JP2009223106A - Image display system and information processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image display system capable of displaying various contents in each display region by a plurality of information processing devices and preventing the occurrence of concentration of loads into the specific information processing device. <P>SOLUTION: This information processing device (client PC) has a load situation determining part 107, a load situation transmitting and receiving part 106, an image data transmission demand control part 108, and an image data transmitting and receiving part 109. The image data transmission demand control part 108 has a function for transmitting an image data transmission demand for demanding at least a part of image data to be displayed and processed for the other information processing device to the information processing device having small load and a function for giving the instructions for transmitting the image data based on the image data transmission demand to the information processing device being the origin of transmission of the image data transmission demand to the image data transmitting and receiving part 109 when the image data transmission demand is transmitted from the other information processing device. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to an image display system capable of displaying an image on a large screen using a plurality of information processing apparatuses, and an information processing apparatus used in the image display system.

As represented by digital cinema, an image display system having a high resolution exceeding 4K2K is being known, and recently, an image display system capable of displaying an image having a resolution of 8K4K has been developed. In order to display such a high-resolution image, an image display system capable of realizing a high-resolution image display by combining a plurality of displays (for example, projectors) has been put into practical use.

For example, a display is connected to each information processing apparatus such as a plurality of personal computers (PCs), and each information processing apparatus generates partial image data corresponding to each display area, and corresponds to the generated partial image data. There is an image display system that can display a high-resolution large screen image by displaying a partial image on each display (
For example, see Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2).

Japanese Patent No. 2728494 JP-A-2005-250445

In the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 (referred to as the first conventional technique), contents to be displayed on a screen are respectively held by a display function unit as a plurality of information processing apparatuses, and each display function part is based on the held contents. The image data corresponding to the position to be projected by itself is cut out, and projected onto the screen by a projection function unit such as a projector connected to the projector, whereby a large screen image display is performed on the screen. Possible.

Also, in the technique disclosed in Patent Document 2 (referred to as the second conventional technique), drawing units as a plurality of information processing apparatuses hold the same content, and each drawing unit should project itself from the held content. The image data corresponding to the position is cut out, and projected on the screen by a projector connected to itself, and irregular reproduction such as switching of contents can be realized. The timing server that controls the entire system transmits the control signals to the drawing unit all at once.

The above-described first and second prior arts are mainly intended to display one content by image display devices such as a plurality of projectors. However, recently, instead of displaying one content on the display screen, for example, a method of displaying a plurality of different types of content in respective display areas of the display screen has been proposed. In this case, image data corresponding to the content to be displayed on the display screen is stored in a plurality of information processing devices (PC) provided corresponding to each display area, and each of the plurality of information processing devices Display processing is performed such that image data corresponding to the content to be displayed is acquired from the stored image data, and various contents are simultaneously displayed on the display surface.

When such display processing is performed, depending on the content of the content displayed in each display area, the processing load (simply referred to as load) is concentrated on a specific information processing apparatus (PC), and a plurality of information processings are performed. Large variations in load may occur between devices. In that case,
In an information processing device with a heavy load, the amount of access to its own storage device increases, so the reading speed of image data from the storage device and the processing speed when processing the read image data are insufficient, and display is difficult. There may be a problem that a delay occurs.

The present invention relates to a row image display system in which display processing for displaying an image in a plurality of display areas is performed by an information processing apparatus provided corresponding to each display area, and the load is concentrated on a specific information processing apparatus. An object of the present invention is to provide an image display system that suppresses and enables smooth image display and an information processing apparatus used in the image display system.

The image display system of the present invention is an image display system, provided to correspond to each display area of a plurality of display areas, for displaying an image in a display area allocated to the display area among the plurality of display areas. A plurality of information processing devices that perform display processing, and the information processing device stores image data corresponding to each image to be displayed in each display region of the plurality of display regions, and the display processing A load status transmission / reception unit that transmits / receives its own load status to / from another information processing device, a load status of the other information processing device received by the load status transmission / reception unit, and the own load status A load status determination unit having a function of comparing, and an image data transmission / reception unit that transmits / receives image data corresponding to an image to be displayed in a predetermined display area among the plurality of display areas to / from another information processing apparatus A function of transmitting an image data transmission request for requesting at least a part of image data corresponding to an image to be displayed in the allocated display area to another information processing apparatus to an information processing apparatus having a smaller load than itself; When the image data transmission request is transmitted from another information processing apparatus, an instruction to transmit image data based on the image data transmission request to the information processing apparatus that is the transmission source of the image data transmission request And an image data transmission request control unit having a function to be provided to the data transmission / reception unit.

In an image display system that displays each image in a plurality of display areas, there may be variations in the amount of load required to perform image data processing among a plurality of information processing apparatuses. As described above, when there is a variation in the load between the information processing apparatuses, the information processing apparatus with a small load provides support to the information processing apparatus with a large load. Specifically, the information processing apparatus with a small load acquires at least a part of image data to be displayed by the information processing apparatus with a large load, and transmits the acquired image data to the information processing apparatus with a large load. By performing such a support operation, an information processing apparatus with a large load can reduce an access amount such as reading of image data from its own storage device. Thereby, concentration of load on a specific information processing apparatus can be suppressed, and problems such as a delay in image display in a specific display area can be prevented.

In the image display system of the present invention, it is preferable that a plurality of types of images are assigned to each display area in each display area of the plurality of display areas.

In this case, various types of images (contents) are displayed in a display form that is displayed in each display area of a plurality of display areas. When displaying in such a display form, the present invention is Especially effective. In this case, all the image data corresponding to a plurality of contents displayed in each display area are held in the storage device in each information processing apparatus. As a result, when there is a variation in load between the information processing devices, the information processing device with a small load acquires at least a part of the image data to be displayed by the information processing device with a large load. Thus, it is possible to perform a support operation such as transmitting the acquired image data to an information processing apparatus with a large load.

The image display system of the present invention includes a control information processing device that controls the plurality of information processing devices, and the control information processing device is to display each information processing device of the plurality of information processing devices. Information relating to an image is transmitted to the plurality of information processing devices as an image display command, and each of the information processing devices of the plurality of information processing devices stores image data corresponding to an image to be displayed on the basis of the image display command. Is acquired from its own storage device, and display processing is preferably performed based on the acquired image data.

By providing such a control information processing apparatus, it is possible to efficiently and appropriately control the information processing apparatus provided corresponding to each display area. The image display command transmitted from the control information processing apparatus to each information processing apparatus has information indicating which information processing apparatus should display what image (content). The apparatus can perform appropriate display processing based on the image display command.

In the image display system of the present invention, an image that is common to an image to be displayed by the information processing apparatus that has transmitted the image data transmission request and an image to be displayed by the information processing apparatus that has received the image data transmission request Is included, the information processing apparatus that has transmitted the image data transmission request transmits the image data corresponding to the common image for display processing by itself to the information processing apparatus that is the transmission destination of the image data transmission request It is preferable to receive from.

As described above, the image data to be processed by the information processing apparatus (information processing apparatus with a large load) that is the transmission source of the image data transmission request, and the information processing apparatus (information processing apparatus with a small load) that has received the image data transmission request. When image data common to the image data to be processed is included, the display processing of the image is also performed in the information processing apparatus with a small load. That is, even in an information processing device with a small load, image data corresponding to the image is read out to its own storage device, so that the read image data can be transmitted to an information processing device with a large load. It becomes possible. Therefore, an information processing device with a large load can receive common image data from an information processing device with a smaller load than the information processing device (information processing device that is the transmission destination of an image data transmission request). Thereby, in the information processing apparatus with a large load, it is not necessary to read out the common image data from the confident storage device, and the load on itself can be reduced.

In the image display system of the present invention, the image data corresponding to the common image received from the information processing apparatus that is the transmission destination of the image data transmission request is decoded in the information processing apparatus that is the transmission destination of the image data transmission request. It is also preferable that the image data is a new one.

As described above, the decoded image data is transmitted to the information processing apparatus with a large load, so that in the information processing apparatus with a large load, in addition to the reduction of the image data reading process from the storage device, the decoding process is performed. Can also be reduced. As a result, in an information processing apparatus with a large load, it is possible to reduce the load for image data processing performed by an image data processing unit such as a CPU.

In the image display system of the present invention, it is preferable that the comparison of the load situation is performed when the image to be displayed changes.
In this way, by determining the load status of each information processing apparatus when the image (content) to be displayed changes, the load status of each information processing apparatus is appropriately determined according to the content of the displayed content. be able to.

An information processing apparatus of the present invention is provided corresponding to each display area of a plurality of display areas, and performs a plurality of display processes for displaying an image in a display area assigned to the display area assigned to the display area. An information processing device used in an image display system having an information processing device, the storage device storing image data corresponding to each image to be displayed in each display region of the plurality of display regions, and the display processing Compares the load status of the other information processing apparatus received by the load status transmission / reception unit and the load status of the own information with the load status transmission / reception unit that transmits / receives the own load status to / from another information processing device A load status determination unit having a function, and an image data transmission / reception unit that transmits / receives image data corresponding to an image to be displayed in a predetermined display region of the plurality of display regions to / from another information processing apparatus A function of transmitting an image data transmission request for requesting at least a part of image data corresponding to an image to be displayed in the allocated display area to another information processing apparatus to an information processing apparatus having a smaller load than itself; When the image data transmission request is transmitted from another information processing apparatus, an instruction to transmit image data based on the image data transmission request to the information processing apparatus that is the transmission source of the image data transmission request And an image data transmission request control unit having a function to be provided to the data transmission / reception unit.

By using such an information processing apparatus for an image display system, the image display system of the present invention can be realized. Note that the information processing apparatus of the present invention preferably has the characteristics of the image display system of the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described. In the embodiment described below, an image display system that displays a large screen image using a plurality of projectors will be described.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an image display system according to each embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, an image display system according to each embodiment of the present invention includes a plurality of units (two in the horizontal direction, two in the vertical direction).
Projectors PJ1 to PJ4 and four projectors PJ1 to PJ)
Information processing apparatuses 100 to 400 (client PC 10) connected to each projector of J4
0 to 400), a control information processing apparatus 10 (control PC 10) for controlling the client PCs 100 to 400, and a network 20 such as a LAN for connecting the control PC 10 and the client PCs 100 to 400. Yes.

Of the four projectors PJ1 to PJ4, the projector PJ1 displays an image in the upper left display area A of the screen SCR as an image display surface, and the projector PJ
2 displays an image in the upper right display area B of the screen SCR, the projector PJ3 displays an image in the lower left display area C of the screen SCR, and the projector PJ4 displays an image in the lower right display area D of the screen SCR. It shall be installed as follows.

In each embodiment of the present invention, by displaying a partial image constituting a certain content in each of the display areas A to D, the display is not a display form in which the content is displayed as a large screen image. A description will be given assuming that display is performed in such a display form that various types of images (contents) are displayed in the respective color display areas A to D.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the control PC 10 and the client PCs 100 to 400. In FIG. 2, the configuration of the client PCs 100 to 400 is shown by taking the client PC 100 as an example, but the other client PCs 200 to 400 have similar components.

The control PC 10 provides communication data to the client PCs 100 to 400 and image data corresponding to images (referred to as contents) to be displayed in the display areas A to D to the client PCs 100 to 400. An image data transmission unit 12 that transmits using the communication unit 11; a content display command transmission unit 13 that transmits an image display command (referred to as a content display command) to each of the client PCs 100 to 400; And a control unit 14 for controlling the client PCs 100 to 400, such as synchronizing the client PCs 100 to 400. The content display command is sent to each client PC 10.
0 to 400 are transmitted simultaneously.

The client PC 100 includes a control PC 10 and other client PCs 200 to 200
A communication unit 101 that communicates with 400 and an image data transmission unit 1 of the control PC 10
2 receives image data corresponding to the content to be displayed in the display areas A to D transmitted from the image data receiving unit 102 via the communication unit 101, and a storage device 103 such as a hard disk for storing the received image data. A content display command receiving unit 104 that receives the content display command transmitted from the content display command transmitting unit 13 of the control PC 10 via the communication unit 101, and a content display command analyzing unit 105 that analyzes the received content display command. And have.

Further, the client PC 100 is based on the load status transmission / reception unit 106 that transmits / receives a load status (described later) to / from other client PCs 200 to 400 via the communication unit 101, and image data corresponding to the content to be displayed. A function of determining its own load status when performing display processing, a function of determining its own processing capacity for the determined own load status,
The load status of each client PC including itself is compared from the load status of the other client PCs 200 to 400 received by the load status transmission / reception unit 106 and the own load status, and the information processing device having a smaller load than that of itself And a load situation determination unit 107 having a function of determining whether or not there is a load.

In addition, the client PC 100 has a function of transmitting an image data transmission request for requesting at least a part of image data of image data to be processed to another information processing apparatus via the communication unit 101 and other information processing. The image data transmission request control unit 108 having a function of receiving an image data transmission request transmitted from the apparatus via the communication unit 101 and the other client PCs 200 to 400 should be displayed via the communication unit 101. An image data transmission / reception unit 109 that transmits and receives image data is further included.

The client PC 100 also stores image data and / or data stored in the storage device 103.
Alternatively, the image data acquisition unit 110 that acquires image data from other client PCs 200 to 400 received by the image data transmission / reception unit 109 as image data to be displayed, and the image data acquired by the image data acquisition unit 110 An image data generation unit 111 that performs various processes such as a scaling process and a decoding process to generate image data to be displayed;
An image display control unit 112 that performs control for performing display based on the image data generated by the image data generation unit 111 is further included.

The load status determination unit 107 determines “the load status of each client PC at that time”
This is because the load necessary for image data processing corresponding to an image to be displayed, such as the amount of access to the storage device when each client PC reads image data from its own storage device 103, is large. Is shown.

Also, the image data transmission request control unit 108, when the load status determination unit 107 determines that its own processing capacity for the load status is insufficient, the image data transmission request control unit 108 has a smaller load than the image data transmission request. When an image data transmission request is transmitted from another information processing device and a function for transmitting to the information processing device, the image data based on the content of the image data transmission request is processed as the information processing source of the image data transmission request. An instruction to transmit to the apparatus is sent to the image data transmitting / receiving unit 1
And a function to be given to 09.

An image display system according to each embodiment of the present invention includes a projector (projector P).
Since the image is displayed on the screen SCR by J1 to PJ4), the image display control unit 112 is generated by the image data generation unit 111 for the projector (the projector PJ1 in the client PC 100) connected to itself. A function of transmitting the received image data. The projector PJ1 connected to the client PC 100 is set to project an image on the display area A on the screen SCR. The projectors PJ1 to PJ4 connected to the client PCs 100 to 400 perform display at a resolution of 2K1K in the corresponding display areas.

In such a configuration, each of the client PCs 100 to 400 is controlled by the control PC 1.
The image data transmitted from 0 is acquired and stored in its own storage device 103. At this time, each storage device 103 of each client PC 100 to 400 has a screen SCR.
Image data corresponding to a plurality of types of images (a plurality of contents) to be displayed on the whole (display areas A to D) is stored.

Each of the client PCs 100 to 400 acquires image data corresponding to the content to be displayed by the image data acquisition unit 110 from the storage device 103 based on the content display command from the control PC 10, and the screen SCR. The display processing is performed so that the content to be displayed is displayed in the display area allocated to itself.

When each of the client PCs 100 to 400 performs such a display process, the client PCs 100 to 400 determine their own load status and determine whether their own processing capability for their own load status is sufficient. Further, the load status of each client PC including itself is determined from the load status of the other client PC received by the load status transmission / reception unit 106 and its own load status, and the information processing apparatus having a smaller load than that of itself It is determined whether or not there is. Each client PC
It is preferable that the determination of the load status performed by 100 to 400 is performed every time a content display command is transmitted from the control PC 10.

And, when it is determined that its own processing capacity for its own load situation is not sufficient as a result of judging its own load situation and whether its own processing capacity for its own load situation is sufficient Then, an image data transmission request for transmitting image data to be displayed or a part of the image data is transmitted to the client PC having a smaller load than itself. Conversely, when an image data transmission request is transmitted from a client PC having a small load and a large load, image data based on the transmitted image data transmission request is acquired from its own storage device 103. Then, the acquired image data is transmitted to the client PC that is the transmission source of the image data transmission request.

Note that specific operations of the client PCs 100 to 400 will be described in the following embodiments. In the following embodiments, it is assumed that the transmission speed of the network 20 is sufficiently higher than the access speed when each client PC accesses its own storage device 103. This is a reasonable assumption because the current standard LAN standard is 1 Gbps, high speed is about 10 Gbps, and the access speed to a hard disk in a general PC is around 400 Mbps. It can be said.
Specific embodiments will be described below.

[Embodiment 1]
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the image display system according to the first embodiment. In FIG. 3, the content G1 is displayed in the display area A by the projector PJ1, and the display areas C,
In D, the content G2 is displayed at the boundary between the display areas C and D by the projectors PJ1 and PJ2. The display area B is in a state where nothing is displayed.

In the display contents as shown in FIG. 3, the client PC 100 controls the control PC.
Based on the content display command from 10, the image data corresponding to the content G1 to be displayed is acquired from the storage device 103, and the projector PJ1 displays the content G1 in the display area A on the screen SCR. Display processing is being performed.

Further, the client PC 300 and the PC 400 store the image data corresponding to the content G2 on the respective storage devices 10 based on the content display command from the control PC 10.
3 and the display area C on the screen SCR by the projectors PJ3 and PJ4.
, D is displayed in such a manner that the content G2 is displayed in the display areas C, D at the boundary portions.

At this time, the client PC 300 performs processing for generating image data corresponding to the partial image (the left half image of the content G2) to be displayed from the image data corresponding to the content G2 acquired from the storage device 103 of the client PC 300. . Further, the client PC 400 performs processing for generating image data corresponding to the partial image (the right half image of the content G2) to be displayed from the image data corresponding to the content G2 acquired from its own storage device 103.
In addition, since nothing is displayed in the display area B, the client PC 200 does not perform display processing.

Thus, when a content display command is transmitted to each client PC 100-400, each client PC 100-400 performs display processing based on the transmitted content display command. Each of the client PCs 100 to 400 determines its own load status each time a content display command is transmitted, and mutually transmits the load status to other client PCs as necessary from the determination result. The operation (referred to as load status transmission / reception operation) is performed.

For example, as shown in FIG. 1, a content display command is transmitted to each of the client PCs 100 to 400 from a state where each of the client PCs 100 to 400 is not performing a display operation, whereby a display as shown in FIG. Suppose it was made. As described above, when a new content display command is transmitted from the control PC 10 to each of the client PCs 100 to 400, each of the client PCs 100 to 400 determines its own load status, and other clients as necessary from the determination result. A load status transmission / reception operation is performed with the PC.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining a procedure of processing performed by each of the client PCs 100 to 400. As shown in FIG. 4, first, from the control PC 10 to each client PC 10
When a content display command is transmitted to 0 to 400, each client PC 100 to 4
In 00, the content display command receiving unit 104 receives the content display command (step S1). A content display command is generated every time the content to be displayed changes.
It is simultaneously transmitted from the C10 to each of the client PCs 100 to 400. Each client PC
Reference numerals 100 to 400 denote received content display commands as their own content display command analysis unit 10.
Analyzing in step 5, the content display command necessary for processing by itself is held. The content display command includes information on what content is displayed.

In this way, when each of the client PCs 100 to 400 receives the content display command, the load status when performing image data processing such as the amount of access to its own storage device 103 is detected (step S2), and the detected load status is detected. It is determined whether or not its own processing capability is sufficient (step S3). And if your processing capacity for the load situation is enough,
Since an image data transmission request to another client PC is unnecessary, the processing is terminated without making an image data transmission request. On the other hand, if the processing capability for the load status is not sufficient, a load status transmission / reception operation is performed with another client PC (step S4).

Here, it is determined that the processing capability with respect to the load is not sufficient, and a load status transmission / reception operation is performed with another client PC. As a result, when a load status is transmitted from another client PC, the transmitted load status is compared with its own load status to determine whether there is a client PC having a smaller load than itself (step S5). ). As a result of the determination, if there is no client PC having a smaller load than itself, the image data transmission request cannot be made and the process is terminated. However, if there is a client PC having a smaller load than itself, the processing is terminated. Also, an image data transmission request is issued to the client PC having a small load (step S6). The image data transmission request in step S6 includes its own client PC.
Identification number and transmission request information (information indicating from what byte to what byte of which file is desired to be transmitted).

Then, the transmission source client PC (supported client PC) that has transmitted the image data transmission request receives image data transmitted via the network 20 from the client PC (supporting client PC) that has received the image data transmission request. (Step S7). When the supported client PC receives the image data transmitted from the support client PC, the supported client PC performs a display process by combining the received image data and the image data that is being displayed.

The processing in steps S4 to S6 is specifically performed as follows. First, the load status transmission / reception operation in step S4 is performed based on the client PC 100, for example, from the client PC 100 to the other client PCs 200 to 400 such as “PC 100: Storage usage rate = 80%”. Information indicating the load status is transmitted as a transmission message. At this time, the destination is “broadcast”.

Each client PC 200 that has received the transmission message from the client PC 100
˜400 is the load status of the client PC 200, for example, “PC 200
: Storage usage rate = 0% ", the client PC 300 is" PC 300: Stor
age usage rate = 40% ”, the client PC 400 is“ PC 400: Storage usage rate = 40% ”, and the client PC 400 is“ PC 400: Storage usage rate = 4 ”.
Information indicating the load status such as “0%” is transmitted with the destination as “broadcast”.

Thereby, each client PC can receive the load status in the other client PCs transmitted from the other client PCs. Here, the client PC 100 determines whether or not there is a client PC having a smaller load than itself based on its own load status and the transmitted load status of the client PCs 200 to 400 (step S5).
). In this case, since the load on the client PC 200 is the smallest, the client PC 10
0 transmits an image data transmission request with the destination being “client PC 200” (step S6). This image data transmission request includes the identification number of itself (client PC 100) and transmission request information (information indicating from what byte to what byte of which file is to be transmitted).

If each client PC 100 to 400 holds the content display command sent from the control PC 10 as it is, it is possible to know information about which client PC displays what content, so that each client PC Can determine which client PC is currently heavily loaded, and if its own load is small, it is possible to voluntarily transmit necessary image data to the heavily loaded client PC. .

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a first support operation in the image display system according to the first embodiment. FIG. 5 shows the same display contents as FIG. 3. In this case, the client PC having the largest load is the client PC 100, and the client PC having the smallest load is the client PC.
200. Therefore, in this case, the client PC 100 is supported client P
C, and the client PC 200 is a support client PC.

As shown in FIG. 5, the client PC 200 that is a support client PC has a part of the same image data (image data corresponding to the content G <b> 1) as the client PC 100 that is a supported client PC. The image data transmission / reception unit 109 transmits the acquired image data to the client PC 100 via the communication unit 101 via the network 20 and the thick arrow R.

The acquisition of the image data transmitted from the client PC 200 to the client PC 100 is performed by transmitting request information described in the image data transmission request transmitted from the client PC 100 (image data from what byte to what byte of which file). Etc.).

By performing such a support operation, the client PC 100 with the largest load
Part of the image data corresponding to the content G1 is transferred to another client PC (client PC
200), the amount of access for reading from its own storage device 103 can be reduced, and the load on the client PC 100 is reduced.

When performing the support operation as shown in FIG. 5, when viewed from the client PC 100 that is the supported client PC, the storage devices of the client PC 100 and the client PC 200 are virtually the same as RAID 0 via the network 20. It is preferable to control by software so as to have the following functions. As a result, a plurality of storage devices can perform image data acquisition operation in cooperation with each other without depending on the format of the image data.

Then, it is assumed that a content display command is transmitted from the control PC 10 to each of the client PCs 100 to 400 so that the display content shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a second support operation in the image display system according to the first embodiment. 6, the projector PJ1 continues to display the content G1, and the projector PJ4 displays the content G2, and the projectors PJ2 and PJ
3 is a display content that nothing is displayed.

Each of the client PCs 100 to 400 performs display processing according to the processing procedure described with reference to FIG. Each client PC 100 to 400 performs a load status transmission / reception operation with another client PC if its own processing capability with respect to its own load status is not sufficient. In this case, the client PC 100 is considered as a reference.

In the client PC 100, its own load status and other client PCs 200 to 400
As a result of verifying the load status of each of the client PCs 100 to 400 based on the load status transmitted from the client PC 200, it is determined that the load on the client PC 200 and the PC 300 is small. In this case, in addition to the client PC 200, the client PC 3 Also, an image data transmission request is transmitted. As a result, the client PC 3 also performs a support operation for the client PC 100.

That is, the client PC 300 has already performed the support operation.
Similar to 00, a part of the same image data as the client PC 100 that is the supported client PC is acquired from its own storage device 103, and the acquired image data is transmitted to the client PC 100 via the network 20 through the path of the thick arrow R. To do. Note that the acquisition of image data transmitted to the client PC 100 by the client PC 300 that newly participates in support is performed by transmitting request information described in the image data transmission request transmitted from the client PC 100 (from what byte of what file to how many bytes). Based on information such as image data up to eyes).

Even when the support operation as shown in FIG. 6 is performed, the client PC 100, the client PC 200, and the PC 30 are viewed from the client PC 100 that is the supported client PC.
Each storage device 0 is preferably controlled by software so as to virtually have the same function as RAID 0 via the network 20. As a result, a plurality of storage devices can perform image data acquisition operation in cooperation with each other without depending on the format of the image data.

By performing such a support operation, the client PC 100 with the largest load
The access amount for reading the image data corresponding to the content G1 from its own storage device 103 can be further reduced, and the load on the client PC 100 is further reduced.

[Embodiment 2]
FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a support operation in the image display system according to the second embodiment. FIG.
Is a display content in which images are concentrated in the display area A. Therefore, in this case, the client PC 100 requires more image data than the other client PCs 200 to 400, and the load is the largest.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 7, the client PC 100 requires all of the image data corresponding to the content G1 and part of the image data of the content G2 and the content G3. At this time, the client PC 200 performs display processing for displaying the content G3 common to the client PC 100 at the boundary between the display areas A and B, and the client PC 300 displays the content G2 common to the client PC 100 in the display areas A and C. A display process is performed to display the image at the boundary.

In this case, the client PC 200 performs an operation of acquiring image data corresponding to the content G3 from its own storage device 103 in order to display the content G3, and the client PC 300 has its own storage in order to display the content G2. An operation of acquiring image data corresponding to the content G2 from the device 103 is performed. Therefore, the client PC 200 and the PC 300 have their own storage device 103 in order to perform display processing.
The image data corresponding to the contents G2 and G3 acquired from the client can be transmitted to the client PC 100 where the load is concentrated.

In this way, the client PC having a concentrated load (in the example of FIG. 7, the client PC 1
00), when there is a client PC with a small load (in the example of FIG. 7, client PCs 200, 300) that displays content common to the client PC 200, 300 with a small load, performs display processing by itself. Therefore, the respective image data (image data corresponding to the content G3 and the content G2) acquired from its own storage device 103 are
The data is transmitted to the client PC 100, which is the supported client PC, via the network 20 along the route indicated by the thick arrow R. As a result, the client PC 100 where the load is concentrated
The content to be displayed by itself is sent to the client PC of the transmission destination of the image data transmission request (the client PCs 200, 30 having a small load displaying the common content).
0).

By performing such a support operation, the client PC 100 can use the content G2
, G3, it is not necessary to perform image data read processing, and its own storage device 10
The access load to 3 can be greatly reduced.

In FIG. 7, the projector PJ4 displays nothing, so the load on the client PC 400 is small. Therefore, the client PC 400 is a client PC
A part of the image data (image data corresponding to the content G1) displayed on the display 100 is acquired from its own storage device 103, and the acquired image data is transferred to the client PC 100 via the network 20 through the path indicated by the thick line arrow R. Send. When performing such an operation, it is desirable that the storage devices 103 of the client PC 100 and the client PC 400 are controlled by software so as to virtually have the same function as RAID 0 via the network 20.
By the way, in each of the client PCs 100 to 400, whether or not there is a client PC that currently displays the common content other than itself is, for example, the control PC 1
It is possible for each client PC 100-400 to determine from the “content display command” that 0 transmits to each client PC 100-400. For example, the control PC 10 is common to each client PC 100-400. The data indicating that there is the content of the client PC 100 to 40 together with the content display command
It is also possible for each client PC 100 to 400 to determine from the data (data indicating that there is a common content) transmitted from the control PC 10, and the client PCs 100 to 400 can mutually determine their own. It is also possible to determine by transmitting / receiving content information.

[Embodiment 3]
FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the support operation in the image display system according to the third embodiment. FIG.
In FIG. 5, the content G1 is displayed in the display area A, and the content G2 is displayed across the display areas A to D in the display areas A to D. In order to perform such display, the client PCs 200 to 400 need only acquire image data corresponding to the content G2 to be displayed by the client PCs 200 to 400.
It is necessary to acquire image data corresponding to the image data corresponding to the content G2.
Therefore, the client PC 100 needs to acquire more image data than the other client PCs, and the amount of access to the storage device 103 of the client PC 100 increases.

In the image display system according to the third embodiment, it is possible to reduce the load required for image data processing such as decoding in addition to reducing the access load to the storage device 103 for a client PC having a large load. That is, in each of the client PCs 100 to 400, an image data processing unit that performs various types of image data processing (in FIG. 2, the image data generation unit 1).
11) needs to perform various image data processing such as decoding, and the load of these image data processing also varies among the client PCs depending on the display contents at that time.

Therefore, by transmitting the image data subjected to the decoding process to the client PC having a large load, not only the access load to the storage device 103 is reduced in the client PC having a large load but also the image data performed by the image data generating unit 111. The processing load can also be reduced. Such a support operation is effective in an image display system in which the decoding processing speed is slower than the network transmission speed.

In the example shown in FIG. 8, since the load on the client PC 100 is large, any one of the other client PCs 200 to 400 (for example, the client P)
C200) transmits the decoding result of the image data corresponding to the content G2 to be displayed by itself. Image data decoded by the client PC 200 (
The image data corresponding to the content G2) is the client PC 100 along the path indicated by the thick arrow R.
Sent to. Thereby, the client PC 100 where the load is concentrated can receive the decoded image data from the client PC (in this case, the client PC 200) with a small load.

In this way, the client PC 100 where the load is concentrated receives the decoded image data from the client PC 200 with a small load, and thereby the client P 100
In C100, not only can the load of access to the storage device 103 be reduced, but also the load of image data processing (in this case, decoding processing) of the image data generation unit 111 can be reduced. In addition,
The image data transmitted from the client PC 200 that is the support client PC to the client PC 100 that is the supported client PC may be transmitted not only in the decoding process but also in the result of performing other image data processes. Thereby, the load of image data processing to be performed by the supported client PC can be further reduced.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, in each of the above-described embodiments, an image display system using a plurality of projectors has been described. However, instead of a display system that displays an image using a projector, direct-view high resolution (for example, 4K2K or 8K4).
The present invention can also be applied to an image display system having a display such as K).

In such a display system, for example, the display screen of the display is divided into a plurality of parts (for example, four parts), and client PCs 100 to 400 are provided corresponding to the divided display areas. By performing display processing similar to that in each embodiment, various contents can be displayed for each display area. The present invention can also be applied to such a display system.

The figure which shows the structure of the image display system which concerns on each embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the structure of control PC and client PC. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an image display system according to the first embodiment. The flowchart explaining the procedure of the process which each client PC100-400 performs. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a first support operation in the image display system according to the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a second support operation in the image display system according to the first embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining a support operation in the image display system according to the second embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining a support operation in the image display system according to the third embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Control PC, 20 ... Network, 100-400 ... Client PC, 102 ... Image data receiving part, 103 ... Memory | storage device, 104 ... Content display command receiving part, 105. .. Content display command analysis unit 106... Load status transmission / reception unit 107. ... Load status determination unit, 108 ... Image data transmission request control unit, 1
09 ... Image data acquisition unit, 111 ... Image data generation unit, A, B, C, D ... Display area, G1, G2, G3 ... Content, PJ1-PJ4 ... Projector, SC
R ... Screen

Claims (7)

An image display system,
A plurality of information processing devices that are provided corresponding to each display area of the plurality of display areas, and that perform display processing for displaying an image in a display area assigned to the display area,
The information processing apparatus includes:
A storage device for storing image data corresponding to each image to be displayed in each display area of the plurality of display areas;
A load status transmission / reception unit for transmitting / receiving the load status of the display process with other information processing devices;
A load status determination unit having a function of comparing the load status of the other information processing device received by the load status transmission / reception unit with the load status of itself;
An image data transmission / reception unit that transmits / receives image data corresponding to an image to be displayed in a predetermined display area of the plurality of display areas to / from another information processing apparatus;
A function of transmitting an image data transmission request for requesting at least a part of image data corresponding to an image to be displayed in the assigned display area to another information processing apparatus to an information processing apparatus having a smaller load than itself; When the image data transmission request is transmitted from another information processing apparatus, an instruction to transmit the image data based on the image data transmission request to the information processing apparatus that is the transmission source of the image data transmission request is the image data An image data transmission request control unit having a function to be given to the transmission / reception unit;
An image display system comprising: The image display system according to claim 1,
An image display system, wherein a plurality of types of images are assigned to each display area in each display area of the plurality of display areas. The image display system according to claim 1 or 2,
And a control information processing device configured to control the plurality of information processing devices, the control information processing device including information about an image to be displayed by each information processing device of the plurality of information processing devices. Sent to the processing device as an image display command,
Each information processing device of the plurality of information processing devices acquires image data corresponding to an image to be displayed by itself based on the image display command from its own storage device, and performs display processing based on the acquired image data. The image display system characterized by performing. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
When an image that is to be displayed by the information processing apparatus that is the transmission source of the image data transmission request and an image that is to be displayed by the information processing apparatus that has received the image data transmission request are included, The information processing apparatus that has transmitted the image data transmission request receives image data corresponding to the common image for display processing from the information processing apparatus that is the transmission destination of the image data transmission request. Image display system. The image display system according to claim 4,
The image data corresponding to the common image received from the information processing apparatus that is the transmission destination of the image data transmission request is image data that has been decoded by the information processing apparatus that is the transmission destination of the image data transmission request. Image display system. In the image display system according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
The comparison of the load situation is performed when the image to be displayed changes. An image display system having a plurality of information processing devices that are provided corresponding to each display area of the plurality of display areas and perform display processing for displaying an image in a display area assigned to the display area. An information processing apparatus used for
A storage device for storing image data corresponding to each image to be displayed in each display area of the plurality of display areas;
A load status transmission / reception unit for transmitting / receiving the load status of the display process with other information processing devices;
A load status determination unit having a function of comparing the load status of the other information processing device received by the load status transmission / reception unit with the load status of itself;
An image data transmission / reception unit that transmits / receives image data corresponding to an image to be displayed in a predetermined display area of the plurality of display areas to / from another information processing apparatus;
A function of transmitting an image data transmission request for requesting at least a part of image data corresponding to an image to be displayed in the assigned display area to another information processing apparatus to an information processing apparatus having a smaller load than itself; When the image data transmission request is transmitted from another information processing apparatus, an instruction to transmit the image data based on the image data transmission request to the information processing apparatus that is the transmission source of the image data transmission request is the image data An image data transmission request control unit having a function to be given to the transmission / reception unit;
An information processing apparatus comprising: