JPH11175425A - Service repeater system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a service repeater system connected through a network or the like between a server and a client for operating relay between them in which picture information provided from a server is displayed on a client whose screen size is limited while satisfactory user interface is ensured. SOLUTION: An HTML receiving and analyzing part 10 analyzes an HTML document received from a server 4, and a picture obtaining part 12 obtains picture information based on it. A picture size adjusting part 20 decides whether or not trimming should be operated and the trimming amounts based on the HTML document and the picture information. This decision is operated based on the comparison of the size of an original picture with that of the browser of a portable information terminal 6. Also, the size of the trimming picture is decided on the browser of the portable information terminal 6 so as to be displayable. A picture analyzing part 22 analyzes a parameter designated in the HTML document or the original picture for deciding trimming layout, and a picture working part 24 operates the trimming of the original picture, and a picture transmitting part 14 transmits the picture information in the original format to the portable information terminal 6.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a service relay device for relaying a service from a server to a client via a network or the like. In particular, the present invention relates to relay of image information included in a content document describing a service.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the Internet, WWW (World Wide)
Various types of services are provided mainly on the Web). When using WWW, the server sends HTML (Hy
Information and services are provided in the form of a document such as a text (hereinafter referred to as an HTML document) described in a per text markup language (HTML). Software called a viewer or a browser running on the client interprets text such as an HTML document sent from the server and displays it on the screen of a computer or information terminal that is a client. By accessing the WWW using a browser, there is no need to prepare a dedicated application for each service, and the burden on the user is greatly reduced. Therefore, such as PDA (Personal Digital Assistance)
Portable information terminals compatible with networks are rapidly spreading.

Since the portable information terminal is required to be miniaturized so as to be portable, the screen size is limited as compared with a general small general-purpose computer. Therefore, some image information created and provided from the server assuming the display of a small general-purpose computer cannot be displayed at a time on the screen of the portable information terminal.

[0004] For such image information, the user of the portable information terminal has conventionally simply grasped the entire image by scrolling the screen vertically or horizontally.

Some portable information terminals have a function of reducing received image information to a size that can be displayed on its own screen. For example, in a portable information terminal, an image portion included in content such as a Web page is displayed with an area ratio of 1/4.

[0006]

However, the method of scrolling the screen has a problem that the user needs an extra operation. In addition, many pieces of image information can be transmitted to the user by seeing the entire image at a glance, and displaying the image partially on the screen by a method of scrolling impairs the original information transmission power of the image information, and There is also a problem that information understanding may be hindered.

On the other hand, the method of displaying image information in a reduced size lowers the resolution of the image, and causes a problem that the image is crushed, making it difficult for a user to recognize the image information, or making it impossible to recognize the image information at all. Had. The reduction processing is performed on the portable information terminal side, and the image information before the reduction is transmitted from the server to the portable information terminal. In other words, if the size is reduced by the server, the amount of information (data size) transmitted to the portable information terminal can be compressed. However, if the size is reduced by the portable information terminal, the original image information compresses the data size. Instead, it is transmitted to the portable information terminal. The communication path between the server and the mobile information terminal is gradually increasing in speed. However, in the case of the mobile information terminal, a mobile phone or PHS is often used at the end of the communication path on the mobile information terminal side. However, if a low-speed communication path is used as an intermediary, the communication path becomes a bottleneck and the communication cost is increased unnecessarily. By the way, if you reduce the server, you can avoid the problem of communication cost,
The problem that the image is crushed occurs as in the case where the image is reduced by the portable information terminal.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and is connected between a server and a client via a network or the like, and relays the two, so that the image information provided from the server can be reduced in screen size. An object of the present invention is to provide a service relay apparatus that displays a restricted user while ensuring a good user interface.

[0009]

A first service relay apparatus according to the present invention has a server for providing a content document describing screen display content including an image and a browser for displaying the screen display content on a screen. A service relay device for relaying to a client, a server access unit for acquiring the content document and original image information specified in the content document from the server;
Trimming the original image represented by the original image information,
Image trimming means for generating trimmed image information including only information on a partial area of the original image, and providing the trimmed image information to the client.

According to this configuration, the server access unit acquires from the server the content document describing the screen display content including the display of the original image and the original image information to be displayed. The image trimming means trims the original image. Here, trimming refers to extracting only information of a partial area of an original image, and the extracted partial image information is referred to as trimmed image information. The image size corresponding to the cropped image information will be basically the size of the original image or smaller. This trimmed image information is provided to the client.

Another service relay apparatus according to the present invention further comprises a trimming instruction detecting means for detecting a trimming instruction specified in the content document, wherein the image trimming means responds to the trimming instruction by the image trimming means. A trimming process is performed on the image information.

[0012] According to this configuration, the designation as to whether or not to trim the original image instructed to be displayed in the content document is described in the content document as a trimming instruction. Is detected. For example, the trimming instruction may be valid for the entire content document, or may be valid for each original image included in the content document. The image trimming unit trims the original image for which the trimming instruction is valid.

Another service relay device according to the present invention, in the first service relay device, trims the original image information based on a comparison between a display size of the original image information and a browser screen size of the client. It is provided with trimming necessity determining means for determining whether to perform trimming.

The display size of the original image is the size of the image that would be displayed on the screen of the client if the trimming process was not performed, and the image display in the original image information itself or in the content document provided by the server. If the area is specified, it is determined by the specification. For example, in a display having a screen size larger than the display size of the original image, a large display area of the browser can be secured, and the image information is basically displayed as the original image. However, it may be difficult for a client having a small screen size to display image information at the display size of the original image. According to the configuration of the present invention, the trimming necessity determining means determines whether or not the display size of the original image is larger than a reference determined according to, for example, the browser screen size of the client, that is, the size of the display area of the browser. In this case, it is determined that trimming is to be performed, and the trimming is instructed to the image trimming means.

Another service relay device according to the present invention, in the first service relay device, comprises an image size determining means for setting an image size corresponding to the trimmed image information to a size that can be displayed on the browser of the client. It is a thing.

According to this configuration, the display size of the trimmed image information on the client screen is determined to be smaller than the size of the display area of the browser. For example, the designation of the image display area size in the content document sent to the client is changed to the size of the trimmed image determined by the image size determination means, and the client receiving this content document changes the image display By displaying the cropped image based on the area size,
A trimmed image can be displayed in the display area of the browser.

Another service relay device according to the present invention is the first service relay device, wherein trimming for determining the partial area extracted from the original image according to a trimming type specified in the content document. It is provided with layout determining means.

According to this configuration, which part of the original image is to be extracted is determined according to the trimming type specified in the content document. For example, a position such as the center, top, bottom, left, or right of the original image is specified in the trimming type, and the trimming layout determining means determines a reference point, such as the center of the trimming image, according to the specified trimming type. Determine the image composition. The size of the trimmed image can be set to a predetermined value, or can be determined by a separately provided value.

Another service relay device according to the present invention is the first service relay device, wherein the partial area extracted from the original image is arranged based on a distribution of predetermined pixel attributes of the original image in the image. Is provided.

According to this configuration, for example, a pixel attribute such as a degree of difference between a color at each point of the original image and a predetermined background color and a luminance value is used. For example, a pixel attribute that can distinguish a background from an extraction target image portion is used.
For example, when the pixel attribute can be evaluated by a numerical value, an attribute having a small value in the background and a large value in the extraction target image information is selected. The distribution of pixel attributes can be determined simply based on the number of pixels having the attribute and the number of pixels not having the attribute. When using an attribute that can be evaluated by a value, the distribution is determined by weighting the value. You can also.

In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the trimming layout determining means divides the original image into a plurality of partial areas, obtains a density of the pixel attribute in each of the partial areas, Means for selecting the partial area extracted from the original image from the plurality of partial areas based on

In this embodiment, the original image is divided into, for example, three partial regions whose arrangement is upper, lower, middle and lower. If the density of the pixel attribute indicating the background is high in the middle partial region, the middle is trimmed. The upper and lower partial areas are selected as the partial areas.

In another preferred aspect of the present invention, the trimming layout determining means obtains a barycentric position of the pixel attribute, and determines an arrangement of the partial region extracted from the original image based on the barycentric position. Things.

In this embodiment, the position of the center of gravity indicates a rough distribution of the image information to be extracted in the original image. That is, for example, if the position of the center of gravity is shifted to the left side, the extraction target image information is more likely to exist on the left side of the original image. To the left.

[0025] The second service relay device according to the present invention comprises:
A service relay device that relays a server that provides image information and a client that displays the image information on a screen, a server access unit that acquires original image information from the server, and an original image represented by the original image information And image trimming means for generating trimmed image information including only information on a partial area of the original image, and providing the trimmed image information to the client.

[0026]

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

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic block configuration of a service relay apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention and a schematic configuration of a server / client system using the same. The service relay device 2 relays, for example, a server 4 that provides a Web service and a portable information terminal 6 that is a client receiving the service via a communication line (not shown). Although only one server 4 and one portable information terminal 6 are shown in FIG.
Can relay / connect a plurality of servers 4 and a plurality of portable information terminals 6. It is also possible to connect another terminal, for example, an ordinary small general-purpose computer as a client.

The portable information terminal 6 does not request the service directly from the server 4 but requests the service relay device 2. Specifically, in the portable information terminal 6, the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of the server 4
Instead, the URL of the service relay device 2 is specified.
Therefore, the service relay device 2 appears to the user as one server.

The service relay device 2 is roughly divided into a portion having a client communication function for exchanging necessary information with a client and a portion having a server communication function for exchanging necessary information with a server. And a part of the service relay device 2 that performs additional processing and the like.

In FIG. 1, an HTML receiving / analyzing unit 10 and an image obtaining unit 12 are server access means and constitute a part of a portion having a server communication function. On the other hand, the portion having the client communication function is configured to include the image transmission unit 14. Further, a portion for performing the additional processing and the like according to the present invention includes an image size adjusting unit 20, an image analyzing unit 22, and an image processing unit 24.

Next, the function of each section will be described. The HTML receiving / analyzing unit 10 transmits the We
The HTML text (content document) of page b is received from the server 4. The HTML receiving / analyzing unit 10 has a function of interpreting the received content document. In particular, when a link is defined in the content document, a function for activating information acquisition processing from the link destination and a function as a trimming instruction detecting unit for detecting a trimming instruction specified in the content document Having.

The image acquisition unit 12 receives an image (original image) from the server 4 based on an instruction from the HTML reception / analysis unit 10.
The information acquisition process of acquiring the information is performed.

The image size adjusting unit 20 receives the HTML
The content document output from the analysis unit 10 and the image information output from the image acquisition unit 12 are received. Then, based on these, it is first determined whether or not to perform trimming. If trimming is to be performed, the amount of trimming is determined. The image size adjustment unit 20 determines whether or not to perform trimming based on a comparison between the display size of the original image and the display area size of the browser of the portable information terminal 6 as one of means for determining whether or not to perform trimming. Means. When performing trimming, the image size after the trimming is determined by the image size determining means.
Size that can be displayed on the browser.

The image analysis unit 22 analyzes the content document or the original image information and determines an extraction target image area extracted from the original image. That is, the trimming layout is determined. The trimming layout is determined by a layout determining process based on a trimming type specified in the content document or a layout determining process based on a distribution of predetermined pixel attributes of the original image in the original image.

The image processing section 24 trims the original image based on the trimming layout determined by the image analysis section 22.

The image transmitting section 14 formats the image information trimmed by the image processing section 24 into the original file format and sends it to the portable information terminal 6.

Next, the processing of this apparatus will be described. FIG.
FIG. 3 is a process flowchart illustrating the entire process according to the present invention.
The portable information terminal 6 is connected to the server 4 via the service relay device 2.
When the server 4 requests content such as a Web page, the server 4 transmits an HTML document describing the content to the service relay apparatus 2 in response to the request. In the service relay device 2, the HTML receiving / analyzing unit 10 receives the HTML document sent from the server 4 (S50) and analyzes it (S55).

As a result of the analysis, if it becomes clear that a link is defined in the HTML document, the HTML receiving / analyzing unit 10 starts a process of accessing the link destination and acquiring the specified file. For example, when an <IMG> tag instructing image display is detected in the HTML document, the image acquisition unit 12 is activated.

The image obtaining unit 12 requests the server 4 for an image file specified by the SRC option in the tag, and receives the file sent from the server 4 (S
60). The received file is passed to the image size adjustment unit 20.

Further, the HTML receiving / analyzing unit 10 performs the
Detects the trimming instruction specified in the ML document,
A request for trimming is sent to the image size adjusting unit 20 (S65).

For example, a trimming instruction in an HTML document is performed by describing an <IMG> tag such as <IMG SRC = "/ Images / welcome.jpg"TRIMMING>. Here, the attribute “TRIMMING” specified at the end of the tag indicates that the image specified in the tag is to be trimmed. The designation of the image file is described after “SRC =” in the middle of the tag.

The image size adjusting unit 20 receives the HTML
The content document and the trimming request output from the analysis unit 10 and the image information output from the image acquisition unit 12 are input. The image size adjustment unit 20 first determines whether or not to perform trimming on the input original image information by the trimming necessity determining means (S70).

The trimming necessity determining means always determines that trimming should be performed when a trimming request is received from the HTML receiving / analyzing unit 10. further,
In the present apparatus, a trimming necessity determining means is configured so that a content, such as a conventional Web page, created without considering the trimming designation can be trimmed as needed and provided to the portable information terminal 6. ing.

More specifically, the trimming necessity determining means includes:
When the trimming request is not received from the HTML receiving / analyzing unit 10, a comparison between the image size that would be displayed on the screen of the client when the trimming process is not performed and the display area size of the browser of the portable information terminal 6 is performed. Make a decision based on First, the apparatus determines the size of the display area of the browser of the client when there is a request for providing the service from the client. For example, when the client transmits an HTTP request, if the client has set a value in a client information item prepared in the request, the apparatus determines the type of the client based on the value and registers the client information item in advance. From the correspondence table between the terminal type and the effective display area of the browser implemented in the terminal, the display area size of the browser of the client that issued the request is recognized. Also,
A table of the correspondence between the terminal identification information such as its address and the browser display area size is registered and held in advance in the present apparatus for each client to which use of the service relay apparatus 2 has been given permission, and the requesting terminal A method of retrieving a table from the identification information and recognizing the display area size of the browser is also possible.

On the other hand, when the parameter for designating the image display area is specified in the <IMG> tag in the HTML document provided by the server, the display size of the original image is adopted and specified. If not, the original size of the original image information is adopted.

The trimming necessity judging means compares the display size of the original image obtained in this way with the display area size of the browser of the client, and determines that the display size of the original image is, for example, 0. If it is larger than 25 times, it is determined that trimming is to be performed. It should be noted that the ratio between the display size of the original image and the browser display area size may be a provisional value, and the value may be changed each time the original image is obtained from various Web pages. in this case,
The ratio of the threshold value of whether or not to perform trimming can be configured to be statistically processed for each image and updated sequentially.

If it is determined in step S70 that trimming is to be performed (S75), the image size adjusting unit 2
If it is 0, it is determined whether or not the trimming size is determined (S80). If the trimming size has not been determined, the image size determining means of the image size adjusting unit 20
The amount of trimming is determined based on the image size of the original image from the image acquisition unit 12, the designation of the HTML document, and the like, and the image size after trimming (trimmed image size) is determined (S85).

The image size deciding means is, for example, <IMG
> The WIDTH attribute and the HEIGHT attribute specified in the tag are used to determine the trimmed image size. These WIDTH attributes and HEIGHT attributes are generally used to display an image in accordance with their values, and are used, for example, in the format shown in the next line.

<IMG SRC = "/ Images / welcome.jpg" WIDTH
= "364", HEIGHT = "280"> When it is determined that the trimming is to be performed, the image size determining unit can set the size specified by the WIDTH attribute and the HEIGHT attribute to the trimmed image size. WIDT
If the value of H or HEIGHT is larger than the size of the browser display area of the client, or if the WIDTH attribute or HEIG
If the HT attribute is not specified, the image size determination means determines the trimmed image size to be smaller than the browser display area size of the client.

The image size adjusting section 20 sends the trimmed image size determined in this way to the image analyzing section 22 together with the HTML document and the original image information. Note that the determination processing S8
At 0, if the trimmed image size has been determined, the above-described processing S85 is omitted, and the determined trimming size is passed to the image analysis unit 22.

The image analysis unit 22 analyzes the content document or the original image information and determines from which part of the original image the image information of the size specified by the trimming image size should be extracted (S90). Then, the image processing unit 24
Trims the original image based on the trimming layout determined by the image analysis unit 22 (S95). The trimmed image information is sent to the image transmitting unit 14, where the format is adjusted to the original file format (S10).
0), and transmitted to the browser of the portable information terminal 6 (S10)
5).

If it is determined in the determination process S75 that trimming is not to be performed, the processes S80 to S1 are performed.
00 is omitted, the process proceeds to step S105, and the original image information is transmitted to the browser of the portable information terminal 6 as it is.

The trimming attribute specified in the <IMG> tag can specify the type of the trimming layout. For example, <IMG SRC = "/ Images / welcome.jpg" TRIMMING = "center"
The type can be specified following “TRIMMING =” in a format such as>. In this case, the value “center” sets a trimming reference point (anchor) at the center of the original image. For example, image information of a size specified by the trimming image size with this anchor as the center point is extracted from the original image. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of trimming in this case. The image 152 in the frame shown in the center of the original image 150 is extracted as a trimmed image.

Various types can be prepared as the type for specifying the anchor position. 4 to 12 are explanatory diagrams showing examples of the arrangement of the trimming image in the original image for each type of anchor. 4 to 6 are views showing the arrangement of the trimmed image in the original image with the trimming attributes "topleft", "top", and "topright", respectively. In the figure, a frame 154 shows the arrangement of the trimmed image in the original image 150. Trimming attribute values "topleft", "top",
“Topright” is different in that the trimmed image is located on the left, center, and right in the left-right direction of the original image, but is common in that the trimmed image is arranged above in the vertical direction of the original image. . Also, the trimming attribute values “left”, “center”, and “right” are different in that the trimmed image is located on the left, center, and right sides of the original image 150, respectively. Are common in that they are arranged at the center. 7 to 9 show “left”, “center”,
It is a figure showing arrangement of “right”. Similarly, trimming attribute values “bottomleft”, “bottom”, “bottomright”
Are different in that the trimmed image is located on the left, center, and right in the left-right direction of the original image 150, respectively, but is common in that the trimmed image is arranged below in the vertical direction of the original image 150. 10 to 12 are diagrams showing the arrangement of “bottomleft”, “bottom”, and “bottomright”, respectively.

The image analysis unit 22 and the image processing unit 24 perform processing using the above-described trimming attribute values. FIG. 13 is a process flowchart illustrating processes S90 to S100 in the image analysis unit 22, the image processing unit 24, and the image transmission unit 14.

When it is determined that the trimming is to be performed and the process proceeds to the image analysis unit 22, the image analysis unit 22 determines whether the trimming attribute “TRIMMING” is specified in the <IMG> tag in the passed HTML document. Is checked (S2
00). If specified, it is checked whether or not the trimming attribute value as described above is specified (S205).

If the trimming attribute value is specified, the image analysis unit 22 determines a trimming layout from the arrangement of the trimmed image in the original image specified by the attribute value and the trimming size (S210). Processing part 24
Extracts the image information included in the trimming layout from the original image (S215).

The extracted trimmed image is passed to the image transmitting unit 14, where the format is adjusted to the original file format (S220).

On the other hand, the judgment processing S which is a part of the processing S90
If the trimming attribute is not specified in 200, the comparison between the image size that would be displayed on the client screen when the trimming process was not performed and the display area size of the browser of the portable information terminal 6 (S70). This is the case where it is determined to perform trimming based on the result (S75).

In this case, the image analysis unit 22 determines a trimming layout based on the original image information. For example, the image analysis unit 22 determines, for example, which of the peripheral region and the inner region of the original image contains more information as an image by using an existing image analysis processing method such as contour line extraction. Then, a rough type of the trimming layout is determined (S230). For example, the case where the information is unevenly distributed in the peripheral area of the original image is a case where the subject of the image is divided into upper and lower, left and right sides of the image, and does not exist between them. In such a case, for example, one image extraction area is set at each of the upper and lower sides or left and right sides of the original image, and it is determined that the image information from the pair of areas is integrally combined to be a trimmed image. You. Note that the pair of image extraction areas is
Either a pair of upper and lower or a pair of left and right image take-out areas may be selected according to the distribution of image information in the original image.

On the other hand, when it is determined in the determination processing S230 that the image information is unevenly distributed in one area in the original image, one image cutout area is provided in the original image,
It is determined that the image information of the area is a trimmed image.

When the trimming layout determining means of the image analyzing unit 22 determines the rough layout pattern as described above (S230), the specific arrangement of the image extraction area in the original image is then determined. The predetermined pixel attribute is determined based on the distribution in the image (S235, S240). In this device, color is adopted as the predetermined pixel attribute. For example, the deviation between the color of each pixel and the background color is evaluated as a pixel attribute. That is, it is determined that an image other than the background is expressed in a portion having a color different from the background. This deviation is, for example, the RGB value at each pixel and the white R
It can be objectively evaluated by a numerical value such as the sum of squares of the difference from the GB component. It should be noted that other pixel attributes that can distinguish the background and the extraction target image portion can be used.
For example, a luminance value can be used. When the pixel attribute is evaluated numerically, for example, an attribute having a small value in the background and a large value in the extraction target image information is selected. In addition, as the pixel attribute, a pixel that is evaluated in a binary manner such as the presence or absence of the attribute can also be used.

If it is determined in step S230 that one image extraction area is set in the original image, the center of gravity of the color deviation is set as the center (anchor) of the trimming (S230).
235). A trimming layout is determined based on the anchor position and the trimming size determined in advance (S80) or the trimming size determined in step S85 (S235), and the image processing unit 24 is included in the trimming layout. The image information to be obtained is extracted from the original image (S245).

FIGS. 14 to 16 are explanatory diagrams showing an example of the processing S235 when a color is used as a pixel attribute. FIG.
Since the theme of the original image 250 is “apple” and the other part is the background color, the position of the anchor is determined at the center of “apple” by calculating the color centroid, and the cropped image 252 is “apple”. Is centered on the image.

FIG. 15 shows an example in which a large “apple” and a small “strawberry” are drawn close to the original image 254 to some extent. When the two objects are close to each other to this extent, the image pickup area is set to one and processed in the present apparatus. In this case, the trimmed image 256 is a position where the position of the anchor is closer to the “apple” than the center of both objects due to the magnitude relationship between the two objects. Incidentally, FIG. 16 is an example in which “apple” and “banana” of the same size are drawn to some extent close to the original image 258. Will be located. When the color tones are almost equalized in the original image as in a photographic image, the anchor will be located near the center of the original image.

If it is determined in step S230 that two image extraction areas are set in the original image,
The original image is divided into a plurality of partial regions, and the region to be cut is determined based on the total value and density of the pixel attributes included in each of the partial regions (S240). Then, the image processing unit 24
Extracts the image information included in the trimming layout from the original image (S270), and the extracted trimmed image is passed to the image transmitting unit 14, where the format is adjusted to the original file format (S220).

FIG. 17 shows processes 230, S240, and S27.
It is a schematic diagram which shows the example of a process of 0. In the figure, the original image 30
0 is divided into upper, middle, and lower three-stage partial areas 302 to 306. For example, an average value of the color deviation in each area is obtained. Here, the partial region 304 in the middle stage is cut based on the determination in the process S230. The arrangement and size of the partial area 304, that is, the original image 300
Is divided into partial regions 302 to 306.
The average value of the color deviation of the partial area 304 in the middle stage is almost 0, that is, close to the background color, and is determined in step S240 based on the necessary trimming amount. Partial areas 302 to 306
Is determined, in step S270, the partial area 304 is cut, and the remaining upper partial area 302 and lower partial area 306 are joined to generate a trimmed image 310.

If it is found in the judgment processing S205 that there is no trimming attribute value, the flow shifts to the processing S225.
Thereafter, the same processing as when it is determined in the determination processing S200 that there is no trimming attribute is performed.

The example of the trimming of the image included in the service provided from the server 4 as the Web page has been described above. In this case, the image information is specified in a predetermined format in the content document described in HTML,
The present invention is also effective for content documents of a type other than HTML. In the above description of the processing,
The image trimming process when parameters such as the trimming attribute are not specified in the content document has also been described. Such a trimming process can be performed without requiring the existence of a content document. Therefore, the present invention can also be applied to a case where, for example, image information is provided alone from the server 4 without a content document. .

[0070]

The service relay apparatus of the present invention can trim and transmit the image information when the service provided by the server to the client includes the image information. Therefore, even if the client cannot display a large-sized image at one time due to restrictions on the screen size, etc., the trimmed image can be displayed at once in the browser, and the image service from the server can be improved. The effect that it can be used at the resolution is obtained. In other words, the user is released from operations such as scrolling the screen, and the effect of improving the user interface is obtained.

Further, since the trimming process is performed by the service relay device, the processing load on the client is reduced and the amount of image information transmitted is reduced. Therefore, the amount of communication between the client and the service relay device is suppressed, so that the time from the image service request to the display on the client side is shortened, the communication cost is reduced, and the network load is reduced. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic block configuration of a service relay device according to an embodiment of the present invention and a schematic configuration of a server / client system using the same.

FIG. 2 is a process flowchart illustrating the entire process according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of trimming.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the arrangement of a trimmed image when “topleft” is specified as a trimming attribute value.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the arrangement of a trimmed image when “top” is specified as a trimming attribute value.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the arrangement of a trimmed image when “topright” is specified as a trimming attribute value.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the arrangement of a trimmed image when “left” is specified as a trimming attribute value.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of the arrangement of a trimmed image when “center” is specified as a trimming attribute value.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of the arrangement of a trimmed image when “right” is specified as a trimming attribute value.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of the arrangement of a trimmed image when “bottomleft” is specified as a trimming attribute value.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the arrangement of a trimmed image when “bottom” is specified as a trimming attribute value.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the arrangement of a trimmed image when “bottomright” is specified as a trimming attribute value.

FIG. 13 is a process flowchart illustrating processes S90 to S100 in an image analysis unit, an image processing unit, and an image transmission unit.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a trimming layout in a case where the number of image extraction areas is one.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a trimming layout in a case where the number of image extraction areas is one.

FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a trimming layout in a case where there is one image extraction area.

FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a trimming layout determination process when there are two image extraction areas.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 service relay device, 4 server, 6 portable information terminal, 10 HTML reception / analysis unit, 12 image acquisition unit,
14 image transmission unit, 20 image size adjustment unit, 22 image analysis unit, 24 image processing unit, 150, 250, 25
4,258,300 original images, 152,252,256,
260, 310 trimmed images, 302, 304, 3
06 Partial area.

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A service relay apparatus for relaying between a server providing a content document describing screen display content including an image and a client having a browser for displaying the screen display content on a screen, wherein Server access means for acquiring a content document and original image information specified in the content document, and trimming an original image represented by the original image information;
An image trimming unit configured to generate trimmed image information including only information on a partial area of the original image, and providing the client with the trimmed image information. 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a trimming instruction detecting unit configured to detect a trimming instruction specified in the content document, wherein the image trimming unit performs a trimming process on the original image information according to the trimming instruction. The service relay device according to claim 1, wherein: 3. Based on a comparison between a display size of the original image information and a browser screen size of the client,
2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a trimming necessity determining unit for determining whether to trim the original image information.
The service relay device according to the above. 4. The service relay device according to claim 1, further comprising an image size determining unit that determines an image size corresponding to the trimmed image information to a size that can be displayed on the browser of the client. 5. The service relay according to claim 1, further comprising trimming layout determining means for determining the partial area extracted from the original image according to a trimming type specified in the content document. apparatus. 6. A trimming layout determining means for determining an arrangement of the partial area extracted from the original image based on an in-image distribution of a predetermined pixel attribute of the original image. Service relay device. 7. The trimming layout determining unit includes: a unit that divides the original image into a plurality of partial regions; a unit that obtains a density of the pixel attribute in each of the partial regions; 7. The service relay device according to claim 6, further comprising: a unit that selects the partial area extracted from the original image from the partial area. 8. The trimming layout determining means,
7. The service relay apparatus according to claim 6, wherein a barycentric position of the pixel attribute is obtained, and an arrangement of the partial area extracted from the original image is determined based on the barycentric position. 9. A service relay device for relaying between a server that provides image information and a client that displays the image information on a screen, wherein the server access means obtains original image information from the server; Crop the original image represented,
An image trimming unit configured to generate trimmed image information including only information on a partial area of the original image, and providing the client with the trimmed image information.