TW201445322A - A cloud computing-based architecture for the storage, browse and processing of images - Google Patents

Abstract

Aimed to provide an efficient architecture for the storage, browse and processing of images, a cloud computing-based architecture is proposed in this invention patent. The proposed architecture is composed of five units, the image generation unit, the image browse unit, the storage unit, the cloud computing unit as well as the INTERNET or Intranet for connecting the units of the proposed architecture. The storage unit is composed of a web server and a cloud image database, while the cloud computing unit is composed of mainframes or embedded modules that are able to provide the function of image compression, decompression, processing, network transmission, as well as web service. All the images generated are first sent to the cloud computing unit for compression before stored in the cloud image database. On the other hand, when the images are to be retrieved, they are first sent to the cloud computing unit for decompression, and then transmitted via the network to the client for viewing purpose. In the proposed architecture, the decompressed images are embedded in a default web page and then transmitted with the protocol of HTTP, which means only a browser is needed for the client. Moreover, the web pages have some buttons which corresponds to different HTTP forms and different image processing functions. By clicking the buttons on the web page, the cloud computing unit can perform image processing with respect to the selected image, and then refresh the web page after the selected image has been processed. The client can then browse the image processing result with the browser; no other application program is required. As no other application program is required for the client other than the browser, the proposed architecture is very easy to maintain with, and the computational burden traditionally imposed on the client can be alleviated, which makes the proposed architecture very feasible for practical usage.

Description

Image storage, browsing and processing architecture based on cloud computing technology

The invention relates to an image storage, browsing and processing architecture based on cloud computing technology, in particular, the user only needs to use a web browser, and cooperate with a cloud computing host, a web server and a cloud image database to achieve For image compression, storage, decompression, and image processing, the application does not need to install an application other than the browser.

With the increasing attention to leisure and entertainment activities, today's users are increasingly demanding multimedia images and video quality. Image data has become more and more huge due to the increase in resolution. Therefore, the storage of multimedia materials has become a Big burden. Seeking an effective image compression algorithm and storage mechanism is obviously a feasible way to solve this problem.

In addition, in order to meet the special needs of users for image processing, the functions of the application software become more and more complicated. In this way, the originally upgraded hardware performance must carry a larger software upgrade and execution load, which can easily drag down the performance of the client system. In addition, the client installs a large number of applications, for the average user, future software updates and upgrades, and even software changes, It also creates troubles that are difficult to maintain.

In addition to the various problems arising from the above-mentioned consumer field, the digital video transmission protocol DICOM used in the existing medical system is taken as an example. DICOM integrates the relevant specifications of medical imaging equipment, servers, and communication equipment produced by various manufacturers. However, if you want to view images in DICOM format, the equipment or user terminal, such as the doctor's computer in the medical clinic. , you need to have a special software function to interpret the DICOM format, which is a heavy computing burden for the general user, such as the doctor's computer in the medical clinic.

In addition to the above problems, medical images are mostly compressed and stored by non-distortion coding or near-non-distortion coding algorithms. According to the current technical view, the DICOM agreement still has considerable room for improvement in the compression ratio of data. Therefore, if you want to perform medical image encoding and decoding algorithms and upgrade or update of the agreement in the future, all the host computers, instruments or Equipment, etc., need to synchronize software upgrades, updates or even replacements. This is a big problem caused by the maintenance of hardware and software.

As described above, the existing image system architecture that plans the computing burden on the user side cannot effectively overcome the problems of image storage, browsing, processing, and image algorithm updating, and can only be continuously expanded, updated, or even replaced. The hardware and software devices of the end meet the aforementioned requirements. Therefore, the existing image processing architecture imposes a huge burden on the cost of hardware and software construction and maintenance manpower.

The invention provides an image storage, browsing and processing architecture based on cloud computing technology, and the main purposes thereof are as follows: one is to reduce the hardware computing burden of the user equipment, and the operation that must be performed on the user equipment. For example, image compression, image decompression, and image processing are all transferred to a certain servo host or embedded platform system in the cloud. The second is to enhance the user's convenience. The user-side device only needs to have a browser to achieve the above-mentioned operations for image compression, decompression, browsing and processing, without installing an application other than the browser. The three systems provide good scalability for this architecture. For the subsequent upgrade of the related image operation algorithm or the expansion of the image operation function, only the built-in unit of the cloud computing host needs to be changed, and the operation behavior of the user terminal is not affected. And easy to maintain the system.

In order to achieve the above object, the image storage, browsing and processing system based on the cloud computing technology of the present invention is composed of an image generating unit, an image browsing unit, an image storage unit and a cloud computing unit, and each unit is transmitted through The Internet (internet) or internal network (Intranet) are connected to each other.

The image generation unit generally refers to various devices having image generation capability or acquisition capability, such as a digital camera, a smart mobile device, or a medical image capturing device. In the present invention, the image captured or held by the image generating unit is first transmitted to the cloud computing unit through the Internet or the internal network for image compression, to obtain a more compact file, and then through the Internet. or The internal network is transferred to the image storage unit for storage.

The image browsing unit generally refers to devices such as smart mobile devices, tablet computers, notebook computers, or desktop personal computers that have a web browser. In the present invention, the image browsing unit first transmits a message requesting to view an image to the image storage unit via the Internet or an internal network, and the image storage unit then compresses the compressed image file through the Internet or an internal network. Transfer to the cloud computing unit for image decompression. The image of the decompressing program will be embedded in the preset HTML webpage, and the webpage servo subunit built in the cloud computing unit is responsible for displaying the HTML webpage. At this time, the cloud computing unit also sends an image decompression completion message to the image storage unit. The image storage unit then sends an address message to the image browsing unit according to the notification. The image browsing unit can then request to browse the webpage containing the image to the webpage server subunit built in the cloud computing unit.

In the present invention, the image browsing unit may also perform various image processing programs on the image in the webpage of the display image, such as positive and negative film conversion, histogram equalization, filtering, contrast enhancement, edge sharpening and the like. The achievement of the image processing function here is achieved by the various form button elements built on the web page. That is, the webpage has a plurality of forms and form buttons corresponding to different image processing functions. When the user clicks a button, the parameters of the form can be transmitted to the webpage servo subunit placed in the cloud computing unit. And the form processing program built in the web server sub-unit can call the built-in image processing unit according to the form button selected by the user end, the image is Perform the corresponding processing. The processed image is still embedded in the HTML webpage, and the webpage server sub-unit refreshes the webpage, and the user can browse the image processed result through the browser.

In the present invention, the image storage unit includes two devices, a web server host and a cloud image database host. If you consider the cost of construction, you can also integrate the web server and the cloud image database into a single server host. The webpage built on the web server provides a user interface for image manipulation through a browser, and can perform necessary authentication procedures for the user in conjunction with the cloud image database. The cloud image database is used for storing the image generated by the image generating unit, and is capable of streamlining the image data in the storage space of the cloud image database, and the data stored in the cloud image database is compressed by the cloud computing unit. After the image file. In addition, the cloud image database also has a data table field for recording important information of user data or images, such as image name, storage path, and image owner.

The cloud computing unit of the present invention includes a cloud computing host farm (Server Farm) and a load balancing host. In the cloud computing unit, the entities that are actually responsible for performing various image manipulation functions are the cloud computing hosts that constitute the cloud computing host group. The cloud computing host has an image compression subunit, an image decompression subunit, an image processing subunit, a network transmission subunit, and a webpage server subunit. In order to balance the computing burden of each cloud computing host, the cloud computing unit includes a load balancing host, which is responsible for allocating and recording user information served by each cloud computing host.

In the present invention, an Internet (internet) or an internal network (Intranet) is used to serially connect an image generating unit, an image browsing unit, an image storage unit, and a cloud computing unit. Therefore, the image storage, browsing and processing architecture based on the cloud computing technology of the present invention can be applied to the Internet or the internal network environment, and can also be applied to the network environment in which the Internet and the internal network are mutually connected. Under normal circumstances, if the overall system performance is improved, the image storage unit and the cloud computing unit can be placed in the same network segment and connected by the internal network.

In the architecture of the present invention, if the system installation cost is considered, the image storage unit and the cloud computing unit can be integrated into the same server host, and the cloud computing host and the web server of the storage unit can be added or even added. The cloud image database of the storage unit is integrated into the same physical server host, but the actual architecture design should consider the computing performance of the system.

1‧‧‧Image Generation Unit

(10)‧‧‧Image storage request signal

(11) ‧‧‧Compressed original image data stream to be compressed

2‧‧‧Image browsing unit

(20)‧‧‧Image browsing request signal

(21) ‧‧‧Directed web browsing request signal

22‧‧‧ browser page

221‧‧‧Image display area

222‧‧‧Histogram equalization button

(2220) ‧‧‧Histogram equalization request signal

223‧‧‧ positive and negative film conversion button

224‧‧‧Edge sharpening button

3‧‧‧Image storage unit

31‧‧‧Web server

(310) ‧‧‧Page-oriented signal for image storage

(311)‧‧‧Image data stream to be decompressed

(312)‧‧‧Page navigation signal for image browsing

32‧‧‧Cloud Image Library

4‧‧‧Internet or internal network

5‧‧‧Cloud computing unit

51‧‧‧Load Balancing Host

52‧‧‧Cloud computing host group

521‧‧‧Cloud computing host

5211‧‧‧Image Compression Subunit

(52110) ‧‧‧Compressed image data stream

5212‧‧‧Image Decompression Subunit

5213‧‧‧Image Processing Subunit

5214‧‧‧Network Transfer Subunit

5215‧‧‧Web Servo Subunit

522‧‧‧Cloud computing host

5221‧‧‧Image Compression Subunit

5222‧‧‧Image Decompression Subunit

(52220)‧‧‧Image Decompression Complete Message

5223‧‧‧Image Processing Subunit

5224‧‧‧Network Transfer Subunit

5225‧‧‧Web Servo Subunit

(52250) ‧‧‧HTML web page data stream

(52251) ‧‧‧ Refreshed HTML web page data stream

The first figure is an architectural diagram of the present invention.

The second figure is a schematic diagram of the composition of the image storage unit in the present invention.

The third figure is a schematic diagram of the composition of the cloud computing unit in the present invention.

The fourth figure is a schematic diagram of the flow of the first operation example of the present invention.

Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of a browser screen presented by the image display unit of the present invention.

Figure 6 is a schematic flow chart of the second operation example of the present invention.

The embodiments of the present invention, the technical contents, and the effects that can be produced, together with the drawings, and the preferred embodiments of the present invention, are described in detail below.

First, as shown in the first figure, the image storage, browsing and processing architecture based on the cloud computing technology of the present invention comprises an image generating unit 1, an image browsing unit 2, an image storage unit 3, and a cloud computing unit 5. The units are connected to each other through an internet or internal network 4.

Referring to the second figure, the image storage unit 3 includes two web servers 31 and a cloud image database 32. The web server 31 is used to provide a webpage operation interface of the image generating unit 1 and the image browsing unit 2. The cloud image database 32 is used to store the compressed image data generated by the image generating unit 1, and the cloud image database 32 is also responsible for recording the user's data or important information of the stored image, such as a map. Like storage paths, etc.

Referring to the third figure, the cloud computing unit 5 of the present invention includes a load balancing host 51 and a cloud computing host group 52. The cloud computing host group 52 includes a cloud computing host 521 and another cloud computing host 522. The entity is actually responsible for performing various image operation functions, and can be a server host or an embedded platform system module with network communication capability. . In addition, the cloud computing host 521 includes an image compression subunit 5211, an image decompression subunit 5212, an image processing subunit 5213, a network transmission subunit 5214, and a webpage server subunit 5215. Similarly, the cloud computing host 522 contains The image compression subunit 5221, the image decompression subunit 5222, the image processing subunit 5223, the network transmission subunit 5224, and the webpage servo subunit 5225.

Referring to the embodiment of the fourth figure, the image storage program of the present invention is explained. The image generating device 1 first sends the image storage request signal (10) to the web server 31, and the web server 31 responds to an image storage webpage guide signal (310) to the image generating unit 1 to notify the original image to be transmitted to the cloud. The arithmetic unit 5 performs image compression. The image generating unit 1 sends a raw image data stream (11) to be compressed to the cloud computing unit 5. For example, the load balancing host 51 built in the cloud computing unit 5 hands over the original image data stream (11) to be compressed by the cloud computing host 521, and the cloud computing host 521 calls the built-in image. The compression subunit 5211 performs a compression process on the original image data stream (11) to be compressed. After the compression program is processed, the cloud computing host 521 sends a compressed image data stream (52110) to the cloud image database 32 for storage of the compressed image by the network transmission subunit 5214 to reduce the cloud image. The storage space requirements required by the database 32.

The image browsing program of the present invention is explained as in the fourth embodiment and the fifth drawing. The image browsing unit 2 first sends an image browsing request signal (20) to the web server 31, and the web server 31 queries the cloud image database 32 to obtain the image data stream to be decompressed (311), and The image data stream (311) to be decompressed is transmitted to the cloud computing unit 5. For example, the load balancing host 51 built in the cloud computing unit 5 hands over the image data stream (311) to be decompressed to the cloud computing host 522 for processing. The computing host 522 calls the built-in image decompression sub-unit 5222 to decompress the image data stream (311) to be decompressed. After the decompressing program is processed, the decompressed image is stored in a specific disk path inside the cloud computing host 522, and is embedded in a preset hypertext markup language (hereinafter referred to as HTML) webpage, and then The web server sub-unit 5225 is responsible for displaying, and the cloud computing host 522 sends an image decompression completion message (52220) to the web server 31 via the network transmission sub-unit 5224, and the web server 31 can send a picture. The webpage navigation signal (312) is browsed to the image browsing unit 2, and the image is stored in the webpage server sub-unit 5225 built in the cloud computing host 522. At this time, the image browsing unit 2 sends a webpage browsing request signal (21) to the webpage server subunit 5225 built in the cloud computing host 522. The webpage server sub-unit 5225 can respond to a webpage data stream (52250) containing the image to the image browsing unit 2, and the image browsing unit 2 can obtain the screen as shown in the fifth figure through the browser provided. The image to be browsed is displayed in the image display area 221.

Again, as in the fourth embodiment, please refer to the fifth figure to illustrate the manner in which the present invention achieves image processing purposes. The achievement of the image processing object of the present invention is realized by the HTML interactive form technology, that is, a webpage responsible for image display is built in the webpage server subunit of the cloud computing host, and the image display is responsible for the image display. Multiple forms are embedded in the webpage so that the forms correspond to different image processing functions. When the user selects and sends a different form in the webpage, the webpage server sub-unit can execute the form processing program. Knowing the image processing function that the user wants to perform, and executing the shell level command call, summoning the code built in the image processing subunit to perform the corresponding image processing program. Here, the form processing program generally refers to a hypertext preprocessor (PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor; referred to as PHP), a dynamic server web page (Active Server Page; abbreviated as ASP), and a common gateway interface (Common Gateway Interface; CGI for short). Dynamic web technology that receives, processes, and responds to form and form parameters. Accordingly, referring to the fifth figure, the image browsing unit 2 of the present invention has a browser page 22 containing an image display area 221 and a plurality of specific processing programs for the image in the image display area 221 The buttons are, for example, a histogram equalization button 222, a positive and negative slice conversion button 223, and an edge sharpening button 224. These buttons are grouped into different HTML forms and each corresponds to a specific image processing program. For example, after the user clicks the histogram equalization button 222, the image browsing unit 2 sends an image processing request signal (2220) to the webpage server sub-unit 5225 built in the cloud computing host 522. The webpage server sub-unit 5225 has a form processing program corresponding to processing the histogram equalization button, and the program can execute a shell-level command call according to the received form and form parameters to summon the image processing sub-unit 5223. The built code is used to perform the corresponding histogram equalization processing program. After the image is executed by the histogram equalization processing program, the processed image is embedded in the HTML webpage, and then the webpage server sub-unit 5225 refreshes the HTML webpage and sends a The refreshed HTML webpage data stream (52251) is sent to the image browsing unit 2, and the image browsing unit 2 can pass through The browser page 22 sees the processed image displayed on the image display area 221.

A specific embodiment, such as the medical imaging system shown in FIG. 5, will be briefly described as follows. The image generating unit 1, that is, a medical instrument, such as an X-ray machine, can transmit the image to the cloud computing host 521 for image compression after the image is captured, and the compressed file data stream is transmitted to the image storage unit. The cloud image database 32 included in the 3 is stored. If the image browsing unit 2, such as a doctor's computer in a medical clinic, wants to obtain the medical image, the image browsing unit 2 first sends a query message to the cloud image database 32, and the cloud image database 32 compresses the image. The file is transmitted to the cloud computing host 522 for image decompression, and the original image is transmitted to the image browsing unit 2 through the webpage server sub-unit 5225, that is, the doctor's computer in the medical clinic can view the image data through the browser. At this time, if the image browsing unit 2 wants to process the image, such as positive and negative film conversion, contrast enhancement, image sharpening, etc., the image processing command can be transmitted back to the webpage through the related button built on the webpage. The server sub-unit 5225, the webpage server sub-unit 5225 can perform a call at the shell level to summon the image processing sub-unit 5223 to perform corresponding processing on the image. The processed image will still be displayed by the webpage server sub-unit 5225 and refreshed, so that the image browsing unit 2, that is, the doctor's computer of the medical clinic can view the processed image data through the browser.

For the user end of the present invention, that is, the image generating unit 1 and the image browsing unit 2, the image compression, storage, decompression, browsing, and processing can be achieved only by using a web browser. Install browser Specific applications other than . And because web browsers are commonly found in various devices, the present invention is quite convenient for the user. In addition, since the user only needs a web browser, it does not need to install complicated image processing software, thereby greatly reducing the hardware computing burden of the user end, reducing the device cost of the user end, and facilitating the general user's own device. Maintenance operations.

In terms of the scalability of the software in the present invention, if an image compression or decompression algorithm is to be upgraded in the future, or even when the replacement is performed, only the image compression subunit code and image built in the cloud computing host need to be changed. Unzip the subunit code. In addition, for the expansion and revision of the image processing function, it is only necessary to change the image processing subunit code built in the cloud computing host, and to modify the HTML webpage content and the form item of the webpage servo subunit responsible for displaying the image. The expansion or revision of all functions does not affect the operation of the user terminal, so the present invention clearly has the advantage of being easy to expand and maintain.

In summary, the technical content of this case is fully in line with the requirements for the invention patent. The case was indeed exploited in the industry and was not seen in public use before the application and was not known to the public. Furthermore, the present invention effectively solves the long-standing problems in the prior art, and it is corroborated that the present invention is not easily accomplished. The case is rich in "industry useability", "novelty" and "progressiveness" as stipulated in the Patent Law. The patents are submitted in accordance with the law, and the bureau is required to investigate in detail and approve the patent as soon as possible to protect the wisdom of the applicant. Property rights, encourage innovation.

Although the present invention is described by the foregoing embodiments, it may be changed. The form and details are achieved without departing from the spirit of the invention, and will be understood by those skilled in the art. The preferred embodiment of the present invention is only one of the ways in which the present invention can be implemented in a specific manner, but is not limited thereto, and should be defined in the scope of the appended patent application.

1‧‧‧Image Generation Unit

2‧‧‧Image browsing unit

3‧‧‧Image storage unit

4‧‧‧Internet or internal network

5‧‧‧Cloud computing unit

Claims (8)

An image storage, browsing and processing architecture based on cloud computing technology, comprising: an image generating unit, which generally has image generating capability or image acquiring capability, and is equipped with a web browser and has a network The device of the transmission capability enables the image generation unit to upload the image through the web browser provided, and store the compressed image in a cloud image database; an image browsing unit, the image browsing The unit refers to a smart mobile device with a web browsing function and a network transmission capability, a tablet computer, a notebook computer or a desktop computer device, so that the image browsing unit can be browsed and stored in the cloud image through the web browser provided. An image of the database, or a specific image processing program for the image through the web browser; an image storage unit, the image storage unit is provided with a web server and a cloud image database, and the web server is configured There is an HTML webpage that provides an image storage unit and an image browsing unit through the units The web browser has an image storage and browsing operation interface, and performs image query and image capture on the cloud image database, and the cloud image database is used to store the compressed image file. And recording important information of the user data and the image, the important information of the image includes at least an image name, an image storage path, and an image owner, and the like; a cloud computing unit, the cloud computing unit includes a A load balancing host and a cloud computing host group (Server Farm), wherein the load balancing host is used to balance the computing burden of each cloud computing host, and is responsible for allocating and recording user information served by each cloud computing host, the cloud computing host The group consists of a number of cloud computing hosts, which are the entities responsible for image processing, and are hosted by a server capable of computing power, a personal computer, or The embedded platform system has at least an image compression function, an image decompression function, an image processing function, a network transmission function, and a webpage servo function, and has built-in code for the functions; and an internet The network or the internal network, the Internet or the internal network generally refers to the media having the wireless or wired transmission capability, and is used to connect the image generation unit, the image browsing unit, the image storage unit, and the cloud computing unit. . The image storage, browsing and processing architecture of the cloud computing technology according to the first aspect of the patent application, wherein the image generating unit connects the web server of the image storage unit through the web browser provided to select The image file is stored, and the selected image is uploaded to the cloud computing unit for compression, and after the image is compressed, it is stored in the cloud image database of the image storage unit. The image storage, browsing and processing architecture of the cloud computing technology according to the first aspect of the patent application, wherein the image browsing unit connects the web server of the image storage unit through the web browser provided to select Viewing the image file, the web server of the image storage unit queries the cloud image database to retrieve the compressed file of the image to be browsed, and compresses the image compressed file to be browsed through the internet Or the internal network is transmitted to the cloud computing unit, and the load balancing host of the cloud computing unit specifies a cloud computing host to be responsible for decompressing the image, and after the image is decompressed, the decompressed image is embedded. In the default HTML webpage, the webpage servo function of the cloud computing host is responsible for displaying the HTML webpage, and the image browsing unit also receives the webpage guiding signal of the image browsing sent by the image storage unit, so that the image browsing is performed. The unit is redirected to request the webpage servo function of the cloud computing host to display the HTML webpage containing the decompressed image, the image browsing The unit can browse the image displayed on the HTML webpage through the web browser provided, or perform a specific image processing program on the image through the web browser. The image storage unit is provided with a web server and a cloud image database, wherein the web server is used in the image generating unit, as described in the image storage, browsing and processing architecture of the cloud computing technology described in claim 1 When the image is uploaded and stored, the original image data stream to be compressed is first directed to the cloud computing unit, and the load balancing host of the cloud computing unit assigns a cloud computing host to stream the original image data to be compressed. The compression process is performed, and the compressed image data stream is stored in the cloud image database after the compression process is completed, wherein the cloud image database is used by the image browsing unit to view the image through the webpage. The server transmits the image compressed file that the user wants to browse to the cloud computing unit through the Internet or the internal network, and the load balancing host of the cloud computing unit assigns a cloud computing host to perform the compressed image solution. Compress the program. The image storage, browsing and processing architecture of the cloud computing technology according to claim 1, wherein the cloud computing host has an HTML webpage built therein, and the HTML webpage has an image display area and a plurality of subordinates. Buttons of different HTML forms, and the buttons correspond to different image processing functions, and the HTML webpages are presented through the webpage server subunit built in the cloud computing host, and the user is provided with the browser through the browser. Like the interface of operation. The image storage, browsing and processing architecture based on the cloud computing technology described in claim 5, wherein the cloud computing host has an HTML webpage built therein, for example, when the user clicks and displays in a cloud. After the HTML form button on the computing host, the web server subunit built in the cloud computing host executes the shell level through the corresponding form processing program. The function call is to call the image processing program built in the cloud computing host to process the image of the image display area, and after the image processing is completed, the HTML web page is refreshed for the user to browse and process. The image. The image storage, browsing and processing architecture based on the cloud computing technology described in claim 6 wherein when the user clicks the HTML form button on the HTML webpage, the webpage server subunit built in the cloud computing host That is, through the corresponding form processing program, the shell level function call is executed. The form processing program generally refers to a hypertext preprocessor (PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor; referred to as PHP) and a dynamic server web page (Active Server Page; ASP). And a program written by dynamic web technology that can receive, process, and respond to form and form parameters, such as the Common Gateway Interface (CGI). For example, the image storage, browsing and processing architecture based on the cloud computing technology described in claim 1 wherein the image processing functions built into the cloud computing host generally refer to histogram equalization, positive and negative conversion, contrast enhancement, Edge sharpening and filtering methods and procedures sufficient to alter the original image content.