JP3361844B2 - Image editing device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image editing apparatus for interactive high speed image editing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, various image editing apparatuses have been provided, ranging from small ones intended for general users operating on personal computers to large-scale professional ones operating on dedicated machines. There is. Further, in the field of business and the like, there has been a demand for an image editing apparatus which can be jointly used by a plurality of users in a computer network environment and which can easily edit high-definition images such as G4 facsimile images. . An image editing device targeted for such a business field is required to be inexpensive in the terminal device used by each user, to be able to easily add terminals, and to be able to perform editing work at high speed without delay. Has been.

A conventional image editing apparatus will be described below. FIG. 5 shows an example of the configuration of a conventional image editing apparatus. In FIG. 5, reference numeral 51 is a user instruction input means for receiving a user's instruction input from a keyboard or mouse, 52 is an image display means for displaying an image being edited, and 53.
Is an image processing means for processing the image held by the image holding means 54 or converting the image into a format to be passed to the image display means 52; 54 is an image holding means for holding the image to be edited; It is an image input / output unit that reads and writes a certain image from a file or the like.

The operation of the image editing apparatus configured as described above will be described below. First, a case where the user gives an instruction to read an image will be described. The user instruction input means 51 receives a reading instruction from the user and passes the instruction to the image input / output means 55. The image input / output unit 55 reads the image to be edited according to the received instruction and passes it to the image holding unit 54. The image processing means 53 performs processing such as resolution conversion on the image delivered to the image holding means 54 and delivers the result to the image display means 52. The image display means 52 displays the delivered image on a display or the like.

Next, the actual operation when the user draws a straight line will be described. The user instruction input means 51 receives an instruction from the user, such as pressing the mouse in the process of positioning the straight line to be drawn, and passes the instruction to the image display means 52. The image display means 52 draws a straight rubber band or the like at an appropriate position in accordance with the passed instruction, thereby displaying on the display or the like that the straight line is being positioned. When the user gives an instruction to determine the drawing position by releasing the mouse or the like, the user instruction input means 51 receives the instruction and transfers it to the image processing means 53. The image processing means 53 draws a straight line at a position designated by the user in the image to be edited held by the image holding means 54, and passes the resulting partial image to the image display means 52. The image display means 52 displays on the image display etc. which were handed over.

FIG. 6 shows another example of the configuration of a conventional image editing apparatus. In FIG. 6, 61 is a user instruction input means for receiving a user's instruction input from a keyboard or mouse, 62 is a second image holding means for holding a second image to be displayed, and 63 is a second image. Image processing means 64, image processing means 64 for processing the first image held by the first image holding means 65 or converting it to the format of the second image, and 65 for displaying the first image to be edited. A first image holding unit 66 holds the image, and an image input / output unit 66 reads and writes the first image to be edited from a file or the like.

The operation of the image editing apparatus configured as described above will be described below. First, a case where the user gives an instruction to read an image will be described. The user instruction input means 61 receives a reading instruction from the user and passes the instruction to the image input / output means 66. The image input / output unit 66 reads the first image to be edited according to the received instruction and passes it to the first image holding unit 65. The image processing means 64 performs processing such as resolution conversion on the image passed to the first image holding means 65 and outputs the result to the second image holding means 65.
It is passed to the image holding means 62. The image display means 63 displays the image passed to the second image holding means 62 on a display or the like.

Next, the operation when the user draws a straight line in the above conventional example will be described. The user instruction input means 61 receives a user's instruction such as pressing a mouse in the process of positioning a straight line to be drawn, and the image display means 63.
Give that instruction to. The image display means 63 draws a linear rubber band or the like at an appropriate position in accordance with the passed instruction, thereby displaying on the display or the like that linear positioning is in progress. When the user gives an instruction to determine the drawing position by releasing the mouse, the user instruction input means 61 receives the instruction, and the image processing means 6
Pass to 4. The image processing means 64 has a first image holding means 65.
Draws a straight line at a position instructed by the user in the image to be edited held by, and draws a straight line at a corresponding position in the image held by the second image holding means 62. The image display unit 63 displays the entire image held by the second image holding unit 62 or a partial image changed by linear drawing on a display or the like. When redisplay of the image being displayed is instructed, the user instruction input unit 61 receives the redisplay instruction, and the image display unit 6 receives the instruction.
Image display means 63, and second image holding means 62
The image held by is displayed on a display or the like.

FIG. 7 shows an example of the configuration of a conventional client / server system of an image editing apparatus.
In FIG. 7, 71 is a client unit, 72 is a server unit, and 73 is a network for transferring data between the client unit 71 and the server unit 72. In the client unit 71, 74 is a user instruction input unit, 75 is a communication unit, 76 is a display control unit, and 77 is an image display unit. In the server unit 72, 78 is a communication unit, 79 is an image processing unit, 80 is an image holding unit, and 81 is an image input / output unit.

Next, the operation of the image editing apparatus using the client / server system will be described. When the user requests the image transfer from the user instruction input means 74 of the client section 71, the communication means 75 causes the network 73 to operate.
The instruction is transmitted to the communication means 78 of the server section 72 via the communication means 78, and the communication means 78 transmits the instruction to the image input / output means 81. The image input / output unit 81 reads the transfer-requested image from the file and transfers it to the image holding unit 80. The image processing unit 79 adds processing such as resolution conversion to the image transferred from the image holding unit 80, and the communication unit. From the communication unit 78 to the communication unit 75 of the client unit 71 via the network 73, the communication unit 75 sends the display unit to the display control unit 76, and the image display unit 77 displays the transferred image on the display. When the user gives an instruction for drawing processing from the user instruction input means 74 while looking at the image, the instruction is transmitted to the server section 72 by a similar procedure, and the image processing means 79 of the server section 72 performs drawing processing.

[0011]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional configuration, the response time to a user's instruction is long, and it is difficult to add a terminal, or if the addition is performed, the processing speed performance per user is extremely high. However, if an attempt is made to add terminals without reducing the speed performance, the device scale such as the memory of each terminal becomes large and the cost becomes high.

That is, in the configuration of the conventional image editing apparatus shown in FIG. 5, the image holding means 5 is used every time an image is edited.
There is a problem in that the image processing means 53 has to perform the process of converting the image held by the No. 4 into the display image, which takes time.

Further, in the configuration of the conventional image editing apparatus shown in FIG. 6, in order to avoid the image conversion processing for each editing operation,
Although the second image holding unit 62 is provided to always hold the display image, no significant improvement in speed performance is seen in that the image processing unit 64 concentrates the processing of the first image and the second image. . Further, in the configuration of each of the conventional image editing apparatuses described above, terminals, that is, user instruction input means 51, 61.
If the image display means 52 and 63 are additionally provided, all the image processing will be concentrated on the image processing means 53 and 64, and the processing speed performance will be extremely reduced.

Further, in the image editing apparatus using the client / server system, it is easy to add a terminal, but if the addition is made, the processing speed performance per user decreases, and the image is sent from the client section each time. Since it is necessary to give a processing instruction, when editing while viewing an image on the display, data must be frequently transferred to and from the server unit, which is a problem in usability.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a high-speed, high-definition image editing apparatus that is inexpensive and can easily add terminals.

[0016]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises an editing client section for performing a first image processing for display, and an editing server section for performing a second image processing for editing. A data transfer unit for transferring data between the edit client unit and the edit server unit, and the edit client unit inputs a user instruction.
User instruction inputting means and a first image for processing the first image
Image processing means and first image holding means for holding a first image
An image display means for displaying a first image, and the editing server.
First communication means for communicating with the server section, and user instruction input means
The editing process is executed based on the user's instructions entered in
Edit processing control means for controlling the edit server section
Is a second image processing means for processing the second image;
A second image holding means for holding an image and an image reading document
Image input / output means for sending out, and the editing client
A second communication means for communicating with the editing section,
The edit processing control means of the ant section becomes the user instruction input means.
Based on the input user's instruction, the first image holding means
The processing instructions necessary for processing the images to be stored
The second image storage
The holding means is information that is not necessary for reflecting the held image in the processing result.
Image processing with processing instructions not including all or part of
It is transferred to the means and processed by the editing server section .

[0017]

According to the present invention, with the above configuration, the user points
Processing to be performed in the editing client section and the editing
The editing client can be decomposed into the processes to be executed by the server section.
The image processing can be performed independently by
It Since the first image to be displayed and the second image to be edited can be processed independently of each other, high-speed editing can be performed. Further, since the edit client unit and the edit server unit exchange data with each other via the data transfer means, it is possible to easily add a terminal, that is, the edit client unit via the network. Furthermore, the editing client unit can hold the low-resolution image to be displayed only, so that the device scale such as the memory can be made relatively small, and the device can be realized at low cost.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the configuration of an image editing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1
Is an edit client unit corresponding to a user terminal, 2 is an edit server unit that processes a high-resolution image while communicating with one or more edit client units, and 3 is between the edit client unit 1 and the edit server unit 2. Is a data transfer means for transferring data. Data transfer means 3
May be a network or a bus. In the edit client unit 1, 4 is a first communication means for controlling the procedure for the edit client unit 1 to communicate with the edit server unit 2, and 5 is a user instruction received by the user instruction input unit 8 and a response from the first communication unit 4. The edit processing control means controls the first communication means 4, the first image processing means 6, and the image display means 9. 6 is a first image processing means for processing the display low resolution image held by the first image holding means 7, 7 is a first image holding means for holding the display low resolution image displayed by the image display means 9, Reference numeral 8 is a user instruction input means for inputting a user instruction by operating a keyboard and a mouse, and 9 is a first
It is an image display means for displaying the image held by the image holding means 7 on the display. In the edit server unit 2,
Reference numeral 10 is a second communication unit that controls a procedure for the edit server unit 2 to communicate with the edit client unit 1, 11 is a second image processing unit that processes the high-resolution image for editing held by the second image holding unit 12, Reference numeral 12 is a second image holding means for holding the high resolution image for editing, and 13 is an image input / output means for reading the high resolution image for editing from the file and writing it to the file.

The operation of the image editing apparatus configured as described above will be described with reference to the process flow charts shown in FIGS. 2, 3, and 4. First, the operation when the user gives instructions to start and end the image editing apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. When the user of the edit client unit 1A gives an instruction to start (step 21A), the instruction is received by the user instruction input means 8 and passed to the edit processing control means 5. After initializing the editing client unit 1A (step 22A), the editing processing control unit 5 requests the editing server unit 2 to open and display characteristics A of the editing client unit 1A, that is, the editing client unit 1A displays a color. Whether the terminal is a monochrome display terminal or not, the first communication unit 4 transmits information such as display resolution and display size.
Instruct. The open request and the display characteristic A transmitted by the first communication means 4 are edited by the data transfer means 3 in the editing server section 2.
Is transferred to the second communication means 10 (step 23A).
The second communication means 10 executes the edit client information registration by using the edit client unit 1A that has transmitted the open request as one of the clients that are communication partners thereafter (step 24A). At this time, an identifier is assigned to each edit client unit 1 to be registered, and in communication after registration, the edit server unit 2 identifies one or a plurality of edit client units 1 by this identifier. Also,
At the time of editing client information registration, the correspondence between the received display characteristics and the identifier is also stored. Second communication means 10
Sends the completion of opening and the identifier A assigned to the editing client unit 1A to the editing client unit 1A via the data transfer means 3 (step 25A). The first communication unit 4 of the edit client unit 1A receives the open completion and the identifier A transmitted by the edit server unit 2 and stores the identifier A.

Steps 21B to 25B show the processing at the time of starting the other editing client section 1B. By performing the same processing as the above steps 21A to 25A, it is registered in the editing server section 2 as another editing client section 1B to which the identifier B is assigned. As a result, the edit server section 2 edits the image while communicating with the plurality of edit client sections 1. Also, from the edit server unit 2 to each edit client unit 1
When the image data is transferred to the second client, the image conversion according to the display characteristic of the editing client unit 1 is performed by referring to the correspondence between the identifier stored in advance and the display characteristic.
Since it can be implemented by the image processing means 11, it becomes easy to add more terminal devices having various display characteristics in a mixed manner.

Steps 6 to 30 show the processing at the end. When the user of the editing client section 1A gives an instruction to end (step 26), the instruction is given by the user instruction input means 8
Is received and passed to the edit processing control means 5. The edit processing control means 5 instructs the first communication means 4 to transmit the close request and the identifier A. The close request and the identifier A transmitted by the first communication means 4 are transferred to the second communication means 10 of the editing server section 2 by the data transfer means 3 (step 27). The second communication means 10 deletes the information of the client to which the identifier A is assigned so that it will not be recognized as a communication partner thereafter (step 28), and then the close completion is judged via the data transfer means 3 to the editing client section 1A. (Step 29). The first communication unit 4 of the edit client unit 1A receives the close completion transmitted by the edit server unit 2 and notifies the edit processing control unit 5 that the close is completed.
The edit client unit 1A is terminated (step 30).

Next, the operation when the user gives an instruction to read an image will be described with reference to FIG. Here, it is assumed that the identifier A has already been assigned to the edit client unit 1A. When the user gives an instruction to read an image (step 31), the user instruction input means 8 receives the instruction and passes it to the edit processing control means 5. Editing processing control means 5
Instructs the first communication unit 4 to transmit the image input request and the identifier A to the editing server unit 2. The image input request and the identifier A transmitted by the first communication means 4 are transferred to the second communication means 10 of the editing server section 2 by the data transfer means 3 (step 32). The second communication unit 10 instructs the image input / output unit 13 to read the editing high-resolution image (step 33), and the read editing high-resolution image is held by the second image holding unit 12. At this time,
The correspondence between the identifier A and the read high resolution image for editing is stored together. The second image processing unit 11 performs processing such as resolution conversion, color conversion, and size conversion on the editing high-resolution image based on the correspondence between the identifier A and the display characteristics stored in advance, and thus the display low resolution image is displayed. Obtain a resolution image (step 34). This low resolution image for display is
The second communication means 10 transfers the data to the editing client section 1A via the data transfer means 3 (step 35). The low-resolution image for display received by the first communication means 4 of the editing client section 1A is stored in the first image holding means 7 and sent to the image display means 9 and displayed on the display under the control of the editing processing control means 5. (Step 36). At this time, since the edit client unit 1A holds only the minimum display low resolution image necessary for display, the scale of the storage device can be small and a relatively inexpensive terminal device can be realized.

Next, the operation when the user draws a straight line will be described with reference to FIG. Here, it is assumed that the identifier A has already been assigned to the edit client unit 1A. When the user presses the mouse to give an instruction to start drawing a straight line (step 41), the user instruction input means 8 receives the instruction and passes it to the edit processing control means 5. The edit processing control means 5 stores that the straight line drawing has started. When the user instructs to change the drawing position of the straight line by moving the mouse (step 42), the user instruction input means 8 receives the instruction and passes it to the edit processing control means 5. The image display means 9 causes the editing processing control means 5 to draw the rubber band based on the drawing position of the straight line.
Image display means 9 displays a rubber band on the display (step 43). When the user releases the mouse to give an instruction to end the drawing of the straight line (step 44), the instruction is given to the user instruction input means 8
Is received and passed to the edit processing control means 5. The edit processing control means 5 causes the first image processing means 6 to draw a straight line on the display low resolution image held by the first image holding means 7.
And the first communication means 4 to transmit the straight line drawing request and the identifier A to the editing server unit 2. The first image processing means 6 draws a straight line on the display low resolution image held by the first image holding means 7 (step 45), and the straight line drawing request and the identifier A transmitted by the first communication means 4 are: The data transfer means 3 transfers the data to the second communication means 10 of the editing server section 2 (step 46). Second
The communication means 10 instructs the second image processing means 11 to draw a straight line on the editing high resolution image corresponding to the identifier A, and the second image processing means 11 draws a straight line (step 47). At this time, since the straight line drawing in step 45 and the straight line drawing in step 47 are performed independently of each other, the user does not have to wait for the straight line drawing process for the editing high-resolution image in step 47.
High-speed interactive editing is possible.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the processing corresponding to the user's instruction input to the user instruction inputting means 8 should be executed by the edit client section 1 and the edit server section 2. The edit processing control means 5 is disassembled into the following, and the first image processing means 6, the second image processing means 11 and the image input / output means 13 are instructed to execute the edit processing, so that Can perform processing independently of each other. In addition, the second image holding means 1
The image stored in 2 is converted by the second image processing means 11 according to the characteristics of the image display means 9 and transferred to the editing client section 1 to display the image by the image display means 9, and the editing server section 2 Holds and processes one or more images while communicating with multiple editing client units,
A terminal device having various display characteristics can be easily added, and high-speed interactive high-definition image editing can be performed with an inexpensive terminal device.

[0025]

As described above, the present invention is provided with the edit processing control means for controlling the execution of the edit processing based on the user's instruction, and the edit client section for performing the first image processing for display and the edit client section. Since the image processing apparatus includes the edit server unit that performs the second image processing for editing while exchanging data with the client unit, the first image to be displayed and the second image to be edited Since they can be processed independently of each other, high-speed editing can be performed. Further, since the edit client unit and the edit server unit exchange data with each other via the data transfer means, it is possible to easily add a terminal, that is, the edit client unit via the network. Furthermore, since the editing client unit holds only the low-resolution image to be displayed, the device scale such as the memory can be made relatively small, and the device can be realized at low cost.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an image editing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing the operation of starting and ending the image editing apparatus in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an image reading operation of the image editing apparatus in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing a straight line drawing operation of the image editing apparatus in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a conventional image editing apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing another example of a conventional image editing apparatus.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing still another example of a conventional image editing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Editing client section 2 Editing server section 3 Data transfer means 4 First communication means 5 Editing process control means 6 First image processing means 7 First image holding means 8 User instruction input means 9 Image display means 10 Second Communication Means 11 Second image processing means 12 Second image holding means 13 Image input / output means

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Yoshiyasu Takeuchi               1006 Kadoma, Kadoma-shi, Osaka Matsushitaden               Instrument industry Co., Ltd.                (56) Reference JP-A-4-304567 (JP, A)                 JP-A-4-359380 (JP, A)

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. An editing client unit for performing a first image processing for display, an editing server unit for performing a second image processing for editing, and data transfer between the editing client unit and the editing server unit. The editing client unit includes a user instruction input unit for inputting a user's instruction, a first image processing unit for processing the first image, and a first image holding unit for holding the first image. Image holding means, image display means for displaying a first image, first communication means for communicating with the editing server section, and execution control of editing processing based on a user's instruction input to a user instruction inputting means. And a second image processing unit for processing the second image, a second image holding unit for holding the second image, and reading and writing of the image. With image Output means and second communication means for communicating with the edit client section, wherein the edit processing control means of the edit client section is configured to output a second instruction based on the user's instruction input to the user instruction input means .
1 Processing instruction necessary for processing the image held by the image holding means
To the first image processing means and processed by the editing client unit.
To the processing result of the image held by the second image holding means.
Processing order that does not include all or part of the information that is not necessary for reflection
Command is transferred to the second image processing means and processed by the editing server section.
Image editing apparatus characterized by that. 2. The second image processing means so that the editing processing control means of the editing client unit matches the image held by the second image holding means of the editing server unit with the characteristics of the image display means of the editing client unit. The image editing apparatus according to claim 1, which is converted into 3. The image editing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the editing server unit processes one or a plurality of images while communicating with a plurality of editing client units.