JP6790208B2 - Digital ink file generation method, digital ink file generation device, digital ink file playback method, digital ink file playback device, and program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an ink file search method, a search device, and a program, and more particularly to an ink file search method, a search device, and a program that can realize an ink file search in which an input device can be specified as one of the search conditions.

There is known a digital ink that can hold characters and images written on a position detector such as a tablet using an input device such as an electronic pen or a stylus as vector data and reproduce them later. Digital ink is data obtained by converting the locus of moving an input device on a position detector into electronic data so as to simulate a handwritten locus (stroke) drawn on paper. Digital ink usually has a style of drawing (1) data for reproducing a handwritten trajectory by a set of coordinate points and control points, and (2) drawing a handwritten trajectory such as color information and pen tip type. The data that describes the above, and (3) the data that describes the geometric conversion rule of the data related to the trajectory such as the coordinate transformation matrix are included. Several types of specific formats for digital ink have been proposed, and examples thereof are disclosed in Non-Patent Documents 1 to 4.

InkML described in Non-Patent Document 1 is the most well-known digital ink data format. In InkML, the above-mentioned (1) "data for reproducing a handwritten trajectory" is called a <trace> element. In the <trace> element, a plurality of point data (detected by an input sensor at predetermined time intervals) constituting a locus of one stroke (operation from contacting the indicator body with the sensor surface of the position detection device to releasing the indicator body) Data. A set of data indicating input sensor-dependent attributes (input sensor attributes) such as point data (x, y), pen pressure data, and time data) is described. In addition, data such as a <brush> element is defined as the "data that specifies the drawing style of the locus" in (2) above. Data such as a <mapping> element is defined as "data describing a conversion rule of data related to a locus" in (3) above. It is also shown that the <inkSource> element can describe the manufacturer, model, serial number, etc. of the hardware device that supplied the ink data.

The ISF (Ink Serialized Format) described in Non-Patent Document 2 is a digital ink data format used on an application of Microsoft Corporation. The "data for reproducing the handwritten trajectory" in (1) above is called a StrokeDescriptorBlock in the ISF. In the StrokeDescriptorBlock, points (points are x, y coordinate values), pen pressure values, etc. for reproducing the locus of the stroke are described. DrawingAttributeBlock is defined as the "data that specifies the drawing style of the locus" in (2) above. The Transfer Block is defined as the "data describing the conversion rule of the data related to the locus" in (3) above.

SVG described in Non-Patent Document 3 is a markup language for describing a set of two-dimensional graphics applications and images, and graphic scripts. In SVG, the <path> element exists as the "data for reproducing the handwritten trajectory" in (1) above. A plurality of control points (coordinate data) used for curve interpolation are included in the <path> element, and the locus is reproduced by a Bezier curve based on these plurality of control points.

HTML5 described in Non-Patent Document 4 defines a data type called a Canvas Path class as the "data for reproducing a handwritten locus" in (1) above. The Canvas Path class is given the control points necessary to generate a cubic curve to generate each segment in order to reproduce the trajectory by connecting the segments of a plurality of Bezier curves.

Patent Document 1 describes a technique relating to compression of digital ink. It is stated that a curve interpolation algorithm is used to reduce the number of point data required and compress the data in order to compress the amount of raw data obtained by coordinate detection during handwriting. ..

In the following, the <trace> element of Non-Patent Document 1, the StrokeDescriptorBlock of Non-Patent Document 2, the <path> element of Non-Patent Document 3, the Canvas Path class described in Non-Patent Document 4, the compressed digital ink of Patent Document 1, etc. Is generically called stroke data, and vector data for reproducing a handwritten trajectory input using a position detector with a series of point data is called stroke data.

In addition, some input devices such as electronic pens hold unique identification information such as so-called pen identification information PID. This type of input device has a ROM that stores unique identification information inside, and is configured to be output to a position detector such as a tablet.

The pen identification information PID acquired by the position detector can be acquired from the application through the API of the driver or library corresponding to the function of the position detector. Non-Patent Document 5 describes an example of a driver or library API called wintab. The same document C. Section 4 describes the specifications of UniqueID, which is the pen identification information PID output by the API called wintab when Intuos (registered trademark), which is a position detector of Wacom, is used as the position detector.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-141100 International Publication No. 2015/019883

Yi-Min Chee, 11 outsiders, "Ink Markup Language (InkML) W3C Recommendation 20 September 2011", [online], September 20, 2011, W3C, [Search November 19, 2014], Internet < URL: http://www.w3.org/TR/InkML/> "Ink Serialized Format Specification", [online], Microsoft Corporation, [Searched on December 11, 2014], Internet <URL: http://download.microsoft.com/download/0/B/E/0BE8BDD7-E5E8 -422A-ABFD-4342ED7AD886 / InkSerializedFormat (ISF) Specification.pdf> Erik Dahlstrom, 9 outsiders, "Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.1 (Second Edition) W3C Recommendation 16 August 2011", [online], August 16, 2011, W3C, [Search December 11, 2014] , Internet <URL: http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG/> Ian Hickson, 6 outsiders, "A vocabulary and associated APIs for HTML and XHTML W3C Recommendation 28 October 2014", [online], October 28, 2014, W3C, [Search December 11, 2014], Internet <URL: http://www.w3.org/TR/html5/> Explanation of WDN Beta "Windows", [online], Wacom Co., Ltd., [Search on March 25, 2015], Internet <URL: http://wdnet.jp/library/windows/wintab/>

By the way, cloud computing has been attracting attention in recent years, and digital ink container files (files containing multiple stroke data; hereinafter referred to as "ink files") are also cloud computing, like sharing services such as photos and images. It is expected that it will be used for saving on top and sharing the saved image on the cloud.

As a file-based search, an image file search with a predetermined tag is performed. Similarly, it is convenient to be able to search for ink files by specifying some search conditions. Especially for ink files, specify information such as the input device and the user name corresponding to the input device as one of the search conditions. Very convenient if possible.

However, with the ink file generated by the conventional ink file generation method, it is impossible to easily search by the information corresponding to such an input device.

Therefore, one of the objects of the present invention is to provide an ink file search method, a search device, and a program that realizes a search for an ink file in which an input device can be specified as one of the search conditions.

In addition, there are cases where a plurality of users draw a picture on one canvas, or there are cases where a red pen and a pencil or the like are used to draw a picture on one canvas. In such a case, it is convenient to be able to extract only the stroke data input by oneself or the stroke data input by using a specific device and draw only the extracted stroke data.

However, in the conventional search process, only the entire image hit by the search can be displayed, and the stroke cannot be partially extracted and output.

Therefore, one of the objects of the present invention is to provide a search method, a search device, and a program for ink data that extracts only stroke data corresponding to the search conditions and draws only the extracted stroke data. ..

The first invention is a method for searching an ink file, of among M stroke data including a plurality of coordinate data and N (N ≦ M) types of input devices for each of the M stroke data. The step of acquiring a plurality of ink files including each of the metadata blocks associated with the metadata corresponding to the information indicating which input device was input, the step of acquiring the search condition including the specification of the metadata, and the above. A step of selecting one or more ink files including the stroke data associated with the metadata specified by the search condition from a plurality of ink files, and stroke data for each of the one or more ink files. It is a method for searching an ink file, which comprises a step of performing a drawing process including.

In the second invention, in the first invention, in the step of performing the drawing process, for each of the one or more ink files, only the stroke data associated with the metadata specified by the search condition is described. This is an ink file search method, which is characterized in that it is the target of drawing processing.

In any of the above inventions, the stroke data of one or more is stored in the corresponding ink file in a state of being encoded by one format selected from a plurality of formats, and the ink is described. The file holds the information identifying the one format in an area different from the area in which the stroke data is stored by a format independent of the stroke data format, and the search condition includes the designation of the format. In the step of selecting one or more ink files, the stroke data is stored in an ink file containing the stroke data encoded in the format specified by the search condition from the one or more ink files. It may be selected by the information for identifying the one format held in the area different from the area.

In any of the above inventions, the plurality of ink files each store order information which is information representing the relative drawing order between the M stroke data, and the step of performing the drawing process is described above. Each of the one or more ink files is stored in each of the extracted stroke data in the drawing order indicated by the order information given to the stroke data associated with the metadata specified by the search condition. It may be possible to draw a plurality of point data.

According to the first invention, it is possible to search for an ink file in which an input device or a character string such as a user name using the input device can be specified as a search condition as one of the search conditions.

According to the second invention, only the stroke data input by oneself or the stroke data input by using a specific device can be extracted, and only the extracted stroke data can be drawn, and the stroke data can be used as image data (image data). It is possible to realize a search method for ink data that utilizes the advantage of holding it as vector data without converting it to raster data).

Further, in any of the above inventions, the search method is executed according to the configuration in which one ink file is selected based on the information for identifying the one format held in an area different from the area in which the stroke data is stored. It is possible to extract an ink file that holds the stroke data format that the server does not support, and it is possible to acquire an ink file that contains stroke data that the user can decode in his / her own environment. It is suitable for searching stroke data for which there is no widely used format such as.

Further, in any of the above inventions, a plurality of order information which is information indicating a relative drawing order between stroke data is stored in an ink file, and is stored in each of the stroke data in the drawing order indicated by the order information. In order to draw the point data of, when synthesizing and drawing the stroke data group selected by one or more search conditions, the stroke data that cannot be expressed by the foreground background of a simple object whose relationship is switched multiple times. It is possible to realize a search method that reproduces and presents the superposition relationship of.

It is a figure which shows the system structure of the computer 1 by the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a functional block diagram of the digital ink generation apparatus 30 shown in FIG. It is a processing flow diagram which shows the main routine (the first half part) of the processing which generates an ink file 40. It is a processing flow diagram which shows the main routine (the latter half part) of the processing which generates an ink file 40. It is a figure which shows the internal structure of the input processing unit 31 and the metadata generation unit 33 shown in FIG. It is a processing flow diagram of the metadata generation processing shown in step S11 of FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the process which generates the logical identification information LID from the pen identification information PID. (A) is a diagram showing an example of the logical identification information LID and the logical name LN when the logical name LN is a character string, and (b) is a diagram showing the logical identification information LID and the logic when the logical name LN is a hash value. It is a figure which shows the example of the name LN, (c) is the figure which shows the example of the logical identification information LID and the logical name LN when the logical name LN is URN. It is a process flow diagram of the order confirmation process shown in step S23 of FIG. (A) two of the electronic pen P _A, a diagram showing an example of a figure drawn by the respective P _B, (b) is a diagram obtained by replacing the discrete points data (a), (C) is a figure which shows the order information Worder (PID) associated with the series of coordinates shown in (b). (A) two of the electronic pen P _A, a diagram showing another example of a figure drawn by the respective P _B, (b) is a view obtained by replacing the discrete point data: (a) There is, (c) is a figure which shows the order information Worder (PID) associated with the series of coordinates shown in (b). (A) is a diagram illustrating a series of information stored in one ink file including stroke data shown in FIG. 11, and (b) is a diagram in which a series of information shown in (a) is ordered. It is sorted by Older (PID). It is a process flow diagram of the ink file generation process shown in step S40 of FIG. It is a figure which shows the structure of the ink file generated by RIFF. (A) is a diagram showing a stroke data format for defining a stroke data format in WILL format, and (b) is a diagram showing a specific expression format of each attribute shown in (a). c) is a diagram showing a specific representation format of stroke attributes having a hierarchical structure. It is a processing flow diagram of the stroke data coding process shown in step S404 of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the stroke data described in the InkML format. It is a processing flow diagram of the stroke data grouping process shown in step S406 of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the metadata chunk described in the XMP format. It is a functional block diagram of the digital ink reproduction apparatus 50 shown in FIG. It is a processing flow diagram which shows the main routine of the processing which generates an image according to the filter information shown in FIG. It is a processing flow diagram of the image generation processing shown in step S51 of FIG. It is a figure which shows the system structure of the computer system 90 by the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the ink table stored in the storage 71 shown in FIG. It is a functional block diagram of the ink server 70 shown in FIG. It is a processing flow diagram which shows the main routine of the ink file reproduction processing by the ink server 70 shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the system structure of the computer system 91 by the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the ink table stored in the storage 71 shown in FIG. 27. It is a figure which shows the modification of the internal structure of the input processing unit 31 and the metadata generation unit 33 shown in FIG.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, an ink file output method according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system configuration of a computer 1 that realizes an ink file output method according to the present embodiment. As shown in the figure, the computer 1 includes a position detector 20, a digital ink generation device 30 (ink file output device), a digital ink reproduction device 50, and a display 60. The computer 1 may be a device in which all of these configurations are integrated, or a device in which a part of these configurations is connected to another configuration as an external device. As an example of the former, there is a case where the computer 1 is a so-called tablet PC. As an example of the latter, there is an example in which the main body of the computer 1 is a personal computer, and the position detector 20 and the display 60 are connected to the personal computer as external devices. In any case, the computer 1 includes a configuration (not shown) provided by a normal computer such as a CPU, a communication circuit, and a storage device. The storage device includes a main storage device such as a main memory and an auxiliary storage device such as a hard disk. Each function of the computer 1 is realized by operating the CPU according to a program stored in the storage device.

The position detector 20 is a device having a flat panel surface and a sensor arranged immediately below the panel surface, and is used together with one or more electronic pens P. 1, as an example of the electronic pen P, 2 single electronic pen P _A, illustrates the P _B. Electronic pen P _A, are given in the bottom right corner of the sign of P _B A, subscripts B is the symbol for distinguishing a plurality of the electronic pen, in the present specification, in particular a plurality of electronic pen When it is not necessary to distinguish, it is simply referred to as an electronic pen P. Electronic pen P _A, is P _B, if also be utilized alternately the one user, be utilized simultaneously by a plurality of users as will be described later with reference to FIGS. 10 and 11, W _A and in FIG. 1 front-rear as two strokes indicated by W _B (vertical) relationship is when outputting the stroke replaced partially.

The electronic pen P is a pen-shaped input device, and is usually used while being held in the user's hand. The user inputs characters and pictures by moving the pen tip of the electronic pen P on the position detector 20. Although not shown, the electronic pen P has a storage device in which a unique pen identification information PID (input device identification information) is stored in advance for each electronic pen P, and the electronic pen P presses the panel surface of the position detector 20. A pen pressure detection device that detects force, that is, a pen pressure, a side switch that can take either an on or off state, and a transmission device for transmitting various signals from the electronic pen P to the position detector 20. It is composed of and. The signal transmitted by the transmitting device includes a signal representing the pen identification information PID, a signal representing the pen pressure detected by the pen pressure detecting device, a signal representing the state of the side switch, and the like. The transmitting device is configured to transmit these signals at regular intervals.

The position detector 20 has a function of detecting the position of each electronic pen P in the panel surface and a function of receiving the above-mentioned information transmitted by each electronic pen P. Specifically explaining the position detection, the sensors constituting the position detector 20 have a plurality of linear conductors extending in the x direction (one direction in the surface of the position detector 20) and the y direction (each). It has a configuration in which a plurality of linear conductors extending in a direction orthogonal to the x direction on the surface of the position detector 20 are arranged at equal intervals. The position detector 20 detects the point data PD indicating the position of the electronic pen P in the panel surface based on the change in the potential of these linear conductors caused by the electronic pen P approaching the panel surface. The point data PD is data composed of a combination (x, y) of the x-coordinate and the y-coordinate. This detection is performed in the same cycle as the signal transmission cycle of the electronic pen P. Position detector 20, the interface such as USB and I ^{2 C} is connected to the digital ink generating device 30, via the interface, each time the detection or receiving the detection point data PD and the various received information of, It is configured to output to the digital ink generator 30.

The digital ink generation device 30 is a device that generates an ink file 40 based on the point data PD and various information supplied from the position detector 20. The digital ink generator 30 is realized as a library executed on the CPU of the computer 1 and dynamically or statically linked by the application 100, or a service used by the application 100. The details of the ink file 40 will be described later, but the ink file 40 was used to generate one or more stroke data including a series of point data PDs for reproducing the movement locus of the electronic pen P, and stroke data. It includes metadata (logical name LN described later) corresponding to the pen identification information PID of the electronic pen P. The metadata is generated for each stroke data, and is stored in the ink file 40 in association with the corresponding stroke data. The ink file 40 is stored in a storage device (not shown) of the computer 1, and is subject to uploading to various servers, transmission by e-mail, and the like, if necessary.

The digital ink regeneration device 50 is a device that reproduces the ink file 40 generated by the digital ink generation device 30. The digital ink regenerator 50 is realized as a library or a service dynamically or statically linked by the application 100, which is executed on the CPU of the computer 1 in substance like the digital ink regenerator 30. Specifically, it is displayed on the display 60 by receiving an instruction from the application 100, selectively extracting desired stroke data from the ink file 40, decoding it, and performing drawing processing of the decoded stroke data. It is configured to generate a video signal and an image file 61 which is raster data. The image file 61 is, for example, a JPEG or PNG file. In particular, the digital ink regenerating device 50 according to the present embodiment extracts and decodes only the stroke data generated by the specific electronic pen P by referring to the metadata in the ink file 40, and targets the drawing process. Has the function of This point will be described in detail later.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the digital ink generator 30. As shown in the figure, the digital ink generation device 30 functionally includes an input processing unit 31, a stroke data generation unit 32, a metadata generation unit 33, an ink data holding unit 34, and an ink file generation unit 37. It is composed of. Of these, the ink file generation unit 37 is configured to include a plurality of stroke data coding units 35-1 to 35-n and a metadata coding unit 36 as an internal configuration.

Here, the application 100 shown in FIG. 2 is software executed on the CPU of the computer 1 and plays a role of controlling the operation of the computer 1 related to the generation and reproduction of the ink file 40. As the application 100, various applications such as a handwritten note application, a presentation application, and a whiteboard sharing application can be considered. The application 100 can supply various information such as metadata information M_inf and table M_Tbl, which will be described later, to each other via the memory of the computer 1 between the digital ink generation device 30 and the digital ink reproduction device 50 (see FIG. 1). It is composed.

The input processing unit 31 sets the received information each time various information (point data PD, pen identification information PID, information indicating pen pressure, information indicating the state of the side switch, etc.) is received from the position detector 20. It is a functional unit that generates event data based on the information and distributes and supplies it to the stroke data generation unit 32, the metadata generation unit 33, and the application 100. The input processing unit 31 is typically realized as a device driver corresponding to the position detector 20 incorporated in the operating system running on the computer 1. The data supplied from the input processing unit 31 to the stroke data generation unit 32 includes the point data PD. Further, the data supplied to the metadata generation unit 33 includes the pen identification information PID. On the other hand, the application 100 is supplied with information D_inf indicating the processing status of the stroke data SD. The application 100 is configured to control the operation of the digital ink generator 30 according to this information D_inf.

The event data generated by the input processing unit 31 includes information supplied from the position detector 20 as well as event type identification information ETYPE (not shown) indicating the state of the electronic pen P. The event type identification information ETYPE is information for identifying which part of a series of strokes the point indicated by the point data PD input from the position detector 20 is, and is not shown in FIG. 2, but is electronic. A pen-down state Pdown indicating that the pen P has come into contact with the panel surface, a pen-moved state Pmvd indicating that the electronic pen P has moved within the panel surface, a pen-up state Pup indicating that the electronic pen P has moved away from the panel surface, etc. Take a value.

Based on the information received from the position detector 20, the input processing unit 31 has contacted (pen down) the electronic pen P with the position detector 20 and separated the electronic pen P from the position detector 20 (pen up). It is configured to be detectable. When the input processing unit 31 detects that the electronic pen P has come into contact with the position detector 20 (pen down), the value of the event type identification information ETYPE in the event data to be generated next is set to the pen down state Pdown. After that, while the electronic pen P is touching the panel surface of the position detector 20 (that is, while various information is continuously supplied from the position detector 20), the input processing unit 31 uses the event type in the event data. Continue to set the pen-moved state Pmvd to the value of the identification information ETYPE. Finally, when the input processing unit 31 detects that the electronic pen P has moved away from the position detector 20 (pen-up), the value of the event type identification information ETYPE in the event data to be generated next is set to the pen-up state Pu. To do. In this way, the input processing unit 31 generates a series of event data starting with the pen-down state Pdown and ending with the pen-up state Pup.

The stroke data generation unit 32 is a functional unit that receives the supply of point data PD from the input processing unit 31 and generates stroke data SD including one or more point data PDs. The stroke data generation unit 32 is typically realized by a program called a library or service executed by the CPU of the computer 1. By referring to the value of the event type identification information ETYPE supplied from the input processing unit 31, the stroke data generation unit 32 receives each event from the event data indicating the pen-down state Pdown to the event data indicating the pen-up state Pup. One stroke data SD including a series of point data PDs included in the data is generated.

Here, there are various types of point data PD included in the stroke data SD. The stroke data generation unit 32 may include the value of the point data PD supplied from the input processing unit 31 as it is in the stroke data SD, smoothing processing such as weighted averaging or exponential smoothing method, thinning processing, or patent document. The stroke data SD may include the value of the point data PD thinned out by performing a compression process or the like as in the digital ink described in 1. Further, the position of an external control point or a two-dimensional vector that does not exist on the locus reproduced in determining the curve shape of the Bezier curve or the like interpolation curve may be added to the stroke data SD as the value of the point data PD. The stroke data generation unit 32 is configured to store the generated stroke data SD in the ink data holding unit 34.

The metadata generation unit 33 is a functional unit that generates a logical name LN that is metadata based on the pen identification information PID supplied from the input processing unit 31. The metadata generation unit 33 is also typically realized by a program called a library or service executed by the CPU of the computer 1. When the event data supplied from the input processing unit 31 includes the event type identification information ETYPE indicating the pen-down state Pdown, the metadata generation unit 33 has a logic corresponding to the pen identification information PID included in the event data. Generate the name LN. As shown in FIG. 8 to be described later, the specific contents of the logical name LN are described in one format selected by the application 100 from the three formats of a character string, a hash value, and a URN. Become. The application 100 tells the metadata generation unit 33 that the metadata information M_inf that describes the output format of the logical name LN, and one or more logical identification information LIDs and the logical name LN that are described in a single format. By supplying the table M_Tbl that describes the set, the format of the logical name LN is selected, and the logical name LN corresponding to each logical identification information LID is specified. The metadata generation unit 33 is configured to store the generated logical name LN in the ink data holding unit 34.

The ink data holding unit 34 is configured to store the logical name LN supplied from the metadata generation unit 33 in association with the stroke data SD supplied from the stroke data generation unit 32. Specifically, the logical name LN supplied from the metadata generation unit 33 in response to the fact that a certain electronic pen P is in the pen-down state Pdown, and the electronic pen P is next in the pen-up state Pu. Correspondingly, the stroke data SD supplied from the stroke data generation unit 32 is associated and stored.

The ink file generation unit 37 is a functional unit that generates an ink file 40 based on the stroke data SD and the logical name LN held in the ink data holding unit 34. The ink file 40 generated by the ink file generation unit 37 includes an ink chunk including stroke data SD and a metadata chunk including a logical name LN which is metadata, as shown in FIG. 14 to be described later. It is composed.

The stroke data SD is a stroke corresponding to one format selected by the application 100 from the stroke data coding units 35-1 to 35-n corresponding to different formats (data structure and coding method). It is stored in the ink chunk in a state of being encoded by the data coding unit 35. As an example of the stroke data format supported by the stroke data coding unit 35-1 to 35-n, the formats described in Non-Patent Documents 1 to 4 such as InkML and ISF, and FIGS. 15 and 16 will be described. Examples include the format according to the present invention.

The application 100 selects the stroke data coding unit 35 by supplying the stroke data format S_Fmt, which is information for designating the stroke data format, to the ink file generation unit 37. The details of the stroke data format S_Fmt will be described in detail later with reference to FIG.

On the other hand, the logical name LN is stored in the metadata chunk as a part of a metadata block including a description for associating the logical name LN with one or more stroke data SDs. The metadata block is described in XML format. More specifically, it is described in the format of XMP (Extensible Metadata Platform) format. The described metadata block is encoded (binary) by the metadata coding unit 36 by a coding method such as UTF-8 and stored in the metadata chunk.

3 and 4 are process flow diagrams showing the main routine of the process of generating the ink file 40. Hereinafter, the processing performed by the digital ink generator 30 will be described in more detail again with reference to these figures.

In this process, as shown in FIG. 3, first, a numerical value "1" is set in the variable stroke_id, and a numerical value "0" is set in the variable inner and the variable CS (step S1). The variable stroke_id is identification information (stroke identifier) given to uniquely identify the stroke without distinction by the pen identification information PID. Further, the variable user is a variable (order information) used to store the stroke or the order in which the partial segments of the stroke are generated, and the variable CS is the position detector while a certain stroke is input. It is numerical data which shows the number of electronic pens P which are detected at the same time by 20.

Next, the input processing unit 31 detects the state of the electronic pen P (step S2). When it is detected in step S2 that the electronic pen P is in the pen-down state Pdown, the input processing unit 31 acquires the pen identification information PID from the position detector 20 (step S10) and supplies it to the metadata generation unit 33. To do. The metadata generation unit 33 generates the logical name LN at the stroke_id th based on the supplied pen identification information PID (step S11). The process of generating the logical name LN will be described in more detail later with reference to FIGS. 5 to 8.

Next, the input processing unit 31 acquires style information such as a line width based on the input information from the position detector 20 including the information indicating the writing pressure (step S12), and obtains the point data PD from the position detector 20. Acquire (step S13). The point data PD acquired in step S13 becomes the start coordinates (x0, y0) indicating the start point of one stroke. The order of acquisition of various information in steps S10, S12, and S13 is not limited to that described here.

Next, the input processing unit 31 sets the value of the variable stroke_id at that time in the stroke identifier Stroke_id (PID) (step S14). The stroke identifier Stroke_id (PID) is information for identifying each stroke like the variable stroke_id, but is associated with the pen identification information PID as an index (or key) in order to distinguish by the pen identification information PID. It is held in the form of an array. This associative array is used to temporarily store the variable stroke_id to be assigned to the stroke data SD generated by the electronic pen P indicated by the pen identification information PID acquired in step S10. In this way, various variables (stroke_id, orderer, etc.) are held in the form of an associative array in addition to the normal variables, while the stroke data is being input by a plurality of different electronic pens P at the same time. This is to make it possible to distinguish the values of stroke_id and input given to each of the plurality of strokes during the process by an index (or key) and retrieve them.

Further, the input processing unit 31 substitutes the value of the variable auder at that time into the order information order (PID) (step S15). The order information Older (PID) is also an associative array indexed by the pen identification information PID. The order information Older (PID) is information representing the relative detection order (drawing order) between the plurality of point data PDs (or between the segments of the point data PDs) detected for each of the plurality of electronic pens P. It is stored in association with the detected point data PD (steps S16, S24, S34 described later). The value of the order information Order (PID) may be updated by the order confirmation process executed in steps S23 and S33 described later. The details of the order confirmation process will be described later with reference to FIGS. 9 to 11.

Next, the digital ink generator 30 stores the pen identification information PID acquired in step S10, the point data PD acquired in step S13, and the latest order information Older (PID) in association with each other (step S16). After that, the variable stroke_id, the variable CS, and the variable user are each incremented by 1 (step S17), and the process is returned to step S2.

Next, the input processing unit 31 that detects that the electronic pen P is in the pen-moved state Pmvd in step S2 first acquires the pen identification information PID and the point data PD from the position detector 20 (steps S20 and S21). The point data PD acquired in step S21 has moving coordinates (x1, y1) to (xn-1, yn-1) indicating an intermediate point of one stroke. The order of acquisition of various information in steps S20 and S21 is not limited to that described here.

Next, the input processing unit 31 determines whether or not the variable CS is 2 or more (step S22), and if it is 2 or more, performs an order confirmation process (step S23). Subsequently, the input processing unit 31 stores the pen identification information PID acquired in step S20, the point data PD acquired in step S21, and the latest order information Older (PID) in association with each other (step S24). After that, the process is returned to step S2.

Next, the input processing unit 31 that detects that the electronic pen P is in the pen-up state in step S2 first acquires the pen identification information PID and the point data PD from the position detector 20 (steps S30 and S31). The point data PD acquired in step S31 becomes end coordinates (xn, yn) indicating the end point of one stroke. The order of acquisition of various information in steps S30 and S31 is not limited to that described here.

Next, the input processing unit 31 determines whether or not the variable CS is 2 or more in order to determine whether or not there are strokes that are simultaneously input (step S32), and if it is 2 or more. , The same order confirmation process as in step S23 is performed (step S33). Subsequently, the input processing unit 31 stores the pen identification information PID acquired in step S30, the point data PD acquired in step S31, and the latest order information Order (PID) in association with each other (step S34). After that, the value of the variable CS is decremented by 1 (step S35).

Subsequently, the stroke data generation unit 32 strokes the Stroke_id (PID) th stroke based on a series of point data PDs and sequence information Older (PID) stored in association with the pen identification information PID acquired in step S30. Data SD is generated (step S36). The value of the stroke identifier Stroke_id (PID) is the one set in step S14. The stroke data SD generated here includes the above-mentioned series of point data PD and order information Older (PID), information indicating that the stroke data SD is the Stroke_id (PID) th stroke data SD, and acquired in step S12. Contains style information. The stroke data SD generated in step S36 is held in the ink data holding unit 34 in association with the logical name LN generated in step S11 with respect to the pen identification information PID acquired in step S30 (step S37).

The above processing is repeatedly executed until the stroke data format S_Fmt described above is supplied from the application 100 (negative determination in step S38). When the stroke data format S_Fmt is supplied from the application 100, the ink file generation unit 37 determines that the output of the ink file 40 has been instructed (affirmative determination in step S38), and executes the ink file generation process shown in step S40. As a result, the ink file 40 including the series of stroke data SD generated so far is generated. The details of the ink file generation process will be described in detail later with reference to FIGS. 13 to 19.

The digital ink generation device 30 generates the ink file 40 as described above. Hereinafter, each process described later will be described in sequence.

First, the process of generating the logical name LN will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 to 8.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an internal configuration of the input processing unit 31 and the metadata generation unit 33 shown in FIG. The figure also shows four types TY1 to TY4 of the electronic pen P and the position detector 20. As described above, there are several types (device types) of the electronic pen P and the position detector 20, but in any of the types, the point data PD of the electronic pen P is detected by the position detector 20 and is an input processing unit. It is supplied to 31.

On the other hand, various information transmitted by the electronic pen P such as the pen identification information PID is once received by the position detector 20 in the types TY1 and TY2 and supplied to the input processing unit 31, but in the type TY3, it is supplied from the electronic pen P. It is directly transmitted to the input processing unit 31. Examples of the type TY3 electronic pen P include a pen such as the electronic pen described in Patent Document 2. The point data PD of the electronic pen P is detected by the position detector 20 which is a capacitive touch panel and is supplied by the internal interface, while the non-point data PD data such as pen pressure is Bluetooth (registered trademark). It is supplied to the input processing unit 31 via another communication channel using the above.

The type TY4 electronic pen P is typically an input device such as a touch pen used in a capacitive touch panel. The electronic pen P of type TY4 may be a device such as a mouse device for performing position input. The type TY4 electronic pen P does not store the pen identification information PID, and therefore, when this type of electronic pen P is used, the pen identification information PID is not supplied to the input processing unit 31. In the following, when (TYn) is added to the end of the code of the electronic pen P or the position detector 20, the electronic pen P or the position detector 20 is of type TYn (n is an integer of 1 to 4). Is shown. Further, the pen identification information PIDs of the types TY1 to TY3 are referred to as pen identification information PID1 to PID3, respectively.

The input processing unit 31 includes an input / output interface (I / O) 310 and drivers 31 to 315. Output interface 310 is a communication circuit constructed in accordance with a communication standard such as USB and ^I 2 C or BlueTooth, (R), the electronic pen P of the position detector 20 and the type TY3 of the input processing unit 31 for each type It plays a role of realizing communication with (TY3).

The driver 311 is software (device driver) for controlling and operating the position detector 20 (TY1). The driver 311 receives various information including the point data PD and the pen identification information PID1 from the position detector 20 (TY1), and uses the point data PD as the stroke data generation unit 32 and the pen identification information PID1 as the metadata generation unit 33. It has a function to output to each.

The pen identification information PID1, which is the first pen identification information PID, is information according to the example of Unique ID described in Non-Patent Document 5. The pen identification information PID1 uses the K-bit ID space, and the unique information UID containing different number information for each K1 bit electronic pen P in the K bit and the K2 bit pen tip identification bit It is described in a mixed format (first format). More specifically, as shown in FIG. 7, the pen identification information PID1 includes a 12-bit attribute information CSR_TYPE indicating various attributes of the electronic pen P (TY1) including being of type TY1, and an electronic pen P. It is composed of K bits (44 bits) including 32-bit serial number information CSR_PHYSID indicating the serial number of (TY1). Attribute information The attributes indicated by CSR_TYPE include, for example, the type of pen tip of the electronic pen P (TY1) (pen, airbrush, etc.) and the plurality of pen tips of the electronic pen P (TY1) for distinguishing each other. Information etc. are included. The latter attribute is an attribute required when the electronic pen P (TY1) has pen tips at both ends, for example, and is one or more bits (K2 bit, in the example, 2 bits) in the attribute information CSR_TYPE (hereinafter, "pen". It is indicated by (referred to as the first identification bit). With this pen tip identification bit, the input processing unit 31 inputs the currently input point data PD on the pen tip side of a certain stylus, or on the pen tile side of the same stylus (typically, an eraser). Etc.) can be identified. The serial number information CSR_PHYSID is different from the unique information UID in the pen identification information PID2 described later, and is not information that differs for each electronic pen P by itself, and is a part of the attribute information CSR_TYPE (the above pen tip identification). By combining with the part excluding the bit), the information becomes different for each electronic pen P.

The driver 312 is software (device driver) for controlling and operating the position detector 20 (TY2). The driver 312 receives various types of information including the point data PD and the pen identification information PID2 from the position detector 20 (TY2), and uses the point data PD as the stroke data generation unit 32 and the pen identification information PID2 as the metadata generation unit 33. It has a function to output to each.

The pen identification information PID2, which is the second pen identification information PID, uses the L-bit ID space and uniquely identifies each housing of the L2-bit (16-bit) device information DID and the electronic pen. It is described in a format (second format) in which the unique information UID of the L1 bit (35 bits) provided for the purpose is simply concatenated. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 7, a 16-bit device information DID indicating various attributes of the electronic pen P (TY2) including being of type TY2 and a number information different for each electronic pen P 35 are included. It is composed of the unique information UID of the bit. The attributes indicated by the device information DID are basically the same as in the case of the attribute information CSR_TYPE described above, but may not include the pen tip identification bit described above.

The driver 313 is software for controlling and operating the electronic pen (TY3). The driver 313 has a function of receiving various information including the pen identification information PID 3 from the electronic pen (TY3) and outputting it to the metadata generation unit 33.

The pen identification information PID3, which is the third pen identification information PID, uses the ID space of M bits and is described in a format (third format) for identifying each housing of the electronic pen with all the M bits. ing. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 7, it is composed of a 48-bit unique information UID including different number information for each electronic pen P. As an ID assignment system, for example, an address including a vendor ID such as a 48-bit BlueToth address or IEEE EUI-48 is used. The information corresponding to the device information DID of the pen identification information PID2 is not included in the pen identification information PID3.

The driver 314 is software (device driver) for controlling and operating the position detector 20 (TY3). The driver 314 has a function of receiving various information including the point data PD from the position detector 20 (TY3) and outputting the received point data PD to the stroke data generation unit 32.

The driver 315 is software (sensor driver) for controlling and operating the position detector 20 (TY4). The driver 315 has a function of receiving various information including the point data PD from the position detector 20 (TY4) and outputting the received point data PD to the stroke data generation unit 32.

The metadata generation unit 33 includes an address space integration unit 330, an LID conversion unit 331, and a device type recording unit 332. Of these, the address space integration unit 330 includes UID extraction units 3300 and 3301 and an N-bit space mapping processing unit 3302 as internal configurations. Further, the LID conversion unit 331 includes a switching unit 3310, a name derivation unit 3311, a hash unit 3312, and a URN conversion unit 3313 as internal configurations. Hereinafter, the processing of the metadata generation unit 33 will be described with reference to the processing flow diagram of FIG. 6, and the functions of each of these units will be described.

First, the metadata generation unit 33 acquires the device types (types TY1 to TY4 described above) of the electronic pen P and the position detector 20 connected to the digital ink generation device 30 (step S110). Then, processing is performed according to the format of the pen identification information PID specified according to the acquired device type (each option in step S111). Hereinafter, each type will be described.

First, when the device type is type TY1, the format of the pen identification information PID is specified to be the first format. Since the first format is a format in which the unique information UID containing different number information for each electronic pen P and the pen tip identification bit are mixed in the K bit, it is supplied by the UID extraction unit 3300 through the corresponding driver 311. A process of extracting unique information UID including number information different for each electronic pen P from the pen identification information PID 1 is performed (step S111). Specifically, as shown in FIG. 7, this extraction is performed by masking the portion of the attribute information CSR_TYPE corresponding to the pen tip identification bit described above with the “0” bit. As shown in FIG. 5, the UID extraction unit 3300 supplies the extracted unique information UID to the N-bit space mapping processing unit 3302 as the unique information UID1 corresponding to the type TY1. The UID extraction unit 3300 also performs a process of supplying the contents of the masked pen tip identification bit to the device type recording unit 332 as device information DID1.

Next, when the device type is type TY2, the format of the pen identification information PID2 obtained from the driver is the second format. In the second format, the L1 bit device information DID and the L2 bit unique information UID provided for uniquely identifying each housing of the electronic pen are linked. Therefore, the UID extraction unit 3301 performs a process of extracting the unique information UID including the number information different for each electronic pen P from the pen identification information PID2 supplied through the corresponding driver 312 (step S111). As shown in FIG. 7, this extraction is a process of simply extracting the unique information UID in the pen identification information PID2. As shown in FIG. 5, the UID extraction unit 3301 supplies the extracted unique information UID to the N-bit space mapping processing unit 3302 as the unique information UID2 corresponding to the type TY2. The UID extraction unit 3301 also performs a process of supplying the device information DID included in the pen identification information PID2 to the device type recording unit 332 as the device information DID2.

Next, when the device type is type TY3, the obtained pen identification information PID is in the third format. The third format utilizes the ID space of M bits and is described by a format that identifies each housing of the electronic pen by all the M bits. Therefore, the entire pen identification information PID3 is supplied to the N-bit space mapping processing unit 3302 as the unique information UID3 corresponding to the type TY3 (step S112).

Finally, if the device type is type TY4, there is no pen identifier to obtain. If the obtained pen identifier does not exist, the N-bit space mapping processing unit 3302 sets NULL (predetermined dummy data) as the unique information UID4 corresponding to the type TY4 (step S113). This is a measure to enable the electronic pen P (TY4) of the type TY4 that does not store the pen identification information PID to be handled in the same manner as the electronic pen P of other types, and the unique information UID4 is the electronic pen. It does not have a function to uniquely identify P.

After the unique information UID is acquired in steps S111 to S114, the N-bit space mapping processing unit 3302 performs a process of mapping the unique information UID to the N-bit space (step S115). As a result of this mapping process, the logical identification information LID is obtained. Hereinafter, a detailed description will be given with reference to FIG. 7.

The number of bits in the space to be mapped is not particularly limited, but is set to 64 bits in FIG. The mapping process includes the following first and second steps.

First, in the first step, the unique information UID of the number of bits that differs depending on the format of the pen identifier (K1 (42) bits in the first format, L1 (35) bits in the second format, M (48) bits in the third format, For a device of type TY4, one bit number LLEN (52 bits in the example) having the longest number of bits (48 bits) or more among 0 bits) is determined. This decision may be made once in advance. By adding padding data of "0" to the beginning of the unique information UID obtained by mask processing or separation processing so that the number of bits is LLEN, the unique information UID obtained in various formats can be added to the LLEN bit (LLEN bit). 52 bits) of information is unified.

Next, in the second step, the information of the PLEN bit (12 bits in the example) for indicating the device type or the format type is added to the beginning of the unique information of the LLEN bit. In the example of FIG. 7, for information indicating four types of devices, "1" is used for type TY1, "2" is used for type TY1, "3" is used for type TY3, and "4" is used for type TY4. It is set with 12 bits. When distinguishing four pieces of information, 2 bits are sufficient, but 12 bits are used in order to match the number of ID space bits to a power of 2, such as 64 bits or 128 bits.

The N-bit (64-bit) information of the LLEN bit (52 bits) + PLEN bit (12 bits) finally obtained by the mapping process including the above two steps becomes the logical identification information LID. The logical identification information LIDs obtained for each of the types TY1 to TY4 are supplied as logical identification information LIDs 1 to LID4 from the N-bit space mapping processing unit 3302 to the switching unit 3310 in the LID conversion unit 331.

The switching unit 3310 selects one of the name derivation unit 3311, the hash unit 3312, and the URN conversion unit 3313 based on the metadata information M_inf supplied from the application 100 (see FIG. 2) (step S120). This choice is predetermined by the preference of the user or the developer of the application 100 regarding the disclosure of pen identification information. Then, the supplied logical identification information LID is output to the selected functional unit.

The name derivation unit 3311 is a functional unit that converts the logical identification information LID into a character string and outputs the obtained character string as a logical name LN (steps S121 and S122). The application 100 supplies one table M_Tbl that associates the logical identification information LID with the character string to the name derivation unit 3311. Even in an environment where a plurality of formats are mixed as the pen identifier format, since the logical identification LID is mapped to a single space by the above mapping process, one table is used as the table supplied from the application 100. It is enough to supply. The name derivation unit 3311 receives the table M_Tbl in which the pairs of the logical identification information LID and the character string are listed, and reads the character string corresponding to the logical identification information LID supplied from the switching unit 3310 from this table M_Tbl. Perform the above conversion. Even when the name derivation unit 3311 is converted on the application 100 side, the application 100 also needs to implement only the routine for processing only the logical identification information LID described in a single format. Become.

FIG. 8A is a diagram showing an example of the table M_Tbl supplied to the name derivation unit 3311. As shown in the figure, a user name can be used as the character string constituting the logical name LN in this case. Later, when the ink file 40 is played back, it becomes possible to filter the stroke data SD by a person's name. Further, by associating the same user name with a plurality of electronic pens P (logical identification information LID), a plurality of stroke data SDs drawn by one person using the plurality of electronic pens P can be subjected to one filter condition. It becomes possible to extract all at once by filtering. In addition, for users who are reluctant to include pen identification information in ink data and make it public, or for users who prefer a character string named pen identification information to pen identification information that lists numerical values. Information different from the pen identification information can be output.

As shown in FIG. 8B, the hash unit 3312 is a functional unit that converts the logical identification information LID into a hash value by a predetermined one-way function and outputs the obtained hash value as the logical name LN (step S123). , S124). In this case, in order to filter the stroke data SD when the ink file 40 is reproduced, a filter condition based on a hash value is specified. By doing so, the logical identification information LID is not visible to the user, so that the logical identification information LID can be hidden from the user. As a one-way function used by the hash unit 3312, the possibility that a plurality of logical identification information LIDs correspond to one hash value (that is, the possibility that a so-called collision occurs) can be practically zeroed. It is preferable to use one designed so that it can be used.

As shown in FIG. 8C, the URN conversion unit 3313 converts the logical identification information LID into a URN (Uniform Resource Name) by adding a predetermined header, and outputs the obtained URN as a logical name LN. It is a functional unit (steps S125 and S126). In the example of FIG. 8C, a header of "urn: dev: wcm:" is added to indicate that the electronic pen P conforms to the system of the logical identification information LID of the present invention. By doing so, the range of the electronic pen P to be identified by the logical identification information LID can be limited, and the ink data to which the logical identification information LID according to the present invention is given can be applied to other inventions. It becomes possible to distinguish from the ink data to which the logical identification information is given.

The device type recording unit 332 has a function of generating device information D_dscr based on the device information DID supplied from the address space integration unit 330 and outputting it to the outside. By adding this device information D_dscr to, for example, the logical name LN, it can be handled as a part of the logical name LN in the subsequent processing. By doing so, the device information DID can be used as a part of the filter information when playing back the ink file 40 described later.

The process of generating the logical name LN has been described above. Next, the order confirmation process shown in step S23 of FIG. 3 will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 to 11. The order confirmation process performed in step S33 is the same process.

<Order confirmation process>
Hereinafter, the order confirmation process will be described with reference to the example of FIG. The relationship between the front and back of the two strokes is not as simple as determining which of the two graphic objects is the foreground and which is the background. In the overlapping relationship of strokes, it is necessary to investigate the overlapping relationship at the intersecting positions indicated by the broken line frame IS1 in the figure where the two strokes intersect. In the example of FIG. 10, two kinds of electronic pen _P A, the _{P B} are used simultaneously. As shown in FIG. 10 (b), the locus of the electronic pen _{P A} is represented by the coordinate Al to A4, the locus of the electronic pen _{P B} is represented by coordinates B1 to B4. As shown in FIG. 10 (a), the locus of the trajectory and electronic pen P _B of the electronic pen P _A is crossed, at the intersection, the locus of the electronic pen P _A is placed on top. Such an arrangement, the timing at which the electronic pen P _A passes through the intersection point occurs when the electronic pen P _B becomes time later than the timing when passing through the intersection.

In the processing flow shown in FIG. 3, two of the electronic pen P _A, when it is assumed that P _B becomes both pen-down state Pdown, variable CS indicating how many strokes are started simultaneously is two. Then, while the electronic pen _P A, the _{P B} are both maintained Penmubuto state Pmvd, since the determination result of step S22 is positive, the electronic pen _P A, _P new point data PD for each at step S21 in _B Is acquired, the order confirmation process of step S23 is performed.

FIG 9 shows a case where the i-th coordinates Ai of the electronic pen _{P A} is obtained in step S21 in FIG. 3 (step S231). In this case, the input processing unit 31, and the newly acquired coordinates Ai, stroke segment indicated by a line connecting the coordinates Ai-1 which has been acquired before one respect electronic pen P _A (a portion of the stroke) is , It is determined whether or not the other strokes currently input at the same time intersect with the already input stroke segment (step S232). This determination is not for determining whether all existing strokes intersect with the current stroke, but only for other strokes that are currently being input at the same time. In the example of FIG. 10, when i = 2 and 4, the determination result is negative, while when i = 3, the stroke segment indicated by the line segment connecting the coordinates B2 and the coordinates B3 already exists. Since this stroke segment intersects with the stroke segment indicated by the line segment connecting the coordinates A3 and the coordinates A2, the determination result is affirmative.

If a negative determination is obtained in step S232, the order confirmation process ends. On the other hand, if an affirmative determination is obtained in step S232, the variable auder is incremented by 1 (step S233), and the order information uider (PID) is updated by the new variable auder (step S234). Pen identification information PID in this case is a pen identification information PID of the electronic pen _{P A.}

FIG. 10C shows the value of the order information Older (PID) associated with each coordinate in step S24 of FIG. 3 as a result of the above order confirmation process. By the process of step S15 of FIG. 3, as shown in the figure, the coordinate A1 is associated with the order information UIDR (PID) which is “0”, and the coordinate B1 is associated with the order information UIDER (PID) which is “1”. ) Is associated. Then, for the coordinate B1~B4 indicating the trajectory of the electronic pen _{P B,} both variable uorder is "1" {PID) is associated. In contrast, for the locus of the electronic pen _{P A,} since it was reached coordinates A3, so that the order information Uorder is "2" (PID) is associated. As a result, the fact that the coordinates A1 and A2, the coordinates B1 to B4, and the coordinates A3 and A4 are drawn in this order is saved as an integer value.

Note that drawing in the drawing order saved in this way may not necessarily reflect the input time order. For example, in the order confirmation process according to the present embodiment, it is not detected which of the coordinates B4 and A4 is drawn first.

On the other hand, for example, it is possible to store information indicating the time (absolute time or relative time from the start of drawing) when the electronic pen P arrives at each coordinate in association with each coordinate. According to this method, it is possible to surely save the pre-post relationship between all the coordinates, and it is also possible to reproduce the drawing process on the screen like an animation. From the viewpoint of appropriately restoring the front-back relationship of the stroke data SD with the smallest possible amount of data, it is sufficient to save the order information Older (PID) as described above. These can also be selected by specifying the application 100.

The order confirmation process will be described again with reference to another example shown in FIG. This example shows a complicated example in which two or more strokes are generated at the same time and intersect multiple times at the positions indicated by the broken line frames IS2 and IS3 in the figure while exchanging the front-back (upper and lower) relationships.

The electronic pens P used at the same time in this example are two electronic pens P _A and P _B , as in the example of FIG. As shown in FIG. 11 (b), the locus of the electronic pen _{P A} is represented by the coordinate A 1 to A 9, the locus of the electronic pen _{P B} is represented by coordinates B1 to B5. As shown in FIG. 11 (a), the locus of the trajectory and electronic pen P _B of the electronic pen P _A intersect at two points. The first is the intersection realized by the stroke segment indicated by the line segment connecting the coordinates A2 and A3 and the stroke segment indicated by the line segment connecting the coordinates B2 and the coordinates B3, and the second is the coordinates. It is an intersection realized by a stroke segment indicated by a line segment connecting A7 and coordinate A8 and a stroke segment indicated by a line segment connecting coordinate B4 and coordinate B5. In the former disposed trajectory forefront of the electronic pen P _A, the latter is the locus of the electronic pen P _B are arranged on top.

Similar to the example of FIG. 10, the coordinate A1 is associated with the order information ordinate (PID) which is “0”, and the coordinate B1 is associated with the order information ordinate (PID) which is “1”. After that, the order information lord (PID) of "1" continues to be associated with the electronic pen P _{B up} to the coordinate B4. This is because the stroke segment of the electronic pen P _B does not intersect with other existing stroke segments while the drawing up to the coordinate B4 is performed.

On the other hand, the locus of the electronic pen _{P A,} since it was reached coordinates A3, so that the order information Uorder is "2" (PID) is associated. This is because when the stroke segment indicated by the line segment connecting the coordinates A2 and the coordinate A3 is drawn, the stroke segment indicated by the line segment connecting the coordinates B2 and the coordinate B3 exists immediately below the stroke segment. .. Then, for the coordinate A3~A9 indicating the trajectory of the electronic pen _{P A,} both would Uorder order information is "2" (PID) is associated.

With respect to the coordinate B5 of the electronic pen P _B , the order information UIDR (PID) which is "3" is associated with the coordinate B5. This is because when the stroke segment indicated by the line segment connecting the coordinates B4 and B5 is drawn, the stroke segment indicated by the line segment connecting the coordinates A7 and the coordinates A8 exists immediately below the stroke segment. ..

By the above processing, as shown in FIG. 11C, it is saved that the coordinates A1 and A2, the coordinates B1 to B4, the coordinates A3 to A9, and the coordinates B5 are drawn in this order.

The pre-post relationship saved as described above is to express the superimposition relationship in segment units only when the superimposition relationship of the drawing process (which is displayed on the upper layer and which is displayed on the lower layer) occurs. It has been simplified. The output Order (PID) is given in stroke units in many cases, and order information is added only when two strokes occur at the same time and the segments intersect in rare cases. Further, since the value is incremented only when it intersects, the amount of data can be reduced by performing the difference code in the same manner as the coding of the point data PD.

FIG. 12A is a diagram illustrating a series of information stored in one ink file including the stroke data shown in FIG. Further, FIG. 12B shows a series of information shown in FIG. 12A sorted by order information Order (PID).

As shown in FIG. 12B, in one ink file, the stroke identifier Stroke_id (PID), the storage unit of the sequence information, the series of point data PD, and the logical name LN are contained for each sequence information Older (PID). (Information for identifying the input device) is stored in association with each other. As will be described in detail later, the association between the logical name LN and the stroke identifier Stroke_id (PID) is stored in the metadata block, and other information is stored in the ink file as stroke data. Further, the portion surrounded by the thick black frame in FIGS. 12A and 12B is a portion corresponding to the stroke data shown in FIG. Here, in FIG. 11C, the numbers “0” to “3” were used as the Older (PID), but in FIG. 12, in order to show that there are other stroke data before and after, each “ It is set to "100" to "103".

The record in which the storage unit of the sequence information is "stroke" in FIG. 12 indicates the stroke data in which the sequence information Order (PID) is not changed while the user executes one stroke. On the other hand, the record in which the storage unit of the sequence information is the "stroke segment" indicates the stroke data in which the sequence information Order (PID) is changed while the user executes one stroke. In the latter case, as shown in FIG. 12, a series of point data PDs before the order information ordinate (PID) is changed and a series of point data PDs after that are stored as separate records in the ink file.

The order confirmation process has been described above. Next, the ink file generation process shown in step S40 of FIG. 4 will be described with reference to FIGS. 13 to 19.

<Ink file generation process>
FIG. 13 is a processing flow diagram of the ink file generation process performed by the ink file generation unit 37 shown in FIG. In the present invention, the ink file 40 is generated by a general-purpose metafile format such as RIFF (Resource Interchange File Format). Further, in the following example, the stroke data SD is encoded by the first coding method that performs differential coding on the point data PD, and the above-mentioned metadata block is included in a metadata chunk such as UTF-8. It is encoded by the encoding method of the character string (character) specified by the XML format.

As shown in FIG. 13, the ink file generation unit 37 first generates an empty ink file 40 (step S401).

FIG. 14 shows the structure of the ink file 40 generated by RIFF. As shown in the figure, the ink file 40 by RIFF has a structure in which regions A1 to A9 each having a size of an integral multiple of 4 bytes are arranged in order from the beginning to the end.

The specific contents of the data stored in the areas A1 to A9 are as follows. That is, first, four characters "R", "I", "F", and "F" indicating that the ink file 40 is generated by RIFF are arranged in the area A1. In addition, a numerical value indicating the size of the ink file 40 is arranged in the area A2. The sizes of the regions A1 and A2 are 4 bytes each. The file size arranged in the area A2 is used by the reproduction device of the ink file 40 (for example, the digital ink reproduction device 50 shown in FIG. 1) to grasp the terminal position of the ink file 40.

In the area A3, four characters (for example, "W", "I", "L") indicating that the entire ink data stored in the areas A4 to A9 are described by the ink data output method of the present invention. The four letters "L") are arranged. The size of the area A3 is also 4 bytes. When the data in the areas A4 to A9 is described in another format such as InkML, the stored contents of the area A3 are naturally different from the above.

In the area A4, character strings (for example, "I" and "N") indicating that the data stored in the areas A5 and A6 are related to the ink chunks generated by the stroke data formats described in FIGS. 15 and 16 are used. The four characters "K" and "1") are arranged. The size of the area A4 is also 4 bytes.

Ink chunk size, which is data indicating the size of the area A6, is stored in the area A5. The size of the area A5 is also 4 bytes. This ink chunk size is used by the reproduction device of the ink file 40 (for example, the digital ink reproduction device 50 shown in FIG. 1) to grasp the terminal position of the region A6.

Ink chunks including one or more stroke data SDs are stored in the area A6. The size of region A9 is an integral multiple of 4 bytes. If the amount of ink chunk data is not exactly an integral multiple of 4 bytes, the predetermined padding data is inserted at the end. The specific storage contents of the area A6 will be described in detail later with reference to FIGS. 15 to 17.

In the area A7, four characters "X", "M", "P", and "-" indicating that the data stored in the areas A8 and A9 are described in the XML format particularly in the XMP format are arranged. Will be done. The size of the area A7 is also 4 bytes, and “−” is padding data for making the size of the area A7 4 bytes.

The area A8 stores a metadata chunk size which is data indicating the size of the area A9. The size of the area A8 is also 4 bytes. This metadata chunk size is used by the reproduction device of the ink file 40 (for example, the digital ink reproduction device 50 shown in FIG. 1) to grasp the terminal position of the area A9.

The area A9 stores a metadata chunk including the above-mentioned metadata block. The size of region A9 is an integral multiple of 4 bytes. If the amount of data in the metadata chunk is not exactly an integral multiple of 4 bytes, the given padding data is inserted at the end. The specific storage contents of the area A9 will be described in detail later with reference to FIGS. 18 and 19.

Return to FIG. After generating the empty ink file 40 in step S401, the ink file generation unit 37 outputs the four characters "W", "I", "L", and "L" indicating that the ink data output method according to the present invention has been executed. In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, the four characters "I", "N", "K", and "1" for identifying the type of the supplied stroke data format S_Fmt are included by the ASCII code (step S402).

FIG. 15A is a diagram showing an example of a first format (coding method) identified by “I”, “N”, “K”, and “1” as the value of the stroke data format S_Fmt. The stroke data format S_Fmt according to this example is configured to have three message objects of Document, Style, and Stroke. The message object that is the document represents one ink chunk, and each attribute of view box, integer precision information (decimal Precision), styles (Styles), strokes (Strokes), and the number representing each key ( It is configured to include "1" to "4"). The message object, which is a style, represents the specific content of the style attribute in the message object, which is a document, and is composed of a strokeWidth attribute and a number representing the key thereof. The message object that is a stroke represents the specific content of the stroke attribute in the message object that is a document, and the point corresponding to the point data PD and the stroke identification information (stroke_id) for uniquely identifying the stroke. It is composed of each attribute of the above and a number representing each key. Of these attributes, those marked with "repeated" indicate that the same attribute may be included more than once.

FIG. 15B is a diagram showing a specific expression format of each attribute. As shown in the figure, each attribute is represented by an 8-bit bit string representing a key and a variable-length (however, an integral multiple of 8 bits) bit string representing a value. The bit string representing the key is composed of a 5-bit bit string a representing the key (“1” in this example) and a 3-bit bit string b indicating the data type. The bit string representing the value is represented by the number of variable-length bytes required to represent the value. In the case of an integer type, a coding method is used in which the larger the absolute value of the value, the larger the number of bytes required. The bit string representing the value is composed of a bit string c in which the bit strings to be stored are decomposed into bit strings of 7 bits in order from the beginning, and the order of these is changed and arranged in order from the back side. A bit c1 for indicating the end of the bit string c is added to the beginning of each bit string of 7 bits each. Bit c1 indicates the end of the bit string c when it is "0".

An attribute having a hierarchical structure such as a stroke attribute is described by a structure in which a plurality of pairs of a key (k) and a value (V) are arranged in a value as shown in FIG. 15 (c). To. For example, in the example of FIG. 15 (c), a plurality of point attributes (key = "1") and one stroke identification information attribute (key = "2") are added to the value of the stroke attribute whose key is "4". It is included.

Return to FIG. The ink file generation unit 37 includes a character string identifying the stroke data format S_Fmt in the A4 portion of FIG. 14 by ASCII code, and then uses an encoding method (first format) according to the stroke data format S_Fmt to generate ink data. A process of encoding a series of stroke data SD stored in the holding unit 34 is performed (steps S403 and S404). As is clear from the processing flows shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the stroke data SD from the first to the stroke_id-1st is stored in the ink data holding unit 34. The ink file generation unit 37 sequentially encodes these stroke data SDs according to the stroke data format S_Fmt.

The coding of the stroke data SD by the first format will be described in more detail. FIG. 16 is a processing flow diagram of the stroke data coding process shown in step S404 of FIG. As shown in the figure, the ink file generation unit 37 that performs the stroke data coding process first acquires the value of the view box attribute from the application 100 shown in FIG. 2, and the key (1) of the view box attribute. At the same time, it is encoded in the format shown in FIG. 15 (b) (step S4041). Subsequently, the ink file generation unit 37 acquires the value of the integerization accuracy information attribute from the application 100, and encodes it together with the key (2) of the integerization accuracy information attribute in the format shown in FIG. 15 (b). Step S4042).

Next, the ink file generation unit 37 encodes the key (3) and the value of the style attribute (step S4043). Here, the style attribute has a hierarchical structure as can be understood from the description in the stroke data format S_Fmt (see FIG. 15A). Therefore, in the value of the style attribute, the key (1) and the value of the line width attribute located in the lower layer are stored as in the example shown in FIG. 15 (c). As the value of the line width attribute, the style information acquired by the input processing unit 31 in step S12 of FIG. 3 is used.

Subsequently, the ink file generation unit 37 encodes the stroke attribute key (4) (step S4044), and then encodes the stroke attribute value (steps S4045 to S4052). Specifically, first, the key (1) of the point attribute is encoded (step S4045) for each of the coordinates of the example included in the stroke data SD, and then the value of the point attribute is encoded (step S4046). ~ S4048). The value of the point attribute is composed of a combination of the point data PD and the order information Older (PID).

Specifically, the coding of the value of the point attribute is executed as follows. That is, first, each of the x-coordinate and the y-coordinate is converted into an integer value by the following equation (1) using the value of the integerization accuracy information attribute acquired in step S4042 (step S4046). Note that x _float and y _float in Eq. (1) indicate the x-coordinate and y-coordinate before conversion, which are floating-point number types, respectively, and x _int and y _int are the x-coordinates after conversion, which are integer types, respectively. And y-coordinates are shown, and digitalPrecision shows the value of the integerization accuracy information attribute. In addition, the notation (int) at the beginning of the right side represents a function that extracts only the integer part.

Subsequently, the difference values of the x-coordinate and the y-coordinate are derived (step S4047). To derive this difference value, as shown in the following equations (2) and (3), the value of that coordinate is output as the difference value for the 0th coordinate, and the i-th coordinate is one before. It is performed by outputting a value obtained by subtracting the value of the i-th coordinate from the i-1st coordinate located at 1 as a difference value. Note that x _diff and y _diff in the equations (2) and (3) indicate the difference values derived for each of the x coordinate and the y coordinate. The difference value is obtained and coded after being converted into an integer value in this way by using a variable length coding method such as the variable byte code described with reference to FIG. 15B, so that a certain code (for example, 0) can be coded. This is to reduce the amount of stroke data SD by performing entropy coding with a bias in the occurrence probability.

When the derivation of the difference value is completed, the ink file generation unit 37 encodes the derived difference value and the order information Older (PID) (step S4048). The details of this coding are as described with reference to FIGS. 15 (b) and 15 (c).

The ink file generation unit 37 repeats the processes of steps S4045 to S4048 for all the point data PDs in the stroke data SD (step S4050). Then, after the processing is completed for all the point data PDs, the key (2) of the stroke identification information attribute is encoded (step S4051), and further, is encoded as the value of the stroke identification information attribute (step S4052). As a result, the value of the stroke identification information attribute becomes information that uniquely identifies the stroke data SD in the ink file 40. By the above processing, the coding of the stroke attribute key and value is completed. After that, the ink file generation unit 37 outputs a series of encoded data (step S4053).

Return to FIG. After the coding of all the stroke data SDs is completed, the ink file generation unit 37 puts a series of data obtained by the coding processing in steps S402 and S404 into the area A6 (see FIG. 14) of the ink file 40. Write (step S405). This completes the generation of ink chunks.

Here, as an example of a format (coding method) different from the first format (first coding method) described with reference to FIGS. 15 and 16, the stroke data SD when the InkML format is used is shown in FIG. Shown. In this case, the area A4 shown in FIG. 14 stores a character string different from the case of using the first format, such as "I", "N", "K", and "2". The stroke data SD in the InkML format is described in the XML format, and is described by arranging a series of point data PDs in order in the trace tag as shown in FIG. Each point data PD in the trace tag is separated by a comma (,), and each point data PD has X coordinate, Y coordinate, style information (pen pressure information in this example), and order information Order (PID). ) Is described in a space-separated format. However, in the example of FIG. 17, the order information Order (PID) is not shown. FIG. 17 shows five stroke data SD0 to SD4 whose stroke identification information attributes are “sd0” to “sd4”. The stroke data SD in the InkML format is stored in the area A6 of the ink file 40 in a state where the characters constituting the XML are encoded by a coding process such as UTF-8.

Return to FIG. After the generation of the ink chunk is completed, the ink file generation unit 37 performs a process of grouping the stroke data SD by the logical name LN (step S406). Note that this grouping process is performed in order to reduce the amount of data in the metadata chunk.

<Grouping process>
FIG. 18 is a processing flow diagram of the stroke data grouping process shown in step S406 of FIG. As shown in the figure, this process is sequentially performed for each of the logical name LNs from the first to the stroke_id-1th stored in the ink data holding unit 34 (step S4061). Specifically, the ink file generation unit 37 first acquires the i-th logical name LN from the ink data holding unit 34 (step S4062), and determines whether or not a group has been assigned to the logical name LN (step S4062). Step S4063). If it has not been assigned (negative determination in step S4063), the ink file generation unit 37 generates a new group and assigns it to the logical name LN acquired in step S4062 (step S4064). When it is determined in step S4063 that the data has been assigned, and when the process in step S4064 is completed, the group assigned to the logical name LN acquired in step S4062 is the i-th group held in the ink data holding unit 34. The stroke data SD is associated (step S4065). After the above processing is completed up to stroke_id-1st logical name LN, each stroke data SD is in a state associated with any group.

Return to FIG. After the stroke data grouping process is completed, the ink file generation unit 37 generates a metadata block in which one or more stroke data SDs are associated with the logical name LN for each group generated in step S406 (step S407, step S407, S408).

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of a metadata chunk. This metadata chunk is described in the XMP format, which is an application of the XML format. As shown in the figure, it is composed of two metadata blocks B1 and B2. In step S408 of FIG. 13, such a metadata block is generated for each group.

<Generation of metadata block>
The metadata block is an N type (N is) that specifies an input device such as an electronic pen generated by the metadata generation unit 33 for M stroke data (M is an integer of 1 or more) generated by the stroke data generation unit 32. This is information held in a metadata chunk different from the stroke data chunk in order to associate the metadata (an integer of 1 or more and M or less) with N: M.

The description B1a in the metadata block B1 shown in FIG. 19 indicates the corresponding logical name LN (here, "David Smith"). Further, the description B1b in the metadata block B1 sets the value of the stroke identification information attribute (here, 1st to 5th) assigned to each of the 1 or more stroke data SDs corresponding to the logical name LN "David Smith". Shown. In this example, there are two types of metadata (N = 2). These descriptions B1a, by B1b, metadata block B1 is an electronic pen _{P A} logical name for specifying the (first input device) LN (first metadata), generated by the electronic pen _{P A} It functions as information associated with a first group (a group specified by the value of the stroke identification information attribute described in the description B1b) formed by grouping one or more stroke data SDs (first stroke data).

Similarly, the description B2a in the metadata block B2 indicates the corresponding logical name LN (here, "Greg Nelson"), and the description B2b in the metadata block B2 corresponds to the logical name LN "Greg Nelson". The values of the stroke identification information attributes (6th to 9th in this case) assigned to each of the one or more stroke data SDs are shown. According to these descriptions B2a and B2b, the metadata block B2 has a logical name LN (second metadata) that identifies the electronic pen P _B (second input device), one or more generated by the electronic pen P _B. It functions as information associated with a second group (a group specified by the value of the stroke identification information attribute described in the description B2b) formed by grouping the stroke data SD (second stroke data) of the above.

Here, in the metadata blocks B1 and B2 shown in FIG. 19, the start numbers of the stroke identification information attributes assigned to each of the first and second groups described above are assigned to the corresponding one or more stroke data SDs. And the end number. Such a specific method is realized by the stroke identification information attribute assigned to each of the one or more stroke data SDs corresponding to each group being data consisting of serial numbers. If the stroke identification information attribute assigned to each of the one or more stroke data SDs corresponding to each group is data consisting of disparate numbers, whether to renumber the corresponding stroke identification information attributes so as to be serial numbers. Or, the group may be specified by enumerating.

Return to FIG. After the generation of the metadata blocks for all groups is complete, the ink file generator 37 generates the entire metadata chunk illustrated in FIG. 19 based on the generated metadata blocks, which is different from the first format. After encoding by the second format, the data is written in the area A9 (see FIG. 14) of the ink file 40 (step S409). By the above processing, the generation of the ink file 40 is completed.

As described above, according to the ink file output method according to the present embodiment, the logical name LN and the stroke data SD can be stored in association with each other in the ink file 40. Therefore, when the ink file 40 is reproduced, the logical name LN and the stroke data SD can be associated with each other based on the information written in the ink file 40, so that the ink file corresponding to the logical name LN, that is, the electronic pen P can be associated with each other. It becomes possible to realize 40 reproduction processes.

In addition, even if the stroke data coding method is not supported, it is determined whether or not the stroke data written by a specific input device is included in the ink file before the stroke data is decoded. It becomes possible to do.

Hereinafter, reproduction of the ink file 40 as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 20 to 22.

<Reproduction processing of ink file 40>
FIG. 20 is a functional block diagram of the digital ink regenerator 50 shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the digital ink reproduction device 50 functionally has an ink file receiving unit 51, a metadata decoding unit 52, a stroke data decoding unit 53-1 to 53-n, an ink data holding unit 54, and an image generation unit. It is configured to have a processing unit 55.

The ink file receiving unit 51 is a functional unit that receives the input of the ink file 40 generated by the digital ink generating device 30. The ink file receiving unit 51 is configured to output the metadata chunk MC and the ink chunk IC included in the ink file 40 to the metadata decoding unit 52 and the stroke data decoding unit 53-1 to 53-n, respectively.

The metadata decoding unit 52 is a functional unit that decodes the metadata chunk MC and receives input of filter information from the application 100. The filter information is information that identifies one or more logical names LN, and is specified by, for example, a user. The metadata decoding unit 52 extracts the stroke identification information stroke_id to be reproduced from the decoded metadata chunk MC according to the filter information. Further, the coding method of the ink chunk IC is specified from the description in the metadata chunk MC. Then, the extracted stroke identification information stroke_id is supplied to the stroke data decoding unit 53 corresponding to the specified coding method.

Explaining the above processing by the metadata decoding unit 52 with reference to a specific example, for example, when the filter information “David Smith” is specified for the ink file 40 having the metadata chunk shown in FIG. 19, the meta The stroke identification information stroke_id extracted by the data decoding unit 52 is the first to the fifth. Further, since it can be understood from the description in the metadata chunk shown in FIG. 19 that the ink chunk IC is encoded by WILL, the metadata decoding unit 52 extracts the ink chunk IC into the stroke data decoding unit 53 corresponding to WILL. The first to fifth stroke identification information stroke_id is supplied.

In addition, the metadata decoding unit 52 also performs a process of supplying one or more logical name LNs designated by the filter information to the ink data holding unit 54.

The stroke data decoding units 53-1 to 53-n correspond to different formats (encoding methods) from each other, like the stroke data coding units 35-1 to 35-n shown in FIG. Each stroke data decoding unit 53 receives the ink chunk IC supplied from the ink file receiving unit 51 by the corresponding coding method in response to the supply of one or more stroke identification information stroke_id from the metadata decoding unit 52. Configured to decrypt. At this time, regarding the portion corresponding to the stroke data SD in the ink chunk IC, only the stroke data SD corresponding to one or more stroke identification information stroke_id supplied from the metadata decoding unit 52 is targeted for decoding processing. This is to reduce the overhead of the decoding process. Then, the stroke data decoding unit 53 is configured to output the decoding result to the ink data holding unit 54 for each of the decoded one or more stroke data SDs.

The ink data holding unit 54 is configured to extract a series of point data PDs and order information Older (PID) from the stroke data SD supplied from the stroke data decoding unit 53 and supply them to the image generation processing unit 55. The image generation processing unit 55 is configured to generate a video signal displayed on the display 60 and an image file 61 which is raster data based on the series of point data PDs and order information Order (PID) supplied in this way. ..

FIG. 21 is a processing flow diagram showing a main routine of processing for reproducing the ink file 40. Hereinafter, the processing performed by the digital ink regenerator 50 will be described in more detail again with reference to the figure.

As shown in FIG. 21, the digital ink regenerator 50 first receives filter information for designating one or more logical names LN (step S50). Subsequently, an image generation process (step S51) is performed based on this filter information.

FIG. 22 is a processing flow diagram of the image generation processing shown in step S51 of FIG. As shown in the figure, in this process, first, the ink file receiving unit 51 separates the ink chunk IC and the metadata chunk MC from the ink file 40 (step S510). Next, the metadata decoding unit 52 decodes the metadata chunk MC encoded in UTF-8 (step S511). After that, the metadata decoding unit 52 acquires the coding method of the ink chunk IC from the decoded metadata chunk MC (step S512), and from the decoded metadata chunk MC to the logical name LN specified by the filter information. The stroke identification information stroke_id of the corresponding stroke data SD is acquired (step S513).

Next, the stroke data decoding unit 53 corresponding to the coding method acquired in step S512 decodes the ink chunk (step S514). The portion decoded here is, for example, a portion corresponding to the stroke data format S_Fmt encoded in step S402 of FIG. Subsequently, the stroke data decoding unit 53 decodes one or more stroke data SDs corresponding to the series of stroke identification information stroke_id acquired in step S513 by the coding method acquired in step S512 (steps S515 and S516). ). Finally, the image generation processing unit 55 draws the series of stroke data SDs decoded in this way. At this time, the image generation processing unit 55 does not draw the stroke data SD one by one, but the order information Reference (PID) (PID) stored in each stroke data SD in association with the point data PD. Each coordinate is drawn in ascending order of 12 (b)). As a result, the image generation process shown in step S51 of FIG. 21 is completed.

As described above, according to the ink file reproduction method according to the present embodiment, the logic specified by the filter information when the ink file 40 generated by the ink file output method according to the present embodiment is reproduced. Only the stroke data SD corresponding to the name LN can be drawn.

Further, when the ink file 40 generated by the ink file output method according to the present embodiment is reproduced, it is determined in advance whether or not the stroke data corresponding to the logical name LN specified by the filter information is included. be able to.

Further, since the stroke data decoding unit 53 decodes only the stroke data SD corresponding to the logical name LN specified by the filter information, the entire ink chunk IC is decoded and then the logical name LN specified by the filter information is decoded. It is possible to reduce the processing overhead required for decoding as compared with the case where only the stroke data SD corresponding to is selected.

Further, when the ink file is generated, the drawing order of the coordinates is saved in the stroke data SD by storing the order information Older (PID) in association with each coordinate in the stroke data SD, and when the ink file is played back, Since each coordinate is drawn according to this drawing order, it is possible to reproduce a complicated front-back relationship between a plurality of stroke data SDs as illustrated in FIG.

Next, a method of managing an ink file according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 23 is a diagram showing a system configuration of a computer system 90 that realizes an ink file management method according to the present embodiment. As shown in the figure, the computer system 90 includes a plurality of computers 1 and an ink server 70 (ink file management device).

Each computer 1 is the same as that described in the first embodiment, is connected to the position detector 20 and the display 60, and is configured to be able to generate and reproduce the ink file 40. However, in the present embodiment, since the ink server 70 reproduces the ink file 40, each computer 1 does not necessarily have to include the digital ink reproduction device 50 shown in FIG. Further, as shown in FIG. 23, the computer 1 according to the present embodiment is configured to output the search condition of the ink file 40 to the ink server 70, and as a result, receive the supply of the image file 61 from the ink server 70. To. This image file 61 is the same as that shown in FIG. In FIG. 23, the position detector 20 is connected only to the upper two computers 1, and the display 60 is connected only to the lower two computers 1, but this is for explanation. The display 60 may be connected to the computer 1 to which the position detector 20 is connected, or the position detector 20 may be connected to the computer 1 to which the display 60 is connected.

The ink server 70 is a server that realizes a so-called cloud service, and has a configuration (not shown) provided in a normal server computer such as a CPU, a communication circuit, and a storage device. The storage device includes a main storage device such as a main memory and an auxiliary storage device such as a hard disk. Each function of the ink server 70 is realized by operating the CPU according to a program stored in the storage device.

A storage 71 as an external storage device is connected to the ink server 70. When the ink file 40 is transmitted (uploaded) from the computer 1 to the ink server 70 by a user operation on the computer 1, the ink server 70 stores the received ink file 40 in the storage 71.

In addition to the ink file 40 stored in this way, the storage 71 stores the ink table illustrated in FIG. 24. As shown in FIG. 24, in the ink table, for each ink file 40, the file name of the ink file 40 (information for identifying the ink file 40) and information indicating the account of the user who uploaded the ink file 40 (for example,). , The login account of the ink server 70), one or more logical name LNs described in the metadata chunk stored in the ink file 40, and one or more logical name LNs corresponding to the one or more logical name LNs, respectively. This is a table that stores the logical identification information LID and the coding method (WILL, InkML, etc.) of the stroke data SD stored in the ink file 40.

When the ink server 70 receives the ink file 40 from the computer 1, the ink server 70 once decodes the ink file 40 to acquire one or more logical names LN described in the metadata chunk and the encoding method of the stroke data SD. To do. Then, these are added to the ink table together with the file name and the information indicating the user's account.

Here, since the ink file 40 described in the first embodiment does not include the description of the logical identification information LID, the ink server 70 cannot obtain the logical identification information LID even if the ink file 40 is decoded. Therefore, when the ink file 40 described in the first embodiment is used, the ink server 70 needs to acquire the logical identification information LID for each logical name LN from the computer 1 separately from the ink file 40. When the ink file 40 including the description of the logical identification information LID is used, the ink server 70 can obtain the logical identification information LID from the description in the ink file 40 in the same manner as in the case of the logical name LN described above. Good.

If one or both of the logical name LN and the logical identification information LID cannot be acquired, the ink server 70 may leave the corresponding column of the ink table blank. Further, it is not essential to provide the logical identification information LID column in the ink table, and when it is not necessary to use the logical identification information LID as one of the search conditions, the logical identification information LID column is removed from the ink table. It may be that.

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing a functional block of the ink server 70. As shown in the figure, the ink server 70 functionally includes an ink file selection unit 73, a metadata decoding unit 74, a switching unit 75, a stroke data decoding unit 76-1 to 76-n, an ink data holding unit 77, and an ink data holding unit 77. It includes an image generation processing unit 78.

The ink file selection unit 73 is a functional unit that selects one or more ink files 40 from one or more ink files 40 stored in the storage 71. Further, the reception unit 72 inputs a search condition for designating any one or more of the file name, the account, the logical name LN, the logical identification information LID, and the coding method shown in FIG. 24 from the computer 1. It is a function part that accepts.

The reception unit 72 identifies an ink file 40 that matches the conditions specified by the search conditions by referring to the ink table in the storage 71, and causes the ink file selection unit 73 to select the ink file 40. I do. Further, the reception unit 72 performs a process of notifying the switching unit 75 of the coding method of the ink chunk corresponding to the specified ink file 40, and when the logical name LN or the logical identification information LID is specified, the meta The data decoding unit 74 is also configured to output the filter information that identifies the designated logical name LN or the logical identification information LID. This filter information is similar to the filter information described with reference to FIG. If neither the logical name LN nor the logical identification information LID is specified in the search condition, it is not necessary to output the filter information. Further, the ink file selection unit 73 is configured to output the metadata chunk MC and the ink chunk IC included in the selected ink file 40 to the metadata decoding unit 74 and the switching unit 75, respectively.

The metadata decoding unit 74 decodes the metadata chunk MC supplied from the ink file selection unit 73, and when the filter information is supplied from the reception unit 72, the decoded metadata chunk MC is decoded according to the filter information. This is a functional unit that extracts only the stroke identification information stroke_id to be reproduced from the data. Since the function of the metadata decoding unit 74 is the same as that of the metadata decoding unit 52 shown in FIG. 20, detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Here, the ink file 40 described in the first embodiment does not include the logical identification information LID in the metadata. Therefore, even if the logical identification information LID is specified by the filter information, the metadata decoding unit 74 cannot appropriately extract the stroke identification information stroke_id. The designation of the logical identification information LID by the filter information is valid only when the logical identification information LID is stored in the metadata of the ink file 40.

The switching unit 75 has a function of supplying the ink chunk IC supplied from the ink file selection unit 73 to the stroke data decoding units 76-1 to 76-n corresponding to the coding method notified from the reception unit 72. It is a department. The stroke data decoding unit 76 supplied with the ink chunk IC decodes the ink chunk IC supplied from the ink file selection unit 73 by the corresponding coding method. At this time, regarding the portion corresponding to the stroke data SD in the ink chunk IC, only the stroke data SD corresponding to one or more stroke identification information stroke_id supplied from the metadata decoding unit 74 is targeted for decoding processing. This is to reduce the overhead of the decoding process, as in the case of the stroke data decoding unit 53 described above. Then, the stroke data decoding unit 76 is configured to output one or more decoded stroke data SDs to the ink data holding unit 77.

Similar to the ink data holding unit 54 shown in FIG. 20, the ink data holding unit 77 extracts a series of point data PDs and sequence information Older (PID) from the stroke data SD supplied from the stroke data decoding unit 76, and obtains an image. It is configured to supply to the generation processing unit 78. The image generation processing unit 78 generates an image file 61, which is raster data, for each ink file 40 by performing drawing processing based on the series of point data PDs and the order information Older (PID) supplied in this way. It is composed.

The ink server 70 transmits one or more image files 61 generated as described above to the computer 1 as a reply to the search condition. As a result, the user of the computer 1 can acquire or view the image file 61 related to each of the one or more ink files 40 matching the contents specified in the search condition on the display 60. When the logical name LN or the logical identification information LID is specified in the search condition, each image file 61 shall be composed of only the stroke data SD corresponding to the specified logical name LN or the logical identification information LID. Will be possible.

FIG. 26 is a processing flow diagram showing a main routine of processing in which the ink server 70 reproduces the ink file 40. Hereinafter, the processing performed by the ink server 70 will be described in more detail again with reference to the figure. Note that FIG. 26 does not consider the case where the logical identification information LID is specified in the search condition.

As shown in FIG. 26, the ink server 70 first receives the input of the search condition from the computer 1 (step S60). Then, when the search condition includes the designation of the logical name LN, the filter information for specifying the logical name LN is generated (step S61).

Subsequently, the ink server 70 refers to the ink table in the storage 71 and acquires the file names of one or more ink files 40 that match the search conditions. Then, one or more ink files 40 corresponding to the acquired file names are selected from the one or more ink files 40 stored in the storage 71 (step S62).

After that, the image generation process described with reference to FIG. 22 is executed for each of the series of ink files 40 selected in step S62 (steps S63 and S51). As a result, the image file 61 corresponding to each of the one or more ink files 40 that matches the specified contents of the search condition is generated. Further, each image file 61 when the logical name LN or the logical identification information LID is specified in the search condition is composed of only the stroke data SD corresponding to the specified logical name LN or the logical identification information LID. Become.

As described above, according to the ink file management method according to the present embodiment, it is possible to specify an input device such as a logical name LN or a logical identification information LID as a search condition when searching for the ink file 40. become. Therefore, the search for the ink file 40 in which the input device can be specified as one of the search conditions is realized.

Further, according to the ink file management method according to the present embodiment, by designating the logical name LN or the logical identification information LID as the search condition, each image file 61 output as a result of the search is designated as the designated logical name. It is possible to assume that it is composed only of the stroke data SD corresponding to the LN or the logical identification information LID.

Next, an ink file output method according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 27 is a diagram showing a system configuration of the computer system 91 according to the present embodiment. As can be understood by comparing the figure with FIG. 23, the computer system 91 according to the present embodiment includes a plurality of computers 1 and an ink server 70, similarly to the computer system 90 according to the second embodiment. It is composed. However, the computer system 91 according to the present embodiment does not perform all the generation steps of the ink file 40 inside the computer 1, but also generates the stroke data SD and the logical name LN in each computer 1 and encodes them. Subsequent steps including the above are configured to be performed in the ink server 70. Further, it is configured so that a user of a plurality of computers 1 can generate one ink file 40 at the same time. In addition, although not shown in FIG. 27, each computer 1 has the same functions as the computer 1 described in the second embodiment with respect to the designation of search conditions and the reception of the image file 61. Hereinafter, the differences from the first and second embodiments will be mainly described.

Each computer 1 transmits stroke data SD held in the ink data holding unit 34 among the functional blocks of the ink file generating device 30 shown in FIG. 2 to the ink server 70 together with the corresponding logical name LN at predetermined time intervals. Is configured.

The ink server 70 includes a transfer filter 80 and an ink file generation unit 81. The transfer filter 80 is provided between a plurality of computers 1 that try to generate one ink file 40 at the same time, and is provided between an uplink from each computer 1 and a downlink to each other computer 1. It is configured to have a configuration in which a switch is inserted. When this switch is turned on, the stroke data SD and the logical name LN uploaded from each computer 1 are transferred to the other computer 1 in real time. Each computer 1 is configured to display the stroke data SD and the logical name LN thus transferred on the display 60 in real time together with the stroke data SD and the logical name LN generated by the computer 1. As a result, the user of each computer 1 can obtain the experience of generating one ink file 40 at the same time as the user at a remote location. Further, by displaying the logical name LN together with the stroke data SD, the user of each computer 1 can grasp the drawing subject of the displayed stroke data SD.

The stroke data SD and the logical name LN uploaded from each computer are supplied to the ink file generation unit 81 in the ink server 70. The ink file generation unit 81 temporarily holds the supplied stroke data SD and the logical name LN, and the strokes held when the output instruction of the ink file 40 is input from any computer 1. It is configured to start generating the ink file 40 based on the data SD and the logical name LN.

The process of generating the ink file 40 by the ink file generation unit 81 is basically the same as the process of the ink file generation unit 37 shown in FIG. However, the ink file generation unit 81 may accept the input of the stroke data SD coding method from each user and encode the stroke data SD accordingly. In this case, stroke data SDs encoded by different coding methods are mixed in one ink file 40.

FIG. 28 is a diagram showing an example of an ink table generated in the present embodiment. The three files corresponding to the file names # F1 to # F3 are also stored in the ink table of FIG. 24, and the two files corresponding to the file names # F4 and # F5 are peculiar to the present embodiment. It is a file.

For example, in the description in the ink table regarding the file name # F4, the logical identification information LIDs are "Pid # 1" and "Pid # 2", respectively, on the computer 1 in which David Smith is logged in to the ink server 70 by the account # AC1. The stroke data SD is generated using the two electronic pens P, and at the same time, the logical identification information LID is "Pid" on the other computer 1 in which Greg Nelson is logged in to the ink server 70 by the account # AC2. It is obtained when the stroke data SD is generated using the electronic pen P which is "# 3", and when David Smith specifies WILL and Greg Nelson specifies InkML as the coding method of the stroke data SD. is there. By configuring the ink table in this way, when the ink file 40 is played back, one ink file 40 generated simultaneously by a plurality of users on different computers 1 can be created with an account, a logical name LN, a logical identification information LID, and a stroke. It becomes possible to search appropriately depending on the search conditions such as the coding method of the data SD.

As described above, according to the ink file output method according to the present embodiment, it is possible to provide the user of each computer 60 with the experience of generating one ink file 40 at the same time as the user at a remote location. become. Further, when the ink file 40 is played back, the ink file 40 generated in this way can be appropriately searched by search conditions such as an account, a logical name LN, a logical identification information LID, and a stroke data SD coding method. become.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and the present invention can be implemented in various embodiments without departing from the gist thereof. Of course.

For example, in FIG. 5, the address space integration unit 330 is realized as a part of the function of the metadata generation unit 33, but as shown in FIG. 29, the address space integration unit 330 is realized as a part of the input processing unit 31. It is also possible. By doing so, the address space integration unit 330 can be realized on the device driver side.

Further, although the pen pressure information was not used in the process of generating the ink file 40 described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, it goes without saying that the pen pressure information may be used. In this case, since the pen pressure information is transmitted from the position detector 20 together with the point data PD and the like, the digital ink generator 30 uses the stroke as a part of the value of the point attribute (point) shown in FIG. 15 (a). The pen pressure information may be embedded in the data SD.

Further, regarding the drawing of the ink file 40 described in the third embodiment, the filter information may include the designation of the coding method of the stroke data SD. That is, in the third embodiment, the ink file 40 including the plurality of stroke data SDs encoded by different coding methods has been described, but in reproducing such an ink file 40, the first embodiment has been described. In the reproduction function of the digital ink reproduction device 50 (see FIG. 20) described in the above embodiment and the ink server 70 described in the second embodiment (see FIG. 25), one ink file 40 is used by a specific coding method. It is not possible to perform processing such as extracting and reproducing only the encoded stroke data SD. This is because the filter information described in the first and second embodiments includes only the specification of metadata such as the logical name LN and the logical identification information LID, and does not include the specification of the encoding method of the stroke data SD. Because. By making it possible to include the designation of the coding method of the stroke data SD in the filter information, when playing back the ink file 40 containing a plurality of stroke data SDs encoded by different coding methods, the filter information is used. Only the stroke data SD encoded by the specified specific encoding method can be extracted and used as the target of the drawing process.

1 Computer 20 Position detector 30 Digital ink generator 31 Input processing unit 32 Stroke data generation unit 33 Metadata generation unit 34 Ink data holding unit 35-1 to 35-n Stroke data coding unit 36 Metadata coding unit 37 Ink File generation unit 40 Ink file 50 Digital ink playback device 51 Ink file reception unit 52 Metadata decoding unit 53-1 to 53-n Stroke data decoding unit 54 Ink data holding unit 55 Image generation processing unit 60 Display 61 Image file 70 Ink server 71 Storage 72 Reception unit 73 Ink file selection unit 74 Metadata decoding unit 75 Switching unit 76-1 to 76-n Stroke data decoding unit 77 Ink data holding unit 78 Image generation processing unit 80 Transfer filter 81 Ink file generation unit 90, 91 Computer system 100 Application 310 Input / output interface 313-1515 Driver 330 Address space integration unit 331 LID conversion unit 332 Device type recording unit 3300, 3301 UID extraction unit 3302 N-bit space mapping processing unit 3310 Switching unit 3311 Name derivation unit 3312 Hash unit 3313 URN conversion part B1, B2 metadata block P electronic pen

Claims (18)

Generating a second stroke data representing a second stroke that is different from the first stroke data and the first stroke of a first stroke,
Generates first metadata indicating information associated with the first input device and second metadata indicating information associated with a second input device different from the first input device.
A first metadata block that associates the first stroke data with the first metadata is generated, and a second metadata block that associates the second stroke data with the second metadata is generated. Generate and
A digital ink file containing the first stroke data, the second stroke data, the first metadata block, and the second metadata block is generated .
The digital ink file is sequence information indicating the relationship between the first stroke and the second stroke at a position where the first stroke and the second stroke intersect when they intersect, and the first stroke. A method for generating a digital ink file, which includes order information indicating the relative drawing order of the stroke data and the second stroke data . The digital ink file generation according to claim 1, wherein the first metadata is information composed of a character string, or the second metadata is information composed of a character string. Method. The first metadata block associates the first metadata with the first stroke data including a plurality of stroke data.
The second metadata block associates the second metadata with the second stroke data including a plurality of stroke data.
The digital ink file generation method according to claim 1, wherein the digital ink file is generated. And a stroke data generating unit that generates a second stroke data representing a second stroke that is different from the first stroke data and the first stroke of a first stroke,
A metadata generator that generates a first metadata indicating information associated with a first input device and a second metadata indicating information associated with a second input device different from the first input device.
A first metadata block that associates the first stroke data with the first metadata is generated, and a second metadata block that associates the second stroke data with the second metadata is generated. An ink file generation unit that generates and further generates a digital ink file including the first stroke data, the second stroke data, the first metadata block, and the second metadata block.
Have a,
The digital ink file is sequence information indicating the relationship between the first stroke and the second stroke at a position where the first stroke and the second stroke intersect when they intersect, and the first stroke. A digital ink file generation device including the stroke data of the above and order information indicating the relative drawing order of the second stroke data . The digital ink file generation according to claim 4 , wherein the first metadata is information composed of a character string, or the second metadata is information composed of a character string. apparatus. The first metadata block associates the first metadata with the first stroke data including a plurality of stroke data.
The second metadata block associates the second metadata with the second stroke data including a plurality of stroke data.
The digital ink file generation device according to claim 4 . A program that makes a computer function as a digital ink file generator.
The computer
Stroke data generating unit that generates a second stroke data representing a second stroke that is different from the first stroke data and the first stroke of a first stroke,
A metadata generator that generates first metadata that indicates information associated with the first input device and second metadata that indicates information associated with a second input device that is different from the first input device, and A first metadata block that associates the first stroke data with the first metadata is generated, and a second metadata block that associates the second stroke data with the second metadata is generated. An ink file generator that generates a digital ink file that includes the first stroke data, the second stroke data, the first metadata block, and the second metadata block.
To function as,
The digital ink file is sequence information indicating the pre-post relationship between the first stroke and the second stroke at a position where the first stroke and the second stroke intersect when they intersect, and the first stroke. A program including order information indicating the relative drawing order of the stroke data and the second stroke data . The program according to claim 7 , wherein the first metadata is information composed of a character string, or the second metadata is information composed of a character string. The first metadata block associates the first metadata with the first stroke data including a plurality of stroke data.
The second metadata block associates the second metadata with the second stroke data including a plurality of stroke data.
7. The program according to claim 7 . A first stroke data indicating a first stroke, a second stroke data indicating a second stroke different from the first stroke, a second stroke data indicating the first stroke data and information associated with the first input device. A first metadata block that associates with one metadata and a second metadata that indicates information associated with the second stroke data and a second input device that is different from the first input device are associated with each other. Get the digital ink file containing the second metadata block and
Obtaining the first metadata or the second metadata from the digital ink file,
The first stroke data is reproduced from the digital ink file based on the acquired first metadata, or the second stroke data is reproduced from the digital ink file based on the acquired second metadata. Play the stroke data,
The digital ink file is sequence information indicating the pre-post relationship between the first stroke and the second stroke at a position where the first stroke and the second stroke intersect when they intersect, and the first stroke. Includes order information indicating the relative drawing order of the stroke data of the second stroke data and the second stroke data.
A digital ink file reproduction method, characterized in that an image of the first stroke data or the second stroke data is generated based on the order information . The coding method of the first stroke data is specified based on the acquired first metadata, or the coding method of the second stroke data is based on the acquired second metadata. Identify and
The first stroke data is reproduced from the digital ink file based on the specified first stroke data coding method, or the digital ink is reproduced based on the specified second stroke data coding method. The digital ink file reproduction method according to claim 10 , wherein the second stroke data is reproduced from a file. The first metadata block associates the first metadata with the first stroke data including a plurality of stroke data.
The second metadata block associates the second metadata with the second stroke data including a plurality of stroke data.
The digital ink file reproduction method according to claim 10 . A first stroke data indicating a first stroke, a second stroke data indicating a second stroke different from the first stroke, a second stroke data indicating the first stroke data and information associated with the first input device. A first metadata block that associates with one metadata and a second metadata that indicates information associated with the second stroke data and a second input device that is different from the first input device are associated with each other. An ink file reception unit that acquires a digital ink file containing a second metadata block,
A metadata decoding unit that acquires the first metadata or the second metadata from the digital ink file, and
The first stroke data is reproduced from the digital ink file based on the acquired first metadata, or the second stroke data is reproduced from the digital ink file based on the acquired second metadata. An image generation processing unit that reproduces stroke data,
Have a,
The digital ink file is sequence information indicating the pre-post relationship between the first stroke and the second stroke at a position where the first stroke and the second stroke intersect when they intersect, and the first stroke. Includes order information indicating the relative drawing order of the stroke data of the second stroke data and the second stroke data.
The image generation processing unit is a digital ink file reproduction device characterized in that an image of the first stroke data or the second stroke data is generated based on the order information . The metadata decoding unit identifies the encoding method of the first stroke data based on the acquired first metadata, or the second metadata based on the acquired second metadata. Identify the encoding method of the stroke data of
The image generation processing unit reproduces the first stroke data from the digital ink file based on the specified first stroke data coding method, or encodes the specified second stroke data. The digital ink file reproduction apparatus according to claim 13 , wherein the second stroke data is reproduced from the digital ink file based on a method. The first metadata block associates the first metadata with the first stroke data including a plurality of stroke data.
The second metadata block associates the second metadata with the second stroke data including a plurality of stroke data.
The digital ink file reproduction device according to claim 13 . A program that makes a computer function as a digital ink file playback device.
The computer
A first stroke data indicating a first stroke, a second stroke data indicating a second stroke different from the first stroke, a second stroke data indicating the first stroke data and information associated with the first input device. A first metadata block that associates with one metadata and a second metadata that indicates information associated with the second stroke data and a second input device different from the first input device are associated with each other. An ink file reception unit that acquires a digital ink file containing a second metadata block,
A metadata decoding unit that acquires the first metadata or the second metadata from the digital ink file, and
The first stroke data is reproduced from the digital ink file based on the acquired first metadata, or the second stroke data is reproduced from the digital ink file based on the acquired second metadata. Image generation processing unit that reproduces stroke data,
To function as,
The digital ink file is sequence information indicating the pre-post relationship between the first stroke and the second stroke at a position where the first stroke and the second stroke intersect when they intersect, and the first stroke. Includes order information indicating the relative drawing order of the stroke data of the second stroke data and the second stroke data.
The image generation processing unit is a program that generates an image of the first stroke data or the second stroke data based on the order information . The metadata decoding unit identifies the encoding method of the first stroke data based on the acquired first metadata, or the second metadata based on the acquired second metadata. Identify the encoding method of the stroke data of
The image generation processing unit reproduces the first stroke data from the digital ink file based on the specified first stroke data coding method, or encodes the specified second stroke data. The program according to claim 16 , wherein the second stroke data is reproduced from the digital ink file based on the method. The first metadata block associates the first metadata with the first stroke data including a plurality of stroke data.
The second metadata block associates the second metadata with the second stroke data including a plurality of stroke data.
16. The program of claim 16 .

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