JPH10313451A - Transfer method of moving image information - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a transfer method in which contents of a moving image body are easily understood, an information amount reduction efficiency is high, a communication charge for transfer is reduced and the security is easily attained. SOLUTION: A transmitter side electronic mail system 52 extracts a frame for each scene change of a moving image stored in a moving image server 53 to generate 1st transfer image information whose outline is easily grasped. A time position of the moving image is added to the information and the resulting information is transferred to a receiver side electronic mail system 63 with an address different from an actual address of the server 53 and its moving image in order to enhance the security. When a recipient selects a still image for the 1st transfer image representing a required moving image, the mail system 63 requests the mail system 53 to transfer the moving image of the time position. The mail system 53 instructs the server 52 to transfer the moving image to the receiver side moving image server 62, where the image is stored. The mail system 63 makes access to the server 62 as required to reproduce the moving image.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for transferring moving picture information in a moving picture information communication system for transferring moving picture information from a transmitting side to a receiving side via a network, and more particularly to a method for transmitting the moving picture information. The present invention relates to a moving image information transfer method for selectively transferring only moving image information to be transferred.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A network is constructed by connecting a plurality of arranged servers by a communication path, an e-mail composed of text information is transmitted from the terminal, which is a client, to the server and temporarily stored therein. 2. Description of the Related Art An information communication system for transmitting electronic mail to a destination terminal by transferring mail information, a so-called electronic mail system, is known.

[0003] In recent years, with the spread of multimedia services that handle various media in an integrated manner, it has been required to handle moving image information in an electronic mail service. For this reason, an e-mail system that can transmit not only text information but also audio, still image, and moving image information in the form of an attached file has been introduced.

[0004]

Normally, when moving image information is handled by electronic mail, the amount of information is compressed because the amount of information is large. For example, V on a computer monitor
When a moving image of the GA format (the number of scanning lines per screen: 480, the number of pixels per scanning line: 640) is compressed by the MPEG1 method, a communication speed of about 1.5 Mb / s is usually required, and one minute is required. Even if a moving image is compressed, the amount of memory required on the receiving side is about 90 Mbits (about 10 Mbytes). In the e-mail service, a service is constructed with priority given to a sender. That is, the e-mail is transmitted regardless of the recipient's intention. For this reason, if moving image information that requires a large amount of memory when received is inadvertently transmitted, the memory of the server in the e-mail system will be insufficient, and it will be possible to receive the necessary e-mails sent later. There was a disadvantage that it disappeared.

Further, in order to determine whether the moving image information transmitted as an electronic mail is necessary information,
Generally, it is necessary to play and watch. Therefore, in the case of a long moving image, there is a drawback that it takes time to determine whether the information is necessary even by using means such as fast forward.

[0006] Further, if the network employs a pay-as-you-go system, the communication cost for transmitting a large amount of information becomes expensive, and therefore, the moving picture is transmitted only to the receiver who really needs it. It is desirable to send information. However, the conventional transfer method has a drawback that it is often wasted since it is not known whether or not the receiver needs it unless the moving image information is sent to the receiver.

[0007] In addition, when the network employs a flat-rate fee system as seen on the Internet, the burden on the sender does not matter, but the use of unnecessary moving image information in the network causes network resources to be lost. However, there is a drawback that is used wastefully and the use of other users is restricted.

In order to solve this drawback, prior to the transfer of the moving image information, the amount of moving image information is reduced, information indicating only the outline content is sent to the receiver, and the receiver receives the outline of the sent outline. There is also disclosed an idea of determining the necessity of moving image information from information indicating the contents and transmitting the moving image information to a receiver only when necessary.

As described above, prior to the transfer of the moving image information, the method of transferring the information in which the information of the moving image information is reduced, and using this information to determine whether or not to transfer the moving image body, is performed by the method of It is important for the recipient to easily understand the contents of the moving image body by the information transferred in advance. It is also important that communication charges for transferring information received in advance be low or that security be easily ensured.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to establish a method for reducing and transferring moving image information which facilitates understanding of the contents of a moving image and which has a high information reduction efficiency. It is to make the method more effective. It is also an object of the present invention to establish a transfer method that can reduce the communication fee for transferring received information in advance and to establish a transfer method that can easily ensure security.

[0011]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a transmitting side which creates first transfer image information in which the amount of moving image information is reduced, and performs the first transfer. The image information for transfer is transferred to the receiving side together with the storage device for the moving image information and the address indicating the storage location of the moving image information in the storage device, and the received first transfer image information is transferred to the receiving side. The necessity of the moving image information is determined from the content of the moving image information, and if necessary, the moving image information responding to the transmitting side using the address to transfer the moving image information as the second transfer image information is determined. In the transfer method, a method of reducing the amount of moving image information for creating the first transfer image information on the transmission side includes a method of converting an arbitrary frame of the moving image information into a plurality of still images. As the still image The method of selecting a frame to be taken out is to take out frames at equal time intervals of the moving image information or to detect a scene change of the moving image information and take out a frame for each scene change as the plurality of still images. It is characterized by being.

[0012] In the transmitting side, the created first
To each of the still image information that is the transfer image information, the transfer is performed by adding information indicating the time position in the moving image information of the frame extracted as the still image, and on the receiving side, the displayed By selecting one still image of the first transfer image information, information indicating the time position is transferred to the transmitting side together with the response, and the transmitting side transfers the time position information transferred together with the response to the transmitting side. Is transferred as the second image information for transfer.

The transmitting side creates first transfer image information in which the information amount of the moving image information is reduced, and stores the first transfer image information in a moving image information storage device and in the storage device. The image data is transferred to the receiving side together with the address indicating the storage location of the moving image information. The receiving side determines the necessity of the moving image information from the contents of the transferred first transfer image information, and A transfer method of moving image information that responds to the transmitting side to transfer the moving image information as second transfer image information using the address, wherein the transmitting side performs the second transfer. When transferring the moving image information, the moving image information is temporarily transferred and stored in the moving image information storage device on the receiving side at a time different from the time required for reproducing the moving image information.

In the present invention, the first transfer image information in which the information amount of the moving image information is reduced is created, and the first transfer image information is first transferred to the receiving side. In the moving image transfer method, the moving image information transferred regardless of the intention is transferred only when the receiver recognizes the need, an arbitrary frame of the moving image information is extracted as a plurality of still images, and A frame to be extracted as a still image is detected on the receiving side by detecting a frame at equal time intervals of the moving image information or a scene change of the moving image information and extracting the frame for each scene change as a plurality of still images. The first transfer image information is created so that the outline contents of the moving image information can be easily grasped, and thereby the necessity of the moving image information transfer can be easily determined.

Further, in the above, each still image information to be transferred as the first transfer image information is added with information indicating a time position in the moving image information of the frame as a still image, and transferred. By selecting one of the still images displayed in the above, moving image information starting from the time position is transmitted from the transmission side, the information amount of the second transfer image information is reduced, and communication is performed. To reduce fees.

Further, in the above moving picture transfer method,
When the second transfer image information is transferred, the image information is temporarily transferred to a storage device of the moving image information on the receiving side and stored, so that the transfer can be performed at a time different from the time required for reproducing the moving image information, It is possible to reduce the communication fee by transferring the communication channel in a time zone different from the normal time where the communication fee is low or by a communication channel. In addition, by ensuring that a request for transfer of moving image information can be made via the e-mail system on the transmitting side, the storage device on the transmitting side, the receiver using an address different from the actual address of the moving image information file. , The security of the storage device and the moving image information file on the transmission side can be improved.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment] FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of a system according to a first embodiment using the moving image information transfer method of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a moving image server, 2 is a transmitting e-mail system, 3 is a receiving e-mail system, 11 is a communication channel set between the moving image server 1 and the transmitting e-mail system 2, 12 is a moving image server 1
A communication channel 13 is set between the transmission-side e-mail system 3 and the reception-side e-mail system 3. The moving image server 1 corresponds to the moving image information storage device of the present invention. Video server 1, e-mail systems 2, 3
It is assumed that a means for executing the moving image transfer method of the present invention is mounted on the server. The communication channel 12 is not normally set, but is set as needed. Communication channel 1
1, 13 may be set at all times, or may be set as needed.

The sending e-mail system 2 reads out the moving image information stored in the moving image server 1 in advance via the communication channel 11 and creates first transfer image information in which the amount of information is reduced. . As another method, the e-mail system 2 directly captures moving image information from a camera or the like (not shown), creates first transfer image information with a reduced amount of information, and transmits the information via the communication channel 11. Then, the moving image information may be stored and registered in the moving image server 1.

The first transfer image information must not only have a small amount of information but also be able to easily determine the necessity of moving image information. Therefore, as a method of reducing the information amount of the moving image information, an arbitrary frame of the moving image information is extracted as a plurality of still images. The method of selecting a frame to be extracted as a still image can be implemented by automatically extracting a frame of the moving image information at equal time intervals. As an advanced method, there is a method of automatically extracting a frame for each scene change. FIG. 2 shows a functional block diagram for realizing this method.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 20 denotes an input terminal, 21 denotes a functional block for performing an inter-frame encoding process, 22 denotes a functional block for performing a determination process, 23 denotes a functional block for extracting a still image, and 24 denotes a memory. The digitized moving image information is input to an input terminal 20, and an inter-frame encoding process is performed by a functional block 21. In the inter-frame coding, the data amount is generally small in the case of the same scene, and large in the case of a scene change. Therefore, the frame immediately after the scene change can be extracted by the functional block 23 by inputting the inter-coded data to the functional block 22 and determining whether the data amount is larger than a predetermined value. The frame for each scene change extracted by the functional block 23 is stored in a memory (functional block 24) for use as first transfer image information.

It is also possible to manually select a more effective frame by moving the frame forward or backward by several frames while displaying the contents of the frame once taken out.

Next, the first transfer image information composed of a plurality of still images indicating the outline of the moving image information and the address indicating the storage location of the moving image information are attached to the electronic mail as an attached file of the electronic mail. Communication channel 1 to mail system 3
Transfer using No. 3. As the address, an address that uniquely identifies the moving image server 1 and the moving image information stored therein in the network providing the service is used. For example, in the TCP / IP network, a combination of the IP address of the moving image server 1 and the file name of the moving image information can be used.

The receiving e-mail system 3 notifies the recipient (not shown) that the e-mail has been transferred, and receives the transferred first transfer image information according to the instruction of the recipient. To the person. The receiver determines the necessity of the moving image information from the presented content, and if necessary, sets the communication channel 12 based on the attached address, and sends the moving image information to the moving image server 1. Is transferred as the second transfer image information.

The moving image server 1 which receives a response to transfer the moving image information as the second transfer image information
Transfers the moving image information using the communication channel 12. In the above example, the moving image is reproduced from the beginning on the receiving side. On the other hand, the still image information as the first moving image information to be transferred is added with information indicating the time position in the moving image information of the frame as the still image and transferred, and the still image displayed on the receiving side is transferred. By selecting one image, the information indicating the time position is transferred to the transmitting side, and the moving image information starting from the time position can be transferred from the transmitting side.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the relationship between a moving image and a still image. In the drawing, reference numeral 31 denotes a moving image as a continuous frame, and reference numerals 32, 33, and 34 denote still images including frames extracted to be the first transfer images. “a” and “b” represent the elapsed time from the beginning of the moving images of the still images 33 and 34, respectively. The elapsed time can be represented by, for example, the number of frames. When transferring as the first transfer image, the elapsed time is linked to each still image and transferred. Note that the elapsed time of the still image 32 is 0.

FIG. 4 is a display example of the first transfer image shown to the receiver. In the figure, reference numeral 41 denotes a monitor image,
42 denotes a window cut therein, and # 1 to # 8 denote still images. The still image # 1 is the still image 32 in FIG.
The still image # 2 corresponds to the still image 33 in FIG. 3, and the still image # 3 corresponds to the still image 34 in FIG. # 2 on the screen
Is designated by means such as clicking with a mouse, the value of the elapsed time a linked to the still image is sent to the moving image server 1 and the time elapsed by a The moving image from the point of time when the moving image is transmitted is transmitted as the second transfer image. Similarly, by instructing the still image of # 3, a moving image from the time point after the elapse of the time b is transmitted.

According to the present embodiment, prior to the transfer of the moving image information, the frames of the moving image information at equal intervals or scene changes are sent to the receiver as a plurality of pieces of still image information. Since the outline of the moving image information can be easily known from the received still image and the necessity can be easily determined thereby, the sender can transfer the moving image information with high communication cost only to the truly necessary party. In addition to this, the receiver does not need to transfer unnecessary moving image information and consume a large amount of memory for storing the moving image information. Further, when the time position information of the moving image is added to each still image information of the first transfer image information, only the really necessary portion of the moving image information can be transferred by selecting the still image, Necessary moving image information can be seen in a short time, and the above-described transfer method is further improved.

[Second Embodiment] FIG. 5 shows a configuration example of a system according to a second embodiment using the moving image information transfer method of the present invention.

In FIG. 5, 53 and 63 are moving image servers, 52 and 62 are electronic mail systems, 54 is a communication channel set between the electronic mail system 52 and the moving image server 53, and 55 is an electronic mail system 52, A communication channel set between 62 and 64 is an e-mail system 6
2 and a communication channel set between the video server 63,
Reference numeral 65 denotes a communication channel set between the moving image servers 53 and 63. The moving image servers 53 and 63 correspond to the moving image information storage device of the present invention. Video server 53, 6
3. It is assumed that means for executing the method of the present invention are mounted on the electronic mail systems 52 and 62. The communication channels 54, 55, 64, 65 may be set at all times, or may be set as needed. The communication channel 65 has a wider band than the communication channel 55. In the figure, reference numerals 50 and 51 denote ranges on the transmission side and the reception side, respectively. The range 50 on the transmitting side includes an e-mail system 52 and a moving image server 53, and the range 51 on the receiving side includes an e-mail system 62 and a moving image server 63.

The present embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the receiving side also has a moving image server, and the second transfer image information is temporarily stored in the moving image server on the receiving side. Hereinafter, the operation will be described with reference to FIG.

An e-mail system 52 on the transmission side creates first transfer image information composed of a plurality of still images indicating an outline of the moving image information, and the e-mail system 6 on the reception side.
2 using the communication channel 55, and the e-mail system 62 on the receiving side transfers the first to the recipient.
The operation up to the presentation of the transfer image information is the same as that of the first embodiment.

When the receiver determines that the moving image information is necessary from the presented contents, the receiving electronic mail system 62 transmits the moving image information of the address transferred together with the first transfer image information. The moving image server 63 is instructed to acquire by using the communication channel 64. In this case, an address that uniquely identifies a moving image server position and the moving image information stored therein in the network providing the service is used.

The moving image server 63 instructs the moving image server 53 to transfer the moving image information at the address as the second transfer image information, and acquires the moving image information. In this case, the transfer of the second transfer image information is
Since the moving image information is executed independently of the reproduction of the moving image information on the receiving side, the image can be transferred using a high-speed communication channel in a shorter time than the time required for the reproduction.

Thereafter, the receiving electronic mail system 62
The user can freely view the moving image information by accessing the moving image server 63 on the receiving side using the communication channel 64.

According to the present embodiment, the moving image information requested by the receiver and requested to be transferred is temporarily stored in the storage device on the receiving side, so that the moving image information has a different speed from the speed required for reproducing the moving image information. It is possible to transfer, and since the time to be transferred and the time to play and view the moving image information can be made independent, the transfer is cheaper, for example, it is done at night and played during the day, or you can use another communication channel. Communication, it is possible to further reduce the communication fee.

Third Embodiment Next, a third embodiment will be described. The system configuration is the same as that of FIG. 5, which is a system configuration diagram showing the second embodiment.

In the third embodiment, when the receiver determines that the moving image information is necessary from the presented contents,
The e-mail system 62 on the receiving side transmits the moving image information of the address transferred together with the first transfer image information to the second transfer image information.
An instruction to transfer to the moving image server 63 as the transfer image information is sent to the e-mail system 52 on the transmission side together with the address of the moving image server 63.

In this case, the address to be transferred together with the first transfer image information is the electronic mail system 52.
May uniquely identify the moving image server 53 and the moving image information stored therein, and need not be unique within the network providing the service. For example, a combination of a local name of the moving image server 53 and a file name of moving image information can be used.

However, the e-mail system 62 on the receiving side
The address of the moving image server 63 included in the response to the e-mail system 52 on the transmission side is unique within the network providing the service (for example, TCP / I
In the P network, an IP address, a host name, and the like must be used.

The e-mail system 52 on the transmitting side receiving the response instructs the moving image server 53 to transfer the moving image information to the moving image server 63 using the address of the moving image server 63 included in the response. I do.

When a VOD (Video on Demand) server is used as the moving picture server in each of the above-described embodiments, special playback such as fast forward and rewind can be performed in addition to normal playback. .

According to this embodiment, since the transfer request of the moving image information always goes through the e-mail system on the transmitting side, the transmitting storage device and the address different from the actual address of the moving image information file are used. Can be sent to the recipient. For this reason, it is possible to improve the security of the moving image server on the transmitting side and the moving image information file in the server.

[0045]

As is clear from the above description, in transferring moving image information, since the amount of information is large, it is important to send information only to the party who really needs it. According to this, prior to the transfer of the moving image information, the frame for each scene change of the moving image information is sent to the receiver as a plurality of still image information, and the receiver can easily outline the moving image information from the transmitted still image. The sender can easily determine the necessity, so that the sender can transfer the moving image information at a high communication cost only to those who really need it, and the receiver can use the unnecessary moving image information. Information is not transferred and a large amount of memory is not consumed for its storage.

When the receiver selects one of the still images displayed as the first transfer image information, the moving image information starting from the time position is transferred from the transmission side. In this case, the receiver can transfer only the necessary part of the moving image information, so that it is possible to view only the necessary part of the moving image information in a short time, and to transfer the moving image information at a lower cost. Can be realized.

When the moving image information requested to be transferred by the receiver is temporarily stored in the storage device on the receiving side, the moving image information is required for reproduction of the moving image information in addition to the above effects. It is possible to transfer at a speed different from the speed, and furthermore, since the time to be transferred and the time to play and see the moving image information can be independent, the transfer fee is low, for example, during the night, during the day, For example, by using another communication channel, the communication fee can be further reduced.
In this case, since the transfer request of the moving image information can always be transmitted via the e-mail system on the transmitting side, the storage device on the transmitting side and the receiver using the address different from the actual address of the moving image information file are used. This makes it possible to transmit, and in addition to the above effects, it is possible to improve the security of the storage device such as a moving image server and the moving image information file on the transmitting side.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system configuration showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating a method of detecting a scene change of moving image information and extracting a frame of each scene change as a plurality of still images according to the first embodiment. .

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a relationship between a moving image and a still image in the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display example on the receiving side of a first transfer image in the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a system configuration showing a second and a third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Moving image server 2 ... Transmission-side e-mail system 3 ... Reception-side e-mail system 11, 12, 13 ... Communication channel 20 ... Input terminal 21 ... Function block for performing inter-frame coding processing 22 ... Function block for performing determination processing 23: Function block for extracting still images 24: Memory 50: Range on the transmitting side 51: Range on the receiving side 53, 63 ... Video server 52, 62 ... E-mail system 54, 55, 64, 65 ... Communication channel

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A transmitting side creates first transfer image information in which the amount of moving image information is reduced, and stores the first transfer image information in a moving image information storage device and in the storage device. The image data is transferred to the receiving side together with the address indicating the storage location of the moving image information. The receiving side determines the necessity of the moving image information from the contents of the transferred first transfer image information, and A transfer method of moving image information that responds to the transmitting side to transfer the moving image information as second transfer image information using the address, wherein the first transfer on the transmitting side is performed. A method of reducing the information amount of the moving image information for creating the image information for use is to extract an arbitrary frame of the moving image information as a plurality of still images, and a method of selecting a frame to be extracted as the still image is available. , The moving image information Extracting frames at equal time intervals, or detecting a scene change of the moving image information, and extracting the frames for each scene change as the plurality of still images. Transfer method. 2. The transmitting side adds, to each of the created still image information that is the first image information for transfer, information indicating a time position in the moving image information of the frame extracted as the still image. The receiving side transfers the information indicating the time position along with the response to the transmitting side by selecting one of the displayed still images of the first transfer image information on the receiving side. The transfer of the moving image information according to claim 1, wherein the transmitting side transfers moving image information starting from the time position transferred together with the response as second transfer image information. Method. 3. The transmitting side creates first transfer image information in which the amount of moving image information is reduced, and stores the first transfer image information in a moving image information storage device and in the storage device. The image data is transferred to the receiving side together with the address indicating the storage location of the moving image information. The receiving side determines the necessity of the moving image information from the contents of the transferred first transfer image information, and A transfer method of moving image information that responds to the transmitting side to transfer the moving image information as second transfer image information using the address, wherein the transmitting side performs the second transfer When transferring the moving image information, the transferring image information is temporarily transferred and stored in the storage device of the moving image information on the receiving side at a time different from the time required for reproducing the moving image information. Transfer method.