13 and PC
The connection form between 14 and 14 is not limited to the wireless LAN,
It may be Bluetooth. Bluetooth
Is a wireless communication system that complies with a short-range wireless communication standard, such as 2.45 GHz ISM (Industrial S
The wireless communication of about 10 m is realized by using the radio wave of the (Cientific Medical) band. However, Bluetooth
In th, there is a problem that the wireless communication area is narrow, or a problem that radio interference easily occurs with other wireless devices in the same frequency band,
Since there is a problem that the number of wireless channels is small, it is unsuitable for a case where wireless communication is performed stably in a wide area such as a soccer field and outdoors. It is preferably used. Wireless LAN
Then, theoretically, up to 254 PCs 14 can be accessed, and 100 m can be secured as an outdoor wireless communication area.

The PC 14 is a terminal device used by the editor 2 in the concerned area and has a function of collecting image data from a plurality of PDAs 13, a function of storing these image data in a folder corresponding to access date and time, and image data. Is provided to the publishing company 20. This PC
An editor 2 who operates 14 selects image data to be used for publication from a large number of image data photographed by each cameraman 1 and transmits the selected image data to a publishing company 20. . In addition, the editor 2 also attaches an article about the game as text data to the image data and transmits the text data, if necessary. PC
Data transmission from 14 to publishing company 20 requires ISDN
(Integrated Services Digital Network), PHS (P
personal handy phone) or Inmarsat (sanitary communication) is used. Inmarsat is suitable when the venue of the game is overseas.

It is also possible to make the sender 3 stand by in the vicinity of the stadium 10 separately from the editor 2 and transmit the image data from the PC 15 of the sender 3 to the publishing company 20. In this case, the editor 2 selects the image data, attaches the text data of the article to the image data as necessary, and transfers the image data to the PC 15 of the sender 3. PC14
A wireless LAN is used for data transmission from the PC to the PC 15. Further, ISDN, PHS or Inmarsat is used for data transmission from the PC 15 to the publishing company 20.

On the other hand, the publishing company 20 is provided with a PC 21 for performing data communication with the PC 14 on the stadium 10 side. In this case, the PC 14 on the stadium 10 side has a relationship with the server and the PC 21 on the publishing company 20 side has a relationship with the client, and the PC 21 acquires the image data distributed from the PC 14 to perform a predetermined process (here, a process related to publishing). ) Is executed.

In this publishing company 20, the PC 14
In addition to performing the publishing process using the image data acquired from (or the PC 15), the Web screen displaying the image data via the Internet 22 is displayed on the user terminal 23a,
23b, 23c ... Provides services to be provided. The PC 21 installed in the publishing company 20 has a function of realizing such an Internet service.

Next, the PDA 13 used by the photographer 1
Then, the configuration of the PC 14 used by the editor 2 will be described.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the functional arrangement of the PDA 13 used by the cameraman 1 in this system. The PDA 13 includes a CPU 31, an input unit 32, a display unit 33, a storage unit 34, a wireless unit 35, a CF card interface 36, and the like.

The CPU 31 controls the entire PDA 13 and reads a program stored in the storage unit 34 to perform a predetermined process according to the procedure described in the program. Here, when the CF card 12 is mounted, a process of extracting image data from the CF card 12 and transferring the image data to a transfer destination (PC 14) designated in advance is executed.

The input unit 32 is an input device for inputting and instructing various data, and the display unit 33 is a display device for displaying various data. Here, the input unit 3
2 is a transparent touch panel, and the display unit 33 is an LCD
(Liquid Crystal Display) is used, a touch panel is placed on the LCD screen, and input is possible using a pen or the like on the screen.

The storage unit 34 is composed of a ROM, a RAM, etc., and stores various information including programs. The wireless unit 35 is a unit that realizes data communication with the PC 14 via a wireless LAN. CF card interface 3
Reference numeral 6 denotes an interface for a CF card, which reads data recorded in the CF card 12 here.
Various data including image data captured by the digital camera 11 is recorded on the CF card 12.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the functional arrangement of the PC 14 used by the editor 2 in this system. The PC 14 includes a CPU 41, an input unit 42, a display unit 43, a storage unit 44, a wireless unit 45, a communication unit 46 and the like.

The CPU 41 controls the entire PC 14, reads a program stored in the storage unit 44, and performs a predetermined process according to the procedure described in the program. Here, the process of transmitting the image data selected by the editor 2 to the publishing company 20 is executed.

The input unit 42 is an input device for inputting and instructing various data, and is composed of, for example, a keyboard and a mouse. The display unit 33 is a display device for displaying various data, and is composed of, for example, an LCD.

The storage unit 44 is composed of a ROM, a RAM, etc., and stores various information including programs. The wireless unit 45 is a unit that realizes data communication with the PDA 13 via a wireless LAN. The communication unit 46 includes the publishing company 20.
It is a part that realizes data communication with ISDN, PHS, Inmarsat, etc.

Since the configuration of the PC 15 used by the sender 3 is the same as that of the PC 14, it is omitted here. Also, the PC 21 installed in the publishing company 20 has the same basic configuration as the PC 14 and has the components of a general computer, and the CPU reads the program to perform the procedure described in the program. According to the above, predetermined processing is executed.

Next, the operation of this system will be described.

As shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of photographers 1 are in a specific area in the stadium 10 and carry a digital camera 11 and a PDA 13 respectively. Then, the CF card 1 which is the recording medium of the digital camera 11 stores the image data taken by the digital camera 11 during the game.
The image data in the CF card 12 is transferred to the PC 14 of the editor 2 who is waiting in the concerned area by storing the image data in the CF card 12 into the card slot (not shown) of the PDA 13. In this case, the PDA 13 is equipped with an application that automatically transfers the image data stored in the CF card 12 to a predetermined location when the CF card 12 is mounted. Image data can be transferred to the PC 14 of the editor 2 by FTP (File Transfer Protocol), for example, without requiring a troublesome operation. The processing on the PDA 13 side and the processing on the PC 14 side at this time will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of this system, and FIG.
The processing on the DA 13 side and the processing on the PC 15 side of the editor 2 are shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 4A, first, the cameraman 1 sets a transfer destination of image data in the PDA 13 (step S11). In this case, the transfer destination of the image data is the PC 14.

Here, when the PDA 13 detects that the CF card 12 is installed (Yes in step S12).
s), only the image data is selectively extracted from the CF card 12 (step S13). This is done, for example, by specifying the image data based on the file identifier or the header information of the data. Next, PDA13 is FT
The PC 14 that is the transfer destination using the P application
By accessing (step S14)
FT the image data extracted from the F card 12 to the PC 14
P transfer is performed (step S15). In this case, the image data extracted from the CF card 12 is immediately transferred to the PC 14 without being downloaded to the memory in the PDA 13.

On the other hand, in the PC 14, as shown in FIG. 4B, when there is an access request from the PDA 13 (Yes in step S21), a folder is created based on the access date and time at that time (step S22). Then, by receiving the image data transferred from the access requesting PDA 13 (step S23), the process of saving the image data in the folder is repeated (step S24).

This situation will be described by way of a concrete example.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the structure of a folder created on the PC 14 of the editor 2. Editor 2 is PC1 in advance
In addition to creating a folder 51 for storing images in 4,
A folder 52 unique to each match in that folder 51
Create a and 52b. In this example, folders 52a and 52b corresponding to two matches such as "January 27th AAA match" and "January 27th BBB match" are created.

Here, on the PDA 13 side, the image data is transferred in the following procedure.

(1) First, a folder corresponding to a game to be photographed is designated. Which folder is for which game is decided in advance by the cameraman 1 and the editor 2. Now, it is assumed that the folder 52a corresponding to "January 27, AAA match" is designated. (2) When the CF card 12 is attached to the PDA 13, the image data in the CF card 12 is automatically transferred to the PC 14. (3) At this time, a new folder is created with a unique name on the PC 14 side depending on the time when the PC 14 is accessed. For example, PDA13 at 15:00 on the same day
If the user accesses the PC 14 from the folder 52a for the game specified above, "20020127/1
A folder 53a having a name such as "5000000" (meaning 15:00 on January 27, 2002) is created. Similarly, if the PC 14 is accessed at 15:30, "20020127/1530000" is stored in the folder 52a.
A folder 53b with a name such as "0" (meaning 15:30 on January 27, 2002) is created at 15:30 1
If the PC 14 is accessed at 0 seconds, "20020127/153100000" (2002) will be stored in the folder 52a.
A folder 53c having a name such as 15:30:10 on January 27, 2015 is created. (4) In this way, a new folder is created according to the access date and time, and the image data is sequentially stored therein. In the example of FIG. 5, the PDA 13 to 3 pm
By accessing the PC 14 at 0 minutes and 10 seconds, a folder 53c is created in the folder 52a, and the P
The state where the image data sent from the DA 13 is accumulated is shown.

The access to the PC 14 is limited to one PD.
Not only A13 but also a plurality of PDAs 13 can simultaneously access. In this case, even if simultaneous access is performed, a slight time difference actually occurs, so folders corresponding to respective access dates and times are created, and image data from each PDA 13 is individually stored therein.

Returning to FIG. 4B, when the image data sent from each PDA 13 is stored in a predetermined folder in the PC 14, the editor 2 uses it from among these image data for publication. Image data is selected (step S2)
5). In this case, a large number of image data captured by each cameraman 1 will be collected in the PDA 13 of the editor 2. However, since each image data is managed in the folder corresponding to the access date and time as described above, the editor 2 The image data for publication can be selected by judging from the access date and time when each image data was taken. The image data for publication selected by the editor 2 is transmitted to the publishing company 20 using the FTP application installed in the PDA 13 (step S26).
At this time, it is also possible to attach text data of articles about the game to the image data and send it, if necessary. Alternatively, the selected image data may be sent to the PC 15 of the sender 3 who is waiting in the suburbs of the stadium 10 and the image data may be transmitted from the PC 15 to the publishing company 20.

It is technically possible to compress the image data by a predetermined method and send it to the publishing company 20, but if the data is compressed, the quality of the image may deteriorate. According to the contract between the cameraman 1 and the publishing company 20, the image data captured by the cameraman 1 is sent to the publishing company 20 as it is.

Here, a case where the present system is applied to a soccer field will be described.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a layout example of a soccer field. In the figure, A1 indicates a restricted area, A2 indicates a related person area, and A3 indicates a suburb. Off-limits area A
1, a cameraman 1, an editor 2 in a person-related area A2, and a sender 3 in a suburb A3. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the devices used in each area of the soccer field. In the off-limits area A1, the digital camera 11, CF card 12, PDA 13, and editor 2 in the related person area A2 are used by the cameraman 1. PC1 as a device used by
4, PC1 as a device used by sender 3 in suburb A3
5 is shown.

During the match, each photographer 1 cannot move from the restricted area A1. For this reason, the CF card 12 is usually handed to the editor 2 who is waiting in the person-related area A2 by using a messenger boy, but this method has a problem that it takes time and effort. Therefore, in this system, each photographer 1
By constructing a wireless LAN between the PDA 13 owned by the PDA 13 and the PC 14 owned by the editor 2, each PDA 13 can connect to the PC 14
The image data captured by each cameraman 1 is collected in a short time by transferring the image data to. Then, the editor 2 selects these image data, and the ISD
Send to publisher 20 at remote location using N, PHS or Inmarsat. At that time, the article of the match may be sent as text data, if necessary. In addition, suburbs A
It is also possible to make the sender 3 waiting at 3 send data.

As described above, by using this system, the cameraman 1 can send the image data taken by the digital camera 11 to the editor 2 who is waiting in another area.
In this case, the image data can be automatically transferred to the PC 14 of the editor 2 simply by removing the CF card 12 from the digital camera 11 and mounting it on the PDA 13, so that the image can be transferred to the cameraman 1 without burdening the image. Data can be passed to Editor 2. Further, the editor 2 can collect a large number of image data captured by each cameraman 1 in a short time, and quickly send the image data selected from these for publication to the publishing company 20 at a remote place. You can Therefore, the publishing company 20 side can quickly acquire the image data during the match, and can publish the publication earlier than other companies.

Further, in the publishing company 20, by utilizing the advantage that the image data can be acquired quickly by this system, the Web screen 61 on which the image data is posted is displayed on the user terminals 23a, 23b, as shown in FIG. Two
The service provided to 3c ... can be performed. In the figure, 62 and 63 are image data sent from the PC 14 at the site, 64 is an article sent together with the image data, and these are converted into an HTML document by the PC 21 installed in the publishing company 20. It is displayed on the web screen 61. The user terminals 23a, 23b, 23c ... Can browse the Web screen 61 by accessing the PC 21 via the Internet 22.

In the above embodiment, the cameraman 1 was described as transferring image data using the PDA, but the terminal device used by the cameraman 1 is PD.
It is not limited to A and may be, for example, a notebook PC. However, considering the operability of the cameraman 1, a small and portable terminal device is preferable. The same applies to the terminal device used by the editor 2 and the sender 3, and the terminal device is not limited to the PC and may be another terminal device.

Further, the image transfer system of the present invention is not limited to the one for a sports field such as a soccer field, but can be applied to any place. In short, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and can be variously modified in an implementation stage without departing from the gist thereof.

[0058]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, the image data taken by the digital camera by the cameraman is transferred from the first terminal device to the editor's first image data in a specific place where the cameraman's action area is restricted. Since the data is transferred to the second terminal device, the image data taken by the cameraman can be collected in a short time, and the image data selected in the image data can be quickly transmitted to the publishing company at a remote place.

Further, the image data in the recording medium can be automatically transferred to the second terminal device only by mounting the recording medium storing the image data in the first terminal device. The image data can be passed to the editor easily and quickly without imposing a burden on the cameraman. For example, it is not necessary for the cameraman to take data transfer work and miss a photo opportunity during the match. Absent.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an image transfer system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a PDA used by a cameraman in the image transfer system.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a PC used by an editor in the image transfer system.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the image transfer system, and FIG.
FIG. 6B is a flowchart showing the processing on the A side, and FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a structure of a folder created on the editor's PC.

FIG. 6 is a view showing an arrangement example of a soccer field.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing devices used in each area of a soccer field.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a Web screen provided by a publishing company.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Photographer 2 ... Editor 3 ... Sender 10 ... Stadium 11 ... Digital camera 12 ... CF card 13 ... Photographer's PDA 14 ... Editor's PC 15 ... sender's PC 20 ... Publisher 21 ... PC installed in a publishing company 22 ... Internet 23a-23c ... User terminal

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F-term (reference) 5C022 AA13 AC69                 5C052 AA17 GA02 GA08 GB06 GE06                       GE08                 5C053 FA08 FA27 GB36 GB37 KA01                       KA24 LA01 LA11 LA15

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A network is constructed with a first terminal device owned by a cameraman and a second terminal device owned by an editor who is waiting in a different area in a specific place where the activity area of the cameraman is restricted, An image transfer system in which image data shot at a specific location is sent to a publishing company at a remote location, and image data shot by a digital camera by a cameraman is transferred from the first terminal device to the second terminal. Image transfer means for transferring to the device, image storage means for sequentially storing the image data transferred to the second terminal device by the image transfer means, and editing among the image data stored in the image storage means And a data transmitting unit for transmitting the image data selected by a person from the second terminal device to the publishing company. Delivery system. 2. A recording medium for storing image data photographed by the digital camera is provided, and the image transfer means includes an image from the recording medium when the recording medium is attached to the first terminal device. The image transfer system according to claim 1, wherein data is extracted and transferred to the second terminal device. 3. The first terminal device and the second terminal device are connected by a wireless LAN, and the image transfer means transfers the first terminal device to the second terminal device.
Of image data to the terminal device of the wireless LAN
The image transfer system according to claim 1, wherein the image transfer system is performed by a radio wave defined by. 4. The image storage means manages the image data transferred to the second terminal device based on the date and time when the first terminal device accesses the second terminal device. The image transfer system according to claim 1, which is characterized in that. 5. The data transmission means performs PH transmission of image data from the second terminal device to the publisher.
The image transfer system according to claim 1, wherein the image transfer system is performed using any one of S, ISDN, and Inmarsat.