JP2007036737A - Image display device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image display device capable of displaying all images stored in a database within a limited reproducing time duration of a slide show so as to allow a user to grasp the whole picture of the images. <P>SOLUTION: An image display device 100 comprise a database 101 for associating an image data with meta-information such as a photographed date and time for an image and the amount of image features to store the data, a grouping portion 102 for dividing image sequences sorted in time series into one or more image groups based on a photographed time interval between each image, a group evaluation portion 103 for computes a group evaluation value for each divided image group, a reproducing time duration determining portion 104 for determining a reproducing time duration based on the ratio of the group evaluation value of each image group, a display portion 105 for displaying an image based on the reproducing time duration, an input portion 106 for inputting a reproducing time duration etc. for a slide show to the reproducing time duration determining portion 104, and a display order determining portion 107 for sorting images in order of a time series and determining the display order of images. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image display apparatus that records and reproduces digital photographs, and more particularly to an image display apparatus having a slide show function for overlooking a large number of images in a short time.

  In recent years, coupled with the popularization of digital cameras and the dramatic drop in price per unit capacity of memory cards, it has led to the accumulation of large amounts of digital images on the user side. As a result, it is difficult for the user to remember which photos are needed, and to grasp the contents of the images stored in the folder in a short time, It is important to grasp.

  Conventionally, there are two approaches for grasping the contents of a large amount of images stored in a memory card or the like.

  One is an approach to a physical plane, and is generally represented by a method of arranging a large amount of reduced images such as thumbnails on a display screen. The other is an approach to the time axis, which is a method typified by a slide show in which images are arranged on the time axis and images are continuously displayed while being switched in the shooting order. If a slide show is considered to be a moving image, a moving image digest generation technique for overviewing the whole in a short time has been disclosed (for example, see Patent Document 1).

  FIG. 12 shows a functional block diagram of the moving image digest generation apparatus 1200 described in Patent Document 1. As shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 12, a moving image digest generation apparatus 1200 includes a moving image storage medium 1201 that stores moving image data composed of a plurality of blocks, a moving image reading unit 1202 that reads moving image data in a specified extraction section, A section priority calculating unit 1203 for calculating the priority of the section, an extraction section determining unit 1204 for extracting the highest priority among the sections, and a display unit 1205 for displaying the digest are provided.

In the moving image digest generation apparatus 1200, first, the section priority calculation unit 1203 calculates the priority of a section by adding up the priorities previously assigned to the frames of the moving image for each section. Next, the extraction section determination unit 1204 determines the section that is the maximum in each block among the calculated section priorities as the extraction section. Then, the moving image reading unit 1202 reads moving image data corresponding to the extraction section for each block from the moving image storage medium 1201, connects them continuously and outputs them to the display unit 1205 to digest the moving image that the user views. Is generated.
Japanese Patent No. 3521484

  However, (1) In the method shown in the above-mentioned patent document, only the frames considered to have high priority are extracted from all the frames constituting the moving image and displayed as a digest, so that the original moving image is displayed in a shortened manner. Will be.

  Therefore, even if a slide show that is a digest version of a moving image is viewed, all the frames included in the original moving image cannot be viewed, and so-called “missing” is performed in which the image that the user is really interested in is skipped. May occur.

  In particular, if it is limited to a still image slide show taken by a digital camera, when a user is “missed” to view a photo that is really interesting, even if the user views the slide show, an image recorded on a memory card or the like There is a problem that it is not possible to accurately grasp the whole picture.

  Also, (2) Coupled with the recent low-cost, large-capacity memory card, and the various shooting functions of digital cameras such as the continuous shooting function and interval shooting function, users who use digital cameras need to You may have a large number of photos taken using the shooting function. In such a case, as a result, the value of each photograph taken with the digital camera varies greatly compared to the value of each photograph taken with the silver halide camera. That is, it is obvious that the value of each photograph group obtained by photographing a subject that changes or moves with time by the continuous photographing function is lower than the value of each photograph photographed as a portrait.

  Therefore, when a slide show is played, all the photos are treated equally and displayed under the same conditions, so that the user feels wasted time and bored, and the slide show playback corresponding to the value of various images in recent years cannot be performed. There is also.

  The present invention solves the above-described conventional problems, and in a slide show of images stored in a storage unit such as a memory card, all the images are efficiently slid and displayed within a predetermined reproduction time, It is an object of the present invention to provide an image display device that allows a user to grasp the entire image stored in a storage unit.

  In order to solve the above-described conventional problems, an image display device according to the present invention is an image display device that sequentially displays image data, and includes at least the image data and meta information indicating a shooting condition of the image data. A database to be stored in association with each other, display order determination means for determining an image data string that is the display order of the images read from the database, and grouping of the image data strings into a plurality of image groups based on the meta information Grouping means, group evaluation means for calculating a group evaluation value related to the reproduction time of each image group grouped by the grouping means, and the reproduction time of each image group based on the ratio of the group evaluation values. A reproduction time determining means to determine, and according to the reproduction time determined in the reproduction time determining means Characterized in that it comprises a display means for displaying an image of the image group.

  In the image display device according to the present invention, the meta information is a photographing time interval between images, and the grouping unit groups the image data based on the photographing time interval. .

  Further, the group evaluation unit of the image display device according to the present invention calculates the group evaluation value by multiplying a reference evaluation value defined in advance for each attribute of the image group by the number of images.

  With these configurations, all the image data held in the database of the image display device are grouped based on the photographing time interval which is meta information, and the group evaluation value of each image group is calculated by the group evaluation unit. Then, since the playback time is determined according to the ratio of the group evaluation value by the playback time determination means, the playback time is changed according to the attribute of the image group within the slide show playback time, and all images are displayed in a slide display. The user can grasp the image contents recorded in the database.

  The image display device according to the present invention further stores control information relating to display control of the image display received via the input unit, and manages the history information as history information of each image. Based on the weighting means for changing the weighting of the images in the image group, and the playback time determining means changes the playback time of the image assigned to the image group using the weighting changed by the weighting means. It is characterized by doing.

  With this configuration, since the history management means manages the access history of each image of the user and changes the weighting for the reproduction time of an image having a large access history placed in the weighting means, the important picture reproduction for each user It is possible to lengthen the time and shorten the reproduction time of the unimportant photos, and to perform slide display of all the images according to the user's preference.

  The image display device according to the present invention further includes second input means capable of changing a reproduction mode according to an image reproduction time, and each image group according to the reproduction mode input from the second input means. Replay time adjusting means for adjusting the replay time, wherein the display means displays the images of the image group according to the replay time adjusted by the replay time adjusting means.

  With this configuration, when the user changes the playback mode via the second input unit, the speed of image display is changed in the playback time adjusting unit, so that the user can relax the image that is valuable to him / her. Non-images can be viewed at an increased speed.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention can be implemented as an image display method using characteristic constituent means of the image display apparatus as steps, or as a program including all these steps. The program is not only stored in a ROM or the like provided in the image display apparatus, but can also be distributed via a recording medium such as a CD-ROM or a communication network.

  According to the image display device of the present invention, all images recorded on a memory card or the like are displayed in a slide manner during the slide show playback time, and the user can efficiently grasp the entire image group.

  Embodiments of an image display apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of the image display apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment. The image display apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment divides the image group into four image groups according to the photographing time interval, calculates a group evaluation value for each image group, and a ratio of the group evaluation value The reproduction time of the slide show of each image group is determined based on the above.

  The image display apparatus 100 shown in this figure associates and stores image data, meta information such as the shooting date and time of the image, and image feature amounts such as color information, luminance, and frequency characteristics extracted from the image data. 101. A grouping for dividing an image sequence sorted in the image display order into a group including one or more images by checking the relevance between adjacent images using the image feature amount or meta information of each image. Unit 102, a group evaluation unit 103 that evaluates each divided group and outputs a group evaluation value of each image group, and a reproduction time determination unit that determines a reproduction time as a display condition based on a ratio of each group evaluation value 104. The display unit 105 that displays an image based on the playback time, and the playback time determination unit 104 that the user has Input unit 106 for inputting and a processing unit that determines the order of displaying in the display unit 105 an image by default includes a display order determining unit 107 sorts the images in the time taken sequentially, and outputs the image display order. Of course, the viewing time length is not limited to the format acquired by the input from the user, and a preset value may be used.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the image display apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment.

  First, the grouping unit 102 groups an image sequence sorted in ascending order by image shooting date and time using the shooting date and time that is one of the meta information of the images (step 201).

  FIG. 3 shows an image diagram when an image is classified into four attributes A to D using the photographing time interval in the grouping unit 102.

  In this figure, the grouping unit 102 calculates the difference from the shooting date / time information of adjacent images in the image sequence as meta information, creates a time interval sequence, and uses the sequence to perform grouping. is doing. In FIG. 3, A is a group of photographs in which the time interval is equal to or less than an arbitrary threshold value and two or more adjacent time intervals are the same, and is grouped into one group as continuously photographed photos. B is a group of photographs that are equal to or less than the threshold but have the same time interval, and are grouped as photographs showing the same event. C is a group of photographs whose time interval is constant but exceeds the threshold, and is grouped as an interval photograph. D is a group of photographs that have leaked from these conditions, and is grouped so that each photograph forms one group as a single photograph.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing algorithm executed by the grouping unit 102 of the image display apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment for grouping image sequences. Details of step 201 shown in FIG. 2 will be described below with reference to FIG.

  The input of the grouping unit 102 is an image sequence arranged in time series in the display order determining unit 107. First, the grouping unit 102 acquires the shooting time from each of the images constituting the image sequence, A sequence (shooting time interval sequence) based on time intervals is created from the difference in shooting time between adjacent images (step 401).

  Next, the grouping unit 102 examines numerical values constituting the time interval sequence. Specifically, it is determined whether or not the first consecutive numerical value is constant and equal to or less than a threshold value. If it is less than or equal to the threshold (YES in step 402), the images are grouped as a group of consecutive photographs (step 403).

  Secondly, if the numerical value is less than or equal to the threshold value but is not constant (YES in step 404), it is grouped as a photograph of the same event as having been repeatedly photographed for a certain event (event) (step 405). .

  Third, if the numerical value exceeds the threshold but the time interval is constant (YES in step 406), grouping is performed assuming that the photograph is an interval photograph (step 407).

  The last remaining photo is grouped as a single photo on the assumption that there is no temporal relationship with the adjacent photos, resulting in one photo per group (step 408).

The above operation is repeated until the end of the sequence, and the image sequence is divided into a plurality of groups.
Note that the threshold of the time interval used for grouping by the grouping unit 102 is normally set to 10 minutes, but may be a different value. Moreover, you may make it change dynamically according to the imaging frequency per hour. For example, by setting 60 days for a day when only about 20 pictures were taken per day and setting 10 minutes for a day when 100 pictures were taken, even if a group of images taken at 30-minute intervals was taken continuously It is no longer classified as shooting.

  FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a state in which images sorted in time series are divided into groups as a result of executing the algorithm of FIG. 4 in the grouping unit 102. FIG. 5 shows a state in which all image data stored in the database 101 is divided into seven single photo groups, two continuous photo groups, one interval photo group, and one same event photo group. .

Next, the description returns to the operation of the image display apparatus 100 shown in FIG.
When the image sequence is grouped by step 201 and divided into a plurality of groups including one or more images, the group evaluation unit 103 determines the reference evaluation values and groups based on the group attributes shown in (Table 1) below. The evaluation value of each group is determined according to the number of images in the image (step 202).

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a group evaluation value determination method in the group evaluation unit 103 in step 202.

  First, the group evaluation unit 103 reads the number of images included in each group (step 601). Next, based on the attribute of the group, the reference evaluation value of each group is acquired from (Table 1) (step 602). The standard evaluation value is “1” for the single photo group, “0.6” for the same event photo group, “0.5” for the interval photo group, and “0.4” for the continuous photo group. This is because the value of each image differs depending on the type of attribute group.

  Then, the group evaluation unit 103 calculates the product of the reference evaluation value and the number of photos and sets it as the group evaluation value (step 603). The above steps are repeated for all groups (step 604).

  Of course, the reference evaluation value of the group shown in (Table 1) is an example, and the value shown here is not the only one. Table 1 also describes the priority of each group. This priority is used in the following second and third embodiments, but is different depending on the attribute of the image group, like the reference evaluation value. For example, the priority of a single photo is “40”, and the same event photo The priority of “30”, the priority of interval photos is “20”, and the priority of continuous photos is “10”.

  Returning to the description of FIG. 2 again, the playback time determination unit 104 obtains the sum of the evaluation values of each group obtained in step 202, further obtains the display time of the entire slide show from the input unit 106, and displays the display time. Is divided by the sum of the evaluation values to determine the playback time per evaluation value. Then, the playback time determination unit 104 determines the product of the value and the evaluation value of each group as the playback time allocated to each group. Further, this is further divided by the number of images in the group, and the reproduction time per image is calculated (step 203).

  Next, the display unit 105 of the image display apparatus 100 according to the present invention controls the reading, decoding, and output of image data, and displays images continuously by switching the images at each image display time. The slide show to be performed is shown (step 204 to step 205).

  FIG. 7 is a reference diagram of a table 700 showing calculation results in the group evaluation unit 103 and the reproduction time determination unit 104 of the image display apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment.

  First, the grouping unit 102 of the image display apparatus 100 performs an image grouping process using an imaging time interval between the images. In this figure, it is assumed that the photos belong to the single photo group, the photos that belong to the continuous photo group, the photos that belong to the interval photo group, and the photos that belong to the same event photo group in time series.

  Next, the group evaluation unit 103 calculates a group evaluation value for each group by using the reference evaluation value corresponding to each group by the standard evaluation value × the number of images. In this figure, 1 (number of images) × 1.0 (reference evaluation value) = 1 (group evaluation value) for a single photo group, and 5 (number of images) × 0.4 (reference evaluation value) for a continuous photo group. ) = 2 (group evaluation value), 4 (number of images) × 0.5 (reference evaluation value) = 2 (group evaluation value) in the interval photo group, and 5 (number of images) × 0 in the event photo group. .6 (reference evaluation value) = 3 (group evaluation value).

  Then, the playback time determination unit 104 calculates the sum of group evaluation values 1 + 2 + 2 + 3 = 8, and calculates 15 seconds, which is the playback time for the evaluation value 1 within 2 minutes (120 seconds) of the total playback time of the slide show. Next, the playback time determination unit 104 calculates the playback time of each group, the single photo group 15 seconds, the continuous photo group 30 seconds, the interval photo group 30 seconds, and the event photo group 45 seconds based on each group evaluation value.

  Also, the playback time determination unit 104 divides the playback time of each group by the number of images, so that the playback time for each sheet, that is, 15 seconds for single photos, 6 seconds for continuous photos, and 7.5 seconds for interval photos. For the same event photo, 9 seconds are calculated and a slide show is reproduced on the display unit 105 based on the above calculation result.

  As described above, in the image display apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment, the grouping unit 102 groups each image based on the shooting time interval, and the group evaluation unit 103 sets the reference evaluation value and the number of shots. Each group evaluation value is calculated by multiplication, and the playback time determination unit 104 determines the playback time of each image in the slide show according to the ratio of the group evaluation values.

  As described above, the entire display time is allocated to each group based on the group attribute, and the display time of each image is determined. Therefore, in the image display device 100 according to the first embodiment, one image is displayed. All the images are slid and displayed within the specified time without displaying the images, and the user views all the images within the specified time, grasps the entire image stored in the database 101, and gives an overview. It becomes possible to do.

  In the image display apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment, the display time of each image is determined according to the group evaluation value to which each image belongs. Therefore, the images in the group that can be understood as a group are displayed. Images in groups that are short and need to be viewed slowly one by one are controlled for longer display times. That is, when similar images are continuous, such as continuous photographs and interval photographed photographs, the user can understand the contents of the images by the continuity even if the switching of the images is fast. On the other hand, for photos that are independently similar to each other, such as a single photo or a photo of the same event, the display time for each image is longer, so the user can easily understand the contents of each image. can do.

  Note that the playback time determination unit 104 defines a minimum value for the display time of each group, and if it falls below that value, control is returned to the grouping unit 102 to regroup adjacent groups again. possible. When grouping again, the threshold of the time interval defining the group is increased, and the single photo group is included in or combined with the same event group. As a result, the group granularity (the number of photos per group) is increased and the number of single photo groups is reduced. As a result, the distribution time to the continuous photo group, the interval photo group, and the same event photo group can be increased. Accordingly, even when the number of photos is large with respect to the total display time, time allocation to groups other than the single photo group is increased, and it is easy to check each photo.

  Further, the grouping unit 102 of the image display apparatus 100 may further hierarchically group the images based on the similarity between the groups by performing image similarity determination based on the image feature amount. That is, when the grouping unit 102 determines that adjacent image groups are similar, the two groups are integrated into one group. At this time, if any of the groups is a single photo group, the group evaluation unit 103 sets the group attribute as the same event photo group, and drops the level of the group attribute by one rank.

  For this reason, even if an image is grouped according to the shooting time interval and is determined to be a single photo, if it is a photo with similar contents, it is grouped again using the image feature amount, and the group attribute is Be lowered. Therefore, it is possible to avoid displaying images with similar contents distributed as a single photograph for a long time continuously during slide show reproduction of the image display apparatus 100.

  In addition, as a method for the grouping unit 102 to determine the degree of similarity between images using image feature amounts, for example, wavelet transform is used to frequency-decompose images, and edge images are created from high-frequency components among the decomposed components. Extract edge features from edge images using a technique called higher-order local autocorrelation function, and then use direction cosine distance as a distance measure to perform search invariant to image brightness A method of clustering vectors using a self-organizing map can be used.

(Embodiment 2)
Next, a second embodiment of the image display device of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the image display device according to the second embodiment includes a history management unit that manages the reference history of images from the user, and performs processing for preferentially assigning the display time in the slide show to images with a high reference history. It is characterized by.

  FIG. 8 is a functional block diagram of image display device 800 according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. In this figure, the same components as those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted. The image display device 800 according to the second embodiment includes a history management unit 109, a weighting unit 110, and an environment information acquisition unit 111 in addition to the configuration of the first embodiment.

  The input unit 106 receives a command for controlling start and stop of the slide show from the user and inputs the command to the display unit 105.

  The history management unit 109 manages an image in which the user has stopped the slide show in association with the stop time. The history information managed by the history management unit 109 is input to the reproduction time determination unit 104 via the weighting unit 110.

  The weighting unit 110 does not handle images belonging to the group equally, but increases the priority of a specific image based on the history information in the history management unit 109.

  The environment information acquisition unit 111 instructs the weighting unit 110 to acquire information from the external environment and change the display state of the slide show. For example, the information from the external environment includes time, season, viewing user ID, and the like.

  With the above configuration, the image display apparatus 800 according to the second embodiment manages the access frequency and the like of each image with the history management unit 109, and changes the priority of each image with the weighting unit 110. The resource of the playback time allocated to can be allocated more to images with high priority. For example, in the case of a continuous photo image group, when the user has one favorite image, the priority is increased, and a longer time distribution is performed within the group. For this reason, in the next and subsequent slideshows, one of the favorite images is displayed longer, and the display of other images can be shortened. You can see long.

  Further, since the weighting unit 110 can change the priority of the images in the group based on the information from the external environment acquired by the environment information acquisition unit 111, the allocation of the playback time of the slide show can be changed according to the external environment. .

  It should be noted that the favorite history can be set so as to decay with the passage of time, so that it is possible to avoid a state in which only the favorite photos are not highlighted.

(Embodiment 3)
Next, a third embodiment of the image display apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the image display device according to the third embodiment is characterized in that the user can change the playback mode having a different playback time via the input unit.

  FIG. 9 is a functional block diagram of an image display apparatus 900 according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention. In FIG. 9, the same components as those in FIG.

  Unlike the first embodiment, the input unit 901 is a rotatable button. When the input unit 901 is turned counterclockwise, the display speed is reduced, and when the input part 901 is turned clockwise, the display speed is increased. The input unit 901 acquires a display speed by a user operation, and outputs a playback mode corresponding to the display speed to the playback time adjustment unit 902. Note that the input unit 901 is implemented with a rotatable button, but it does not have to be in the form of a button, and is a slide bar type switch that is displayed at a low speed when slid to the left and at a high speed when slid to the right. May be.

  The reproduction time adjustment unit 902 adjusts the reproduction time of each image according to the reproduction mode acquired from the input unit 901.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an algorithm used when the reproduction time adjustment unit 902 determines the image display time in each shortening mode. FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing the display time of an image determined in each shortening mode.

First, the reproduction time adjustment unit 902 acquires the reference display time of each group from the following (Table 2) (step 1001).

  Next, the display speed is acquired from the input unit 106, and the reference display time is adjusted accordingly (step 1002). For example, when the display speed is low and twice the standard, the time obtained by doubling the reference display time is the display time assigned to the photos in each group.

  In the case of the standard (NO in step 1002), the reference display time may be left as it is, and the process ends as it is. FIG. 11A illustrates the image display time for each group in the standard mode as a block width.

  If the display mode acquired in the shortening mode (YES in step 1002) and the display speed acquired from the input unit 106 is within the range of the shortening mode 1, the reference display time of the group with a priority of 30 or more. The total display time is shortened by shortening the display time for each interval photograph and continuous photograph by 40% (step 1003). As a result, as shown in FIG. 11B, the display time of the photos of the continuous photo group and the interval shooting group is shortened, and the single photo group and the group of the same event photo remain at the reference value.

  Similarly, when it is the shortened mode (YES in step 1002) and the display speed acquired from the input unit 106 is within the range of the shortened mode 2, the reference display time of all groups is set regardless of the priority order. By shortening by 30%, the entire display time is shortened (step 1004). As a result, as shown in FIG. 11C, the image display time of all groups is shortened.

  Furthermore, when the mode is the shortened mode (YES in step 1002) and the display speed acquired from the input unit 106 is within the range of the shortest mode, the priority is set after reducing the display time of all the groups by 40%. For 30 or more groups, the display size is reduced to 50%, and four images are displayed on one screen, thereby reducing the total display time (step 1005). That is, as shown in FIG. 11D, in the shortest mode, for images with a priority of 30 or more, four images per screen are displayed at the time for displaying one image, and apparently This is equivalent to further reducing the display time to 1/4. The overall display time is the shortest. Needless to say, the numerical values used in the above description are only examples, and other values may be used.

  As described above, in the image display apparatus 900 according to the third embodiment, the user cannot designate the total image display time by using specific numbers. In response to the input of the playback mode instruction for display, the playback time adjustment unit 902 changes the time distribution in consideration of the attribute of the image group, and determines the display speed for each image group.

  Therefore, even if any display speed is instructed, it is possible to display a sharp image without causing skipping of the image, and the user can relax the image that is valuable to him or not. You can quickly switch to see things.

  The image display apparatus 900 according to the third embodiment is particularly effective when displaying an image at high speed. In other words, a group of continuous photos and interval photos with high similarity can recognize the content of the photos as a group by the afterimage effect of the eyes even if the display time per photo is shorter than the group of single photos. Therefore, it is easy to grasp the contents of all photographs even when displaying at high speed.

  Note that the input unit 901 can be considered not only to select the playback mode but also to increase the display speed when turned to the right and to reduce the display speed when turned to the left, like a jog shuttle.

  The image display apparatus according to the present invention is useful as a slide show generation / reproduction apparatus in a digital camera, a mobile phone, a car navigation system, a DVD recorder, a PDA, etc. having an image reproduction function. Also, the image display method according to the present invention is useful as digital photo browsing software on a PC.

Functional block diagram of the image display device in the first embodiment 7 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the image display apparatus according to the first embodiment. Image diagram when images are classified into four attributes of A to D using the shooting time interval in the grouping unit 6 is a flowchart illustrating a processing algorithm executed by the grouping unit of the image display apparatus according to Embodiment 1 to group image sequences. Schematic diagram showing the result of grouping by the grouping unit of the image display device in the first embodiment 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the group evaluation unit of the image display device in the first embodiment. Reference diagram of a table showing calculation results in the group evaluation unit and the reproduction time determination unit of the image display apparatus according to Embodiment 1 Functional block diagram of the image display device in the second embodiment Functional block diagram of an image display apparatus according to Embodiment 3 Flowchart showing the operation of the reproduction time adjustment unit in the third embodiment Schematic diagram showing the image playback time in each playback mode determined by the playback time adjustment unit in the third embodiment Functional block diagram of a conventional video digest generation device

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100,800,900 Image display apparatus 101 Database 102 Grouping part 103 Group evaluation part 104 Playback time determination part 105 Display part 106,901 Input part 107 Display order determination part 109 History management part 110 Weighting part 111 Environment information acquisition part 902 Playback time Adjustment section

Claims (23)

An image display device that sequentially displays image data,
A database that stores at least the image data in association with meta-information indicating imaging conditions of the image data;
Display order determining means for determining an image data sequence that is a display order of the images read from the database;
Grouping means for grouping the image data string into a plurality of image groups based on the meta information;
Group evaluation means for calculating a group evaluation value related to the reproduction time of each image group grouped in the grouping means;
Reproduction time determining means for determining the reproduction time of each image group based on the ratio of the group evaluation value;
An image display apparatus comprising: display means for displaying images of the image group according to the reproduction time determined by the reproduction time determination means. The meta information is a shooting time interval between images,
The image display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the grouping unit groups the image data based on the photographing time interval. The grouping means includes an interval photo group in which the shooting time interval is equal to or greater than a threshold value and a constant image group, a continuous shooting photo group in which the shooting time interval is equal to or less than a threshold value, and the shooting time interval is equal to or less than the threshold value. The image display device according to claim 2, wherein groups are grouped as the same event group, and the group whose shooting time interval is equal to or greater than a threshold is a single photo group. The image display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the group evaluation unit calculates the group evaluation value by multiplying a reference evaluation value defined in advance for each attribute of the image group by the number of images. The image display apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the reference evaluation value becomes smaller as the photographing time interval between images becomes shorter. The reproduction time determining means further determines the reproduction time of one image by dividing the reproduction time of each determined image group by the number of images belonging to the image group. Image display device. The meta information is shooting position information,
The image display device according to claim 1, wherein the grouping unit groups the image data based on the photographing position information. The display order determining means determines the image data sequence based on a distance from a reference position designated by a user based on time-series arrangement based on image capturing time information or based on position information where the image is captured. The image display device according to claim 1, wherein: The image display device further includes:
The image display apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an input unit that inputs a reproduction condition of the image data specified by a user to the reproduction time determination unit. The image display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the grouping unit groups the image data string into a plurality of image groups using an image feature amount extracted from the image data. The grouping unit determines similarity with another image group using an image feature amount of image data belonging to the image group, and integrates image groups with high similarity of the image feature amount. The image display device according to claim 10. The image display device according to claim 10, wherein the image feature amount includes at least one of luminance information relating to luminance of the image data, color information relating to color, and frequency information. The image display apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the image feature information associated with the image data and the meta information is further stored in the database. The image display device further includes:
History management means for storing control information related to display control of the image data received via the input means, and managing it as history information for each image;
Weighting means for changing the weighting of the images in the image group based on the history information,
The image display device according to claim 1, wherein the reproduction time determination unit changes the reproduction time of the image assigned to the image group using the weighting changed by the weighting unit. The image display device further includes:
Environmental information acquisition means for acquiring environmental information including at least one of date and time, temperature, season, and viewing user ID;
The image display device according to claim 14, wherein the weighting unit changes weighting for an image in the image group based on the environment information. The image display device further includes:
A second input means capable of changing the playback mode according to the playback time of the image;
Playback time adjusting means for adjusting the playback time of each image group according to the playback mode input from the second input means;
The image display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display unit displays the images of the image group according to the reproduction time adjusted by the reproduction time adjustment unit. The playback mode includes a shortened mode,
The reproduction time adjusting means, when the second input means is changed to the shortening mode, based on a priority defined in advance for each attribute of the image group, an image whose priority is a predetermined value or less. The image display device according to claim 16, wherein the reproduction time of the group is shortened. An image display method used for an image display device that sequentially displays image data,
A storage step of associating and storing at least the image data and meta information indicating a photographing condition of the image data;
A display order determining step for determining an image data sequence to be a display order of the images stored in the storing step;
A grouping step of grouping the image data sequence into a plurality of image groups based on the meta information;
A group evaluation step for calculating a group evaluation value related to the playback time of each image group grouped in the grouping step;
A reproduction time determining step for determining a reproduction time of each image group based on the ratio of the group evaluation values;
A display step of displaying the images of the image group according to the playback time determined in the playback time determination step. The meta information is a shooting time interval between images,
The image display method according to claim 18, wherein in the grouping step, the image data is grouped based on the photographing time interval. The image display method according to claim 18, wherein in the group evaluation step, the group evaluation value is calculated by multiplying a reference evaluation value defined in advance for each attribute of the image group by the number of images. A program used for an image display device that sequentially displays image data,
A storage step of associating and storing at least the image data and meta information indicating a photographing condition of the image data;
A display order determining step for determining an image data sequence to be a display order of the images stored in the storing step;
A grouping step of grouping the image data sequence into a plurality of image groups based on the meta information;
A group evaluation step for calculating a group evaluation value related to the playback time of each image group grouped in the grouping step;
A reproduction time determining step for determining a reproduction time of each image group based on the ratio of the group evaluation values;
A program that causes a computer to execute a display step of displaying an image of the image group according to the reproduction time determined in the reproduction time determination step. The meta information is a shooting time interval between images,
The program according to claim 21, wherein in the grouping step, the image data is grouped based on the photographing time interval. The program according to claim 21, wherein in the group evaluation step, the group evaluation value is calculated by multiplying a reference evaluation value defined in advance for each attribute of the image group by the number of images.

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