JP2015060288A - Advertisement selection device and advertisement addition method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an advertisement selection device and an advertisement addition method capable of properly selecting an arbitrary number of advertisements to plural images.SOLUTION: A tendency related to a predetermined attribute of plural images designated by a user is analyzed, and on the basis of an analysis result, a predetermined number of advertisements are selected from registered advertisements to the plural images. For example, the respective advertisement is associated with positional information such as a place of advertisement target facility. Therefore distribution of places where the images are captured is analyzed and areas A-C where the places are centralized are derived, the area having high centralization degree of the places where the images are captured has priority, and the advertisement which is indicated by the positional information in the area, is selected.

Description

  The present invention relates to an advertisement selection device that selects an advertisement suitable for an image, and an advertisement addition method for selecting an appropriate advertisement and adding it to an image.

  Multifunction devices (image forming devices) with charging devices installed at convenience stores and the like have been used for copying originals and FAX transmissions. In recent years, however, they have been added to recording media such as SD memory cards and smartphones. It is also used for printing stored photos. Also registered in the server or a system that registers photos, etc., called net prints to the server via the Internet, and allows the photos, etc. registered in the server to be printed by a multifunction device installed in a convenience store There are also services that print photos and deliver them to the user's home, and services that allow photos to be uploaded to online storage and shared by multiple people.

  In order to reduce the amount charged to the user for the cost of such a service, there is a service in which an advertisement is added to printed matter or electronic data, and the advertiser bears part or all of the cost. In general, when printing photos, most of them are color images, and printing costs are higher compared to copying documents etc. in black and white. Many users say it ’s good.

  On the other hand, it is desirable for advertisers who bear costs to insert more effective advertisements.

  For example, with the spread of smartphones and cameras equipped with GPS (Global Positioning System) functions, location information indicating the shooting location is increasingly added to photographs. There has been proposed a content distribution system that preferentially selects an advertisement image close to a place where a photograph of a photograph included in the content is selected, adds the photograph of the advertisement to the content, distributes it, and displays it on the user's display. (See Patent Document 1 below.)

  Further, in a system that uses an e-mail as an advertising medium, there is a technique for attaching an advertisement corresponding to a region indicated by the region information when the content of the e-mail includes region information (Patent Document 2 below). reference.).

JP 2009-211142 A JP 2001-326684 A

  In Patent Document 1, when selecting an advertisement corresponding to a shooting location of a photograph, one or a plurality of advertisements are selected for one photograph. In Patent Document 2, an advertisement is selected for one piece of regional information.

  When printing one image on one sheet of paper, one or a plurality of advertisements may be selected corresponding to the shooting location of the image, as described above. For example, as shown in FIG. 15, an advertisement Ad01 whose advertisement facility is closest to the shooting location of the image 1 is selected as the image 1 and is combined and printed on one sheet. Similarly, for the image 2, the advertisement Ad03 whose advertisement facility is closest to the shooting location of the image 2 is selected, and for the image 3, the advertisement Ad04 whose advertising facility is closest to the shooting location of the image 3 is selected. The

  However, when N images are output on a single sheet using the aggregate printing (Nin1) function, if an advertisement is selected 1: 1 for each image and an attempt is made to place N ads, Due to the limitation of the paper area, each advertisement is reduced and difficult to see, and sufficient advertising effect cannot be exhibited. Therefore, it is necessary to select an advertisement by a method other than 1: 1 and limit the number of advertisements to be smaller than the number of images.

  On the other hand, when a small number and a plurality of N (for example, three) images are placed on one sheet, if these images are originally small in area, M (for example, more than N) in the margin. In some cases, 5 advertisements can be placed. In this case as well, the method of selecting the image and the advertisement at 1: 1 makes it difficult to select the advertisement because of the fraction.

  Furthermore, even when two advertisements are selected for two images, there are cases where an appropriate advertisement cannot be selected if the advertisement is selected 1: 1 for the images. For example, if neither an advertisement targeting the area A nor an advertisement targeting the area B is registered for an image captured in the area A and an image captured in the area B, the relationship is 1: 1. You can't select the right ad.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an advertisement selection device and an advertisement addition method capable of more appropriately selecting an arbitrary number of advertisements for a plurality of images. .

  The gist of the present invention for achieving the object lies in the inventions of the following items.

[1] An analysis unit that analyzes trends related to predetermined attributes of a plurality of images designated by a user;
An advertisement selection unit that selects a predetermined number of advertisements for the plurality of images from pre-registered advertisements based on an analysis result of the analysis unit;
An advertisement selection device characterized by comprising:

  In the above-described invention and the invention described in [11] below, a tendency related to a predetermined attribute of a plurality of images is analyzed, and an arbitrary number of images are selected for the plurality of images based on the analysis result. That is, unlike the conventional method of selecting an advertisement with a 1: 1 relationship with respect to an image, the image is selected from the tendency of the attributes of the plurality of images. Thereby, the relationship between the number of images and the number of advertisements to be selected is arbitrary. Further, even when there is no appropriate advertisement for a certain image, the advertisement can be selected from a predetermined tendency of a plurality of images.

[2] The image processing apparatus further includes a layout unit that determines a layout for printing the plurality of images and the predetermined number of advertisements selected by the advertisement selection unit on one sheet of a predetermined size. ] The advertisement selection device described in the above.

[3] Print data in which the plurality of images and the predetermined number of advertisements are laid out according to the layout determined by the layout unit is generated, and the print data is output to an external printing device, or a sheet based on the print data The advertisement selection device according to [2], further including an output unit that prints on the screen.

[4] The analysis unit groups the plurality of images based on the tendency,
The advertisement selection unit selects an advertisement for the group,
The layout unit performs the layout so that an image of an advertisement selected for one group is closer to an image of an advertisement selected for another group than the image of one group. The advertisement selection device according to [2] or [3].

  In the said invention, based on the tendency obtained by analyzing the attribute of a some image, a some image is grouped into several and an advertisement is selected with respect to each group. For example, an advertisement corresponding to the tendency of each group is selected.

[5] The analysis unit performs the trend analysis by weighting the plurality of images in accordance with the size of the image, [1] to [4], Ad selection device.

  In the above invention, an advertisement is selected with an emphasis on an image of a large size that attracts the user's attention.

[6] The advertisement selection unit is a case where the size of some of the plurality of images is larger than a certain size than the size of other images, and the number of the some images is less than the predetermined number. In the case, the advertisement selection device according to any one of [1] to [5], wherein the advertisement is preferentially selected for each of the partial images on a one-to-one basis.

  In the above invention, when the size of some images is larger than a certain size than other images, attention is paid only to the large images, and advertisements are selected on a one-to-one basis for the large images.

[7] The layout unit performs the layout of the partial image so that an advertisement image selected for the image is closer to the image than other advertisement images. The advertisement selection device according to [6], in which [2] or [3] is cited.

  In the said invention, the advertisement selected as 1: 1 with respect to the image is arranged closer to the corresponding image than other advertisements.

[8] The advertisement selection device according to any one of [1] to [7], wherein the predetermined number is smaller than the number of the plurality of images.

  In the above invention, the case where the predetermined number is smaller than the number of a plurality of images is a case where an advertisement cannot be selected for each image in a 1: 1 relationship.

[9] The predetermined attribute includes an image shooting location,
Each ad has a location associated with it,
The analysis unit derives an area where shooting locations are concentrated,
The advertisement selection unit prioritizes an area with a high degree of concentration and selects an advertisement having a location indicated by position information in the area. [1] to [8] Ad selection device.

  In the above invention, the tendency of the shooting location of the image is analyzed, and an advertisement related to the area is selected for the area where the shooting location is concentrated.

[10] The predetermined attributes include a shooting location and a shooting range of the image,
The advertisement selection device according to [9], wherein the advertisement selection unit selects an advertisement in consideration of a frequency included in the shooting range.

  In the above invention, the advertisement is selected in consideration of the shooting range (shooting direction and angle of view) in addition to the shooting location.

[11] receiving a plurality of image designations from a user;
Analyzing a tendency relating to a predetermined attribute of the specified plurality of images;
Selecting a predetermined number of advertisements for the plurality of images from pre-registered advertisements based on the results of the analysis;
Adding and outputting the selected predetermined number of advertisements to the plurality of images;
An advertisement addition method characterized by comprising:

[12] The advertisement according to [11], further comprising a step of laying out the plurality of designated images and the image of the selected advertisement so as to be printed on one sheet of a predetermined size. Append method.

  According to the advertisement selection device and the advertisement addition method according to the present invention, it is possible to more appropriately select or select and add an arbitrary number of advertisements to a plurality of images.

1 shows a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus 10 having a function of an advertisement selection device according to the present invention. An output example by the aggregation function when the advertisement addition function is turned off and an output example by the aggregation function when the advertisement addition function is turned on are shown. It is a figure which shows the analysis example concerning the example of an output in case an advertisement addition function is turned on, and 15 images were collected on one sheet | seat by the aggregation function, and selection of advertisement. It is a figure which shows the example of an output at the time of analyzing the positional information (photographing place) and image | photographing range (an imaging | photography direction and a view angle) of an image, and an analysis condition when selecting an advertisement. It is a figure which shows the example of an output in the case of selecting an advertisement from image size. It is a figure which shows an example of the advertisement management table in which the information accompanying an advertisement was registered. It is a figure which shows an example of the image information table which manages the information accompanying an image. It is a figure which shows an example of the output management table which manages the content printed on a paper. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an outline of processing performed by the image forming apparatus when printing is performed with an advertisement addition function turned on. It is a flowchart which shows the detail of an advertisement selection process (step S104 of FIG. 9). It is a flowchart which shows the detail of the process (step S105 of FIG. 9) which determines the arrangement | positioning of the advertisement in an advertisement area | region. It is a figure which shows the output example which has arrange | positioned the advertisement selected 1: 1 with respect to the image near the corresponding image. It is a figure which shows the example of an output in case two advertisements are published with respect to nine images. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration and an operation of a system according to the present invention in which an image forming apparatus and an advertisement server are communicably connected via a network or the like. It is a figure which shows the example which selects an advertisement with respect to an image 1: 1 based on position information.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus 10 having a function of an advertisement selection device according to the present invention. The image forming apparatus 10 includes a copy function that optically reads a document and prints a duplicate image on paper, a scan function that stores image data of the read document as a file, and transmits the file to an external terminal via a network, a PC PC print function that prints and outputs an image related to print data received over a network from a network, etc., and image print function that prints and outputs an image acquired from a connected portable storage medium or server The apparatus is configured as a so-called multi-function machine having a facsimile function for transmitting and receiving image data according to a facsimile procedure.

  The image forming apparatus 10 is installed in a convenience store or a public place and collects a charge from the user for use. However, when the advertisement addition function is turned on, an advertisement is automatically displayed on a printed matter or an image transmitted by facsimile. In addition, the fee is charged to the advertiser. For example, when an image print function for acquiring and printing an image designated by a user from a portable storage medium or a server is performed with the advertisement addition function turned on, the image forming apparatus 10 is suitable for the image designated by the user. The advertisement is selected, the designated image and the selected advertisement are laid out and printed on one sheet of paper, and the cost of the advertisement is charged to the advertiser of the advertisement.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 10 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11 that comprehensively controls the operation of the image forming apparatus 10. The CPU 11 has a ROM (Read Only Memory) 12, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 13, a nonvolatile memory 14, a hard disk device 15, an image reading unit 16, an operation display unit 21, a communication unit 22, an image processing unit 23, and a printer unit through a bus. 24, a facsimile communication unit 25, a recording medium connection unit 26, and the like are connected.

  The CPU 11 is based on an OS (Operating System) program, and executes middleware, application programs, and the like. Various programs are stored in the ROM 12, and each function of the image forming apparatus 10 is realized by the CPU 11 executing various processes according to these programs.

  The RAM 13 is used as a work memory for temporarily storing various data when the CPU 11 executes processing based on a program, an image memory for storing image data, and the like.

  The nonvolatile memory 14 is a memory (flash memory) whose stored contents are not destroyed even when the power is turned off, and is used for storing various setting information.

  The hard disk device 15 is a large-capacity nonvolatile storage device, and stores various programs and data in addition to print data and image data. Further, the hard disk device 15 stores advertisement data including advertisement images and their attributes for a large number of advertisements.

  The image reading unit 16 functions to optically read a document and acquire image data. The image reading unit 16 sequentially, for example, a light source that irradiates light on a document, a line image sensor that receives the reflected light for one line in the width direction, and a line-by-line reading position in the length direction of the document. An optical path composed of a moving unit for moving, a lens, a mirror, and the like for guiding reflected light from the document to the line image sensor to form an image, and a conversion unit for converting an analog image signal output from the line image sensor into digital image data And so on.

  The operation display unit 21 has a function of displaying various operation screens, setting screens, and the like and receiving operations such as job submission from the user. The operation display unit 21 includes a display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), various operation switches such as a start button, and a touch panel provided on the display surface of the display device. The touch panel detects a coordinate position where the display surface of the display device is touched with a touch pen or a finger.

  The communication unit 22 performs a function of communicating with an external device such as a PC or a server through a network.

  The image processing unit 23 performs rasterization processing for converting print data into image data, image data compression, expansion processing, and the like in addition to processing such as enlargement / reduction and rotation of images and advertisement images.

  The printer unit 24 functions to form an image corresponding to the image data on a sheet. Here, it has a paper transport device, a photosensitive drum, a charging device, a laser unit, a developing device, a transfer separation device, a cleaning device, and a fixing device, and performs image formation by an electrophotographic process. It is configured as a so-called laser printer. Other methods may be used for image formation.

  The facsimile communication unit 25 performs a function of transmitting / receiving image data to / from an external apparatus having a facsimile function through a telephone line.

  The recording medium connection unit 26 is an I / F (Interface) unit for detachably connecting a portable storage medium 3 such as an SD memory card (Secure Digital memory card) or a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory.

  FIG. 2 shows an output example 30 by the aggregation function when the advertisement addition function is turned off and an output example 30B by the aggregation function when the advertisement addition function is turned on. The aggregation function is a function for reducing a plurality of images and laying them out on one sheet for output. FIG. 2 shows an example in which twelve images designated by the user are collected on one sheet.

  When the advertisement addition function is turned on, a certain area is secured as the advertisement area 31 so as not to affect the output of the images 1 to 12. The number of advertisements inserted into the advertisement area 31 is changed according to the advertisement size provided by the advertiser. In the output example 30B, the advertisement area 31 gathered in the lower part of the paper is secured by narrowing the vertical interval between the images 1 to 12 than in the output example 30. The position in the paper for securing the advertisement area 31 and the shape of the advertisement area 31 are not limited to those illustrated, and may be changed within a range that does not affect the image by the arrangement of the images.

  FIG. 3 shows an output example when the advertisement addition function is turned on, and the 15 images are aggregated and output on one sheet by the aggregation function, and the analysis status relating to advertisement selection. Output example 1 is an example in which one advertisement is inserted in the advertisement area 31, output example 2 is an example in which two advertisements are inserted in the advertisement area 31, and output example 3 is in which three advertisements are inserted in the advertisement area 31. It is an example.

  In either case, since the number of advertisements to be inserted into the advertisement area 31 is smaller than the number of images, it is not possible to select advertisements in a 1: 1 relationship with images. Therefore, the tendency of 15 images is analyzed for a predetermined attribute of the image, and an advertisement is selected from the analysis result.

  In the example of FIG. 3, position information indicating the shooting location of the image is used as an attribute. It is assumed that position information indicating a shooting location is attached to an image designated by the user through the operation display unit 21 or the like. For example, position information is attached to a photograph (image) taken with a smartphone or a digital camera having a GPS function. Further, in the case of an advertisement for a location suitable for the advertisement, for example, a store or facility, the advertisement is associated with position information indicating the location of the store or facility targeted for the advertisement.

  When selecting an advertisement, the image forming apparatus 10 analyzes the distribution of the shooting locations from the position information (information indicating the shooting locations) of a plurality of images collected on one sheet, and the shooting locations are concentrated. Deriving an area. Then, in order from the area with the highest degree of concentration, an advertisement having a location indicated by the position information in the area is selected.

  In the example of FIG. 3, the 15 images are grouped into three groups of A group, B group, and C group based on the distribution of shooting locations, and correspond to the images of areas A and B corresponding to the images of A group. Area C corresponding to the images of areas B and C is derived. Here, a circle with a fixed radius is drawn around the shooting location of each image, and the overlapping circles are combined to form an island, and the circle circumscribing the island is defined as one area.

  An area having a higher number of images belongs to a higher concentration level. In the example of FIG. 3, seven images (group A images) belong to area A, five images (group B images) belong to area B, and three images (C group images) belong to area C. Since the group image) belongs, the degree of concentration has a relationship of area A> area B> area C.

  In the output example 1 in which one advertisement is posted, only the advertisement (Ad01) having a location indicated by the position information in the area A having the highest degree of concentration is selected and placed in the advertisement area 31. In the output example 2 in which two advertisements are posted, an advertisement (Ad01) having a location indicated by position information in the area A having the highest concentration degree and an advertisement having a location indicated by position information in the area B having the second highest concentration degree (Ad01) Ad04) is selected and placed in the advertisement area 31. In the output example 3 in which three advertisements are posted, an advertisement (Ad01) having a location indicated by position information in the area A with the highest concentration (Ad01) and an advertisement having a location indicated by position information in the area B having the second highest concentration ( An advertisement (Ad03) having a location indicated by position information in the area C having the third highest degree of concentration is selected and placed in the advertisement area 31.

  In this way, by preferentially adopting advertisements for a group of images that show a strong tendency, even if the number of advertisements is smaller than the number of images aggregated on one sheet, it will be posted on that sheet. The relationship between the image and the advertisement becomes higher, and the advertising effect can be enhanced. Each advertisement has a predetermined size and a burden to be borne by the advertiser, and the number of advertisements arranged in the advertisement area 31 secured on one sheet is determined according to the size of the advertisement. .

  FIG. 4 shows an output example and an analysis situation when an advertisement is selected by analyzing the position information (shooting location) and the shooting range (shooting direction and angle of view) of the image. FIG. 4 shows an output example 4 in the case where nine images are aggregated on one sheet by the aggregation function and two advertisements are placed in the advertisement area 31. The images are divided into A group, B group, and C group by the same method as described above. Then, area A is derived for group A, area B for group B, and area C for group C.

  In this example, area A, area B, and area C have the same concentration, so there is no superiority or inferiority due to the concentration.

  An advertisement (Ad01) having a location indicated by position information in area A is included in the shooting range of two images. An advertisement (Ad03) having a location indicated by position information in area B is included in the shooting range of one image. An advertisement (Ad04) having a location indicated by position information in area C is included in the shooting range of two images. Therefore, an advertisement that is frequently included in the shooting range is preferentially selected. Specifically, an advertisement (Ad01) and an advertisement (Ad04) are selected.

The advertisement selection method based on the degree of concentration and the shooting range may be any of the following.
(1) Select an advertisement based on the degree of concentration, and if the required number of advertisements cannot be selected based on the degree of concentration, select the remaining advertisements based on the shooting range.
(2) An advertisement is selected by considering both the degree of concentration and the shooting range at the same time. For example, each advertisement is given a first point with respect to the degree of concentration of the area to which the advertisement belongs and a second point with respect to the overlapping degree of shooting ranges, and an advertisement having a high sum of the first point and the second point is preferentially selected. To do.
(3) An advertisement is selected based on the overlapping degree of shooting ranges, and when the necessary number of advertisements cannot be selected based on the overlapping degree of shooting ranges, the remaining advertisements are selected based on the degree of concentration.

  Note that an advertisement may be selected based only on the overlapping degree of shooting ranges.

  FIG. 5 shows an output example and a selection situation when an advertisement is selected from the image size. When images of different sizes are arranged on one sheet of paper, the image with the larger size tends to catch the user's eyes. Therefore, when a large image and a small image are mixed in an image collected on one sheet, an advertisement suitable for the image is selected with priority on the image having a large size. Thereby, the advertising effect is improved.

  For example, in the output example 5 of FIG. 5A, when two advertisements are selected, the size of the image 1 and the image 2 out of the seven images is more than a certain size (for example, 2 in area). The advertisement (Ad01) suitable for the image 1 and the advertisement (Ad02) suitable for the image 2 are selected.

  Output example 6 in FIG. 5B is an example in which three advertisements are selected. As in FIG. 6A, since the size of image 1 and image 2 out of the seven images is larger than a certain size than the other images, an advertisement suitable for image 1 (Ad01) and an advertisement suitable for image 2 ( Ad02) is selected. The remaining one advertisement is selected based on other attributes of the image. In the example of FIG. 5B, images other than image 1 and image 2 are grouped based on the position information of the image, and the remaining one advertisement (Ad03) is determined based on the above-described concentration. .

  The criterion of “larger than a certain value” is not limited to more than twice the area of other images, and may be determined as appropriate.

  In addition to the size of the image, the advertisement may be selected in consideration of the position of the image in the paper. For example, when two advertisements are selected, if there are three or more images classified as larger than other images, the advertisement cannot be selected only by the size of the image, so the position of the image is also determined. Add to the element. Specifically, an image at a position where the user can easily catch the eye on the paper is preferentially selected. The position where the eye is easily caught can be, for example, the upper part or the center of the sheet, and may be set as appropriate. Since the position where the eye is easily caught differs depending on the layout of the plurality of images collected on one sheet, it is preferable to register the position where the eye is easily caught for each layout in advance.

  There are various image attributes in addition to the above-described position information indicating the shooting location, shooting range (shooting direction, angle of view), and image size, and an advertisement may be selected from an analysis result regarding an arbitrary attribute. Image attributes include basic shooting settings (print mode, angle of view, resolution, size, etc.), location information (attributes determined based on shooting direction, shooting target, area, outdoor / indoor location, etc.), date and time (Including season, temperature, etc. determined from the date).

  On the other hand, attributes relating to the output form at the time of printing include paper size, paper type, color / monochrome, image quality, number of aggregation, binding setting, and the like. For example, the paper size, the aggregate number, the binding setting, and the like affect the size of the advertisement area 31 that can be taken in the paper. Information indicating the output form during printing is output form information.

  The attribute of the image to be analyzed in selecting the advertisement is not limited to the position information, the shooting range, and the size and position of the image described above. An advertisement may be selected by analyzing the tendency of an image from information such as density of position information and shooting time.

  FIG. 6 shows an example of the advertisement management table 40 in which information associated with advertisements is registered. The advertisement management table 40 is stored, for example, in the hard disk device 15 as part of the advertisement data.

  In the advertisement management table 40 illustrated in FIG. 6, identification information (advertisement ID), position information, time limit information, burden amount, and advertisement size are registered for each advertisement. As described above, the location information indicates the location of a facility that provides products and services related to the advertisement and the application area of the advertisement. The deadline information indicates the validity period of the advertisement. The burden amount indicates the amount that the advertiser of the advertisement bears for the printing cost of the printed material when the advertisement is placed on the printed material. For example, an amount corresponding to the advertisement area is registered. The advertisement size indicates the vertical and horizontal sizes of the advertisement image. Information other than the above may be registered in the advertisement management table 40.

  FIG. 7 shows an example of an image information table 50 for managing information associated with images. The CPU 11 of the image forming apparatus 10 creates an image information table 50 in the RAM 13 or the hard disk device 15 when an image designated by the user is acquired from the portable storage medium 3 or the server.

  In the image information table 50, identification information (image ID), position information, shooting date and time, and print image size are registered for each image. The print image size indicates the size of the occupied area when the image is printed on paper. The print image size is indicated by a vertical and horizontal size of the rectangle. Information other than the above may be registered in the image information table 50.

  FIG. 8 shows an example of the output management table 60 for managing the contents to be printed on the paper. The CPU 11 of the image forming apparatus 10 receives the designation of images from the user, and creates the output management table 60 in the RAM 13 or the hard disk device 15 when the advertisement has been selected for these designated images.

  In the output management table 60, for each sheet to be output, the number of images included in the sheet (the number of aggregations), the number of advertisements included in the sheet, the image ID of the image included in the sheet, and the advertisement ID of the advertisement included in the sheet. be registered. Print data is created based on the output management table 60 and printing is executed.

  Next, the flow of processing when performing printing related to the image print function while the advertisement addition function is on will be described.

  FIG. 9 shows an overview of the above processing. First, the image forming apparatus 10 receives designation of an image to be printed from the user through the operation display unit 21 (step S101). For example, an image to be printed is specified from among images stored in the portable storage medium 3 connected to the recording medium connection unit 26 and images registered in a content server connected via a network. In this case, the user also receives an image layout and a size specification at the time of printing.

  The image forming apparatus 10 acquires an image designated by the user and information accompanying the image (step S102). For example, image attribute information (for example, information such as a shooting location and a shooting date / time) necessary for selecting photo data and advertisement is acquired.

  Next, the image forming apparatus 10 acquires output form information when printing the designated image (step S103). Here, the size and arrangement of the advertisement area 31 are determined in advance for combinations of the number of images (number of aggregations), the size of the image at the time of printing, the paper size, the advertisement size, and the like. The size, shape, and arrangement of the advertisement area 31 are acquired from the size and the number of images specified by the user and the image size.

  Next, image information is analyzed to select a necessary number of advertisements (step S104). Details of this processing will be described later.

  Next, the arrangement (layout) of images and advertisements on one sheet is determined (step S105). Here, the image is arranged according to the instruction from the user, and the advertisement is arranged in the advertisement area 31. When a plurality of advertisements are arranged in the advertisement area 31, the arrangement of the plurality of advertisements in the advertisement area 31 is determined, and finally the arrangement of the image and advertisement on one sheet of paper is determined. Details of this processing will be described later.

  Next, print data for creating and printing the image designated by the user in step S101 and the advertisement selected in step S104 on one sheet according to the layout determined in step S105 is created. Based on this, the printer unit 24 is caused to perform printing (step S106). Finally, the advertiser of the advertisement selected in step S104 is charged for the cost related to the current printing (step S107), and this process ends.

  FIG. 10 shows details of the advertisement selection process (step S104 in FIG. 9). The CPU 11 of the image forming apparatus 10 acquires the number of images designated by the user (number of images N) (step S201), and further acquires the number of advertisements M (step S202). The number M of advertisements is obtained from the size / shape of the advertisement area 31 and the size of the advertisement. Note that the number of advertisements M is determined in advance for the size of the advertisement area 31 regardless of the advertisement size, or the number of advertisements M is determined to be a constant value regardless of the advertisement size and the size of the advertisement area 31. Good. In these cases, the selected M advertisements may be enlarged or reduced according to the size of the advertisement area 31.

  Next, the CPU 11 of the image forming apparatus 10 determines whether or not the number of images N and the number of advertisements M match (step S203). If the number of images N and the number of advertisements M match (step S203; Yes). ) For each image, an advertisement is selected 1: 1 (step S204), and this process ends (return). For example, for each image, an advertisement whose location indicated by the position information is closest to the shooting location of the image is selected.

  When the number of images N and the number of advertisements M do not match (step S203; No), the tendency is analyzed for a predetermined attribute of the image (step S205). In step S203, it may be determined whether or not N> M and the process proceeds to step S205 only when N> M.

  Based on the tendency of the predetermined attribute of the plurality of images designated by the user, the plurality of images are divided into a plurality of groups (groups) (step S206). Then, priority is given to a large group (a group having a large number of images belonging), and an advertisement suitable for the group is selected (step S207).

  For example, the tendency of the position information indicating the shooting location is analyzed, and as shown in FIG. 5, the areas are grouped for each area. Select an ad.

  It is determined whether or not all the selected advertisements can fit in the advertisement area 31 (step S208). If not (step S208; No), the currently selected advertisement is discarded and another advertisement is returned to step S207. select.

  When it is determined that all the selected advertisements fit within the advertisement area 31 (step S208; Yes), it is determined whether or not all the necessary number of advertisements M have been selected (step S209). Step S209; No), returning to Step S207, the next advertisement is selected. If the selection is completed (step S209; Yes), this process ends.

  Note that if the number of advertisements M exceeds the number of groups, the advertisements may be selected in order from the group with the highest priority again after selecting the advertisements through the groups. Alternatively, when N> M, if the quotient obtained by dividing N by M is D, D advertisements suitable for the image are selected for each image, and the remaining number of advertisements obtained by dividing N by M Alternatively, selection may be made in order from the group with the highest priority.

  FIG. 11 shows details of the process for determining the placement of advertisements in the advertisement area 31 (step S105 in FIG. 9). First, arrangement information (coordinates on the paper) indicating where each designated image is arranged in the paper is acquired (step S221). Next, the correspondence relationship between the group to which each image belongs and the advertisement selected for the group is grasped (step S222).

  Next, the position of the candidate when the advertisement is arranged in the advertisement area 31 is acquired (step S223). For example, when two advertisements are arranged on the left and right in the advertisement area 31, the candidate positions are “right position” and “left position”. Specifically, the coordinates on the paper corresponding to the right position and the coordinates on the paper corresponding to the left position are acquired.

  Next, for each of the groups grouped according to the tendency of the shooting location, etc., the tendency of the position of the image belonging to the group on the sheet is acquired. For example, a tendency of “an image belonging to a certain group is biased to the right side of the sheet” is analyzed (step S224).

  Next, based on the position of the candidate advertisement and the tendency of the image of each group on the paper, for each group, the advertisement corresponding to that group is close to the image belonging to that group. The arrangement is determined (step S225).

  Specifically, the total (or average) distance from each image belonging to one group to the one candidate position is obtained by changing the candidate position, and the candidate position where the total (or average) is the smallest Is determined as the placement position of the advertisement related to the group. In the case where the same candidate position competes among a plurality of groups, for example, priority is given to a group in which images are densely arranged (strongly arranged). Note that instead of the total (or average) of the above distances, for example, the distance from the center of gravity to the positions of candidates for all image positions belonging to one group may be used.

  Finally, the arrangement of the image and the advertisement on one sheet is determined (step S226), and this process ends.

  FIG. 12 shows that when the advertisement A is selected for the image 1 and the advertisement B is selected for the image 2, the image 1 and the advertisement A corresponding thereto are the image 2 and the advertisement B corresponding thereto. 7 shows an output example 7 when the arrangement of the advertisements A and B is determined so as to be close to each other. For example, the position information of image 1 is Tokyo, the position information of image 2 is Hokkaido, the position information of advertisement A is Hokkaido, and the position information of advertisement B is Tokyo. Each advertisement is arranged so as to be close to an image corresponding to the advertisement. Specifically, the advertisement A is arranged closer to the image 1 than the advertisement B, and the advertisement B is arranged closer to the image 2 than the advertisement A. In FIG. 12, the image and the advertisement have a 1: 1 relationship.

  FIG. 13 shows an output example 8 when two advertisements are placed on the images 1 to 9. Here, the position information of image 1, image 2, image 4, and image 7 is Tokyo, and these images form one group (referred to as group A). Moreover, the positional information of the image 3, the image 5, the image 6, the image 8, and the image 9 is Hokkaido, and these images also form one group (referred to as a group B). The position information of the advertisement A is Tokyo and the position information of the advertisement B is Hokkaido, and the advertisement A is selected for the A group and the advertisement B is selected for the B group.

  In FIG. 13, the group A image tends to be biased to the left side of the paper, and the image of the group B tends to be biased to the right side of the paper. Therefore, the advertisement A is arranged at the left position in the advertisement area 31. Advertisement B is placed at the right position.

  As described above, the advertisement effect can be further enhanced by arranging the advertisement so that the distance between the image and the advertisement selected for the image is close to the sheet.

  The embodiment of the present invention has been described with reference to the drawings. However, the specific configuration is not limited to that shown in the embodiment, and there are changes and additions within the scope of the present invention. Are also included in the present invention.

  In the embodiment, the example in which the image forming apparatus 10 has all the functions related to the advertisement addition has been described. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 14, the image forming apparatus 10 </ b> B and the advertisement server 70 are communicably connected via a network or the like. It may be configured as a system. FIG. 14 shows a sequence in a case where each process of FIG. 9 is shared by the image forming apparatus 10B and the advertisement server 70.

  The image forming apparatus 10B receives an image designation from the user (step S101), acquires the image and information accompanying the image (step S102), and further acquires output form information (step S103). Then, the image forming apparatus 10 </ b> B transmits information necessary for selecting an advertisement, such as image information and advertisement area information, to the advertisement server 70.

  The advertisement server 70 determines the number of advertisements M based on the information received from the image forming apparatus 10B, and selects M advertisements (step S104). Then, the selected advertisement image and accompanying information are transmitted to the image forming apparatus 10B.

  The image forming apparatus 10B determines the layout of the advertisement (step S105), and generates print data for arranging and printing the image designated by the user and the advertisement received from the advertisement server 70 on one sheet. Then, printing is output based on the print data (step S106). The image forming apparatus 10B notifies the advertisement server 70 of the completion of the print output, and the advertisement server 70 that has received the notification charges the corresponding advertiser (step S107).

  In this way, an advertisement server 70 that performs an advertisement selection function may be provided. The advertisement server 70 may further determine the layout of images and advertisements.

  When analyzing the tendency of attributes such as image position information, weighting according to the size of the image may be performed. For example, when obtaining the degree of concentration in FIG. 5, in the embodiment, the number of images belonging to the area is set as the degree of concentration of the area, but each image is weighted according to the size of the image, and The total weight may be used as the degree of concentration of the area. The weighting element is not limited to the image size, but may be the position of the image in the paper, or the size and position.

  In the embodiment, the case of printing on paper has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to the case of printing on paper, and the present invention is applied when an arbitrary number of advertisements are selected from a plurality of images. For example, the present invention can also be applied to a case where an advertisement is added to an e-mail attached with an image and transmitted.

3 ... Portable storage medium 10, 10B ... Image forming apparatus 11 ... CPU
12 ... ROM
13 ... RAM
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 14 ... Non-volatile memory 15 ... Hard disk device 16 ... Image reading part 21 ... Operation display part 22 ... Communication part 23 ... Image processing part 24 ... Printer part 25 ... Facsimile communication part 26 ... Recording medium connection part 30, 30B ... Output example 31 ... Advertisement area 40 ... advertisement management table 50 ... image information table 60 ... output management table 70 ... advertisement server

Claims (12)

An analysis unit for analyzing a tendency related to predetermined attributes of a plurality of images designated by a user;
An advertisement selection unit that selects a predetermined number of advertisements for the plurality of images from pre-registered advertisements based on an analysis result of the analysis unit;
An advertisement selection device characterized by comprising: The layout unit for determining a layout for printing the plurality of images and the predetermined number of advertisements selected by the advertisement selection unit on one sheet of a predetermined size. Ad selection device. Create print data in which the plurality of images and the predetermined number of advertisements are laid out according to the layout determined by the layout unit, and output the print data to an external printing apparatus, or print on paper based on the print data The advertisement selection device according to claim 2, further comprising an output unit. The analysis unit groups the plurality of images based on the tendency,
The advertisement selection unit selects an advertisement for the group,
The layout unit performs the layout so that an image of an advertisement selected for one group is closer to an image of an advertisement selected for another group than the image of one group. The advertisement selection device according to claim 2 or 3. The advertisement selection device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the analysis unit performs the trend analysis by weighting the plurality of images according to a size of the image. In the case where the size of some of the plurality of images is greater than a certain size than the size of the other images, and the advertisement selection unit is less than or equal to the predetermined number The advertisement selection device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein an advertisement is preferentially selected for each of the partial images on a one-to-one basis. The layout unit performs the layout of the partial image so that an advertisement image selected for the image is closer to an image of another advertisement than the image. The advertisement selection device according to claim 6, wherein the item 2 or 3 is cited. The advertisement selection device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the predetermined number is smaller than the number of the plurality of images. The predetermined attribute includes an image shooting location,
Each ad has a location associated with it,
The analysis unit derives an area where shooting locations are concentrated,
The advertisement according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the advertisement selecting unit preferentially selects an area having a high degree of concentration, and selects an advertisement having a location indicated by position information in the area. Selection device. The predetermined attributes include a shooting location and a shooting range of the image,
The advertisement selection device according to claim 9, wherein the advertisement selection unit selects an advertisement in consideration of a frequency included in the shooting range. Receiving multiple image designations from the user;
Analyzing a tendency relating to a predetermined attribute of the specified plurality of images;
Selecting a predetermined number of advertisements for the plurality of images from pre-registered advertisements based on the results of the analysis;
Adding and outputting the selected predetermined number of advertisements to the plurality of images;
An advertisement addition method characterized by comprising: The advertisement adding method according to claim 11, further comprising a step of laying out the plurality of designated images and the image of the selected advertisement so as to be printed on a single sheet of a predetermined size.