JP2007181069A - Image communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

An image communication system capable of preventing leakage of image data is obtained.
An image storage server and an image display device are provided with a server communication state transition pattern management unit for managing a common communication state transition pattern and a terminal communication state transition pattern management unit. The image data generation unit 102 of the image storage server 100 generates image data using a communication state transition pattern corresponding to the image display device 300 to be transmitted. The image data restoration unit 302 of the image display device 300 restores the image data using a communication state transition pattern corresponding to the own device.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an image communication system for transmitting image data from an image storage server to an image display device and displaying the image data on the image display device.

  The conventional image communication system detects unauthorized access by storing a communication record in both the server and the client and collating the previous communication record (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2000-29841 A

  In a conventional image communication system, whether or not a client accessing a server is a spoofed terminal is determined by authentication, and when it is not a spoofed terminal, image data is transmitted and received via a network. However, the communication state transition pattern of image data transmission / reception is fixed, and if the communication state transition pattern is known to other clients, the image data can be obtained by intercepting on the network without performing authentication. There was a problem.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and image communication that can prevent image data leakage by transmitting and receiving image data using an arbitrary communication state transition pattern for each client. The purpose is to obtain a system.

  The image communication system according to the present invention includes a server communication state transition pattern management unit and a terminal communication state transition pattern management unit for managing a common communication state transition pattern in an image storage server and an image display device, The image data generation means of the storage server generates image data using the communication state transition pattern corresponding to the image display device to be transmitted, and the image data restoration means of the image display device uses the communication state transition pattern corresponding to the own device. It is used to restore image data.

  In the image communication system of the present invention, the image data is transmitted from the image storage server based on the communication state transition pattern, and the image display device restores the image data based on the communication state transition pattern. Can be obtained.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
1 is a block diagram showing an image communication system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.
In the figure, an image communication system includes an image storage server 100 that stores a large amount of image data and distributes the image data via a network 200, and a network 200 that is a broadband and public communication path that employs, for example, IP (Internet Protocol). And an image display device 300 that displays image data received from the image storage server 100 via the network 200. It is assumed that an intercepted image display device 400 that intercepts and acquires image data flowing on the network 200 is connected to the network 200. Although only one image display device 300 is shown in the drawing, it is assumed that a plurality of image display devices 300 are connected to the network 200.

  The image storage server 100 is configured to divide image data to be distributed into N blocks and distribute the image data to the image display device 300 via the network 200 while interweaving M dummy data blocks. Here, as a block to be divided, for example, image data for one frame is divided into N pieces line by line. In this case, the N division units are the number of moving image / still image sub-scanning lines / the number of vertical pixels. In the case of a moving image, there are naturally a plurality of frames, but basically it is repeated for one frame. Further, the insertion of M pieces of dummy data is set as appropriate depending on conditions and the like.

  The image data to be divided into N blocks has an advantage in mounting by being one frame. However, the unit is not limited to this unit, and the image data to be divided is in any unit. It may be data.

  The image storage server 100 includes a server communication state transition pattern management unit 101, an image data generation unit 102, and a communication control unit 103. The server communication state transition pattern management unit 101 manages a correspondence relationship between the image display device 300 and a plurality of communication state transition patterns set in advance, and an arbitrary image display device 300 among the plurality of communication state transition patterns. The communication state transition pattern corresponding to the image display device 300 is selected based on the terminal ID which is the identification information of the image display device 300 received from the network. That is, a plurality of communication state transition pattern tables 500 in which the transmission order of N pieces of divided image data and M pieces of dummy data is described are managed. In the communication state transition pattern table 500, the transmission order in which M pieces of dummy data blocks are interlaced with the image data divided into N blocks is recorded. The same thing is created so that it does not exist. Further, the value L is the same as the number of the image display devices 300 that the image storage server 100 distributes images via the network 200, but may be any value as long as it is a value larger than this.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a correspondence relationship between each image display device 300 and the communication state transition pattern table 500.
In FIG. 2, the terminal ID indicates identification information for identifying the L image display devices 300, and the communication state transition pattern table No. indicates the number of each communication state transition pattern table 500. The setting information is held in the server communication state transition pattern management unit 101 and the terminal communication state transition pattern management unit 301.

  Returning to FIG. 1, the image data generation unit 102 transmits to the image display device 300 using the communication state transition pattern corresponding to the specific image display device 300 selected by the server communication state transition pattern management unit 101. The image data storage means 104 and the image data division means 105 are configured.

  The image data storage unit 104 is a unit that stores image data to be distributed to the image display device 300. The image data dividing unit 105 reads the stored image data of the image data storage unit 104 using the communication state transition pattern table 500 selected by the server communication state transition pattern management unit 101 and divides it into N blocks. It has a function of generating image data obtained by interweaving M dummy data blocks with image data divided into N blocks.

  The communication control means 103 is means for controlling data exchange with the image display device 300 via the network 200.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the image display apparatus 300 includes a terminal communication state transition pattern management unit 301, an image data restoration unit 302, an image memory 303, a communication control unit 304, and a terminal ID recording unit 305. The terminal communication state transition pattern management unit 301 manages the same communication state transition pattern table 500 as the communication state transition pattern table 500 held by the server communication state transition pattern management unit 101 of the image storage server 100, and It has a function of selecting a communication state transition pattern corresponding to the self-image display device 300 based on the terminal ID recorded in the terminal ID recording unit 305.

  The image data restoration unit 302 combines the image data received from the image storage server 100 with the image data divided into N blocks using the communication state transition pattern selected by the terminal communication state transition pattern management unit 301. The display image is restored. That is, the image data restoration unit 302 performs processing for accumulating image data in the image memory 303 and discarding dummy data based on the communication state transition pattern table 500. The image memory 303 stores the divided image data, holds the display image data restored by the image data restoration means 302, and displays the data on the display 306 connected to the image display device 300. It is a storage unit.

  The communication control unit 304 is a unit that performs communication control with the image storage server 100 such as an image distribution request to the image storage server 100 and reception of image data via the network 200. The terminal ID recording unit 305 is a unit for recording a terminal ID that is identification information of the own device.

  As described above, the intercept image display device 400 is an image display device that intercepts and acquires image data on the network 200, and includes a communication control unit 401, an image data restoration unit 402, and an image memory 403. The communication control unit 401 is a unit that performs communication control for intercepting image data flowing on the network 200. The image data restoration unit 402 has a function of restoring image data intercepted via the network 200. However, since the intercepted image display device 400 does not have the configuration of the terminal communication state transition pattern management unit 301 of the image display device 300, the image data restoration unit cannot be normally restored with the dummy data inserted. 302 is different. Similar to the image memory 303 of the image display device 300, the image memory 403 temporarily stores the display image data output from the image data restoration unit 402 and displays it on the display 404 connected to the intercepted image display device 400. Is a storage unit.

Next, the operation of the image communication system according to the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a communication sequence of the image communication system according to the first embodiment.
First, it is assumed that the terminal ID is sent from the administrator of the image storage server 100 to the user of the image display apparatus 300 without going through the network 200 by means such as mail before executing the following sequence. . The communication state transition pattern table 500 is stored in advance in the terminal communication state transition pattern management unit 301 of the image display device 300 and delivered to the user, or the administrator of the image storage server 100 receives a CD-ROM or the like. It is mailed and stored in the terminal communication state transition pattern management means 301.

  When the terminal ID is obtained in the image display device 300, the user of the image display device 300 uses the terminal ID received from the administrator of the image storage server 100 as the terminal ID recording process. (Step ST1). Next, in the image browsing start process (step ST2), the communication control means 304 of the image display device 300 reads the terminal ID from the terminal ID recording means terminal ID recording means 305 and creates an image data request containing the terminal ID. Then, the data is transmitted to the image storage server 100 via the network 200.

  Next, in the image data division process (step ST3), the communication control means 103 of the image storage server 100 receives an image data request including a terminal ID from the image display device 300 via the network 200. The image data dividing unit 105 of the image storage server 100 reads the image data from the image data storage unit 104 and divides it into N image data blocks.

  Further, in the communication state transition pattern confirmation process (step ST4), the server communication state transition pattern management means 101 of the image storage server 100 receives in accordance with the relationship between the terminal ID and the communication state transition pattern table 500 shown in FIG. The communication state transition pattern table 500 having a number corresponding to the terminal ID that has been selected is selected.

  Next, in the image data transmission process (step ST5), the image data division means 105 of the image storage server 1 via the communication control means 7 selects the communication state transition selected in the communication state transition pattern confirmation process (step ST4). In accordance with the pattern table 500, either the image data or the dummy data block is transmitted to the image display device 300 via the network 200.

  Next, in the communication state transition pattern confirmation process (step ST6), the communication state transition pattern management unit 301 of the image display device 300 sets the terminal ID recorded in the terminal ID recording unit 305 according to the setting information shown in FIG. The communication state transition pattern table 500 having the corresponding number is selected.

  In the image data storage process (step ST <b> 7), the communication control unit 304 of the image display device 300 receives a block of either image data or dummy data from the image storage server 100 via the network 200. Then, referring to the communication state transition pattern table 500 selected in the communication state transition pattern confirmation process (step ST6), if the received data block is image data, it is stored in the image memory 303, and if it is dummy data, the image is stored. Discard without accumulating in the memory 303.

On the other hand, in the image data storage process (step ST8), it is assumed that the communication control unit 401 of the intercepted image display device 400 intercepts either the image data or the dummy data from the image storage server 100 via the network 200.
Since the intercepted image display device 400 cannot specify the terminal ID of the image display device 300 and does not have the terminal communication state transition pattern management unit 301, the intercepted image display device 400 executes a communication state transition pattern confirmation process (step ST6). The communication state transition pattern table 500 corresponding to the terminal ID of the image display device 300 cannot be referred to. Therefore, even if the received block is dummy data, it cannot be discarded and is stored in the image memory 403.

  In this manner, in the image storage server 100, the communication state transition pattern confirmation process (step ST4) and the image data transmission process (step ST5) are repeated, and image data and dummy data for one frame are transmitted. That is, the image data dividing means 105 divides image data for one frame into N lines one by one, and sends out one line while interlacing M dummy data.

  Corresponding to such image data transmission processing of the image storage server 100, the image display apparatus 300 performs image data storage processing (step ST7) and communication state transition pattern confirmation processing (step ST6). In image display device 400, the image data storage process (step ST8) is repeated.

  Next, when image data for one frame is accumulated in the image memories 303 and 403 in the image data accumulation processing (steps ST7 and ST8) of the image display device 300 and the intercept image display device 400, the image in the image display device 300 is displayed. In the data restoration process (step ST9), the image data restoration unit 302 concatenates the N divided image data blocks stored in the image memory 303, restores the original image data, and stores the original image data in the image memory 303. Try again. In the image data restoration process (step ST10) of the intercepted image display device 400, the image data restoration unit 402 similarly concatenates the data blocks accumulated in the image memory 403 and accumulates them again in the image memory 403, but dummy data Cannot be restored to the original image data.

  In the image data display process (step ST11) of the image display device 300, the image data stored in the image memory 303 is converted into a display signal and displayed on the display 306 as a normal image.

  On the other hand, in the image data display process (step ST12) of the intercepted image display device 400, the image data stored in the image memory 403 is mixed with dummy data, and therefore displayed on the display unit 404 as a normal image. I can't. That is, if the actual image data does not match the three pieces of information of the main image (or the number of pixels in the horizontal direction), the number of sub-scan lines (or the number of pixels in the vertical direction), and color information of the corresponding image data Cannot be displayed normally. Since dummy data is inserted in the image data flowing through the network 200, the intercepted image display apparatus 400 has a mismatch between the three pieces of information and the image data, and cannot display a normal image.

  As described above, in the image communication system according to the first embodiment, since the dummy data is inserted into the image data divided into N pieces, the intercepted image display device 400 on the network 200 may display normal image data. It becomes difficult.

  In the first embodiment, the communication state transition pattern table 500 is provided on the image display device 300 side as well as the image storage server 100. However, at least the communication state transition pattern of the own device is provided on the image display device 300 side. The structure provided only with the table 500 may be sufficient.

  As described above, the image communication system according to the first embodiment is an image communication system including an image storage server that distributes images and an image display device that displays images received from the image storage server. A server manages a correspondence relationship between a preset image display device and a plurality of communication state transition patterns, and selects a communication state transition pattern corresponding to a specific image display device from among the plurality of communication state transition patterns Communication state transition pattern management means, and image data generation means for generating image data to be transmitted to a specific image display device using the communication state transition pattern selected by the server communication state transition pattern management means, The image display device manages a communication state transition pattern that is the same as the communication state transition pattern held in the image storage server. The communication state transition pattern management means for the terminal for selecting the communication state transition pattern corresponding to the display device, and the communication state transition pattern selected by the communication state transition pattern management means for the terminal from the image data received from the image storage server are used. Image data restoring means for restoring display image data, so that even if an intercept image display device for intercepting image data is connected to the network, the intercept image display device restores the display image data. Therefore, leakage of image data can be prevented.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
In the second embodiment, the communication state transition pattern is changed based on the communication history in addition to the configuration of the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of the image communication system according to the second embodiment.
In the figure, an image storage server 100a includes server communication state transition pattern management means 101a, image data generation means 102 (image data storage means 104, image data division means 105), communication control means 103, and server communication history management means 106. It has. The server communication history management means 106 is a means for managing the communication history with the image display device 300 a. The server communication state transition pattern management means 101 a is a communication history managed by the server communication history management means 106. Based on this, it is configured to select a communication state transition pattern.

  The image display device 300a includes a terminal communication state transition pattern management unit 301a, an image data restoration unit 302, an image memory 303, a communication control unit 304, a terminal ID recording unit 305, a display 306, and a terminal communication history management unit 307. It has. The terminal communication history management means 307 is a means for managing the communication history with the image storage server 100a. The terminal communication state transition pattern management means 301a is a communication history managed by the terminal communication history management means 307. Correspondingly, the communication state transition pattern table 500 is selected.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship among a terminal ID, a communication state transition pattern table, and a communication history.
In the figure, the number of communication is a communication history managed by the server communication history management means 106 and the terminal communication history management means 307. The image storage server 100a and the image display device 300a have L The communication state transition pattern tables are set to be used in order. Such setting information is held by the server communication state transition pattern management unit 101a and the terminal communication state transition pattern management unit 301a.

  Returning to FIG. 4, the configurations of the image storage server 100a and the image display device 300a and the configuration of the intercepted image display device 400 are the same as those in the first embodiment, and thus the description thereof is omitted here.

Next, the operation of the second embodiment will be described.
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a communication sequence of the image communication system according to the second embodiment.
Here, terminal ID recording processing (step ST1), image browsing start processing (step ST2), image data division processing (step ST3), image data transmission processing (step ST5), image data storage processing (step ST7, step ST8). The image data restoration processing (step ST9, step ST10) and the image data display processing (step ST11, step ST12) are the same as the processing described in FIG. 3 of the first embodiment. Further, it is assumed that the server communication history management unit 106 and the terminal communication history management unit 307 respectively record the number of times of communication.

  In the communication history search process (step ST21), the communication history management means 106 of the image storage server 100a determines the number of times of transmission of image data to the image display device 300a having the corresponding terminal ID as the server communication state of the image storage server 100a. The data is transferred to the transition pattern management unit 101a.

  In the communication history search process (step ST22), the terminal communication history management means 307 of the image display device 300a manages the number of communication times the image data is received from the image storage server 100a, and the terminal communication state transition pattern management of the image display device 300a. Passed to means 301a.

  In the communication state transition pattern confirmation process (step ST23), the server communication state transition pattern management unit 101a of the image storage server 100a performs communication with the number corresponding to the number of communication and the received terminal ID according to the setting information shown in FIG. The state transition pattern table 500 is selected.

  In the communication state transition pattern confirmation process (step ST24), the terminal communication state transition pattern management unit 301a of the image display device 300a performs the communication count and terminal recorded in the terminal ID recording unit 305 according to the setting information shown in FIG. The communication state transition pattern table 500 having a corresponding number is selected from the ID.

  In the communication history update process (step ST25), the server communication history management unit 106 of the image storage server 100a increases the number of times of transmission of image data to the image display device 300a having the corresponding terminal ID and records it. .

  In the communication history update process (step ST26), the terminal communication history management unit 307 of the image display device 300a increments and records the number of communication times the image data is received from the image storage server 100a.

  By configuring the image communication system as described above, image data is transmitted and received with an arbitrary communication state transition pattern corresponding to the terminal ID and the number of communication times, and therefore the intercepted image display apparatus 400 that cannot know the number of communication times is normal. Intercepting image data is more difficult than in the first embodiment.

  When the communication history between the image storage server 100a and the image display device 300a is inconsistent and the image data is not normally displayed, the image display device 300a corresponds to the terminal ID of the image storage server 100a. A request to reset the communication history may be transmitted via the network 200. As a result, the communication history managed by the server communication history management means 106 and the terminal communication history management means 307 is reset.

  As described above, according to the image communication system of the second embodiment, the image storage server includes the server communication history management unit that manages the communication history with the image display device, and the server communication state transition pattern management unit includes: Selecting a communication transition pattern corresponding to the communication history with the image display device, and the image display device includes a communication history management means for a terminal for managing a communication history with the image storage server, and managing a communication state transition pattern for the terminal Since the means selects the communication transition pattern corresponding to the communication history managed by the terminal communication history management means, it is possible to prevent leakage of image data more reliably.

  In addition, according to the image communication system of the second embodiment, the server communication history management unit and the terminal communication history management unit are configured to reset the managed communication history when a mismatch occurs in the mutual communication history. Therefore, it is possible to avoid a state in which the image data cannot be restored due to a mismatch in the communication history between the image storage server and the image display device.

Embodiment 3 FIG.
In the third embodiment, in addition to the configuration of the first embodiment, the communication state transition pattern is changed based on time information synchronized between the image storage server 100b and the image display device 300b.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of the image communication system according to the third embodiment.
In the figure, an image storage server 100b includes server communication state transition pattern management means 101b, image data generation means 102 (image data storage means 104, image data division means 105), communication control means 103, and server time information management means 107. It has. The server time information management means 107 is means for managing time information synchronized with the image display device 300b, and the server communication state transition pattern management means 101b is time information managed by the server time information management means 107. Is configured to select a communication state transition pattern.

  The image display device 300b includes a terminal communication state transition pattern management unit 301b, an image data restoration unit 302, an image memory 303, a communication control unit 304, a terminal ID recording unit 305, a display 306, and a terminal time information management unit 308. It has. The terminal time information management means 308 is means for managing time information synchronized with the image storage server 100a, and the terminal communication state transition pattern management means 301b is time information managed by the terminal communication history management means 307. The communication state transition pattern table 500 is selected corresponding to the above.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship among the terminal ID, the communication state transition pattern table, and the time information.
In the figure, the time is time information synchronized and managed by the server time information management means 107 and the terminal time information management means 308, and the image storage server 100b and the image display device 300b are synchronized time information. Accordingly, the L communication state transition pattern tables are set to be used in order. In this example, the number of the communication state transition pattern table 500 corresponding to each terminal ID is such that the time is incremented by one every fixed time T and a value between 1 and L is periodically taken. Such setting information is held in the server communication state transition pattern management unit 101b and the terminal communication state transition pattern management unit 301b.

  Returning to FIG. 7, the configuration of the image storage server 100b and the image display device 300b and the configuration of the intercepted image display device 400 are the same as those in the first embodiment, and thus the description thereof is omitted here.

Next, the operation of the third embodiment will be described.
FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a communication sequence of the image communication system according to the third embodiment.
Here, terminal ID recording processing (step ST1), image browsing start processing (step ST2), image data division processing (step ST3), image data transmission processing (step ST5), image data storage processing (step ST7, step ST8). The image data restoration processing (step ST9, step ST10) and the image data display processing (step ST11, step ST12) are the same as the processing described in FIG. 3 of the first embodiment. Also, TCP / IP is used as the protocol of the network 200, and NTP (Network Time) is used for time synchronization between the server time information management means 107 of the image storage server 100b and the terminal time information management means 308 of the image display device 300b. Protocol).

In the time measurement process (step ST31), the server time information management unit 107 of the image storage server 100b passes the current time to the communication state transition pattern management unit 101b.
In the time measurement process (step ST32), the terminal time information management unit 308 of the image display device 300b passes the current time to the communication state transition pattern management unit 301a.

  In the communication state transition pattern confirmation process (step ST33), the communication state transition pattern management unit 101b of the image storage server 100b, for example, according to the setting information shown in FIG. 8, the communication state of the number corresponding to the time information and the received terminal ID The transition pattern table 500 is selected.

  In the communication state transition pattern confirmation process (step ST34), the communication state transition pattern management unit 301b of the image display apparatus 300b performs time information and the terminal ID recorded in the terminal ID recording unit 305, for example, according to the setting information shown in FIG. The communication state transition pattern table 500 with the corresponding number is selected.

  By configuring the image communication system in this way, image data is transmitted and received with an arbitrary communication state transition pattern corresponding to the terminal ID and time, and therefore an intercepted image display device that cannot know the time synchronized with the image storage server 100b. 400 is more difficult to intercept normal image data than in the first embodiment.

  In the third embodiment, NTP is used as a means for synchronizing time information. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the time is determined by the server time information management means 107 and the terminal time information management means 308. Any device that can be synchronized may be used. Also, the time may not be the current time, and may be a time other than the current time as long as the time is synchronized between the image storage server 100b and the image display device 300b.

  As described above, according to the image communication system of the third embodiment, the image storage server includes server time information management means for managing time information synchronized with the image display device, and server communication state transition pattern management means. Selects a communication transition pattern corresponding to the time information managed by the server time information management means, and the image display device includes a terminal time information management means for managing time information synchronized with the image storage server, Since the terminal communication state transition pattern management means selects the communication transition pattern corresponding to the time information managed by the terminal time information management means, it is possible to prevent leakage of image data more reliably. .

  Further, according to the image communication system of the third embodiment, TCP / IP is used as a network protocol, and NTP is used for time synchronization of the time information management means. Therefore, the image storage server and the image display can be reliably configured with a simple configuration. Time synchronization between devices can be achieved.

Embodiment 4 FIG.
In the fourth embodiment, the image display device is provided with image data storage means for storing received data before image data restoration.

FIG. 10 is a configuration diagram of the image communication system according to the fourth embodiment.
As illustrated, the image display device 300c includes a terminal communication state transition pattern management unit 301, an image data restoration unit 302a, an image memory 303, a communication control unit 304, a terminal ID recording unit 305, a display unit 306, and an image data storage unit. 309. The image data storage unit 309 includes, for example, a hard disk device that stores image data received from the image storage server 100, and the storage capacity thereof is larger than that of the image memory 303. The image data restoration unit 302 a is configured to accumulate the divided image data in the image data accumulation unit 309, restore the display image data using the accumulated image data, and send it to the image memory 303. ing.
Other configurations of the image display device 300c and configurations of the image storage server 100 and the intercepted image display device 400 are the same as those in the first embodiment shown in FIG.

Next, the operation of the fourth embodiment will be described.
FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a communication sequence of the image communication system according to the fourth embodiment.
Here, terminal ID recording processing (step ST1), image browsing start processing (step ST2), image data division processing (step ST3), communication state transition pattern confirmation processing (step ST4), image data transmission processing (step ST5), The communication state transition pattern confirmation process (step ST6), the image data storage process (step ST8), the image data restoration process (step ST10), and the image data display process (step ST12) are the same as those in the first embodiment.

  In the image data storage process (step ST41), the communication control means 304 of the image display device 300c receives either the image data or the dummy data block from the image storage server 100 via the network 200. Then, the image data restoration unit 302a refers to the communication state transition pattern table 500 selected in the communication state transition pattern confirmation process (step ST6), and if the received data block is image data, the image data storage unit 309. If it is dummy data, it is discarded without being stored in the image data storage means 309.

  In the image data restoration process (step ST42), the image data restoration unit 302a of the image display device 300c concatenates the N divided image data blocks stored in the image data storage unit 309 to restore the original image data. Then, it is stored again in the image data storage means 309. Note that the processing from the image data division processing (step ST3) to the image data restoration processing (step ST42) in FIG. 11 is performed by using the image display device for all the image data stored in the image data storage means 104 of the image storage server 100. It is possible to repeat until it is stored in the image data storage means 309 of 300c.

  In the image data display process (step ST43), the image data stored in the image data storage means 309 of the image display device 300c is transferred to the image memory 303 at any time, converted into a display signal, and a normal image is displayed on the display 306. Is displayed.

  When the image communication system is configured in this manner, all image data is communicated and displayed after being stored in the image data storage means 309. Therefore, an image data request (terminal ID is sent by the image display device 300c to the network 200). And the intercepted image display apparatus 400 is more difficult to intercept the terminal ID than in the first, second, and third embodiments.

  In the fourth embodiment, the configuration of the first embodiment is applied. However, the configuration of the second embodiment or the third embodiment may be applied.

  As described above, according to the image communication system of the fourth embodiment, the image display device temporarily stores the restored display image data and the image that stores the image data received from the image storage server. Data storage means, and the image data restoration means restores the display image data using the image data accumulated in the image data accumulation means and sends it to the image memory. It can be surely prevented.

Embodiment 5 FIG.
In the fifth embodiment, when image data is illegally transmitted from the image display device, this is notified to the image storage server, whereby the image storage server determines that the image display device is illegally used. is there.

FIG. 12 is a configuration diagram of the image communication system according to the fifth embodiment.
In the figure, the image storage server 100c includes server communication state transition pattern management means 101, image data generation means 102 (image data storage means 104, image data division means 105), communication control means 103, and unauthorized use determination means 108. ing. The unauthorized use determination unit 108 is a unit that determines that the image display device 300d has illegally used the image data when receiving a notification that the image data of the image display device 300d has been transferred.

  The image display device 300d includes a terminal communication state transition pattern management unit 301, an image data restoration unit 302, an image memory 303, a communication control unit 304, a terminal ID recording unit 305, a display unit 306, and an image data transfer notification unit 310. I have. The image data transfer notification means 310 is a means for notifying the image storage server 100c of the fact that it has detected that the received image data has been sent to the outside.

  In addition, the configuration of the image storage server 100c, the image display device 300d, and the configuration of the intercepted image display device 400 other than these are the same as those of the image communication system according to the first embodiment, and thus description thereof is omitted here.

Next, the operation of the fifth embodiment will be described.
FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a communication sequence of the image communication system according to the fifth embodiment.
In FIG. 13, the processing up to the image data display processing (step ST43) is the same as the operation of the fourth embodiment shown in FIG. 11, and thus the description thereof is omitted here.

In the image data transmission process (step ST51), the user of the image display device 300d selects the image data from the image data storage unit 309, and the communication control unit 304 sends the image data to the intercepted image display device 400 via the network 200. Send.
Thereby, in the image data transfer notification process (step ST52), the image data transfer notification means 310 indicates that “the image data has been transferred to another image display device without permission” via the network 200 by the communication control means 304. An image data transfer notification meaning and including the corresponding terminal ID is transmitted to the image storage server 100c.

  In the unauthorized use determination process (step ST53), when the unauthorized use determination unit 108 of the image storage server 100c receives the image data transfer notification from the image data transfer notification unit 310 via the network 200, it is based on the included terminal ID. Therefore, it is determined that the image display device 300d with the terminal ID has been illegally used. That is, the image display device 300d is a terminal for displaying and browsing images, and transfer of image data to the outside is not permitted. For this reason, when the transfer of the image data to the outside is detected, it is determined that the transfer is to the intercepted image display device 400 and is unauthorized use.

  Thereby, in the image storage server 100c, for example, a warning is given to the image display device 300d that performed the data transfer, or a monetary request is made to the user of the image display device 300d. Do.

  Alternatively, in the image storage server 100c, the correspondence between the terminal ID and the communication state transition pattern table No. shown in FIG. 2 of the first embodiment in the server communication state transition pattern management unit 101 is changed to the corresponding terminal ID. The association may be deleted, and thereafter, the image display device 300d may be prevented from receiving normal image data. When such a procedure is performed, normal image data cannot be received from the image storage server 100c thereafter, and the image display device 300d that has leaked data can be easily excluded from the image communication system.

  Further, the image data transfer notification means 310 detects this when it tries to send the image data to the outside, and displays the warning message on the display device 306 or generates a warning sound, etc. This warning may be performed.

  As described above, according to the image communication system of the fifth embodiment, when the image display apparatus detects that the received image data has been transmitted to the outside, the image data transfer notification unit notifies the image storage server of this. When the image storage server receives notification from the image data transfer notification unit, the image display server includes the unauthorized use determination unit that determines that the image data has been illegally used. Even if there is unauthorized use of data, the image storage server can reliably know this.

  Further, according to the image communication system of the fifth embodiment, the image data transfer notification means generates warning information when trying to send image data to the outside, so that the user of the image display device mistakenly Even when trying to transfer the image data, it can be known that the image data is illegally used, and the illegal use of the image data can be prevented in advance.

  In the first to fifth embodiments, the image storage servers 100 and 100a to 100c have compression / encoding means for image data, and the image display apparatuses 300 and 300a to 300d have decoding means for expanding the image data compressed and encoded. May be provided. With this configuration, traffic is reduced because the compressed and encoded image data is transmitted and received over the network. Furthermore, when the image data compressed and encoded by the image storage server is divided into images, dummy data is inserted and sent to the image display device, the intercepted image display device uses the dummy data when decoding the intercepted image data. Since a decoding error occurs, normal image data cannot be obtained at all.

It is a block diagram which shows the image communication system by Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the correspondence of each image display apparatus and communication state transition pattern table in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the communication sequence in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the image communication system by Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the correspondence of each image display apparatus and communication state transition pattern table in Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the communication sequence in Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the image communication system by Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the correspondence of each image display apparatus and communication state transition pattern table in Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the communication sequence in Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the image communication system by Embodiment 4 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the communication sequence in Embodiment 4 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the image communication system by Embodiment 5 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the communication sequence in Embodiment 5 of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

100, 100a, 100b, 100c Image storage server, 101, 101a, 101b Server communication state transition pattern management means, 102 Image data generation means, 106 Server communication history management means, 107 Server time information management means, 108 Unauthorized use Determination means, 300, 300a, 300b, 300c, 300d Image display device, 301, 301a, 301b Terminal communication state transition pattern management means, 302, 302a Image data restoration means, 303 Image memory, 305 Terminal ID recording means, 307 terminal Communication history management means, 308 terminal time information management means, 309 image data storage means, 310 image data transfer notification means, 400 intercepted image display device.

Claims (9)

An image communication system comprising an image storage server that distributes images and an image display device that displays images received from the image storage server,
The image storage server
Server communication for managing a correspondence relationship between the image display device set in advance and a plurality of communication state transition patterns, and selecting a communication state transition pattern corresponding to a specific image display device from among the plurality of communication state transition patterns State transition pattern management means;
Image data generating means for generating image data to be transmitted to the specific image display device using the communication state transition pattern selected by the server communication state transition pattern management means;
The image display device includes:
A communication state transition pattern managing means for managing a communication state transition pattern identical to the communication state transition pattern held in the image storage server and selecting a communication state transition pattern corresponding to the self-image display device;
An image communication system comprising image data restoration means for restoring display image data from the image data received from the image storage server using the communication state transition pattern selected by the terminal communication state transition pattern management means. The image storage server
A server communication history management means for managing a communication history with the image display device;
The server communication state transition pattern management means selects a communication transition pattern corresponding to the communication history with the image display device,
The image display device includes:
Comprising a terminal communication history management means for managing a communication history with the image storage server;
2. The image communication system according to claim 1, wherein the terminal communication state transition pattern management unit selects a communication transition pattern corresponding to the communication history managed by the terminal communication history management unit.   3. The image communication system according to claim 2, wherein the server communication history management unit and the terminal communication history management unit reset the communication history to be managed when a mismatch occurs in the mutual communication history. The image storage server
Server time information management means for managing time information synchronized with the image display device,
The server communication state transition pattern management means selects a communication transition pattern corresponding to the time information managed by the server time information management means,
The image display device includes:
A terminal time information managing means for managing time information synchronized with the image storage server;
2. The image communication system according to claim 1, wherein the terminal communication state transition pattern management unit selects a communication transition pattern corresponding to the time information managed by the terminal time information management unit.   5. The image communication system according to claim 4, wherein TCP / IP is used as a network protocol, and NTP is used for time synchronization of the time information management means. The image display device
An image memory for temporarily storing the restored display image data;
Image data storage means for storing the image data received from the image storage server,
6. The image data restoring means restores display image data using the image data stored in the image data storage means, and sends the display image data to the image memory. The image communication system according to claim 1. The image display device
When it is detected that the received image data has been sent to the outside, it is provided with an image data transfer notification means for notifying the image storage server of this,
The image storage server
7. The unauthorized use determination unit that determines that the image data has been illegally used when the notification is received from the image data transfer notification unit. The image communication system according to claim 1.   8. The image communication system according to claim 7, wherein the image data transfer notification means generates warning information when image data is to be sent to the outside. The image data generation means compresses and encodes the image data,
The image communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the image data restoration means restores the display image data by decoding the image data.

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