JP2011186492A - Display control unit and program for display control processing - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To set non-interactive image information, such as map information present on the Internet, as interactive image information. <P>SOLUTION: A communication part 8 stores to a RAM 4 color map information where image compression processing input by a Web server via a network is performed. A CPU 1 calculates a color distance between color information about the map image to be searched for that is contained in the color map information stored to the RAM 4 and color information about a plurality of reference images to be referred to for searching for a transportation phenomenon, determines whether or not the calculated color distance satisfies a condition that a color distance is equal to or lower than the threshold TH 1 and, when it is determined that the condition is satisfied, the CPU performs image processing so that an area of the map image corresponding to a reference image determined to satisfy the condition is displayed in relief, and output to a display part 7. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a display control device, a display control processing program, and an image communication system, and more particularly to a display control device that converts color image information into monochrome image information for display, a display control processing program, and image communication. It is about the system.

Several proposals have been made for a map information display program, a navigation device, and the like that receive road traffic information and other map information from a Web server.
For example, in a proposal of a certain map information display program, an indicated map is displayed on the screen of a client terminal in order to display a map acquired via the Web and a facility list related to a facility on the map in conjunction with each other. A step of acquiring map information of a range, a step of acquiring spot information associated with a spot of the map range, a map image in which symbol marks related to spot information are superimposed, a list of items related to spot information, and A step of displaying a symbol mark and an item when either one symbol mark on the map image or one item in the list is selected and one of them corresponds to the other And execute. (See Patent Document 1)

  In addition, in a proposed navigation device and congestion section display method, it is possible to display a destination for guidance in order to display other traffic event occurrence sections such as congestion on a route for performing route guidance without complicating map display. A guide route setting means for setting a guide route, a guide image generating means for generating a guide image including map information and a route graphic representing the guide route represented on the map information, and the generated guide image Display means for displaying road traffic information, road traffic information receiving means for receiving road traffic information including information on road traffic events and information on sections or points where the road traffic events occur, and storing the received road traffic information Information storage means and a section calculator that extracts a section or a point on the guidance route where the road traffic event represented by the stored road traffic information is generated as an identification display target The guide image generating means generates a guide image so that a portion corresponding to a section or a point extracted as an identification display target of the route graphic is displayed with a display attribute distinguishable from other portions. To do. (See Patent Document 2)

  Further, in a proposed navigation device, road map storage means for storing road map data relating to a road map, vehicle position detection means for detecting the current location of the vehicle, departure location setting means for setting the departure location of the vehicle, Destination setting means for setting the destination of the vehicle, recommended route setting means for setting a recommended route from the departure point to the destination based on the road map data, and a road map including the recommended route around the current location are displayed on the display Display control means, and according to the traffic information received by the road traffic information receiving means for receiving road traffic information including traffic jam information, the display control means displays a display form of the recommended route displayed on the display. change. (See Patent Document 3)

JP 2003-107990 A JP 2003-194568 A JP 11-325947 A

  When road traffic information or other map information is received from a Web server and used, the color of the reference image is the same as the color of the reference image by referring to a reference image that represents a phenomenon such as congestion, congestion, or traffic closure Is identified on the map. For this purpose, it is necessary that the color of the reference image representing phenomena such as traffic jam, congestion, and closed traffic and the color on the map representing each phenomenon uniquely correspond. In the proposals in Patent Document 1 to Patent Document 3, the correspondence between the color of the reference image and the color of the image on the map is not mentioned. It does not uniquely correspond to color. Image information received from the traffic information center or other organizations is color compared to luminance information for encoding processing such as JPEG, which is a color still image compression method, and GIF, which has been widely used on the Web in recent years. Information is running low. In particular, when encoding is performed at a high compression rate as in the discrete cosine transform (DCT) method in JPEG, color information is further reduced by quantization after color information has been reduced, so that color components are missing. As it becomes larger, color blur occurs.

For example, in the image information of a certain home page that provides road traffic information, the reference image is a GIF image, and the map image is a JPEG image with a very high compression rate. The color information is represented by (R, G, B) by components of three primary colors of red, green, and blue. Therefore, in the case of 8-bit color information of 256 gradations, the original green color is (0, 255, 0) and the original orange color is (255, 127, 0). However, in the map information of this home page, the orange color of the reference image representing the traffic jam is (255, 204, 51), and the green color of the other regulations is (153, 204, 0). Since this reference image is a GIF image, no color blur has occurred. On the other hand, in the map image, the orange color indicating the traffic jam area is (197, 173, 23), and color blur is also generated. Table 1 shows data comparing the traffic jam (orange) and other (green) in the reference image with the traffic jam area (orange) in the map image using the three primary color components (R, G, B). As is clear from this data, the traffic jam area of the reference image is orange, but the orange color of the traffic jam area of the map image is close to green and color blurring occurs. It is difficult to distinguish the regulation from green.

  In particular, in a communication terminal device such as a personal digital assistant (PDA) that cannot display 256 tone color information and has only a 256 tone or 16 tone monochrome image display function, 256 tone color information is displayed. Needs to be converted to monochrome information. However, in general, a homepage that provides road traffic information is simply a collection of images, and is not particularly interactive map information, so when displayed as a monochrome image, the corresponding part between the reference image and the map image It becomes difficult to recognize.

  Furthermore, since the color of the map image of the road traffic information received from the Web server on the Internet is complex, different colors cannot be identified in the case of similar colors with low human visual tolerance.

  Furthermore, although the road traffic information received from the Web server on the Internet is extremely public, information exchange regarding the effective use of the image information is performed between users who use the image information of the road traffic information. Since it is not known, the utilization of information resources is low.

The present invention is to solve such a conventional problem, and an object thereof is to enable setting of non-interactive image information such as map information existing on the Internet as interactive image information.
In addition, the present invention performs processing that can accurately identify the area of the map image corresponding to the color of the selected reference image even if the image information such as map information existing on the Internet has a complex color. For the purpose.
Another object of the present invention is to enable information exchange between users who use image information such as road traffic information existing on the Internet, and to improve the utilization of information resources.

  Storage means for storing color image information input from the outside via the network according to claim 1 (corresponding to the RAM 4 in FIG. 1 in the embodiment), and color image information stored in the storage means The color information of the search image (in the embodiment, corresponding to the map image 11 in FIG. 2) included in the search information and a plurality of reference images to be referred for the search (in the embodiment, FIG. 2). Color distance calculating means (corresponding to the CPU 1 in FIG. 1 in the embodiment) and color distance calculated by the color distance calculating means are predetermined. Color distance determination means (corresponding to the CPU 1 in FIG. 1 in the embodiment) and color distance determination means for determining whether or not the above condition (corresponding to a condition equal to or less than the threshold TH1 in the embodiment) is satisfied. Image processing that changes the display mode of at least one of the search image and the reference image corresponding to the color distance determined to satisfy the condition (in the embodiment, highlight such as blinking display, maximum luminance display, minimum luminance display, etc.) Display setting means (corresponding to the CPU 1 in FIG. 1 in the embodiment) that outputs to a predetermined display means (corresponding to the display unit 7 in FIG. 1 in the embodiment) It has a configuration with.

  The display control apparatus according to claim 1, as described in claim 2, image conversion means for converting color image information stored in the storage means into monochrome (corresponding to the CPU 1 in FIG. 1 in the embodiment). The color distance calculation means corresponds to the monochrome reference image selected according to the operation when a plurality of monochrome reference images and search images converted by the image conversion means are displayed on the display means. The color distance between the color information of the color reference image and the color information of the color search image corresponding to the displayed monochrome search image is calculated, and the display setting means determines the color distance in the displayed monochrome search image. Alternatively, the image processing may be performed such that the area determined to satisfy the condition is highlighted.

  The display control apparatus according to claim 1, as described in claim 3, image conversion means for converting color image information stored in the storage means into monochrome (corresponding to the CPU 1 in FIG. 1 in the embodiment). The color distance calculation means includes a monochrome search image area selected according to an operation when a plurality of monochrome reference images and search images converted by the image conversion means are displayed on the display means. A color distance between the color information of the corresponding color search image and the color information of the color reference image corresponding to the displayed plurality of monochrome reference images is calculated, and the display setting unit is configured to display the plurality of displayed monochrome references. A configuration may be used in which image processing is performed to highlight a reference image that is determined to satisfy the condition by the color distance determination unit in the image.

  2. The display control device according to claim 1, wherein the color distance determination means includes the color distance between the color information of the reference image specified in accordance with the operation and the color information of the pixel specified in the map image. If the color distance satisfies the condition, it is further determined whether or not the color distance is the smallest of the color information of the color information of all the reference images and the color information of the designated pixel, and the display setting means May be configured to perform image processing for highlighting the designated pixel when the color distance determination unit determines that the color distance is minimum.

  5. The display control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the color distance calculation unit is a JPEG image when the image information stored in the storage unit is a JPEG image and the compression ratio is less than a predetermined value, or If it is not an image, the color distance is calculated from the YUV distance in the YUV space or the RGB distance in the RGB space, and the image information stored in the image storage means is a JPEG image compressed by specific image processing, and the compression ratio is If it is greater than or equal to the predetermined value, the color distance may be calculated from the UV distance in the YUV space.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a display control processing program for storing color image information input from the outside via a network in a predetermined storage unit (corresponding to the RAM 4 in FIG. 1 in the embodiment). For the color information and search of a search image (corresponding to the map image 11 in FIG. 2 in the embodiment) to be searched included in the color image information stored in the storage means. A second step of calculating a color distance to color information of a plurality of reference images to be referred to (corresponding to the reference image 10 in FIG. 2 in the embodiment), and the color distance calculated by the second step is predetermined. The third step for determining whether or not the condition (corresponding to the threshold value TH1 or less in the embodiment) is satisfied, and the search image corresponding to the color distance determined to satisfy the condition by the third step And image processing (in the embodiment, corresponding to highlight display such as blinking display, maximum luminance display, and minimum luminance display) for changing the display mode of at least one of the reference image and the predetermined display means (in the embodiment) Is equivalent to the display unit 7 in FIG. 1).
The first to fourth steps correspond to the processing of the CPU 1 in FIG. 1 in the embodiment.

In the display control processing program according to claim 6, as described in claim 7, the fifth step of converting the color image information stored in the storage means into monochrome is further executed, and the second step includes: When a plurality of monochrome reference images and search images converted by the fifth step are displayed on the display means, color information and display of a color reference image corresponding to the monochrome reference image selected according to the operation The color distance with the color information of the color search image corresponding to the monochrome search image is calculated, and the fourth step is determined to satisfy the condition by the third step in the displayed monochrome search image. A configuration may be adopted in which image processing for highlighting an area is performed.
The fifth step corresponds to the processing of the CPU 1 in FIG. 1 in the embodiment.

The display control processing program according to claim 6, further comprising a fifth step of converting the color image information stored in the storage means to monochrome as described in claim 8, wherein the second step comprises: When a plurality of monochrome reference images and search images converted in step 5 are displayed on the display means, the color information of the color search image corresponding to the area of the monochrome search image selected according to the operation A color distance from the color information of the color reference image corresponding to the plurality of monochrome reference images displayed is calculated, and the fourth step sets the conditions according to the third step in the plurality of monochrome reference images displayed. A configuration may be adopted in which image processing is performed to highlight a reference image determined to be satisfied.
The fifth step corresponds to the processing of the CPU 1 in FIG. 1 in the embodiment.

  In the display control processing program according to claim 6, as described in claim 9, the third step includes the color information of the reference image designated according to the operation and the color information of the pixel designated in the map image. When the color distance satisfies the condition, it is further determined whether or not the color distance is the smallest among the color distances of the color information of all the reference images and the color information of the designated pixel. The step 4 may be configured to perform image processing for highlighting the designated pixel when it is determined in the third step that the color distance is minimum.

  In the display control processing program according to claim 6, as described in claim 10, the second step is when the image information stored in the storage means is a JPEG image and the compression ratio is less than a predetermined value, or If the image information is not a JPEG image, the color distance is calculated from the YUV distance in the YUV space or the RGB distance in the RGB space, and the image information stored in the image storage means is a JPEG image compressed by a specific image processing and the compression. If the rate is greater than or equal to a predetermined value, the color distance may be calculated from the UV distance in the YUV space.

  The image communication system according to claim 11 is a communication terminal device and communication when there is an access from any communication terminal device via a network (in the embodiment, corresponding to the Internet 200 in FIG. 7). It is composed of a first server (corresponding to the Web server 300 in FIG. 7 in the embodiment) and a second server (corresponding to the setting database server 400 in FIG. 7 in the embodiment) connected to the terminal. It is an image communication system. In this system, the first server distributes image information (corresponding to color image information in the embodiment) to the accessed communication terminal device, and the communication terminal device accesses the second server. The setting information stored in the database is selected, the image information distributed from the first server is set to a new display format (corresponding to a monochrome display format in the embodiment), and the second server Updates the priority of the setting information selected by the communication terminal device higher in a database in which a priority is assigned to each of a plurality of types of setting information.

  The image communication system according to a twelfth aspect of the present invention is the communication terminal device and the communication when any communication terminal device is accessed via the network (in the embodiment, corresponding to the Internet 200 in FIG. 7). It is composed of a first server (corresponding to the Web server 300 in FIG. 7 in the embodiment) and a second server (corresponding to the setting database server 400 in FIG. 7 in the embodiment) connected to the terminal. It is an image communication system. In this system, the first server distributes image information (corresponding to color image information in the embodiment) and setting information to the accessed communication terminal device, and the communication terminal device receives information from the first server. Setting information for setting the distributed image information to a new display format (corresponding to a monochrome display format in the embodiment) is determined, and the determined setting information is transmitted by accessing the second server. To do.

  In the image communication system according to claim 11 or 12, the communication terminal device may be configured by the display control device according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

  In the image communication system according to claim 11 or 12, the communication terminal device may be configured to execute the display control processing program according to any one of claims 6 to 10.

According to the display control apparatus and the display control processing program of the present invention, there is an effect that non-interactive image information such as road traffic information existing on the Internet can be set as interactive image information.
In addition, according to the display control device and the display control processing program of the present invention, a map image corresponding to the color of the selected reference image even if the image information such as map information existing on the Internet has a complex color. The effect of accurately identifying the region is obtained.
In addition, according to the image communication system of the present invention, it is possible to exchange information between users who use image information such as road traffic information existing on the Internet, and to increase the usability of information resources. can get.

The block diagram which shows the structure of the display control apparatus in each embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the structure of the map information processed with the display control apparatus in each embodiment of this invention. The flowchart of the display control process of CPU in 1st Embodiment of this invention. The flowchart of CPU of the display control process in the modification of 1st Embodiment of this invention. The flowchart of color information storage of CPU in 2nd Embodiment of this invention. The flowchart of the display control process of CPU in 2nd Embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the structure of the image communication system in 3rd Embodiment of this invention. The flowchart of the communication terminal device in 3rd Embodiment of this invention. The flowchart of the communication terminal device in the modification of 3rd Embodiment of this invention.

Hereinafter, the first to second embodiments of the display control processing according to the present invention will be described by taking a portable information terminal that displays an image in monochrome with 16 gradations as an example.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of a portable information terminal in each embodiment. CPU 1 is connected to ROM 3, RAM 4, operation unit 5, VRAM 6, display unit 7, and communication unit 8 via system bus 2, and exchanges commands and data with each unit to control this portable information terminal. To do.

  The ROM 3 stores in advance a display control processing program executed by the CPU 1 and default data. The RAM 4 is a work area of the CPU 1, and is provided with an area for storing color image data of 256 gradations, and various register and pointer (variable) areas. The operation unit 5 includes a keyboard, a pointing device such as a mouse, and an interface circuit, and inputs commands and data to the CPU 1 according to user operations. The VRAM 6 is a frame buffer that stores at least one frame of 256-tone monochrome image, and develops one screen image by the display control processing of the CPU 1. The display unit 7 includes a display device such as a display controller or an LCD (liquid crystal display device), and displays a 16-tone monochrome image stored in the VRAM 6 by the CPU 1. The communication unit 8 receives color image information of road traffic information from the Web server and stores it in the RAM 4.

Next, the display control process in the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 2 shows a color image of 256-level road traffic information received from the Web server by the communication unit 8 and stored in the RAM 4. This color image is composed of a GIF reference image 10 and a high-compression JPEG map image 11. The reference image 10 is represented by color information corresponding to a traffic jam 12, a congestion 13, a traffic closure 14, a chain regulation 15, an accident 16, and others 17 indicating each traffic event. In the map image 11, a traffic jam area 12a, a congestion area 13a, and an accident area 16a are represented by corresponding color information.

As described above, the 256 gradation color image shown in FIG. 2 is converted into a 256 gradation monochrome image by the CPU 1. Conversion to a monochrome image is performed by ITU-R_BT. Based on the conversion equation 601, Y as luminance information is calculated by the following arithmetic equation.
Y = 0.157R + 0.504G + 0.098B + 16
The 256-tone monochrome image data converted by this arithmetic expression is stored in the VRAM 6 and displayed on the display unit 7.
In the case of a portable information terminal having only a 16-gradation monochrome image function, in order to convert the 256-gradation monochrome image into 16 gradations, 4-bit shift processing is performed using the following arithmetic expression. .
Y = {(R + G + B) 3} >> 4

  Although it is possible to convert a 256-tone color image into a 256-tone monochrome image and display it on the display unit 7, the correspondence between traffic events between the reference image and the map image is distinguished by color as it is. It is not possible. Therefore, the correspondence of traffic events between the reference image and the map image is represented by a change in luminance, for example, by highlighting (hereinafter referred to as “highlight display”) such as blinking display at regular intervals, maximum luminance display, and minimum luminance display. Distinguish. For this purpose, ITU-R_BT. Based on the conversion equation 601, conversion from the RGB space to the YUV space is performed. In this case, different conversion formulas are used for the GIF reference image or other image excluding JPEG, and a low-compression JPEG map image and a high-compression JPEG map image.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the CPU 1 for highlighting the correspondence between traffic events between the reference image and the map image. The processing is started when a pixel of one reference image to be searched is designated by the user from the images shown in FIG. First, it is determined whether or not the map image to be compared is JPEG (step SA1). If it is a JPEG image, it is determined whether or not the image has a high compression rate (step SA2). If the map image is a non-JPEG image or a low-compression JPEG image, a determination is made based on the YUV color difference, that is, the distance in the color space (hereinafter referred to as “color distance”). In the case of a JPEG image, the determination is made based on the color distance in the UV space. The RGB value of one pixel in the designated reference image is set to (R1, G1, B1), and the RGB value of the pixel of one coordinate (x, y) selected from all the pixels of the map image is set to (Rxy, Gxy). , Bxy). When the map image is a non-JPEG image or a low-compression JPEG image, the color information of the selected pixel is converted into (R1, G1) in the RGB space by the following arithmetic expression including the above Y conversion expression. , B1) and (Rxy, Gxy, Bxy) are converted into (Y1, U1, V1) and (Yxy, Uxy, Vxy) in the YUV space.
Y = 0.157R + 0.504G + 0.098B + 16
U = −0.148R−0.291G + 0.439B + 128
V = 0.439R−0.368G−0.071B + 128

そして、算出した色距離と設定済みの閾値ＴＨ１とを比較する（ステップＳＡ５）。色距離が閾値以内である場合には、選択した地図画像の画素（Ｙｘｙ，Ｕｘｙ，Ｖｘｙ）の色は参照画像の画素（Ｙ１，Ｕ１，Ｖ１）の色と同色と判定し、該当部分すなわち選択した地図画像の画素をハイライト表示する（ステップＳＡ６）。 Next, the color difference dxy of YUV, that is, the color distance in the color space is calculated from the Euclidean distance in the YUV space of the following equation 1 (step SA3).

Then, the calculated color distance is compared with the set threshold value TH1 (step SA5). When the color distance is within the threshold value, the color of the pixel (Yxy, Uxy, Vxy) of the selected map image is determined to be the same color as the color of the pixel (Y1, U1, V1) of the reference image, and the corresponding portion, that is, selected The displayed map image pixels are highlighted (step SA6).

そして、算出した色距離と設定済みの閾値ＴＨ１とを比較する（ステップＳＡ５）。色距離が閾値以内である場合には、選択した地図画像の画素（Ｕｘｙ，Ｖｘｙ）の色は参照画像の画素（Ｕ１，Ｖ１）の色と同色と判定し、該当部分をハイライト表示する（ステップＳＡ６）。 On the other hand, when the map image is a high-compression JPEG image, the color information of the selected pixel is converted into (R1, G1, B1) and (Rxy, Gxy, Bxy) in the RGB space by a conversion formula only for UV. To (U1, V1) and (Uxy, Vxy) in the UV space. Next, the UV color distance is calculated from the Euclidean distance in the UV space of Equation 2 below (step SA4).

Then, the calculated color distance is compared with the set threshold value TH1 (step SA5). When the color distance is within the threshold value, the color of the pixel (Uxy, Vxy) of the selected map image is determined to be the same color as the color of the pixel (U1, V1) of the reference image, and the corresponding part is highlighted ( Step SA6).

For example, when a JPEG image with a very high compression rate is input as the map information shown in FIG. 2, traffic jams in the reference image 10 represented by 8-bit (R, G, B), other restrictions, etc. The traffic jam area 12a in the map image 11 includes a traffic jam (255, 204, 51), other regulations (153, 204, 0), a traffic jam area (197, 173, 23), as shown in Table 1 above. It has become. Table 2 shows the results of the urbanization distance and the Euclidean distance calculated in the RGB space, the YUV space, and the UV space with respect to the color distance between the color information of the traffic jam area in the map image and the traffic jam and other regulated color information in the reference image. Shown in As is clear from Table 2, in the case of the urbanization distance and the Euclidean distance calculated in the RGB space and the YUV space, the color distance from the traffic jam area of the map image is more regulated than the traffic jam of the reference image. It is close distance. For this reason, it is recognized that the traffic jam area of the map image is not traffic jam but other regulations. On the other hand, in the case of the urbanization distance and the Euclidean distance calculated in the UV space, the color distance from the traffic jam area of the map image is closer to the traffic jam than the other regulations of the reference image.

  When the highlight display of the corresponding part is completed for all the pixels of the map image for the color information of the traffic event of the designated reference image, the process returns to the main routine. As a result, when the map information shown in FIG. 2 is displayed on the display unit 7 as a 256-tone monochrome image, for example, when the color of the traffic jam 12 of the reference image 10 is designated by the user, the traffic jam of the map image 11 The area 12a is highlighted.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, the communication unit 8 stores the color map information subjected to the image compression processing input from the Web server via the network in the RAM 4. The CPU 1 determines the color distance between the color information of the map image to be searched included in the color map information stored in the RAM 4 and the color information of a plurality of reference images to be referenced for searching for traffic events. Calculating, determining whether or not the calculated color distance satisfies a condition that the threshold value TH1 or less is satisfied, and performing image processing so that an area of the map image corresponding to the reference image determined to satisfy the condition is highlighted. Output to the display unit 7.
Therefore, non-interactive image information such as map information existing on the Internet can be set as interactive image information that can be highlighted.

In the first embodiment, when the color map information stored in the RAM 4 is converted into monochrome and displayed on the display unit 7, the CPU 1 corresponds to the monochrome reference image selected by the operation unit 5. The color distance between the color information of the color reference image to be displayed and the color information of the color map image corresponding to the displayed monochrome map image is calculated, and the color reference image of the color reference image corresponding to the selected monochrome reference image is calculated. An area of a color map image having color information whose color distance from the color information is equal to or less than a threshold TH1 is determined, and image processing for highlighting the area of the monochrome map image corresponding to the area is performed.
Therefore, even when the displayed map information is monochrome, as in the case of the map information displayed in color, the area of the monochrome map image corresponding to the traffic event indicated by the monochrome reference image is displayed in a highlighted manner. By doing so, it becomes possible to grasp a traffic event even with a simple portable information terminal not equipped with a color display function.

As a modification of the first embodiment, when the color map information stored in the RAM 4 is converted into monochrome and displayed on the display unit 7, the CPU 1 displays the monochrome map image selected by the operation unit 5. The color distance between the color information of the color map image corresponding to the area and the color information of the color reference image corresponding to the displayed monochrome reference image is calculated, and the area corresponds to the area of the selected monochrome map image. An image that determines a reference image of a specific color that is color information whose color distance to the color information of the area of the color map image is equal to or less than a threshold TH1, and highlights a monochrome reference image corresponding to the specific reference image You may make it the structure which processes.
For example, when the map information of FIG. 2 is displayed in monochrome, and the area 12a of the map image 11 is selected by the operation unit 5, the color of the area 12a of the color map image stored in the RAM 4 is displayed. A color reference image whose color distance to the information is equal to or less than the threshold TH1 is determined, and the displayed monochrome reference image 12 is highlighted corresponding to the determined color reference image 12.
Also in this case, similarly to the first embodiment, it is possible to grasp a traffic event even with a simple portable information terminal not equipped with a color display function.

ただし、図３のステップＳＡ４においてＵＶ空間の色距離を算出する場合には、上記数３および数４において、輝度情報Ｙの色距離を算出する第１項はない。 As a modified example of the first embodiment, the color distance of the YUV space may be calculated from the following square Euclidean distance of the following equation 3 or the urban area distance of the following equation 4.

However, when the color distance of the UV space is calculated in step SA4 in FIG. 3, there is no first term for calculating the color distance of the luminance information Y in the above equations 3 and 4.

  In the first embodiment, ITU-R_BT. In the case of a JPEG image, YUV generated during decompression may be used. In this case, conversion from the RGB section to the YUV space is not performed.

  Further, as a modification of the first embodiment, when the selected pixel is a non-JPEG image, or when the selected pixel is a JPEG image with a low compression rate, the color distance in the RGB space is calculated. May be. FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the modification. As shown in this figure, if the pixel selected in step SB1 is not a JPEG image, or if the pixel selected in step SB2 is a JPEG image with a low compression rate, the color distance in the RGB space is set in step SB3. calculate. Other processes are the same as those in the flowchart shown in FIG.

  Next, display control processing in the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. In the second embodiment, each color information of the reference image 10 in the map information of FIG. 2 is stored in advance, and the area of the map image 11 is highlighted. In general, the color information of the reference image and the color information of the map image are different within a range that is acceptable to human vision. Therefore, different colors cannot be identified as the tolerance is smaller. In the second embodiment, processing for increasing the tolerance for “difference” in color is performed.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the CPU 1 showing a process for storing each color information of the reference image 10. The pointer k for designating the area of the array register Leg [] of the RAM 4 is set to 0, the pointer j for designating the reference image is set to 0 (step SC1), and the reference images are designated in order, step SC2 to step The loop process of SC5 is repeated. The reference image of the pointer j is designated (step SC2), and the color information is stored in Leg [k] (step SC3). Next, the value of k and the value of j are incremented (step SC4), and it is determined whether or not the value of j exceeds the maximum value (step SC5). If the value of j does not exceed the maximum value, the process proceeds to step SC2, and the loop process is repeated. When the value of j exceeds the maximum value, that is, when the color information of all reference images is stored in the RAM 4, this flow is terminated and the process returns to the main routine.

6 calculates the color information of the reference image and the color information of the pixels of the map image in step SA5 of FIG. 3 (the same applies to step SB5 of FIG. 4), and determines whether the color distance is equal to or smaller than the threshold value. Instead of this, it is a flowchart of image processing that performs highlight display by determining which reference image has the closest color.
First, it is determined whether or not an arbitrary reference image (j) has been designated (step SD1), and when selected, the pixel P (x, y) and Leg of coordinates (x, y) designated in the map image are selected. The color distance with [j] is stored in the register A of the RAM 4 (step SD2). Next, k (except j) is set to 0 (step SD3). Then, a loop process from step SD4 to step SD8 is performed while incrementing the value of k.

  The color distance between the pixel P (x, y) at the designated coordinates (x, y) and Leg [k] is stored in the register B (step SD4). Next, it is determined whether or not the color distance of the register A is smaller than the color distance of the register B (step SD5). When the color distance of A is not shorter than the color distance of B, this flowchart is terminated without performing highlight display. When the color distance of A is smaller than the color distance of B, the value of k is incremented (step SD6). At this time, it is determined whether or not the value of k is the same as the value of j (step SD7). When the value is the same, the value of k is incremented in step SD6. Further, it is determined whether or not the incremented value of k exceeds the maximum value (step SD8). If the maximum value is not exceeded, the process proceeds to step SD4 and the loop process is repeated. When the value of k exceeds the maximum value in step SD8, that is, the color distance between the color information of the pixel P (x, y) and the color information of the designated Leg [j] is the same in all Leg []. If it is the smallest, the pixel P (x, y) is highlighted (step SD9).

As described above, according to the second embodiment, the CPU 1 determines that the color distance between the color information of the reference image specified according to the operation and the color information of the pixel specified in the map image is the color of all the reference images. It is determined whether or not the color distance between the information and the color information of the designated pixel is the smallest, and image processing is performed to highlight the designated pixel when it is determined that the color distance is the smallest.
Therefore, even if the color of the map image is complicated, the area of the map image corresponding to the color of the selected reference image can be accurately identified.

Next, an image communication system according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 7 shows a system in which a plurality of communication terminal devices 100 are connected to a plurality of Web servers 300 that distribute map information and other image information via the Internet 200. A setting database (DB) server 400 is connected to the Internet 200. The setting DB server 400 stores a plurality of types of setting information for converting color image information distributed from each Web server 300 into monochrome. Each communication terminal device 100 converts the color image information received from the Web server 300 into monochrome image information based on the setting information received from the setting DB server 400. The setting information stored in the database of the setting DB server 400 includes a threshold TH1, color information of all reference images in each page (address) of each Web server 300, color, in addition to a color-to-monochrome conversion formula. There are determination formulas for the YUV space and the RGB space for determining the distance, the rank of the setting information updated by using the communication terminal apparatus 100, the update date and time of the rank of the setting information.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of the communication terminal device 100 that uses the setting information of the setting DB server 400.
The Web server 300 is accessed (step SE1), and color image information is acquired (step SE2). Next, the setting DB server 400 is accessed (step SE3), and setting information is acquired (step SE4). Based on the acquired setting information, the color image information is converted into monochrome and displayed (step SE5). Next, it is confirmed (evaluated) whether the acquired setting information is optimal (step SE6). As a result of the confirmation, it is determined whether or not the setting information is to be changed (step SE7). When changing, it transfers to step SE3 and accesses the setting DB server 400 again. If the acquired setting information is optimal and does not change, this flowchart is terminated.
The setting DB server 400 updates the setting information used in the communication terminal device 100 to a higher rank and records the update date and time. That is, the higher the frequency of use in each communication terminal device 100 (the higher the popularity), the higher the rank of the setting information is updated.

As described above, according to the third embodiment, the Web server 300 distributes color image information to the accessed communication terminal device 100. The communication terminal device 100 to which the image information is distributed from the Web server 300 accesses the setting DB server 400 and selects from a plurality of types of setting information stored in the server database of the setting DB server 400, The image information distributed based on the selected setting information is set to a monochrome display format that is a new display format.
The setting DB server 400 updates the priority of the setting information selected by the communication terminal device 100 higher in a database that stores a plurality of types of setting information with priorities assigned thereto.
Therefore, it is possible to exchange information between users who use image information of road traffic information received from a Web server on the Internet, and to improve the utilization of information resources.

Next, a modification of the third embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. This modification is a process for expanding the setting information stored in the setting DB server 400.
After acquiring the color image information from the Web server 300, the communication terminal apparatus 100 accesses the Web server 300 (step SF1) in the flowchart of FIG. 9 to set information for converting the color image information to monochrome. Is acquired (step SF2). Next, the acquired setting information is adjusted to determine optimum setting information (step SF3). Then, the determined setting information is transmitted to the setting DB server 400 and registered (step SF4).

As described above, according to this modification, the Web server 300 delivers color image information and setting information such as a monochrome conversion formula to the accessed communication terminal device 100. The communication terminal apparatus 100 determines setting information for setting the distributed image information to a monochrome display format that is a new display format, accesses the setting DB server 400, and transmits the determined setting information. sign up.
Therefore, when the setting information to be registered increases and the database of the setting DB server 400 is expanded, the image information of the road traffic information received from the Web server on the Internet is used as in the third embodiment. Information can be exchanged between users, and the utilization of information resources can be enhanced.

  The communication terminal device 100 in the third embodiment and the modification can be configured by the display control device in the first embodiment and the second embodiment. That is, the communication unit 8 illustrated in FIG. 1 connects to the Web server 300 and the setting DB server 400 via the Internet 200 according to the communication control process of the CPU 1. The CPU 1 executes the flowcharts of FIGS. 8 and 9.

  In the first embodiment, the second embodiment, and the modifications thereof, the invention of the device in which the CPU 1 executes the processing program stored in advance in the ROM 3 of the display control device has been described. Display control processing provided with a rewritable non-volatile memory to install a display control processing program recorded on a storage medium such as a flexible disk (FD), CD, MD, or DVD, or downloaded from a network such as the Internet It is also possible to install the program and execute the program by the CPU 1. In this case, the invention of the program and the invention of the recording medium on which the program is recorded can be realized.

That is, the display control processing program according to the present invention is:
A first step of storing color image information that has been subjected to specific image processing input from the outside via a network in a predetermined storage unit, and is included in the color image information stored in the storage unit A second step of calculating a color distance between color information of a search image to be searched and color information of a plurality of reference images referred to for search; and the color distance calculated by the second step is predetermined. A third step for determining whether or not the above condition is satisfied, and an image for changing a display mode of at least one of the search image and the reference image corresponding to the color distance determined to satisfy the condition in the third step And a fourth step of performing processing and outputting to a predetermined display means.

  A fifth step of converting the color image information stored in the storage means to monochrome is further executed, and the second step includes a plurality of monochrome reference images and search images converted by the fifth step. Is displayed on the display means, the color information of the color reference image corresponding to the monochrome reference image selected according to the operation and the color information of the color search image corresponding to the displayed monochrome search image In the fourth step, image processing is performed for highlighting an area determined to satisfy the condition by the third step in the displayed monochrome search image.

  The method further comprises a fifth step of converting the color image information stored in the storage means to monochrome, and the second step includes a plurality of monochrome reference images and search images converted by the fifth step. When displayed on the display means, color information of the color search image corresponding to the area of the monochrome search image selected according to the operation and color reference images corresponding to the displayed plurality of monochrome reference images And the fourth step highlights the reference image determined to satisfy the condition by the third step in the displayed monochrome reference images. Process.

  In the third step, when the color distance between the color information of the reference image specified in accordance with the operation and the color information of the pixel specified in the map image satisfies the above condition, all the color distances are It is determined whether or not the color distance between the color information of the reference image and the color information of the designated pixel is the smallest, and the fourth step has the smallest color distance by the third step. If it is determined that there is, image processing for highlighting the designated pixel is performed.

  In the second step, when the image information stored in the storage means is a JPEG image compressed by the specific image processing and the compression ratio is less than a predetermined value, or is compressed by the specific image processing. If the image is not a JPEG image, the color distance is calculated from the YUV distance in the YUV space or the RGB distance in the RGB space, and the image information stored in the image storage means is compressed by the specific image processing. When the compression ratio is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the color distance is calculated from the UV distance in the YUV space.

1 CPU
2 System bus 3 ROM
4 RAM
5 Operation unit 6 VRAM
7 Display unit 8 Communication unit 10 Reference image 11 Map image 100 Communication terminal device 200 Internet 300 Web server 400 Setting database server

Claims (14)

Storage means for storing color image information input from the outside via a network;
Color distance calculation for calculating the color distance between the color information of the search image to be searched included in the color image information stored in the storage means and the color information of the plurality of reference images referred for the search Means,
Color distance determination means for determining whether or not the color distance calculated by the color distance calculation means satisfies a predetermined condition;
Display setting means for performing image processing for changing at least one display mode of a search image and a reference image corresponding to the color distance determined to satisfy the condition by the color distance determination means, and outputting the processed image to a predetermined display means;
A display control device.   The apparatus further comprises image conversion means for converting the color image information stored in the storage means into monochrome, and the color distance calculation means displays a plurality of monochrome reference images and search images converted by the image conversion means. The color between the color information of the color reference image corresponding to the monochrome reference image selected according to the operation and the color information of the color search image corresponding to the displayed monochrome search image when displayed on the means The distance is calculated, and the display setting unit performs image processing for highlighting an area determined to satisfy the condition by the color distance determination unit in the displayed monochrome search image. The display control apparatus according to 1.   The apparatus further comprises image conversion means for converting the color image information stored in the storage means into monochrome, and the color distance calculation means displays a plurality of monochrome reference images and search images converted by the image conversion means. When displayed on the means, the color information of the color search image corresponding to the area of the monochrome search image selected according to the operation and the color of the color reference image corresponding to the plurality of monochrome reference images displayed The display setting unit performs image processing for highlight-displaying the reference image determined to satisfy the condition by the color distance determination unit in the displayed plurality of monochrome reference images. The display control apparatus according to claim 1.   When the color distance between the color information of the reference image specified in accordance with the operation and the color information of the pixel specified in the map image satisfies the above condition, the color distance determination unit further includes all the color distances. Whether the color distance between the color information of the reference image and the color information of the designated pixel is the smallest or not, and the display setting means has the smallest color distance by the color distance judgment means The display control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when it is determined, image processing for highlighting the designated pixel is performed.   When the image information stored in the storage means is a JPEG image and the compression ratio is less than a predetermined value, or when the image information is not a JPEG image, the color distance calculation means is a YUV distance in the YUV space or RGB in the RGB space. When the color distance is calculated based on the distance and the image information stored in the image storage means is a JPEG image compressed by the specific image processing and the compression ratio is a predetermined value or more, the UV distance in the YUV space The display control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the color distance is calculated by: A first step of storing color image information input from the outside via a network in a predetermined storage unit;
A second distance calculating unit configured to calculate a color distance between color information of a search image to be searched included in color image information stored in the storage unit and color information of a plurality of reference images referred to for search; Steps,
A third step of determining whether or not the color distance calculated by the second step satisfies a predetermined condition;
A fourth step of performing image processing for changing a display mode of at least one of the search image and the reference image corresponding to the color distance determined to satisfy the condition by the third step and outputting the processed image to a predetermined display unit; ,
Display control processing program to execute.   A fifth step of converting the color image information stored in the storage means to monochrome is further executed, and the second step includes a plurality of monochrome reference images and search images converted by the fifth step. Is displayed on the display means, the color information of the color reference image corresponding to the monochrome reference image selected according to the operation and the color information of the color search image corresponding to the displayed monochrome search image And the fourth step performs an image process for highlighting an area determined to satisfy the condition by the third step in the displayed monochrome search image. The display control processing program according to claim 6.   The method further comprises a fifth step of converting the color image information stored in the storage means to monochrome, and the second step includes a plurality of monochrome reference images and search images converted by the fifth step. When displayed on the display means, color information of the color search image corresponding to the area of the monochrome search image selected according to the operation and color reference images corresponding to the displayed plurality of monochrome reference images And the fourth step highlights the reference image determined to satisfy the condition by the third step in the displayed monochrome reference images. The display control processing program according to claim 6, wherein the display control processing program is executed.   In the third step, when the color distance between the color information of the reference image specified in accordance with the operation and the color information of the pixel specified in the map image satisfies the above condition, all the color distances are It is determined whether or not the color distance between the color information of the reference image and the color information of the designated pixel is the smallest, and the fourth step has the smallest color distance by the third step. The display control processing program according to claim 6, wherein when it is determined that the designated pixel is present, image processing for highlighting the designated pixel is performed.   In the second step, if the image information stored in the storage means is a JPEG image and the compression ratio is less than a predetermined value, or if it is not a JPEG image, the YUV distance in the YUV space or the RGB in the RGB space When the color distance is calculated based on the distance and the image information stored in the image storage means is a JPEG image compressed by the specific image processing and the compression ratio is a predetermined value or more, the UV distance in the YUV space The program for display control processing according to claim 6, wherein the color distance is calculated by: A communication terminal device, and an image communication system composed of a first server and a second server that are connected to the communication terminal when accessed from any communication terminal device via a network,
The first server distributes image information to the accessed communication terminal device,
The communication terminal device accesses the second server, selects setting information stored in a database, sets the image information distributed from the first server to a new display format,
The second server updates the priority of the setting information selected by the communication terminal device higher in the database that stores the priority information assigned to each of the plurality of types of setting information. Image communication system. A communication terminal device, and an image communication system composed of a first server and a second server that are connected to the communication terminal when accessed from any communication terminal device via a network,
The first server distributes image information and setting information to the accessed communication terminal device,
The communication terminal apparatus determines setting information for setting the image information distributed from the first server to a new display format, and accesses the second server to transmit the determined setting information. An image communication system.   The image communication system according to claim 11 or 12, wherein the communication terminal device includes the display control device according to any one of claims 1 to 5.   The image communication system according to claim 11 or 12, wherein the communication terminal device executes the display control processing program according to any one of claims 6 to 10.

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