JP2019028612A - Image retrieval method and server and program - Google Patents

Abstract

To add a tag that cannot be obtained from the analysis of an object imaged in an image to the image.SOLUTION: In an image retrieval method, a server executes a step S1 of receiving registration of multiple events and their dates, a step S3 of receiving registration of multiple images generated by photographic processing, a step S6 of adding an event corresponding to a photographing data as a tag to each of the multiple images, a step S8 of transmitting the multiple images and data of an image browsing page including the tag to a terminal of a user, and a step S9 of retrieving an image to which a selected tag is added when a tag in the image browsing page is selected.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 6

Description

  The present invention relates to an image search method, a server, and a program.

  A service is provided in which an image taken by a customer with a digital camera, a smartphone, or the like is uploaded to a print order receiving system, and a photo print order can be ordered (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  In addition, a service for selling photographs taken by professional photographers at events such as concerts and sports competitions is known (see, for example, Patent Document 2). Image data taken by a professional photographer is uploaded to a photo sales system via a network. The customer can browse the uploaded image and select and purchase a favorite photo. The purchased image is printed at a printing shop, and the printed matter is delivered to the customer.

  Customers need to find out images of their favorite singers and players, images of themselves and their families, etc. from the large number of images posted in the photo sales system. It was.

  By narrowing down the images by image search using tags (keywords), it becomes easy to find the target image. Therefore, a tag is assigned to a sales image registered in the photo sales system. Conventionally, image analysis recognizes characters in an image, detects an object in the image, analyzes the facial expression of a person in the image, and adds the extracted information to the sales image as a tag . However, the information obtained from the image analysis alone is not sufficient as a tag for searching.

JP 2014-142711 A JP 2001-325082 A

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional situation, and it is an object to provide an image search method, a server, and a program for adding a tag that cannot be obtained from an analysis of an object in an image to the image. And

  The image search method according to the present invention includes a step of accepting registration of a plurality of events and date and time of each event, a step of accepting registration of a plurality of images generated by photographing processing, and a photographing date and time for each of the plurality of images. A step of assigning an event corresponding to the tag as a tag, a step of transmitting the plurality of images and data of an image browsing page including the tag to a user terminal, and a tag in the image browsing page are selected. The server executes a step of searching for an image to which the tagged tag is attached.

  In the image search method according to an aspect of the present invention, when a keyword is input via the image browsing page, an image to which a tag that matches the input keyword is assigned is searched.

  In the image search method according to an aspect of the present invention, the image browsing page includes a scroll bar that displays images in order of shooting date and time and changes the shooting date and time of the display image.

  The server according to the present invention includes a communication unit that accepts registration of a plurality of events and date and time of each event, registration of a plurality of images generated by shooting processing, and an event corresponding to the shooting date and time for each of the plurality of images. When the tag in the image browsing page is selected, a tag adding unit that adds a tag as a tag and a generating unit that generates an image browsing page including the plurality of images and the tag are provided. The image to which the tag is attached is searched, and an image browsing page including the extracted image is generated.

  The program according to the present invention corresponds to a step of accepting registration of a plurality of events and date and time of each event, a step of accepting registration of a plurality of images generated by photographing processing, and corresponding to the photographing date and time for each of the plurality of images. A step of assigning an event to be performed as a tag, a step of transmitting data of the plurality of images and an image browsing page including the tag to a user terminal, and a tag in the image browsing page is selected. And causing the computer to execute a step of searching for an image to which a tag is attached.

  According to the present invention, a tag that cannot be obtained from analysis of an object shown in an image can be added to the image.

1 is a schematic diagram of an image sales system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a schematic block diagram of the server which concerns on the same embodiment. It is a functional block diagram implement | achieved by running an image processing program. It is a figure which shows an example of a timetable. It is a figure which shows the example of the tag provided to an image. It is a flowchart explaining the image search method by the embodiment. It is an external view of the image printing apparatus by another embodiment.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an image sales system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The image sales system includes a server 1 that distributes a sales image browsing page to a user terminal 4 of a customer, a registration terminal 2 that is used by a right holder to register a sales image, an analysis that analyzes sales images, and assigns keywords. The terminal 3 is included. The image to be sold is an image taken by a professional photographer or the like of sports matches or concerts.

  When a customer selects a favorite image from a browsing page using a user terminal 4 such as a smartphone or a PC and performs a settlement process, the customer downloads image data of a sales image or orders a printed matter. Can do. When the server 1 accepts the order for the printed matter, it transmits the image data to the factory 5. The printed matter 6 manufactured at the factory 5 is delivered to the customer. The printed matter 6 is, for example, a photograph, a poster, a photo book, a mug, or the like.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the server 1 is a computer having a CPU 10 (central processing unit), a storage unit 11, a communication unit 12, and the like. The server 1 may further include a display unit 13 such as a liquid crystal display and an operation unit 14 such as a keyboard and a mouse.

  The communication unit 12 performs communication processing with the registration terminal 2, the analysis terminal 3, the user terminal 4, and the like, and transmits and receives data. The communication unit 12 receives image data to be sold from the registration terminal 2 and stores it in the storage unit 11. In addition, the communication unit 12 receives registration of an event related to an image to be sold and a time (date and time) when the event is performed from the registration terminal 2. The event will be described later.

  The communication unit 12 transmits the image data of the sales image to the analysis terminal 3, receives tag information (keyword information) related to each image from the analysis terminal 3, and stores it in the storage unit 11. The analysis terminal 3 performs image recognition by a known method and assigns a tag related to the image. For example, the analysis terminal 3 detects an object included in the image, classifies it from many categories such as a flower, an animal, and a vehicle, and gives it as a tag. Further, the analysis terminal 3 recognizes and extracts text included in the image by OCR (optical character recognition) and assigns it as a tag.

  The communication unit 12 transmits a sales image browsing page to the user terminal 4. In addition, the communication unit 12 receives selection of a purchase image from the user terminal 4 or receives payment information.

  The storage unit 11 is a combination of a flash memory, a ROM (Read-only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), a hard disk, and the like. The image data of the sales image, tag information given to each image, timetable information to be described later, And an image processing program and the like.

  When the CPU 10 executes the image processing program, as shown in FIG. 3, a timetable creation unit 16, a tag addition unit 17, and a browsing page generation unit 18 are realized.

  The timetable creation unit 16 creates a timetable (time schedule) using the event and event time registered by the registration terminal 2. For example, when the right holder sells an image taken in a baseball game, the pre-game practice, 1st table, 1st back, 2nd table, 2nd back,..., 9th table, 9 Back times, hero interviews, etc. are registered, and a timetable is created using the start time and end time of each inning.

  In the event that remains in the impression such as home run, the name of the batter is registered by the registration terminal 2 in addition to the time. Also, the time is registered with a certain range. The timetable creation unit 16 creates a timetable by incorporating the home run occurrence time and the player name. Thereby, the timetable creation unit 16 creates a timetable as shown in FIG. The timetable is obtained by associating tags such as “practice”, “one-time table”, “hero interview”, “home run”, and the like with time. In the example shown in FIG. 4, # 1 is an event scheduled and # 2 is an unexpected event that is not scheduled.

  When selling images of horse racing, the first race, the second race,... Are registered as events, and a timetable is created using the start time of each race. When the registration terminal 2 registers the name of the winning horse in each race, the timetable creation unit 16 creates a timetable by incorporating the name of the winning horse.

  When selling images of sumo wrestling, events such as the beginning of the mouth approach, the beginning of the second stage, ..., with the Makuhina burial mushroom, with the Yokozuna burial mound, ... A timetable is created. When the registration terminal 2 registers a rare ruler, the name of the victor wrestler and the time of occurrence thereof, the timetable creation unit 16 creates a timetable by incorporating the name of the ruler and the name of the fork.

  When selling images of artists' concerts, greetings, the title of the first song, the title of the second song,..., Encore, etc. are registered as events, and a timetable is created using the start time of each song.

  When an image is registered from the registration terminal 2, the tag assigning unit 17 extracts the shooting date and time recorded in the image data. The tag assigning unit 17 refers to the timetable and assigns an event corresponding to the shooting date and time as a tag.

  For example, for the image 50 shown in FIG. 5, tags given by the analysis terminal 3 that performs image analysis are about “baseball” and “batter”. On the other hand, the tag assigning unit 17 refers to a timetable as shown in FIG. 4 and assigns a tag that cannot be determined from image analysis such as “four times table” and “home run” from the shooting date and time of the image 50.

  The browsing page generating unit 18 generates a sales image browsing page using a tag. The browsing page displays the registered sales image and the tag attached to the image. If there are many sales images, the pages may be switched.

  Next, the image search method according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  The right holder of the image uses the registration terminal 2 to register a plurality of events (contents) and the date and time of each event in the event for selling images (step S1). Scheduled events may be registered in advance, and the time of each event or event that occurred suddenly as it progresses may be registered, or the date and time of all events may be registered after the event is over .

  The timetable creation unit 16 of the server 1 creates a timetable using the registered event and date (step S2).

  The right holder of the image registers the sales image in the server 1 using the registration terminal 2 (step S3). Sales image data is stored in the storage unit 11 of the server 1.

  The tag assigning unit 17 of the server 1 selects a sales image (step S4), extracts the shooting time of the image (step S5), and assigns an event corresponding to the shooting date as a tag with reference to the timetable (step S6). ). This tagging process is performed for all sales images (steps S4 to S7).

  The server 1 may transmit the image data of the sales image to the analysis terminal 3 before or after the tag addition processing by the tag addition unit 17 and add the information detected by the analysis terminal 3 through image analysis as a tag.

  The browsing page generation unit 18 generates a browsing page for selling an image using the tag (step S8). The browsing page displays the sales image individually and also displays a representative tag attached to the image. The browsing page has a keyword input field. When a customer operates the user terminal 4 to select a tag, the browsing page generation unit 18 searches and extracts an image to which the selected tag is assigned, and generates a browsing page including the extracted image. When the customer operates the user terminal 4 to input a keyword, the browsing page generation unit 18 searches for, extracts, and displays an image having the input keyword as a tag.

  The customer searches for a favorite image using keyword search or the like, and selects a purchase image (step S9). When only information obtained from image analysis by the analysis terminal 3 is added as a tag, it is difficult to search for an image 50 in which the batter A hits a home run as shown in FIG. 5 by keyword search. However, in the present embodiment, since a tag based on the timetable is attached, the image 50 can be easily found by inputting a keyword such as “four times table” or “home run” and performing a search.

  The browsing page generation unit 18 may display the sales images side by side in the order of shooting time and generate a browsing page including a shooting time scroll bar. When the time is changed by sliding the scroll bar, an image taken at that time is displayed. By searching for a photo from the shooting time, it is possible to find an image with no tag or a small number of tags.

  When the customer finishes selecting an image, a payment process is performed (step S10). After the settlement process, the server 1 transmits image data to the user terminal 4 and transfers the contents of the print order to the factory 5.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, referring to the event and the timetable created from the date and time, the event corresponding to the shooting time of the image is assigned as a tag. Such a tag is a tag that cannot be obtained from analysis of an object shown in an image, and can easily find an image. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the trouble for the customer to search for a desired image from a large number of images.

  In the above embodiment, the tag assigning unit 17 may assign a tag related to the anniversary to the image. For example, since August 9 is a baseball day, the tag assigning unit 17 assigns a tag “baseball day” to an image whose shooting date is August 9, among the registered sales images. .

  For example, an anniversary tag list as shown in Table 1 below is prepared and registered in the server 1. When registering sales images, it is possible to set whether or not to use for each anniversary. For example, when the sales image is baseball, an anniversary related to baseball is used, and an anniversary not related to baseball is not used. The tag assigning unit 17 assigns an anniversary tag to an image having the same shooting date as the anniversary (month / day) set to “use”.

  In the above-described embodiment, an example in which a print page manufactured by the factory 5 is delivered when a browsing page is transmitted to the user terminal 4 and a print order is received has been described, but an image as a kiosk terminal as illustrated in FIG. The sales image may be registered in the printing apparatus 7 and the printed matter may be sold.

  Touch panels 70 </ b> A and 70 </ b> B are provided on the top plate 71 </ b> A portion and the upper part of the casing 71 of the image printing apparatus 7, respectively. A housing 71 accommodates a high-resolution color printer such as a sublimation type or an ink jet type. A transparent opening / closing door 73 is provided on the front side of the housing 71 so as to be freely opened and closed. On the back surface side of the opening / closing door 73, there is provided an accumulating portion (not shown) in which the printed matter printed out by the printer is accumulated. It has become.

  The image printing apparatus 7 also includes a billing unit including a coin insertion slot 72A, a bill insertion slot 72B, and a change return slot 72C provided on the front side of the casing 71, and is inserted from the coin insertion slot 72A and the bill insertion slot 72B. The received money is identified and counted, and the change is discharged from the change return port 72C.

  The image printing apparatus 7 is connected to the server 1 so as to be communicable, and receives from the server 1 image data to which a tag is added by the tag adding unit 17. The image printing apparatus 7 generates a browsing page and displays it on the touch panel 10A (or 10B).

  The customer operates the touch panel 10A, performs a search by inputting a keyword or selecting a tag, and selects a favorite image. When the purchase image is selected, the image printing apparatus 7 performs a charging process. After the accounting process, the image printing apparatus 7 prints the selected image on photographic paper and outputs it. The customer can receive the printed matter on the spot.

  The image processing program described in the above-described embodiment may be stored in a recording medium such as a CD-ROM and read by a computer to be executed. The recording medium is not limited to a removable medium such as a magnetic disk or an optical disk, but may be a fixed recording medium such as a hard disk device or a memory. The image processing program may be distributed via a communication line (including wireless communication) such as the Internet. Further, the program may be distributed in a state where the program is encrypted, modulated or compressed, and stored in a recording medium via a wired line such as the Internet or a wireless line.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment as it is, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. In addition, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of components disclosed in the embodiment. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, constituent elements over different embodiments may be appropriately combined.

1 server 2 registration terminal 3 analysis terminal 4 user terminal 5 factory 6 printed matter 7 image printing device

Claims (5)

Accepting registration of multiple events and date and time of each event;
Receiving registration of a plurality of images generated by the photographing process;
For each of the plurality of images, giving an event corresponding to the shooting date and time as a tag;
Transmitting the image browsing page data including the plurality of images and the tag to a user terminal;
When a tag in the image browsing page is selected, searching for an image provided with the selected tag;
An image search method characterized in that the server executes.   The image search method according to claim 1, wherein when a keyword is input via the image browsing page, an image to which a tag that matches the input keyword is added is searched.   The image search method according to claim 1, wherein the image browsing page includes a scroll bar for displaying images in order of shooting date and time and changing the shooting date and time of a display image. A communication unit that accepts registration of a plurality of events and date and time of each event, and registration of a plurality of images generated by shooting processing;
For each of the plurality of images, a tag providing unit that provides an event corresponding to the shooting date and time as a tag,
A generating unit that generates an image browsing page including the plurality of images and the tag;
With
When the tag in the image browsing page is selected, the generation unit searches for an image to which the tag is attached and generates an image browsing page including the extracted image. Accepting registration of multiple events and date and time of each event;
Receiving registration of a plurality of images generated by the photographing process;
For each of the plurality of images, giving an event corresponding to the shooting date and time as a tag;
Transmitting the image browsing page data including the plurality of images and the tag to a user terminal;
When a tag in the image browsing page is selected, searching for an image provided with the selected tag;
A program that causes a computer to execute.

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