JP2011176739A - Communication system for radio communication terminal with imaging function - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a communication system for a radio communication terminal with an imaging function which allows a user to acquire desired image data even when the user himself/herself is located away from an imaging target. <P>SOLUTION: Image data are exchanged between a transmitting-side portable terminal operated by a user located closer to a subject and a receiving-side portable terminal operated by a user located away from the subject. The transmitting-side portable terminal is equipped with: a camera section; a probe packet processing section for generating a probe packet including an image acquired by the camera section; a streaming processing section for generating a streaming distribution packet for stream-distributing the image acquired by the camera section; and a transmitting section for transmitting the probe packet and the streaming distribution packet. When there is a reply to the probe packet from the receiving-side portable terminal, the transmitting-side portable terminal starts streaming distribution, and the receiving-side portable terminal receives and acquires image data included in the streaming distribution packet. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication system for a wireless communication terminal with an imaging function, a communication control method for a wireless communication terminal with an imaging function, and a portable terminal.

Many portable terminal devices such as mobile phones, PHS (Personal Handy phone System), PDA (Personal Data Assistance, Personal Digital Assistants) have a camera function.
There are many cases where a user who is away from an object to be photographed wants to photograph an object to be photographed far away in a place where there are many people.
In such a case, the user needs to raise the hand holding the terminal high so that an image is taken from the top of many people's heads, and to take a picture using the zoom function of the camera.
However, such a photographing method is tired and camera shake is likely to occur, so it is very difficult to obtain a good image.
Furthermore, the subject may be blocked by various obstacles such as a human head and the subject cannot be photographed in the first place.

Here, in recent years, short-range wireless communication functions such as infrared communication and Bluetooth (registered trademark) have been developed, and this can be used to obtain image data from another person who has acquired a good image. It is possible.
However, in this case, after shooting, it is necessary to ask others to establish communication with each other's terminals and send image data.
This kind of data exchange is very cumbersome, and it makes the other party troublesome and time consuming.

Here, Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-60948) discloses a configuration for sending image data to another device during imaging.
In the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, while the imaging device (first terminal) is imaging a subject, another device whose distance from the imaging device (first terminal) is within a certain range A destination information request for requesting transmission of destination information of another device (second terminal) is transmitted to the (second terminal). Then, another device (second terminal) transmits its destination information to the imaging device (first terminal) in response to the destination information request. Then, the imaging device transmits the captured image data to another device that has transmitted the destination information. Accordingly, a user of another device can acquire image data by receiving data transmission while another person is imaging with the imaging device.

JP 2008-60948A

In the situation assumed in Patent Document 1, only the imaging device (first terminal) performs photographing, and it has been determined that other users may send data from the first terminal.
Such a situation may occur, for example, when the user A takes a group photo of the users B, C, and D using the first terminal as shown in FIG.
In this case, the user B, the user C, and the user D may establish communication with the user A terminal.
Therefore, there is no doubt that their group photo can be obtained from the first terminal of user A if their own destination information is sent back in response to the destination request sent from user A.

  However, there are cases where a lot of people such as a venue or a hall are located far away from the stage, while some people are close to the stage and take good images. In such a case, even if the image data is obtained via the communication means, it is not known at all who is taking a good image and who should establish communication with the image.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a communication system for a radio communication terminal with an imaging function capable of acquiring desired image data even when there are many people and the user is located away from the imaging target, and Another object of the present invention is to provide a communication control method for a wireless communication terminal with an imaging function.

The communication system of the present invention includes:
A transmitting-side portable terminal operated by a user proximal to the subject; and a receiving-side portable terminal operated by a user distal to the subject; the transmitting-side portable terminal and the receiving-side portable terminal; A short-range wireless communication system,
The transmitting mobile terminal is
A camera unit for imaging a subject;
A probe packet processing unit that generates a probe packet including an image acquired by the camera unit;
A streaming processing unit for generating a streaming distribution packet for streaming the image acquired by the camera unit;
A transmitter for transmitting the probe packet and the streaming delivery packet,
When the receiving mobile terminal returns a probe packet,
The transmitting mobile terminal starts streaming distribution,
The receiving-side portable terminal receives and acquires image data included in the streaming delivery packet.

The control method of the communication system of the present invention includes:
A transmitting-side portable terminal operated by a user proximal to the subject; and a receiving-side portable terminal operated by a user distal to the subject; the transmitting-side portable terminal and the receiving-side portable terminal; A control method of a communication system for performing short-range wireless communication in
The transmitting portable terminal images a subject,
Generate and transmit a probe packet including an image acquired by the camera unit,
When the receiving mobile terminal returns the probe packet after receiving the probe packet,
The transmission-side mobile terminal generates and transmits a streaming distribution packet for streaming the image acquired by the camera unit,
The receiving-side portable terminal receives and acquires image data included in the streaming delivery packet.

The portable terminal of the present invention is
A camera unit for imaging a subject;
A probe packet processing unit that generates a probe packet including an image acquired by the camera unit;
A streaming processing unit for generating a streaming distribution packet for streaming the image acquired by the camera unit;
A transmitter for transmitting the probe packet and the streaming delivery packet,
Streaming distribution is started when a reply is made to the probe packet.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the usage status together with the overall configuration of the communication system according to the first embodiment. It is a functional block diagram of a portable terminal. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement procedure from starting of a camera function until selecting a specific process. It is a figure which shows an example of a selection screen. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement procedure of a transmission side process. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement procedure of a receiving side process. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of a display part. It is a figure for demonstrating background art.

Embodiments of the present invention will be illustrated and described with reference to reference numerals attached to respective elements in the drawings.
(First embodiment)
A first embodiment according to the present invention will be described.
FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the usage status of the communication system according to the present embodiment, along with the overall configuration thereof.
As shown in FIG. 1, A, B,... K are relatively close to the subject 10. On the other hand, Mr. S is far away from the subject 10 and cannot capture the subject 10 directly.
In this situation, it is assumed that Mr. S wants to acquire desired image data via Mr. A, Mr. B,.
Such a situation often occurs where many people such as parties gather.

Assume that Mr. A has a portable terminal 100A, Mr. B has a portable terminal 100B, Mr. K has a portable terminal 100K, and Mr. S has a portable terminal 100S.
These terminals 100A to 100S are basically terminals having the same function.

Here, Mr. A can acquire image data obtained by imaging the subject 10 from slightly above, Mr. B can acquire image data obtained by imaging the subject 10 from the front, and Mr. K can image the subject from slightly below. The acquired image data can be acquired.
For example, Mr. B wants image data obtained by imaging the subject 10 from the front.
In this case, Mr. S wants to acquire the image data captured by Mr. B's terminal 100B in his / her terminal 100S.

  In the above situation, the system configuration and operation of the present embodiment that enables Mr. S to obtain desired image data will be described in order.

(Constitution)
FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the mobile terminal.
Here, although described as the terminal 100, the terminals 100A to 100S are basically portable terminals having the same function.
The mobile terminal 100 includes a display unit 110 that displays various types of information such as images, a camera unit 120 that captures a subject, a transmission / reception unit 130 for performing wireless information communication, a data storage memory 140, and an input operation Operation unit 150 and a control unit 160 for controlling the overall operation.

The display unit 110 is, for example, a liquid crystal panel, an EL panel, or the like, and may have a touch pad function.
The camera unit 120 includes a camera lens (not shown) and image acquisition means (not shown) that acquires an image from the lens.
The image acquisition means is, for example, a photoelectric conversion element configured by a CCD (Charge Coupled Device), a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor), or the like.

The transmission / reception unit 130 wirelessly communicates data via an antenna. For example, Bluetooth (registered trademark), WLAN (wireless local area network)
The memory 140 is a storage unit that stores image data, for example.
The operation unit 150 is a keypad or a jog dial.
The operation unit 150 includes a shutter button for operating the camera function and a selection button for menu selection.

  The control unit 160 includes an image processing unit 161, a streaming processing unit 162, a probe packet processing unit 163, and a data exchange control unit 164.

  The image processing unit 161 processes image data. The image data is acquired via the camera unit 120. In the present embodiment, image data is also acquired via the transmission / reception unit 130. The acquired image data is sent to the image processing unit 161.

The image processing unit 161 performs predetermined editing processing (size adjustment, contrast adjustment) on the image data and supplies the image data to the display unit 110, the probe packet processing unit 163, or the streaming processing unit 162.
When the user operates the shutter button to instruct image capture, the image processing unit 161 captures image data and stores it in the memory 140.

The streaming processing unit 162 processes the streaming delivery packet.
Specifically, the streaming processing unit 162 captures the image data generated by the image processing unit 161, and generates a streaming distribution packet from the captured image data.
Alternatively, when the transmission / reception unit 130 receives streaming data, it sends the image data to the image processing unit 161.

  The probe packet processing unit 163 generates and analyzes a probe packet for performing communication partner search. A detailed configuration of the probe packet will be described later.

  The data exchange control unit 164 controls the operations of the streaming processing unit 162 and the probe packet processing unit 163. The control operation by the data exchange control unit 164 will be described later with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.

(Operation)
An operation of the mobile terminal having such a configuration will be described.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure from activation of the camera function to selection of a specific process.
First, the operation of the mobile terminal that transmits image data will be described.
Since users A, B, and K are in positions where they can directly photograph the subject, they activate the camera function to capture the subject with their mobile terminals 100A, 100B, and 100K (ST100).
Then, image data is acquired via the camera unit 120, and the image data is sequentially processed and displayed on the display unit 110 as a preview image (ST110).

When the preview image is displayed, the data exchange control unit 164 displays a selection screen as to whether to share the image data with other portable terminals (ST120).
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the selection screen.
Here, since it is the case of the mobile terminal on the transmission side, the users A, B, and K instruct the disclosure of the image data (ST120: YES). Then, data exchange control section 164 starts transmission side processing (ST121).

(Sender processing)
Next, the transmission side process will be described with reference to FIG.
As a transmission side process, first, a probe packet is generated by the probe packet processing unit 163 (ST130).
The probe packet includes preview image data captured at a predetermined timing.
Here, the preview image displayed on the display unit 110 is close to a moving image that changes from moment to moment, but as the information included in the probe packet, it is only necessary to indicate what kind of image the mobile terminal can acquire. .
Therefore, still image data obtained by capturing a preview image at a predetermined timing is embedded in the probe packet.
This still image is referred to as a preview still image.
The preview still image may be compressed so as to reduce the data amount.
Furthermore, the probe packet includes information for specifying the sender (that is, the sender's mobile terminal).

  The probe packet generated in this way is transmitted from the transmission / reception unit 130 (ST131).

After transmitting the probe packet, the data exchange control unit 164 monitors whether or not there is a reply to the probe packet for a predetermined time (ST132).
If there is a reply (ST132: YES), the data exchange control unit 164 causes the streaming processing unit 162 to start streaming processing (ST133).

In starting the streaming process (ST133), the data exchange control unit 164 activates the streaming processing unit 162 (ST134). Then, the streaming processing unit 162 starts capturing a preview image (ST135). That is, the preview images sequentially generated by the image processing unit 161 are taken in order. Then, a streaming packet for streaming transmission of the image data is generated (ST136).
The streaming processing unit 162 sends the streaming packet generated in this way to the transmitting / receiving unit 130. Then, the streaming packet is transmitted from the transmission / reception unit 130 (ST137).

  Note that the time for one streaming transmission may be determined in advance (for example, several seconds to several tens of seconds), and the streaming transmission may be terminated by the user performing a stop operation (ST138).

(Receiver processing)
Next, the processing operation of the mobile terminal that receives image data will be described.
Since user S cannot take an image of the subject, he / she considers acquiring image data from someone among A, B, and K.
User S also activates the camera function (ST100). Then, a screen for selecting whether to publish the image is displayed following the display of the preview image (ST110) (ST120), so that Mr. S on the receiving side selects not to publish the image (unpublished) ( ST120: NO).

When the image is not disclosed (ST120: NO), a selection screen for determining whether to receive the image data is displayed (ST122).
User S instructs reception of image data (ST122: YES). Then, the data exchange control unit 164 starts reception side processing (ST123).

The reception side process will be described with reference to FIG.
As processing on the receiving side, first, a probe packet is received (ST200). Here, the probe packet is transmitted from Mr. A, Mr. B, and Mr. K. Therefore, Mr. S's mobile terminal 100S receives a plurality of probe packets.

The received probe packet information is decoded by the probe packet processing unit 163 and displayed on the display unit 110 (ST210).
FIG. 7 shows a display example of the display unit 110 at this time.
As shown in FIG. 7, the display unit 110 displays a preview still image included in the probe packet and its sender.

Subsequently, the user S operates a button or the like to select a sender (that is, the portable terminal of the sender) that transmits the image data desired by the user S (ST220).
When receiving the selection instruction (ST220: YES), the data exchange control unit 164 analyzes the probe packet of the selected sender and identifies the sender. Then, a reply is made to the identified sender (that is, the sender's portable terminal) (ST230).

When a reply is made (ST230), the mobile terminal that has received the reply starts streaming processing, and thus receives the streaming delivered in this way (ST240).
The received streaming data is subjected to predetermined processing by the streaming processing unit 162 and the image processing unit 161, and then displayed on the display unit 110 (ST250).

User S looks at the image displayed on display unit 110 and performs a shutter operation at a timing when he / she thinks it is okay (ST260). Then, the image processing unit 161 captures the image data displayed at that timing and stores it in the memory 140 (ST270). Note that the image data to be captured may be a still image or a moving image.
In this way, Mr. S obtains desired image data even if he is away from the subject.

If you want to acquire not only the data of the subject imaged from the front, but also the images captured by Mr. A and Mr. K, Mr. S returns to probe packet reception (ST200) and returns to Mr. A. Select Mr. K's image.
In this way, Mr. S obtains images obtained by capturing the subject from various viewpoints even when he is away from the subject.

When the image is not disclosed (ST120: NO) and no image is received (ST122: NO), normal camera shooting operation is performed (ST124).
If the shutter button is operated at an arbitrary timing during the transmission side processing (ST121), the image processing unit 161 captures the image data at that timing and stores it in the memory 140. As a result, normal camera operation is possible even when transmission-side processing is performed.

According to the first embodiment as described above, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) A desired image can be obtained by receiving image data taken by a user (Mr. A, B, K) close to the shooting target 10 even if the user is away from the shooting target 10.
Since desired image data can be acquired even in such a remote place, there is no need to reach out from behind a crowd of people, and there is no need to endure with unsatisfied images caused by camera shake etc. .

(2) The image data receiving side can select a desired image by looking at a preview still image included in the probe packet in advance.

(3) In this embodiment, streaming distribution is performed by packet-switched communication. Therefore, the line is not occupied and an unspecified number can be communicated with the other party.
Furthermore, since ad hoc communication is performed, there is no need to prepare a Web server, a slave server, or a separate communication path, which is convenient.

(4) The transmitting side mobile terminal starts streaming only when a response to the probe packet is received from the receiving side mobile terminal.
Since streaming is performed in response to the request in this way, it is possible to prevent the stream from being transmitted unnecessarily until there is no other party.
Therefore, power consumption can be suppressed.
Further, when a reply to the probe packet is received from the receiving-side mobile terminal, stream delivery is performed instead of data exchange specifying the receiving party.
Therefore, it is not necessary to establish a communication connection with the receiving side, and image data can be exchanged by simple transmission / reception.

(Modification 1)
In the first embodiment, the case where the probe packet includes the preview still image and the sender information thereof is exemplified.
A tag indicating other information may be attached to the probe packet.
Examples of the information included in the tag include scene information, date information, position information, and the like indicating what is currently being shot.

(Modification 2)
As an image processing function of the receiving-side mobile terminal, a function of creating 3D video by combining image data obtained by capturing the same subject from a plurality of viewpoints may be provided.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be changed as appropriate without departing from the spirit of the present invention.
The mobile terminal is not particularly limited, and is a mobile phone, PHS (Personal Handy phone System), PDA (Personal Data Assistance, Personal Digital Assistants), digital camera, mobile with camera function Any portable terminal having a camera function and a communication function, such as a notebook computer or a portable game with a camera, may be used.

10 ... shooting target, 100A, 100B, 100K, 100S ... mobile terminal, 110 ... display unit, 120 ... camera unit, 130 ... transmission / reception unit, 140 ... memory, 150 ... operation unit, 160 ... control unit, 161 ... image processing unit , 162... Streaming processing unit, 163... Probe packet processing unit, 164.

Claims (5)

A transmitting-side portable terminal operated by a user proximal to the subject; and a receiving-side portable terminal operated by a user distal to the subject; the transmitting-side portable terminal and the receiving-side portable terminal; A short-range wireless communication system,
The transmitting mobile terminal is
A camera unit for imaging a subject;
A probe packet processing unit that generates a probe packet including an image acquired by the camera unit;
A streaming processing unit for generating a streaming distribution packet for streaming the image acquired by the camera unit;
A transmitter for transmitting the probe packet and the streaming delivery packet,
When the receiving mobile terminal returns a probe packet,
The transmitting mobile terminal starts streaming distribution,
The communication system, wherein the receiving-side portable terminal receives and acquires image data included in the streaming delivery packet. In the communication system according to claim 1,
The probe packet includes a still image for preview and sender specifying information for specifying a transmitting-side mobile terminal,
When the receiving portable terminal receives the probe packet from a plurality of transmitting portable terminals, the receiving portable terminal selects one or a plurality of opponents and returns the selected packet to the probe packet. In the communication system according to claim 2,
The receiving mobile device
A display unit for displaying an image included in the received probe packet;
An operation unit that provides a selection operation to the user,
When the probe packet is received from a plurality of transmission-side portable terminals, an image of the probe packet is displayed on the display unit, and a selection display for selecting one or a plurality of opponents is provided to the user. Communications system. A transmitting-side portable terminal operated by a user proximal to the subject; and a receiving-side portable terminal operated by a user distal to the subject; the transmitting-side portable terminal and the receiving-side portable terminal; A control method of a communication system for performing short-range wireless communication in
The transmitting portable terminal images a subject,
Generate and transmit a probe packet including an image acquired by the camera unit,
When the receiving mobile terminal returns the probe packet after receiving the probe packet,
The transmission-side mobile terminal generates and transmits a streaming distribution packet for streaming the image acquired by the camera unit,
The method of controlling a communication system, wherein the receiving-side mobile terminal receives and acquires image data included in the streaming delivery packet. A camera unit for imaging a subject;
A probe packet processing unit that generates a probe packet including an image acquired by the camera unit;
A streaming processing unit for generating a streaming distribution packet for streaming the image acquired by the camera unit;
A transmitter for transmitting the probe packet and the streaming delivery packet,
Streaming distribution is started when there is a reply to the probe packet.

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