JP2006186559A - Image order confirmation system and image order confirmation program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image order confirmation system capable of surely confirming the image of an object of a photographic processing order, in a short time. <P>SOLUTION: The image order confirmation system for reading only the image data of the photoprocessing ordering object from among a group of image data stored in a storage medium 5 of a digital camera and displaying the image data, includes an ordering object read means 31 for reading only the image data of the photoprocessing ordering object in a group of the image data stored in the storage medium; and an ordering object display means 33 for displaying the read image data on a monitor as an index image that is an aggregate of thumbnail images. The storage medium 5 stores the index image data, comprising only the image data of photoprocessing ordered objects, and the ordered object read means 31, preferably, recognizes the index image data and reads the index image data. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image order confirmation system and an image order confirmation program for reading and displaying only image data subject to photo processing order from a group of image data stored in a storage medium of a digital camera.

  When making an image photographed with a digital camera into a photographic print, the storage medium storing the photographed image data is brought to a photo shop and an order is received at an order reception machine at the store. For example, an image ordering system disclosed in Patent Document 1 is known. In this system, image data stored in a storage medium is read and displayed as a visible image on a monitor screen. A large number of images are displayed on the monitor screen, and the number of prints is simultaneously displayed. The number of prints of the image to be printed is displayed and surrounded by a thick frame, so that it is easily recognized that it is a photographic print target. Therefore, the requester of the photo print can easily check the image to be printed by looking at the monitor screen. After checking on the monitor, the process proceeds to processing for actually creating a photo print.

  However, a large number of image data can be stored in the storage medium of the digital camera, and it may take a lot of time to read and display image data that is not a target for photographic printing. Further, when a large number of image data is stored, there is a problem that it takes time to confirm an image to be ordered for photo processing.

In addition, because the storefront reception terminal is operated by the customer in principle, the photo shop side can save labor, and the customer side has the merit that they can easily place orders at their own pace without going through the store clerk. There is a demand for the store side to operate efficiently without increasing the occupation time per customer by useless operation. On the other hand, there are also customers on the store side, and they don't want to spend a long time in front of the reception terminal (some people care about the queue of customers waiting around or behind them). A situation exists. Therefore, the customer wants to operate the reception terminal efficiently and comfortably, but there is a problem that it takes time to confirm the image as described above.
JP-A-11-191870

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an image order confirmation system and program capable of reliably confirming an image subject to photo processing order in a short time.

In order to solve the above problems, an image order confirmation system according to the present invention is:
An image order confirmation system for confirming and displaying image data subject to photo processing order from a group of image data stored in a storage medium of a digital camera,
Order object reading means for reading out only image data of a photo processing order object based on identification data indicating that the image data group is stored in a storage medium;
An order object display means for displaying the read image data on a monitor as an index image which is an aggregate of thumbnail images is provided.

  The operation and effect of the image order confirmation system with this configuration will be described. This system does not read out all of the image data group stored in the storage medium, but reads out only the image data that is the subject of the photo processing order. For example, in the case where identification data indicating that an image is to be ordered is given to the image data, the image data can be read based on this. When the read image data is displayed, it can be displayed on the monitor as an index image that is a collection of thumbnail images. The thumbnail image can be generated, for example, after reading out the image data. By displaying as an index image, confirmation can be easily performed in a short time. Further, only the image data subject to photo processing order is read, and unrelated image data is not read, so that the reading time can be shortened. As a result, it is possible to provide an image order confirmation system capable of reliably confirming an image subject to ordering for photo processing in a short time.

In order to solve the above problems, another image order confirmation system according to the present invention is:
An image order confirmation system for confirming and displaying image data subject to photo processing order from a group of image data stored in a storage medium of a digital camera,
Order target reading means for reading out index image data composed only of image data for photo processing order target stored in advance in a storage medium;
An order object display means for displaying the read index image data on a monitor is provided.

  According to this configuration, index image data is created in advance and stored in a storage medium. This index image data is composed only of image data to be ordered. Therefore, by reading out the index image data and displaying it on the monitor screen, it is possible to confirm only the image to be ordered. It is not necessary to read the original image data, and it is only necessary to read the index image data, so that the image data can be read in a shorter time. As a result, it is possible to provide an image order confirmation system capable of reliably confirming an image subject to ordering for photo processing in a short time.

In the image order confirmation system according to the present invention, the image order confirmation program for confirming and displaying the image data of the photographic processing order object by the order object readout means,
A process of reading out the image data group stored in the storage medium and displaying it on the monitor;
A process for selecting an image to be ordered for processing from the displayed images;
The computer is caused to execute a process of providing identification data indicating that the selected image is an object of photo processing order.

  In order to read out only the image data subject to the photo processing order from the storage medium, it is necessary to perform processing corresponding to it. This computer program basically allows a customer who requests photo processing to set an order object using his / her personal computer. Customers can install this program on their personal computers. Then, the image data group stored in the storage medium can be read and displayed on the monitor screen of the personal computer. The image displayed here may be all image data stored in the storage medium. While viewing this screen, the customer selects an image to be ordered for photo processing. As a result, identification data indicating that the selected image is the subject of the photo processing order is assigned and stored in the storage medium. Therefore, when the image data is read by the order target reading means in the photo shop, only the image data for the photo processing order target can be read.

  In the present invention, it is preferable to cause the computer to further execute a process of generating index image data for displaying the selected image as an index image and writing it to a storage medium.

  By generating the index image data and writing it in the storage medium, the photo shop can read and display the index image data by the order target reading means. As a result, it is possible to easily confirm the image to be ordered for photo processing.

  In the present invention, the index image data is preferably compressed. As a result, the storage capacity of the storage medium is not wasted.

  A preferred embodiment of an image order confirmation system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overview of the entire system. In the photo shop, the photo processing apparatus 1 and the reception terminal 2 are connected by a communication line 3. The photo processing apparatus 1 can perform photo print creation and storage media write processing based on digital image data. Digital image data can be obtained from developed photographic film and various storage media. The connection between the photo processing apparatus 1 and the reception terminal 2 can be performed by a network such as a LAN, for example. The number of the photo processing apparatus 1 and the reception terminal 2 to be connected is not limited to one, but a plurality of connections can be made. Is done.

  The main function of the reception terminal 2 is to accept a photo processing order from image data stored in the storage medium 5 of the digital camera 4. Therefore, the reception terminal 2 is equipped with a reading function for loading the storage medium 5 and reading image data. The read image data can be displayed on a monitor 2 a provided in the reception terminal 2. There are various types of storage media 5 such as compact flash (registered trademark) and smart media (registered trademark), but are not limited to specific media.

  Therefore, when the customer requests the photo shop A to create a photo print from the storage medium 5, the storage medium 5 is brought into the photo shop A. Then, the storage medium 5 is set in the receiving terminal 2, the image data stored in the storage medium 5 is read out, displayed on the monitor 2a, and an image to be printed is confirmed. The reception terminal 2 may be operated by the operator of the photo shop A, but in principle, the customer himself operates. Note that according to the system of the present invention, the image data displayed on the receiving terminal 2 is displayed only for image processing orders.

  In the present invention, a customer who requests the creation of a photo print from the storage medium 5 of the digital camera 4 can select in advance image data to be ordered for photo processing using his / her personal computer 6, and an application for that purpose can be selected. Installed on the personal computer 6. As a result, only the image data subject to the photo processing order can be displayed on the reception terminal 2.

<Image order confirmation program>
Next, the function of the application (image order confirmation program) 10 installed in the personal computer 6 on the customer side B will be described with reference to FIG. A storage medium 5 can be attached to the media attachment unit 11. The image data acquisition unit 12 can read image data from the storage medium 5 attached to the media attachment unit 11. The thumbnail image generation means 13 can generate thumbnail image data for the read image data. The image displayed on the monitor screen 6a is displayed as a thumbnail image. The size of the thumbnail image can be set according to the number of images displayed on the monitor screen 6a. The display control means 14 can control display data to be displayed on the monitor screen 6a. Note that the number of displayed images can be set as appropriate.

  The index image data generation means 15 has a function of generating index image data for image data that has been subject to photo processing order. An index image is an image in which thumbnail images are arranged side by side in a predetermined format, and an image related to an order can be easily confirmed. A large number (for example, several hundreds) of image data may be stored in the storage medium 5, but the image data that is the subject of the photo processing order is often only a small part. Therefore, a system for easily confirming image data to be ordered for photo processing is required.

  The order setting unit 16 has a function of selecting an image to be ordered from the images 20 displayed on the monitor screen 6a. Specifically, a Yes button 21 and a No button 22 are displayed on the screen, and when the Yes button 21 is clicked, the order is set. When set as an order target, the image 20 is surrounded by a thick frame line 20a. The setting of the No button 22 can be canceled. By clicking the confirm button 23, it can be confirmed.

  In addition, there is a system called DPOF in the digital camera, and it is possible to set that the individual image data stored is a subject of photo processing order with the storage medium attached to the digital camera. . DPOF (Digital Print Order Format) refers to a format for storing, in a storage medium, data such as image data to be printed and the number of prints from images taken by a digital camera. Therefore, when such data (corresponding to the identification data indicating that it is an order object) is recorded in the DPOF when the image data is acquired from the storage medium 5, the function of the DPOF data acquisition unit 17 is the same. Thus, the monitor screen 6a can be displayed with the frame line 20a attached thereto. Of course, the contents set by DPOF can be canceled by the No button 22. The data indicating that the photo processing order is set by the order setting means 16 can be written again into the storage medium 5 by the DPOF writing means 18.

  When the image data to be ordered for photo processing is determined, index image data is generated based on the determined image data. This index image data is written to the storage medium by the image writing means 19. When writing index image data, it is preferable to write the data to the storage medium 5 after compression processing. Thereby, the storage capacity of the storage medium 5 is not wasted, and the time for reading the index image data can be shortened. In addition, when writing index image data, it is possible to recognize that it is index image data and that an image to be ordered for photo processing is displayed by adding special identification data.

  The input operation means 24 is provided for setting various data on the monitor screen 6a, and is configured by a keyboard, a mouse, and the like.

  Note that when the thumbnail image data is written in advance in the storage medium 5, the function of the thumbnail image generation means 13 is not necessarily required.

<Configuration of reception terminal>
Next, functions of the reception terminal 2 will be described. The media mounting unit 30 can mount the storage medium 5 of the digital camera. The order target reading means 31 can read only image data to be ordered for photo processing among the image data stored in the storage medium 5. For this purpose, DPOF data acquisition means 31a is provided, and it is possible to specify image processing order target image data recorded in accordance with DPOF. The index image data acquisition unit 31 b can acquire index image data stored in the storage medium 5. By adding the special identification data as described above, it is possible to recognize the index image data and read it from the storage medium 5. The image data reading means 31c can read only the image data for the photo processing order when performing the printing process.

  The index image data generation means 32 has a function of generating index image data for image data to be ordered for photo processing. This is the same function as the index image data generation means 15 shown in FIG. When the index image data is not stored in the storage medium 5, the index image data can be generated based on the DPOF data. The index image data is displayed on the monitor screen 2a by the display control means 33. The monitor screen 2a and the display control means 33 correspond to order target display means.

  In FIG. 3, six thumbnail images 40 are displayed on the monitor screen 2a as index images. The number of thumbnail images 40 varies depending on the number of images that are actually designated as photos processing order targets. Since the display of the index image is intended to confirm the order object, it does not need to have a high resolution. Since the customer has been confirmed by his / her personal computer 6 once, there is no problem even if the thumbnail image has a small size.

  By clicking the YES button 40a displayed on the screen, a photo print creation process for the confirmed image can be performed. By clicking the NO button 40b, it is canceled. The function of the order processing instruction means 34 is realized by the YES button 40a.

  The image transfer means 35 transfers the image data read by the image data reading means 31 c to the photo processing apparatus 1 via the communication means 3. As a result, the photo processing apparatus 1 creates a photo print. The image data is transferred after being subjected to image processing as necessary.

<Procedure to print order>
Next, the procedure up to the print order in the image order confirmation system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, the customer reads out image data from the storage medium 5 using his / her personal computer 6 (# 1). All the read images are displayed on the monitor screen 6a. The customer sets the image to be processed while viewing this image (# 3). When the setting is completed, the confirmation button 23 is clicked. Thereby, the setting content can be written in the storage medium 5 in accordance with the function of the DPOF writing means 18. The index image data generating means 15 generates index image data using the image data to be ordered for photo processing, and this data is written to the storage medium (# 5, 6).

  The customer visits the photo shop with the storage medium 5 and places an order for a photo print. The storage medium 5 is set in the receiving terminal 2, and the index image data is read from the storage medium 5 by the image data acquisition means 12 (# 11). At this stage, full-size image data is not read, but thumbnail image data (index image data) is read. Also, image data that is not subject to photo processing order is not read out. Therefore, data for confirmation can be read at high speed. If the index image data is compressed, the decompression process is also performed. The read index image data is displayed on the monitor screen 2a (# 12). The customer and the operator of the photo shop see this screen and confirm the image to be ordered. By clicking the YES button 40a, the order contents are confirmed (# 13). As a result, the image data reading means 31c reads the image data (# 14), and the image data is transferred to the photo processing apparatus 1 (# 15). The photo processing apparatus 1 performs photo print creation processing at an appropriate timing.

<Another embodiment>
In FIG. 2, when setting a photo processing order target, index image data is not generated, but only setting whether or not it is a photo processing order target may be performed. This setting content is recorded in the storage medium 5. The format for setting is not limited to DPOF, and other formats may be adopted. In addition to writing the index image data to the storage medium 5, the image data itself may be written using the free capacity of the storage medium 5. In this case, it is preferable to compress the image data. The written image data is provided with identification data and a file name so that it can be distinguished from other image data not to be ordered.

  In FIG. 3, after the index image is displayed on the monitor screen 2a, a means for changing the image to be ordered may be provided. On the monitor screen 2a, an OK button and a cancel button are provided for each displayed image, and the creation of a photo print for the image can be canceled by clicking the cancel button. It can be restored again with the OK button. Further, since only the image set as the target for the photo processing order is shown on the monitor screen 2a in advance, it is preferable to provide a function for reading out image data that is not displayed. For example, by creating index image data for image data that is not subject to photo processing order in the personal computer 6 and reading it out at the accepting terminal device 2, processing for changing the subject of photo processing order in the accepting terminal device 2 It can be performed. In the present invention, image data that is not subject to photo processing order can be determined based on the identification data. Index image data composed of only image data can be displayed.

  In FIG. 3, when the index image data is read and displayed and then the print process is performed, the index image data stored in the storage medium 5 may be erased. As a result, unnecessary data can be securely erased.

  In the present embodiment, the image order confirmation program is installed in the personal computer 6, but may be installed in the digital camera. Thereby, the customer can select an order target image without using the personal computer 6.

Diagram showing the configuration of the image order confirmation system Diagram showing the function of the image order confirmation program installed on the PC Block diagram showing functions of reception terminal Flow chart showing the procedure to print order

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Photo processing apparatus 2 Reception terminal 2a Monitor screen 5 Storage medium 6 Personal computer 6a Monitor screen 10 Image order confirmation program 12 Image data acquisition means 13 Thumbnail image generation means 14 Display control means 15 Index image data generation means 16 Order setting means 17 DPOF Data acquisition means 18 DPOF writing means 19 Image writing means 31 Order object reading means 31a DPOF data acquisition means 31b Index image data acquisition means 31c Image data reading means 32 Index image data generation means 33 Display control means 34 Order processing instruction means 35 Image transfer means

Claims (5)

An image order confirmation system for confirming and displaying image data subject to photo processing order from a group of image data stored in a storage medium of a digital camera,
Order target reading means for reading out only image data for photo processing order based on identification data indicating that it is an order target among the image data group stored in the storage medium;
An image order confirmation system comprising: order target display means for displaying read image data on a monitor as an index image which is a collection of thumbnail images. An image order confirmation system for confirming and displaying image data subject to photo processing order from a group of image data stored in a storage medium of a digital camera,
Order target reading means for reading out index image data composed only of image data for photo processing order target stored in advance in a storage medium;
An image order confirmation system comprising: an order object display means for displaying the read index image data on a monitor. The image order confirmation system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the image order confirmation program for confirming and displaying image data of a photograph processing order object by the order object readout means,
A process of reading out the image data group stored in the storage medium and displaying it on the monitor;
A process for selecting an image to be ordered for processing from the displayed images;
An image order confirmation program for causing a computer to execute a process of giving identification data indicating that a selected image is a subject of a photo processing order.   The image order confirmation program according to claim 3, wherein the computer further executes a process of generating index image data for displaying the selected image as an index image and writing the data to a storage medium.   5. The image order confirmation program according to claim 4, wherein the index image data is compressed.

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