JP2011033850A - Image browsing device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To display an image in various aspects adapted to a display size or resolution of a display device. <P>SOLUTION: When a browsing program is started, a use layer setting unit 201 sets a page layer and an anchor layer to be used. A subsequent point specifying unit 202 specifies a subsequent point. An image restoring unit 203 restores a view image determined by anchor coordinates of the subsequent point from the image data of the set page layer. An image display drive unit 204 displays the restored image data in a display unit 14. When an input unit 13 instructs to move a point, an image is displayed in a view of the subsequent point. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image browsing technique.

  Browsing an image, for example, a manga image, using an electronic device has come to be performed. Image data (content) for browsing images can be obtained via a network or via a portable recording medium (also referred to as a memory card), such as a television receiver, a personal computer, a cellular phone, and a portable game. It can be viewed with electronic equipment such as a machine. By the way, there are various sizes and resolutions of the display screen of such an electronic device for browsing, and browsing is extremely difficult unless the image matches such characteristics. For example, if an image displayed on a television receiver having a large screen size is viewed as it is on the screen of a mobile phone, details cannot be recognized.

  Note that there is Patent Document 1 as a prior art related to the present invention. In this prior art, when viewing a comic image with an electronic device having a small screen such as a portable game machine, the partial image is forwarded based on the order information, and if the partial image is relatively large, scrolling is performed. It can be processed.

  The above-described prior art and its problems are described only to explain a part of the background of the present invention. It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described prior art and problems.

JP 2005-202062 A

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image browsing technique that displays an image in various modes in accordance with the display size and resolution of a display device.

  According to this invention, in order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the configuration as described in the claims is adopted. Here, prior to describing the invention in detail, supplementary explanations of the claims will be given.

  That is, according to one aspect of the present invention, in order to achieve the above-described object, the image browsing apparatus includes: one or a plurality of image data units and a plurality of transition sequences of image area extraction reference coordinates for each page. Storage means for storing; an image frame extraction reference coordinate is sequentially determined based on a transition sequence of one designated image region extraction reference coordinate, and an extraction frame defined by the sequentially determined image region extraction reference coordinate A restoring means for sequentially restoring the images included in one or more image code data units; and a display means for displaying at least a part of the images restored by the restoring means. ing.

  In this configuration, an appropriate image display can be performed by selecting a transition sequence of image region extraction reference coordinates according to the size of a display screen of an electronic device constituting the browsing device.

  The image browsing device can be realized by an electronic device such as a mobile phone, a portable game machine, a television receiver, a personal computer, and a digital camera, but is not limited thereto.

  A transition sequence of image region extraction reference coordinates (hereinafter also referred to as an anchor layer) normally includes a plurality of transition destination coordinates, but may include only a single coordinate and the number of transitions may be zero. The direction of transition is arbitrary, and may be up and down, left and right along the screen, or may be diagonal. You may make a transition from below to above.

  An image data unit (hereinafter also referred to as a page layer) may be configured as an individual image data unit of an image element, for example, a balloon part of a manga (serif, pseudonym, etc.) or other part.

  In this configuration, there may be a plurality of image data units per page. Image data can be omitted from the page where there is no image. The image data unit includes one or more image data. The image data is typically code data such as JPEG, but may be uncompressed data that has not been encoded.

  In this case, at least a part of the plurality of image data units respectively correspond to a plurality of image area extraction coordinates determined by one of the transition series, and an extraction frame defined by the plurality of image area extraction coordinates. Images including at least the included partial images may be sequentially restored from the image data included in the corresponding image data units.

  The image code data unit may include a plurality of image data.

  In this case, at least a part of the plurality of image data included in the image data unit respectively corresponds to the plurality of image region extraction coordinates determined by one of the transition series, and is defined by the plurality of image region extraction coordinates. Images including at least the partial image included in the extraction frame may be sequentially restored from the corresponding image data.

  The present invention can be realized not only as an apparatus or a system but also as a method. Of course, a part of the invention can be configured as software. Of course, software products used for causing a computer to execute such software are also included in the technical scope of the present invention. Here, the computer includes various electronic devices realized including a CPU, a memory, an input / output device, and the like.

  These and other aspects of the invention are set forth in the appended claims and will be described in detail below with reference to examples.

  According to the present invention, an appropriate image display can be performed by selecting a transition sequence of image region extraction reference coordinates in accordance with the size of a display screen of an electronic device constituting the browsing device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is a figure which shows the image browsing system which consists of an electronic device and memory card of the Example of this invention as a whole. It is a figure explaining the modification of the above-mentioned Example. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a mobile phone as an example of the electronic apparatus of FIG. 1. It is a block diagram explaining the structural example of the functional block of the said Example. It is a flowchart explaining operation | movement of the above-mentioned functional block. It is a figure explaining the data structure of image data. It is a figure explaining the data structure of the page description data contained in image data. It is a figure explaining the data structure of the anchor description data contained in image data. It is a figure explaining the layer of page description data. It is a figure explaining the anchor of anchor description data. It is a figure explaining the usage example of page description data and anchor description data.

  Examples of the present invention will be described below.

  FIG. 1 shows an image browsing system 1000 of this embodiment as a whole. In this figure, an electronic device 100 includes a memory card interface 100A, and a memory card 200 is detachably attached to the memory card interface 100A. . The electronic device 100 is typically a mobile phone 110 as shown in FIG. 3, but is not limited to this. Various information terminals such as a personal computer, home appliances such as a television receiver, a digital camera, a mobile phone It may be a type game machine or the like. The memory card 200 is typically an SD memory card (trademark), but is not limited thereto, and may be any form of removable auxiliary storage device including a flash memory or a hard disk. The memory card 200 holds image data (hereinafter also referred to as content) for displaying an image to be browsed. The image to be browsed is typically a comic image, but is not limited to this, and may be an image including various texts, figures, and photographic images. As described above, the electronic device 100 includes a mobile phone, a personal computer, a portable game machine, a video game machine, an electronic dictionary, a portable information device, an electronic camera, a digital photo frame, a television receiver, In addition, the electronic device includes a display unit and can realize a browsing function.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the electronic device 100 may include a communication interface 100 </ b> B and acquire image data from the image server computer 400 via the communication network 300. The image data acquired from the image server 400 may be held in the memory card 200 or in an internal storage unit.

  3 shows a mobile phone 110 as an example of the electronic device 100 (FIG. 1) as a whole. In FIG. 3, the mobile phone 110 includes an input unit including a CPU 10, a RAM 11, a ROM 12, a memory card interface 100A, and a keyboard. 13, a display unit 14 including a liquid crystal panel, an audio processing unit 15, a data processing unit 16, a wireless transmission / reception unit 17 including an antenna, a microphone / speaker 18, a bus system 19, and the like.

  The microphone / speaker 18, the audio processing unit 15, and the wireless transmission / reception unit 17 realize a call. The data processing unit 16 performs ancillary data processing accompanying various processing such as browser and mail processing. Using the keyboard of the input unit 13 or the like, a telephone number or text is input, a point movement instruction, a page feed instruction, a browsing end instruction, a browsing start instruction, or other instructions are input. These inputs may be performed using the display unit 14 with a touch panel function. The liquid crystal panel of the display unit 14 displays text, images, and the like. The CPU 10 executes a system program such as an operating system, a middleware program, and an application program together with the RAM (main memory) 11. An application program (sometimes called an application) 20 accesses the memory card 200 using the file system 21 as indicated by a broken line. The ROM 12 is typically a flash memory, and stores a boot program, an operating system, a middleware program, an application program, and other various data. The middleware program, application program, and other various data may be stored in the memory card 200. The file system 21 may be arbitrary, and is typically FAT 16 or FAT 32, and the memory card 200 includes a structure corresponding thereto. Typically, the application program 20 of the memory card 200 and the application program such as the ROM 12 implement an image browsing computer program.

  In this example, the image data (content) to be browsed is held in the memory card 200. The image data is not limited to this, but has a data structure shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 6, the content is composed of one or a plurality of episodes, the episode is composed of one or a plurality of pages, and the page is composed of one or a plurality of page description data and anchor description data. The content is, for example, data summarized by “title” of one manga, and the episode is data summarized by “story” in one manga. The page description data is data constituting an image of one page, and the anchor description data is data describing the movement of the reference point of the extraction frame area (also referred to as a view). A partial image corresponding to the moving extraction frame is displayed on the display unit 14. As will be described later, when a large-sized display unit such as a personal computer or a television receiver is used, it is only necessary to display the entire image of one page at a time, so there is no need to move the point. Only one point is required.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 7, the page description data holds corresponding data under each tag. “MAGIC” is a unique byte pattern indicating page description data. “TAG_PAGE_LAYER_COUNT” describes the total number of page layers included in the page description data. “TAG_LAYER_INFORMATION” is repeated for this total number. “TAG_LAYER_INFORMATION” describes the page layer included in the page description data, and includes “LAYER_ATTR”, “LAYER_SIZE”, “LAYER_POSITION”, “NUMBER_OF_IMAGE”, and “TAG_IMAGE”, respectively. “LAYER_ATTR” indicates an attribute of the page layer, and the attribute can be variously selected according to the purpose. “LAYER_SIZE” indicates the size (width and height) of the rectangle of the page layer, “LAYER_POSITION” indicates the layout coordinates of the rectangle of the page layer. "Indicates the number of images included in the page layer, and" TAG_IMAGE "describes details of the images included in the page layer. “TAG_IMAGE” is repeated by the number of images.

  “TAG_IMAGE” includes “IMAGE_SIZE”, “IMAGE_POSITION”, “IMAGE_FORMAT”, “IMAGE_DATA_LENGTH”, and “IMAGE_DATA”. “IMAGE_SIZE” indicates the size (width and height) of the image rectangle, “IMAGE_POSITION” indicates the arrangement coordinates of the image rectangle, for example, the coordinates of one point of a predetermined corner of the rectangle, and “IMAGE_FORMAT” indicates the image “IMAGE_DATA_LENGTH” indicates the data length of the image. “IMAGE_DATA” is an image data body of a predetermined format.

  The page layer can be used in various ways. For example, as shown in FIG. 9A, a page layer may be assigned for each element type constituting a manga. Specifically, the main body of the image (the part excluding the balloon) and the balloon part may be assigned to different layers PL1 and PL2. Further, the speech balloons may be assigned to individual layers according to the language type. When restoring the image, the image of the page layer PL2 is superimposed on the image (decoded image) of the page layer PL1, and the final image is assembled.

  In addition, the background and the foreground may be assigned to different page layers, or a plurality of page layers may be assigned between the background and the foreground. Each layer can be given attributes such as transparency, translucency, and opaqueness. The final image is assembled by overlaying images from multiple page layers.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 9B, the entire image may be divided by an arbitrary number of page layers PL1 to PLN. In this way, partial images may be shared by layers.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 9C, a plurality of partial images IMG may be included in one or a plurality of page layers PL. In this figure, the solid line indicates the page layer PL, and the broken line indicates the partial image IMG therein. As shown in FIGS. 9B and 9C, it is possible to reduce the amount of processing performed at one time by reducing the size of the image. In addition, when there is an area where an image is unnecessary or there are repetitions, a partial image or the like can be omitted.

  FIG. 8 shows a configuration example of anchor description data. In this figure, the anchor description data includes “MAGIC”, “ANCOR_LAYER_COUNT”, and “LAYER”. “MAGIC” is a unique byte pattern indicating that this data is anchor description data. “ANCOR_LAYER_COUNT” indicates the total number of anchor layers included in the anchor description data, and “LAYER” describes details of the anchor layer, and is repeated by the number of anchor layers. “LAYER” includes “LAYER_ATTR”, “LAYER_SIZE”, “LAYER_POSITION”, “NUMBER_OF_ANCORS”, and “ANCOH_DATA”. “LAYER_ATTR” indicates an attribute of the anchor layer, and the attribute can be variously selected according to the purpose. “LAYER_SIZE” indicates the size (width and height) of the anchor layer rectangle, and “LAYER_POSITION” indicates the arrangement coordinates of the rectangle of the anchor layer. For example, the coordinates of a predetermined point of the rectangle are indicated. "Indicates the number of anchors included in the anchor layer, and" ANCHOR_DATA "indicates the arrangement coordinates of the anchors included in the anchor layer, and is repeated by the number of anchors.

  The anchor description data defines the movement of the reference point of the image extraction frame (view). For example, it is assumed that there are three anchor layers as shown in FIGS. 10A, 10B, and 10C, and that one, two, and nine anchors are included as indicated by the crosses, respectively. . In the example shown in FIG. 10A, there is one anchor a1 in the upper left, and an image corresponding to the rectangular view indicated by the alternate long and short dash line is restored. When the rectangular area indicated by the alternate long and short dash line is the entire image, the entire image is displayed on the display unit 14. When the size of the entire image is larger than the size of the display unit 14, the image is displayed in a reduced size or only a part thereof is displayed, which is difficult to see. This example is suitable for an electronic device having a large screen size, for example, a stationary television receiver having a large screen size, and is not suitable for a mobile phone having a small screen size.

  In the example shown in FIG. 10B, there are two anchors b1 and b2, and the views v1 and v2 indicated by the alternate long and short dash lines are shifted and displayed sequentially. In the example shown in FIG. 10C, there are nine anchors c1 to c9, and views v1, v2,... V9 are sequentially displayed as indicated by arrows. FIG. 10B is suitable for an electronic device having a medium screen size, and FIG. 10C is considered suitable for an electronic device having a small screen size, for example, a mobile phone. Since point movement is defined by the order of anchors, the direction of point movement can be set in any direction according to the order of anchors.

  FIG. 11 shows an example of a combination of a page layer and an anchor layer, but the combination is not limited to this. In the example of FIG. 11A, one page layer has one image data, and this is point-moved by an anchor layer having six anchors (center). Alternatively, it is fixedly displayed by an anchor layer having only one anchor (right side). The broken line indicates the arrangement of the image data in the page. A dashed-dotted frame indicates a view corresponding to the anchor. When an anchor layer having six anchors (views) is set, corresponding view images are sequentially restored from one image data of one page layer. When decoding cannot be performed directly from the code data portion (in the middle) and the entire data must be decoded from the beginning, it is preferable that the entire data is once decoded, buffered, and reused. If an anchor layer having only one anchor (view) is set, the whole is restored and displayed as it is. When overlapping page layer images as shown in FIG. 9A, similar processing may be applied to the images to be superimposed.

  In FIG. 11B, one page layer has a plurality of partial images, and an anchor layer having a plurality of anchors corresponding thereto is used. In this case, only the partial image corresponding to the anchor (view) can be decoded to restore the image, and the processing amount can be reduced. If no image is included in the predetermined view, the partial image may be omitted.

  In FIG. 11C, each of a plurality of page layers has partial images, and an anchor layer having a plurality of anchors corresponding to these partial images is used. Since partial images are assigned to individual page layers, various attributes can be assigned to each partial image.

  FIG. 4 shows functions of the image browsing system 1000 mainly realized by an application program as functional blocks. In this figure, the image browsing system 1000 includes a use layer setting unit 201, a next point specifying unit 202, an image The restoration unit 203, the image display drive unit 204, and the like are included.

  FIG. 5 illustrates the operation of each functional block in FIG. This operation is as follows.

[Step S10]: When the browsing program is activated, the usage layer setting unit 201 sets the usage layer. Usage layers include page layers and anchor layers. The usage layer may be set according to the user's designation, or may be automatically set according to the type of electronic device and identification information. Even in the case of the same electronic device, the usage layer may be automatically set according to the usage mode. For example, in a mobile phone, different usage layers may be automatically set depending on whether the screen is viewed in landscape orientation or in portrait orientation.
[Step S11]: The next point specifying unit 202 specifies the next point. Immediately after starting the viewing program, the coordinate of the first anchor of the setting anchor layer on the first page becomes the next point, and when page feed is performed, the first anchor of the setting anchor layer on the next page is When the next point is instructed to move, the coordinates of the anchor in the next order of the set anchor layer on the current page become the next point.
[Step S12]: The image restoration unit 203 restores the view image determined by the anchor coordinates of the next point from the image data of the setting page layer.
[Step S13]: The image display driving unit 204 displays the restored image data on the display unit 14.
[Step S14]: If there is a point movement instruction from the input unit 13 by operating the display surface or key of the electronic device, the process returns to step S11, and the process is repeated. Otherwise, the process proceeds to step S15.
[Step S15]: If there is a page feed instruction from the input unit 13 by operating the display surface or key of the electronic device, the process returns to step S11, and the process is repeated. Otherwise, the process proceeds to step S16.
[Step S16]: If there is a browsing end instruction from the input unit 13 by operating the display surface or key of the electronic device, the process ends. If not, the process returns to step S14 to repeat the process.

  This is the end of the description of the embodiment.

  In addition, this invention is determined based on description of a claim, and is not limited to the specific structure of the Example, a subject, and an effect. The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. In the above embodiment, a mobile phone has been described as an example, but a personal computer, a portable game machine, a video game machine, an electronic dictionary, a portable information device, an electronic camera, a digital photo frame, a television receiver, and other electronic devices. The present invention can be similarly applied to a device, and a display according to the characteristics and usage of the electronic device can be employed. The page layer, the image data in it, and the anchor layer are specified by ordinal number (order) in the repeated arrangement, but may be specified by using an identifier. As the identifier, information such as an attribute may be used.

Further, encryption / non-encryption determination may be performed on the page layer based on the attribute value. For example, it is determined as follows as a predetermined constant (hexadecimal number).
Television receiver: 0x01
Mobile phone: 0x02
Encryption: 0x80
Non-encrypted: 0x00
The exclusive OR of the value of the device and the value of encryption is taken and the following cases are dealt with. Depending on the attribute value of the page layer:
(1) Case 1: Television receiver (non-encrypted)
Attribute value = 0x01
For TV, no encryption, decrypts and displays as it is.
(2) Case 2: Television receiver (encryption)
Attribute value = 0x81
For TV, with encryption, decrypted and displayed back to plain text.
(3) Case 3: Mobile phone (non-encrypted)
Attribute value = 0x02
It is for mobile phones and has no encryption. Decrypt it as it is and display it.
(4) Case 4: Mobile phone (encryption)
Attribute value = 0x82
It is for mobile phones, with encryption, decrypted and displayed back to plain text.
In the case of encryption, whether or not the decryption (plain culture) of the encryption can be executed depends on the usage permission status of the content. Decryption can be performed only when the decryption key is acquired, for example, by purchasing the content or making a use contract. Without encryption, so-called free content and sample content can be handled and used by all users regardless of purchase or contract.
Although not limited to this, such image data is used as follows, for example. That is, when the user has a key, the page layer of 0x81 (television receiver) or 0x82 (mobile phone) is automatically obtained and decrypted and displayed. When the user does not have the key, 0x01 or 0x02 The page layer automatically displays free content, sample data, etc. corresponding to the encrypted content.

13 Input unit 14 Display unit 100 Electronic device 110 Mobile phone 200 Memory card 201 Use layer setting unit 202 Next point specifying unit 203 Image restoration unit 204 Image display drive unit

Claims (6)

Storage means for storing one or more image data units and a plurality of transition sequences of image area extraction reference coordinates for each page;
Based on the transition sequence of the designated one image area extraction reference coordinate, the image area extraction reference coordinate is sequentially determined, and the image included in the extraction frame defined by the sequentially determined image area extraction reference coordinate is Restoring means for sequentially restoring image data included in one or a plurality of image code data units;
An image browsing apparatus comprising: display means for displaying at least a part of the image restored by the restoration means.   The image browsing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein there are a plurality of image data units per page.   The image browsing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image data unit includes a plurality of image data.   A portion in which at least some of the plurality of image data units respectively correspond to a plurality of image region extraction coordinates determined by one of the transition series and are included in an extraction frame defined by the plurality of image region extraction coordinates The image browsing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein an image including at least an image is sequentially restored from image data included in each corresponding image data unit.   Extraction defined by the plurality of image area extraction coordinates, wherein at least a part of the plurality of image data included in the image data unit respectively corresponds to the plurality of image area extraction coordinates determined by one of the transition series. The image browsing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein an image including at least the partial image included in the frame is sequentially restored from the corresponding image data. Computer
Storage means for storing one or more image data units and a plurality of transition sequences of image area extraction reference coordinates for each page;
Based on the transition sequence of the designated one image area extraction reference coordinate, the image area extraction reference coordinate is sequentially determined, and the image included in the extraction frame defined by the sequentially determined image area extraction reference coordinate is Restoration means for sequentially restoring image data included in one or a plurality of image code data units;
An image browsing computer program that functions as display means for displaying at least a part of an image restored by the restoration means.