JP2012054721A - Communication terminal, communication method, and communication program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a communication terminal, a communication method, and a communication program capable of efficiently storing image information received from another terminal.SOLUTION: When storing at a base a material image transmitted from another base, similarity to a material image stored previously is determined (S16). If the similarity is not smaller than a threshold (S17: NO), as the material image is high in similarity to the previous material image, the material image is not to be stored. Consequently, a huge amount of material images are prevented from being stored. On the other hand, if the similarity is smaller than the threshold (S17:YES), the material image is low in similarity to the previous material image. In this case, the material image is arranged and stored by each terminal ID of the terminal having provided the material image (S20). This facilitates to find a specific material image from a plurality of material images stored in an HDD.

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication terminal, a communication method, and a communication program for transmitting / receiving still image information to / from another terminal via a network.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, communication terminals have been used that can deliver meeting materials to each terminal as a captured image during a video conference and share the meeting material at each terminal that has received the captured image. For example, there is known a method in which a communication conference can be performed by transmitting document information by a communication device and displaying the transmitted document on a display device such as a display between a sender and a receiver (for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 61-30189 A

  However, in the terminal as described above, if all the captured images distributed from other terminals are stored in a memory at predetermined time intervals, a huge amount of images are randomly stored, and it is difficult to see when browsing later. there were.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides a communication terminal, a communication method, and a communication program capable of efficiently storing image information received from another terminal.

  The communication terminal according to the first aspect of the present invention is a communication terminal that transmits and receives still image information to and from another terminal via a network, and that receives still image information transmitted from the other terminal. And similarity determination means for determining the similarity between the still image information received by the still image information receiving means and the still image information received at a past timing and previously stored in the storage means; A determination means for determining whether the similarity determined by the similarity determination means is less than a threshold; and the still image information when the similarity is determined to be less than the threshold by the determination means Storage processing means for storing the still image information received by the receiving means in the storage means in association with identification information of a terminal that is the transmission source of the still image information. That.

  In the communication terminal according to the first aspect, when still image information transmitted from another terminal is received, the similarity between the still image information and the still image information previously stored in the storage unit is determined. When it is determined that the similarity is less than the threshold value, it is not similar to the still image information stored in the past. Only such still image information is stored in the storage means. That is, since still image information similar to still image information stored in the past is not stored, still image information can be efficiently stored. Furthermore, since the still image information is stored in association with the identification information of the terminal that is the transmission source of the still image information, desired still image information can be easily found when browsing later.

  Further, in the first aspect, acquisition means for acquiring operation information which is operation information of the still image information displayed on the display screen, and still image information transmission for determining transmission of the still image information to the other terminal Still image information transmission means for transmitting the operation information acquired by the acquisition means to the other terminal in association with the still image information when transmission of the still image information is determined by the determination means. The still image information receiving means receives the still image information and the operation information transmitted by the still image information transmitting means of the other terminal, and the similarity determination means is the still image information receiving means. The still image information received by the still image information receiving means based on the operation information received by the information and the still image information stored in the storage means And a determination area determining means for determining a determination area for determining the similarity, and the similarity may be determined based on dot information in the determination area determined by the determination area determining means. . Since the dot information of the entire region of the still image information is not compared, the processing amount related to the similarity determination can be greatly reduced.

  In the first aspect, the operation information may be scroll information that is scroll direction information of the still image information scroll-displayed in the window displayed on the display screen, or a pointing device that specifies the scroll direction. The similarity determination means includes a specifying means for specifying a scroll direction of the still image information based on the operation information received by the still image information receiving means, and the determination area determination means includes: An area occupying a predetermined ratio in the scroll direction specified by the specifying means may be determined as the determination area. Since the area occupying a predetermined ratio in the scroll direction is compared as the determination area, the similarity of the still image information can be reliably determined.

  In the first aspect, in addition to the operation information, the acquisition unit acquires scroll position information that is position information of a portion displayed in the window in the still image information, and the still image information The transmission means transmits the operation information acquired by the acquisition means and the scroll position information to the other terminal in association with the still image information, and the still image information receiving means transmits the operation information of the other terminal. The still image information transmitted by the still image information transmitting unit, the operation information, and the scroll position information are received, and the storage processing unit is configured to store the storage information based on the operation information and the scroll position information. You may provide the arrangement | sequence determination means which determines the arrangement | sequence of the said still image information memorize | stored in a means. Since the arrangement of the still image information stored in the storage means can be determined based on the operation information and the scroll position information, even when still image information that cannot be displayed entirely in the window is received by being divided by a scroll operation or the like, It can be stored accurately in the order along the scroll direction.

  A communication method according to a second aspect of the present invention is a communication method performed by a communication terminal that transmits / receives still image information to / from another terminal via a network, and receives the still image information transmitted from the other terminal. A still image information receiving step, and a degree of similarity between the still image information received in the still image information receiving step and the still image information received at a past timing and previously stored in the storage means is determined. A similarity determination step, a determination step for determining whether the similarity determined in the similarity determination step is less than a threshold, and a case in which the similarity is determined to be less than the threshold in the determination step The still image information received in the still image information receiving step is paired with identification information of a terminal that is the transmission source of the still image information. Attached to and a storage processing step of storing in the storage means.

  In the communication method according to the second aspect, when still image information transmitted from another terminal is received, the similarity between the still image information and the still image information previously stored in the storage unit is determined. When it is determined that the similarity is less than the threshold value, it is not similar to the still image information stored in the past. Only such still image information is stored in the storage means. That is, since still image information similar to still image information stored in the past is not stored, still image information can be efficiently stored. Furthermore, since the still image information is stored in association with the identification information of the terminal that is the transmission source of the still image information, desired still image information can be easily found when browsing later.

  A communication program according to a third aspect of the present invention is a communication program for controlling the operation of a communication terminal that transmits / receives still image information to / from another terminal via a network, and the still program transmitted from the other terminal to a computer Still image information receiving step for receiving image information, the still image information received in the still image information receiving step, and the still image information received at a past timing and previously stored in the storage means A similarity determination step for determining similarity, a determination step for determining whether or not the similarity determined in the similarity determination step is less than a threshold, and that the similarity is less than the threshold in the determination step If it is determined, the still image information received in the still image information receiving step is transmitted as the still image information transmission step. In association with the terminal identification information as the original, characterized in that to execute a storage processing step of storing in the storage means.

  When the communication program according to the third aspect receives the still image information transmitted from the other terminal by causing the computer to execute each step, the still image information and the still image previously stored in the storage unit The degree of similarity with information is determined. When it is determined that the similarity is less than the threshold value, it is not similar to the still image information stored in the past. Only such still image information is stored in the storage means. That is, since still image information similar to still image information stored in the past is not stored, still image information can be efficiently stored. Furthermore, since the still image information is stored in association with the identification information of the terminal that is the transmission source of the still image information, desired still image information can be easily found when browsing later.

It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of the conference system 1, and the electrical structure of the conference terminal device 5. FIG. 3 is a timing chart showing an example of communication in the conference system 1. 3 is a conceptual diagram of document image information 90. FIG. It is the figure which showed the window W scrolled to the up-down direction with respect to the document image A. FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing a storage mode of a document image stored in a document image storage area 242. FIG. It is a flowchart of a document image providing side control process. It is a flowchart of a document image receiving side control process. It is a flowchart of a determination area | region identification process. It is a flowchart of a sequence determination process. It is a conceptual diagram at the time of determining the arrangement | sequence of a document image according to arrangement | sequence determination processing.

  Hereinafter, a conference system 1 including conference terminal devices 3 to 5 as an embodiment embodying a communication terminal of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The drawings to be referred to are used for explaining technical features that can be adopted by the present invention. The configuration of the apparatus, the flowcharts of various processes, and the like described in the drawings are not intended to be limited to these, but are merely illustrative examples.

  First, the configuration of the conference system 1 will be described with reference to FIG. The conference system 1 includes, for example, conference terminal devices 3, 4, and 5 installed at three bases, respectively. The conference terminal devices 3 to 5 are connected to other terminals via the network 2 and communicate various data such as images and sounds, thereby enabling a remote conference. The conference terminal devices 3 to 5 have at least a function (IP telephone function) for executing a call between users at each base. For example, SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) is used as a call control protocol for realizing the IP telephone function. As the conference terminal devices 3 to 5, a stationary personal computer, a portable terminal, or the like can be used in addition to a dedicated terminal.

  Identification information is assigned to each of the conference terminal devices 3 to 5. In SIP, the SIP address corresponds to identification information. For example, “001” is assigned to the conference terminal device 3, “002” is assigned to the conference terminal device 4, and “003” is assigned to the conference terminal device 5. The user makes a call with a specific user by designating a SIP address and calling a conference terminal device of the specific user at another base. In this embodiment, these SIP addresses are used as terminal IDs as identification information. The terminal ID is not limited to the SIP address, but an IP address, a Mac address, or the like can be used.

  Next, an efficient storage method of the material image provided to each base in the material sharing executed in the conference system 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. In the conference system 1, the same document image can be shared by storing and transmitting the document image that each of the conference terminal devices 3 to 5 independently has as a “capture image”, and the document image can be stored at its own site. In the communication example shown in FIG. 2, the document image of the conference terminal device 3 is first shared, the document image B of the conference terminal device 4 is shared in the middle, and finally, the document image of the conference terminal device 3 is shared again. The case is shown.

  First, a video conference is started in the conference system 1. Then, the material image information is transmitted from the conference terminal device 3 to the conference terminal devices 4 and 5 at the timing T1. As will be described later, the document image information (see FIG. 3) includes the terminal ID of the terminal that provides the document image, the document image “xxx.jpg” that is a capture image, and scroll information of the document image. Is included.

  In the conference terminal devices 4 and 5 that have received the document image information, the document image of the conference terminal device 3 included in the document image information is stored in a document image storage area 242 (see FIG. 1) of the HDD 24 described later of each base. The The conference terminal device 3 transmits the material image information to the conference terminal devices 4 and 5 at every predetermined time while providing the material.

  After the provision of the material of the conference terminal device 3 is finished, the material image information is then transferred from the conference terminal device 4 to the conference terminal devices 3 and 5 at the timing T2 in order to share the material image of the conference terminal device 4. Is sent. In the conference terminal devices 3 and 5 that have received the document image information, the document image of the conference terminal device 4 included in the document image information is stored in a document image storage area 242 of the HDD 24 described later at each site. The conference terminal device 4 transmits the material image information to the conference terminal devices 3 and 5 at every predetermined time while providing the material.

  After the provision of the material of the conference terminal device 4 is finished, next, in order to share the material image of the conference terminal device 3 again, the material image is sent from the conference terminal device 3 to the conference terminal devices 4 and 5 at the timing T3. Information is sent. In the conference terminal devices 4 and 5 that have received the document image information, the document image of the conference terminal device 3 included in the document image information is stored in a document image storage area 242 of the HDD 24 described later at each site. The conference terminal device 3 transmits the material image information to the conference terminal devices 4 and 5 at every predetermined time while providing the material. Then, after the provision of the materials of the conference terminal device 3 is completed, each communication is disconnected and the conference is terminated.

  When the above communication procedure is performed, the material image transmitted from the conference terminal device 4 is stored in the HDD 24 of the conference terminal device 3 as shown in FIG. The HDD 24 of the conference terminal device 4 stores the material image of the conference terminal device 3. The HDD 24 of the conference terminal device 5 stores material images of the conference terminal devices 3 and 4, respectively.

  In such a communication procedure, in the present embodiment, when a document image transmitted from another site is stored at the local site, the similarity with the previously stored document image is determined. If the similarity is greater than or equal to the threshold value, the material image is not stored because the similarity is high with the previous material image. If the degree of similarity is less than the threshold, the degree of similarity with the previous material image is low, and the material image is stored. Therefore, since material images similar to each other are not stored redundantly, it is possible to prevent the stored material images from becoming enormous. Furthermore, the material images transmitted from other bases are organized and stored for each terminal ID of the terminal that provided the material image. This is convenient for searching for a specific material image from a plurality of material images stored in the HDD 24. Hereinafter, regarding the conference terminal devices 3 to 5 having such a document image storage function, an electrical configuration thereof, a control method for realizing the document image storage function, and the like will be described in detail.

  First, the electrical configuration of the conference terminal device 5 will be described with reference to FIG. Since the electrical configuration of the conference terminal devices 3 and 4 is the same as that of the conference terminal device 5, description thereof will be omitted. The conference terminal device 5 includes a CPU 21 that controls the conference terminal device 5. The CPU 21 is electrically connected to the ROM 22, RAM 23, hard disk drive (HDD) 24, input unit 25, display unit 26, camera 27, microphone 28, speaker 29, drive device 30, and communication unit 31. The ROM 22 stores a boot program, BIOS, OS, and the like. The RAM 23 stores a timer, a counter, and temporary data.

  The HDD 24 includes a program storage area 241 for storing various programs, a material image storage area 242 for storing material images transmitted from other bases, a transmission number storage area 243 for storing the number of transmissions of material images, and the like. . The input unit 25 is a keyboard or a mouse that receives input from the user. The display unit 26 is a display that displays a desired image. The drive device 30 can read information stored in the storage medium 301. For example, when the conference terminal device 5 is set up, the control program stored in the storage medium 301 is read by the drive device 30 and stored in the HDD 24. The communication unit 31 performs timing control when communicating with other conference terminal devices 3 and 4 via the network 2.

  Next, the material image information 90 will be described with reference to FIG. The material image information 90 is obtained by adding information about the source of the material image and the scrolling of the material image to the data of the material image as the capture image. Specifically, the document image information 90 includes a terminal ID of a terminal that provides the document image, a document image “xxx.jpg” that is a capture image, and scroll information about the original image of the document image. Including. In this embodiment, the terminal ID is a SIP address. An IP address, a Mac address, etc. can also be used. The scroll information includes direction information indicating the scroll direction and position information indicating the scroll position when a part of the document image on which the document image is scroll-displayed.

  Here, the scroll direction and scroll position for the document image will be described with reference to FIG. For example, in the conference terminal device that provides the document image A, if the document image A does not fit in the frame of the window W, the document image A is scrolled. In this case, a scroll bar 50 is provided at the right end of the frame of the window W. The scroll bar 50 has a knob 51. The knob 51 indicates the currently displayed position and the ratio of the entire document image A. When the knob 51 is dragged, the display area of the document image A can be moved. Above and below the scroll bar 50, arrows 52 and 53 indicated by up and down arrows are provided. When the arrows 52 and 53 are clicked, the knob 51 moves one unit in that direction.

  If the document image does not fit in the horizontal direction within the frame of the window W, a horizontal scroll bar (not shown) is provided at the bottom of the frame of the window W. If it cannot fit in either the vertical direction or the horizontal direction, scroll display is possible with these two scroll bars.

  In such a scroll bar 50, when the whole of the document image A in the vertical direction is 100, the position x of the knob 51 is the position information in the vertical direction of the document image P displayed in the frame of the window W. Become. In this case, the position information of the knob 51 can be expressed as “x / 100”. By identifying the position of the knob 51, the scroll position of the material image P transmitted from the material provider can be identified, so it is easy to recognize which scroll position of the material image A the material image P displays. it can.

  When the document image is information for each page, that is, when the image is other than scroll display and fits within the frame of the window W, the document image is transmitted for each page. The document image information 90 in this case does not include scroll information, and therefore does not include scroll information. Therefore, information including the terminal ID and the material image is transmitted to other sites as the material image information.

  Next, the material image storage area 242 of the HDD 24 will be described with reference to FIG. In the material image storage area 242, a plurality of material images that are transmitted from other bases and regarded as images different from the material image previously stored by similarity determination described later are stored. The material image is sorted for each terminal ID and stored as a separate file for each material provider. In the example shown in FIG. 5, four material images P1 to P4 provided from the conference terminal device 3 and material images Q1 and Q2 provided from the conference terminal device 4 are stored. The arrangement of P1 to P4 is arranged in the order of P1, P2, P4, and P3 in accordance with the display flow of the document image A by an arrangement determination process described later. Further, position information indicating the scroll position is stored corresponding to each material image. Thereby, the scroll position of each material image can be specified.

  Next, in the material sharing executed by the conference system 1, the “material image providing side control process” executed by the CPU 21 when the material image is provided to another site, and the case where the material image is received from the other site and stored. The “material image receiving side control process” executed by the CPU 21 will be described in order.

  First, the document image providing side control process executed by the CPU 21 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Here, for convenience of explanation, description will be made assuming that the conference terminal device 3 is the provider of the material image.

  Before this process starts, communication is established with another site and the conference starts. Next, the user starts a predetermined application in order to share the material image of the local site. In response to this, the document image providing side control program stored in the program storage area 241 (see FIG. 1) of the HDD 24 is called and this processing is executed.

  First, it is determined whether or not a material image to be shared with another base is selected by the user (S1). Until the document image is selected (S1: NO), the process returns to S1, and the selection of the document image to be shared is monitored. When a desired document image is selected by the user, the transmission number N = 1 is stored in the transmission number storage area 243 of the HDD 24 (S2). Further, the document image displayed on the display unit 26 is captured. Material image information is created for the captured material image. Here, the terminal ID of the local site and the scroll information are acquired for the document image. The direction information of the scroll information is detected by, for example, an operation of dragging the knob 51 of the scroll bar 50 shown in FIG. 4 or an operation of clicking the arrows 52 and 53. As for the position information of the scroll information, the position of the knob 51 is detected.

  Then, the created document image information is transmitted to the conference terminal devices 4 and 5 which are other bases (S3). Further, it is determined whether or not the conference is finished (S4). If the conference has not ended (S4: NO), it is determined whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed since the previous document image information was transmitted (S5). If the predetermined time has not yet elapsed (S5: NO), the process returns to S4 to monitor whether or not the conference has ended.

  When a predetermined time has elapsed since the last document image information 90 was transmitted (S5: YES), 1 is added to the transmission number (N) in the transmission number storage area 243 of the HDD 24 (S6). Further, the document image displayed on the display unit 26 is captured. When the document image is an image in page units, the document image in the window frame is captured. When the document image is a scroll display image, the display area in the window frame is captured. Then, the document image information is created for the second document image that has been subjected to the capture process, and is transmitted to the conference terminal devices 4 and 5 at other bases (S3). Until the conference ends (S4: NO), the third image, the fourth image, and so on, the material image information is transmitted. And when communication with other bases is cut | disconnected and a meeting is complete | finished (S4: YES), this process is complete | finished.

  Next, the material image receiving side control process executed by the CPU 21 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. When communication is established with another site and the conference is started, an application for sharing the material for the material image owned by the local site is started. In response to this, the material image receiving side control program stored in the program storage area 241 of the HDD 24 is called and this processing is executed.

  First, it is determined whether or not material image information has been received from another site (S11). Until the document image information is received (S11: NO), whether or not the document image information is received is monitored. When the document image information is received (S11: YES), the document image included in the document image information is stored in the document image storage area 242 (see FIG. 1) of the HDD 24 (S12).

  Next, it is determined whether or not the next document image information has been received (S13). Until the next document image information is received (S13: NO), the process returns to S13 to monitor whether or not the document image information is received. When the next document image information is received (S13: YES), it is determined whether or not the document image information includes scroll information (S14). When there is no scroll information (S14: NO), the material image is an image for each page. In this case, the similarity between the material image received this time and the previous material image stored in the material image storage area 242 of the HDD 24 is determined (S16).

  A method for determining similarity will be described. Various methods can be applied to the similarity determination method. In the present embodiment, comparison is made with dots constituting the material image. For example, the material image is compared with the previous material image, and it is determined whether or not their similarity is less than a preset threshold value. The degree of similarity is the degree to which two material images are similar to each other. For example, the same number of dots (corresponding to the “similarity” of the present invention) of the dots constituting the material image received this time and the dots constituting the previous material image are less than a threshold (for example, 150 dots). Is determined as a separate image.

  Apart from this, for example, the ratio of all the dots constituting the material image received this time and the same part compared to all the dots constituting the previous material image (corresponding to the “similarity” of the present invention) When it is less than a threshold value (for example, 50%), it may be determined as another image. When the document image is an image for each page, the entire region of the document image is compared with dots.

  By the way, when there is scroll information in the document image information (S14: YES), the document image is a scroll display image. In this case, by determining the determination area for determining the similarity as a specific area, the processing amount related to the similarity determination is reduced. Specifically, a determination area specifying process based on the scroll information is executed (S15).

  The determination area specifying process will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, based on the received scroll information of the document image information, it is determined whether or not the scroll direction is down (S31). If the scroll direction is down (S31: YES), the determination area is set to the upper half area (S32). When the scroll direction is up (S31: NO, S33: YES), the determination area is set to the lower half area (S34). When the scroll direction is right (S33: NO, S35: YES), the determination area is set to the left half area (S36). If the scroll direction is left (S33: NO, S35: NO), the determination area is set to the right half area (S37). That is, in the document images to be compared with each other, an area opposite to the scroll direction is set as a determination area. By doing in this way, the processing amount can be remarkably reduced as compared with the case of comparing the dots of the entire area of the document image.

  Then, returning to S16 in FIG. 7, the similarity between the previously stored document image and the current document image is determined, and the similarity is a threshold value in the entire region of the document image or the specified determination region. It is judged whether it is less than (S17). When it is determined that the similarity is equal to or greater than the threshold (S17: NO), the material image received this time is almost the same as the previous material image, and is a material image that does not need to be saved. Therefore, the material image received this time is deleted (S23). On the other hand, if it is determined that the degree of similarity is less than the threshold (S17: YES), the material image received this time is different from the previous material image and is a material image to be stored. Therefore, it is determined whether or not the source of the received document image is different from the previous source of the document image (S18).

  If the provider is the same (S18: YES), it is further determined whether or not the document image information includes scroll information (S19). When there is no document image information (S19: NO), the document image is a page unit image. Therefore, the document image storage area 242 of the HDD 24 is stored in association with the previously stored document image (S21). The provider of the document image is determined by the terminal ID attached to the document image information. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the first document image P1 (P1.jpg) stored immediately before is from the conference terminal device 3, and the second document image P2 received this time is displayed. When (P2.jpg) is also from the conference terminal device 3, the terminal IDs = 001 of the conference terminal device 3 are associated with each other and stored.

  On the other hand, if the material provider is not the same (S18: NO), it is stored in a separate file in the material image storage area 242 of the HDD 24 in order to store it separately from the previously stored material image (S24). ). For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the material image P1 (P1.jpg) stored previously is that of the conference terminal device 3, and the material image Q1 (Q1.jpg) received this time is the conference. If it is of the terminal device 4, it is stored in a separate file with the terminal ID = 002 of the conference terminal device 4 (S24). As a result, even when various document images are provided from a plurality of other sites, the document image storage area 242 of the HDD 24 organizes and stores the document images for each source of the document images. This is convenient when searching and browsing.

  By the way, if the material provider of the previous document image and the document image received this time are the same (S18: YES), and the document image information includes scroll information (S19: YES), the document image is scrolled. It is an image. Therefore, depending on the scrolling operation of the document provider, the document image received this time may not match the display flow of the entire region of the scrolled document image in relation to the layout of the document image stored in the HDD 24 in the past. there is a possibility. That is, if the document images are stored in the order of reception, they may be different from the original document image order. Therefore, an arrangement determination process (S20) is executed to change the original document image order.

  The sequence determination process will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 9 and FIG. Here, as shown in FIG. 10, when the user of the conference terminal device 3, which is the material provider, performs a scroll operation on the material image A in the order of arrows A, B, and C, the conference terminal device 5 A method for determining the arrangement of the document images P sequentially transmitted from the conference terminal device 3 will be described as an example.

  First, when the user of the conference terminal device 3 scrolls the document image A from the top in the downward direction indicated by the arrow A, the document image information is transmitted to the conference terminal device 5 before and after scrolling. As shown in FIG. 9, the conference terminal device 5 that has received the document image information refers to the scroll information of the received document image information, and determines whether the scroll direction of the currently received document image is up or down (S41). ).

  Since the scroll direction this time is downward (S41: NO), it matches the display flow of the document image A. In this case, the process proceeds to S21 in FIG. 7 without changing the arrangement, and the second document image P2 is stored next to the first document image P1. As shown in FIG. 10, the positional relationship between the material image P1 and the material image P2 is overlapped between the lower part of the material image P1 and the upper part of the material image P2. The width of the overlapping portion can be adjusted by changing the threshold value for similarity determination. By adjusting the threshold value, there is no gap between the document image P1 and the document image P2, and the width of the overlapping portion can be reduced. At this time, the document images P1 and P2 are stored in the document image storage area 242 of the HDD 24 in this order.

  Next, when the user of the conference terminal device 3 quickly scrolls downward as indicated by the arrow B, the document image information during that time is not created. In the conference terminal device 5 that has received the document image information for the document image located by the operation of the arrow B, the current scroll direction is also downward (S41: NO). 6, the third material image P3 is stored in the material image storage area 242 of the HDD 24 next to the material image of the material image P2.

  As shown in FIG. 10, the positional relationship between the document image P2 and the document image P3 does not overlap each other in the vertical direction. This is because the scroll operation of the arrow B is too early, and the area of the document image between the second and third sheets has been skipped. At this time, the document images P1, P2, and P3 are stored in the document image storage area 242 of the HDD 24 in this order.

  Next, as shown on the left side of FIG. 10, when the user of the conference terminal device 3 scrolls upward as indicated by the arrow C and refers to an area that has not been viewed in the past, the document image information is It is transmitted to the conference terminal device 5. In the conference terminal device 5 that has received the document image information, the current scroll direction is upward (S41: YES), and if stored in the order of reception, the position of the fourth document image P4 to be saved is It does not match the display flow of the document image A.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 10, when the fourth material image P4 to be stored is an image corresponding to the region between the material images P2 and P3, the material image storage in the HDD 24 is the order of reception. In the area 242, the document images P1, P2, P3, and P4 are stored in this order. However, the order of the material images P1 to P4 does not match the display flow of the material image A.

  Therefore, in order to arrange the fourth document image P4 at a position where it should originally be, first, in the plurality of document images stored in the document image storage area 242 of the HDD 24, the same part as the document image P4 to be stored this time is displayed. It is determined whether or not there is a document image that has (S42). Specifically, the presence or absence of the same portion is determined by calculating the degree of similarity by comparing the document images with each other.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 10, the fourth document image P4 has the same portion as the document image P2 and the document image P3. Specifically, the lower part of the document image P2 and the upper part of the document image P4 overlap. The lower part of the document image P4 and the upper part of the document image P3 overlap. In this case (S42: YES), it can be seen from the position of the overlapping portion that the material image P4 is an image in a region between the material image P2 and the material image P3. Therefore, in the material image storage area 242 of the HDD 24, it is determined that the arrangement order of the material images P4 is between the material image P2 and the material image P3 (S43). Thus, since the arrangement of the document images P4 is determined, the process proceeds to S21 in FIG. 6 and is stored in the document image storage area 242 of the HDD 24 in the order of the document images P1, P2, P4, and P3.

  On the other hand, when there is no identical portion between the document image P4 and the plurality of document images stored in the document image storage area 242 of the HDD 24 (S42: NO), for example, the document image P2 and the document image P3. If the material image P4 is completely fitted with a space between them, the similarity determination cannot determine the arrangement of the material images P4 with respect to the previous material images P1, P2, and P3. In this case, the arrangement of the document images P4 is specified based on the position information of the scroll information of the document images P4 (S44).

  For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the document image storage area 242 of the HDD 24 stores a document image and scroll information thereof for each document provider terminal. Here, the position information of the second material image P2 is x2 / 100, the position information of the third material image P3 is x3 / 100, the position information of the fourth material image P4 is x4 / 100, and x2. When <x4 <x3, the material image P4 is likely to be located between the material image P2 and the material image P3.

  In this case, in the document image storage area 242 of the HDD 24, the arrangement order of the document images P4 is determined to be between the document images P2 and P3. Thus, since the arrangement of the document images P4 is determined, the process proceeds to S21 in FIG. 7 and is stored in the document image storage area 242 of the HDD 24 in the order of the document images P1, P2, P4, and P3. By such a method, the document images P1 to P4 can be stored so as to match the display flow of the document image A, so that a desired document image can be quickly found from the document image storage area 242 of the HDD 24.

  In S41, it is determined whether or not the scroll direction is up. However, even when the scroll information is in the left and right direction, the same effect can be obtained by making the same determination. For example, in S41, it is determined whether or not the scroll direction is right. If it is right, the process proceeds to S21 in FIG. If it is left, the process may proceed to S42.

  Then, it is determined whether or not the communication with the other site is interrupted and the conference is ended (S22). If the conference is still continued (S22: NO), the process returns to S13, and is in a standby state until the next document image information is received. When the conference is over (S22: YES), this processing is over.

  As described above, in the conference system 1 according to the present embodiment, the conference terminal apparatuses 3 to 5 share the same document image by transmitting and receiving the document images independently owned by the conference terminal apparatuses 3 to 5, respectively, Can remember. Then, when the document image transmitted from another site is stored at the local site, the similarity with the previous document image is determined. If the similarity is greater than or equal to the threshold value, the material image is not stored because the similarity is high with the previous material image. As a result, material images that are similar to each other are not stored redundantly, and therefore it is possible to prevent the stored material images from becoming enormous.

  Furthermore, the material images transmitted from other bases are organized and stored for each terminal ID of the terminal that provided the material image. This makes it easy to find a specific material image from a plurality of material images stored in the HDD 24. Further, the arrangement of the document images can be changed in accordance with the flow of display of the scrolled document image by determining the similarity with a plurality of document images stored in the HDD 24 or based on the scroll position information. . As a result, a desired document image can be quickly found from the document image storage area 242 of the HDD 24.

  In the above description, the CPU 21 that executes the process of S11 in FIG. 7 corresponds to the “still image information receiving unit” of the present invention, and the CPU 21 that executes the process of S16 corresponds to the “similarity determination unit” of the present invention. The CPU 21 that executes the process of S17 corresponds to the “determination means” of the present invention, the CPU 21 that executes the process of S19 corresponds to the “sequence determination means” of the present invention, and the CPU 21 that executes the processes of S20 and S21 This corresponds to the “storage processing means” of the present invention. The CPU 21 that executes the process of S3 in FIG. 6 corresponds to the “still image transmission unit” of the present invention. The CPU 21 that executes the processes of S31, S33, and S35 of FIG. 8 corresponds to the “specifying means” of the present invention.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, A various deformation | transformation is possible. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the captured image transmitted from the material provider is stored. However, the captured image is not limited to the captured image as long as it is a still image.

  In the above embodiment, in the determination area specifying process shown in FIG. 8, the determination areas are set to the lower half, the upper half, the right half, and the left half depending on the scroll direction up, down, left, and right. It is not always necessary to set a half area of the document image, and the size of the determination area is not limited as long as the area includes a predetermined ratio in the scroll direction.

1 Conference System 3-5 Conference Terminal Device 21 CPU
24 HDD

Claims (6)

A communication terminal that transmits / receives still image information to / from other terminals via a network,
Still image information receiving means for receiving the still image information transmitted from the other terminal;
Similarity determination means for determining the similarity between the still image information received by the still image information receiving means and the still image information received at a past timing and previously stored in the storage means;
Determination means for determining whether the similarity determined by the similarity determination means is less than a threshold;
When the similarity is determined to be less than the threshold by the determination unit, the still image information received by the still image information reception unit is associated with identification information of a terminal that is a transmission source of the still image information. And a storage processing means for storing in the storage means. Acquisition means for acquiring operation information which is operation information of the still image information displayed on the display screen;
When the transmission of the still image information is determined by the still image information transmission determination unit that determines transmission of the still image information to the other terminal, the operation information acquired by the acquisition unit is used as the still image information. Still image information transmitting means for transmitting to the other terminal in association with
The still image information receiving means includes
Receiving the still image information transmitted by the still image information transmitting means of the other terminal and the operation information;
The similarity determination means includes:
Based on the operation information received by the still image information receiving means, the similarity between the still image information received by the still image information receiving means and the still image information stored in the storage means is calculated. A determination area determining means for determining a determination area to be determined;
The communication terminal according to claim 1, wherein the similarity is determined based on dot information in the determination area determined by the determination area determination unit. The operation information includes scroll information that is scroll direction information of the still image information scroll-displayed in a window displayed on the display screen, or device information of a pointing device that specifies the scroll direction.
The similarity determination means includes a specifying means for specifying a scroll direction of the still image information based on the operation information received by the still image information receiving means,
The communication terminal according to claim 2, wherein the determination area determination unit determines an area that occupies a predetermined ratio in the scroll direction specified by the specifying unit as the determination area. The acquisition means acquires, in addition to the operation information, scroll position information which is position information of a portion displayed in the window of the still image information,
The still image information transmission unit transmits the operation information acquired by the acquisition unit and the scroll position information to the other terminal in association with the still image information,
The still image information receiving means receives the still image information, the operation information, and the scroll position information transmitted by the still image information transmitting means of the other terminal,
The storage processing means includes
The communication terminal according to claim 3, further comprising an arrangement determining unit that determines an arrangement of the still image information stored in the storage unit based on the operation information and the scroll position information. A communication method performed by a communication terminal that transmits / receives still image information to / from another terminal via a network,
A still image information receiving step for receiving the still image information transmitted from the other terminal;
A similarity determination step for determining a similarity between the still image information received in the still image information reception step and the still image information received at a past timing and previously stored in a storage unit;
A determination step of determining whether or not the similarity determined in the similarity determination step is less than a threshold;
When the similarity is determined to be less than the threshold in the determination step, the still image information received in the still image information reception step is associated with identification information of a terminal that is the transmission source of the still image information. And a storage processing step of storing in the storage means. A communication program for controlling the operation of a communication terminal that transmits and receives still image information to and from other terminals via a network,
On the computer,
A still image information receiving step for receiving the still image information transmitted from the other terminal;
A similarity determination step for determining a similarity between the still image information received in the still image information reception step and the still image information received at a past timing and previously stored in a storage unit;
A determination step of determining whether or not the similarity determined in the similarity determination step is less than a threshold;
When the similarity is determined to be less than the threshold in the determination step, the still image information received in the still image information reception step is associated with identification information of a terminal that is the transmission source of the still image information. And a storage processing step stored in the storage means.

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