WO2014042051A1

WO2014042051A1 - Content creation device, method, and program

Info

Publication number: WO2014042051A1
Application number: PCT/JP2013/073794
Authority: WO
Inventors: 素寺横; 野中　俊一郎
Original assignee: 富士フイルム株式会社
Priority date: 2012-09-11
Filing date: 2013-09-04
Publication date: 2014-03-20

Abstract

The purpose of the invention is to be able to specify a reading order rule for elements in comic content on the basis of the page progression direction of the comic content to determine the reading order for the elements of the content more accurately. In step S1, a content input unit (11) inputs content. In step S2, a content analysis unit (12) analyzes the content. In step S3, a page progression direction determination unit (14) determines the page progression direction. In step S4, a rule specifying unit (15) specifies a reading order rule to be applied to the elements of the content on the basis of the page progression direction determined by the page progression direction determination unit (14). In step S5, a reading order information creation unit (13) create reading order information for the elements in the content on the basis of the content analysis information output from the content analysis unit (12) and the reading order rule specified by the rule specifying unit (15).

Description

Content creation apparatus, method and program

The present invention relates to an apparatus, a method, and a program for creating content obtained by digitizing manga.

Patent Document 1 discloses a service for reproducing content such as comic cartoons on a display of a mobile phone terminal and providing it to a user. According to Patent Document 1, a Flash comic content file is created in accordance with a set frame display order. The creation of this Flash content file is performed by the computer executing a predetermined Flash creation application in accordance with the instructions of the operator, and each page contains image data of the page and a frame display order command (frame display sequence). A Flash content file is created. The Flash content file is stored in the comic content DB and distributed to the accessed mobile phone terminal. The mobile phone terminal that has received the Flash file displays comic content in accordance with a display order command (frame display sequence) incorporated in the file. The mobile phone terminal is equipped with a Flash playback function, and each frame is continuously displayed and controlled so as to be at the center of the display area. If a page has only one frame on a single page, or if the page is large and the entire frame is displayed, the characters in the balloon cannot be read, and the frame is divided into multiple areas. The operator appropriately sets the display so that the entire frame is displayed by sequentially displaying each area in the frame along the flow of the above.

The electronic comic book manufacturing apparatus of Patent Document 2 reads a comic book with a scanner and converts a comic picture into image data. At the time of capturing the image data, the electronic comic book manufacturing apparatus inputs the comic frame order and the reading order of the speech balloons from the numeric keypad or automatically by recognizing the shape of the frame and the speech balloon from the image data. . The frame order, the reading order of the balloons, and the reading order of the characters can be automatically determined by the regularity in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction (for example, in order from the top and from the left side). The frame order, balloon order, and character reading order are stored as a balloon order table.

JP 2007-164550 A JP 2009-301055 A (paragraph 0025)

The reading order of comic elements such as frames, speech balloons, and cuts differs depending on the arrangement direction of the speech language in the speech balloons of the comic and the binding direction of the pages (page opening direction). For example, it is assumed that the manga page is written in the right direction (opened right) and the language of the balloon is written vertically in Japanese. In this case, the reader reads the frame from right to left and from top to bottom. The reader reads the balloon in the frame from right to left. Or suppose that the page of the manga is left-stitched (left-open), and the speech language of the speech balloon is written horizontally in English. In this case, the reader reads the frame from left to right and from top to bottom. The reader reads the balloon in the frame from left to right.

When digitizing the reading order of manga content elements, it is very cumbersome to input the sequence of each frame in advance by the creator's manual operation as in Patent Document 1.

Patent Document 2 does not consider that the rules of content reading order may vary depending on the language in which the content is used, and even if a rule is valid for one language of use, There is a possibility that the balloon order and the reading order of characters are not correctly determined.

The present invention provides a technique that can specify the reading order of the elements of the manga content according to the progress direction of the page of the manga content, and can determine the reading order of the elements of the contents more accurately.

A content creation apparatus according to the present invention includes a content analysis unit that analyzes elements constituting electronic manga content and an arrangement of the elements, a page progress direction determination unit that determines a progress direction of a page of manga content, and a page progress direction Based on the manga content page progression direction determined by the determination unit, the content analysis unit follows the rules specified by the rule specification unit that specifies the rules for reading the manga content elements analyzed by the content analysis unit, and the rules specified by the rule specification unit. A reading order information creating unit that creates reading order information corresponding to the arrangement of the elements of the manga content analyzed by the part.

Preferably, the progress direction of the manga content page is left or right, and the rules of the reading order can be reversed with respect to the left and right progress directions of the manga content page.

Also preferably, the page progress direction determining unit determines the page progress direction of the manga content based on the user's selection operation.

Also preferably, the page progress direction determining unit determines the progress direction of the manga content page based on the layout direction of the speech language of the speech balloon of the manga content.

Also preferably, the element includes at least one of a frame, a cut cut of the frame, and a frame balloon included in the manga content page.

Also preferably, the reading order information includes an element reading start and end point, a reading direction, or an element order.

Preferably, the reading order information generation unit selects a first frame which is another frame vertically adjacent to the reference frame on the page from a reference frame set to an arbitrary frame of an arbitrary page of the manga content. In addition to specifying the second frame that is another frame horizontally adjacent to the reference frame on the page, the frame that the reader reads next to the reference frame from the first frame and the second frame is specified. By determining according to a predetermined rule regarding the relative positions of the first frame and the second frame, information on the reading order of the frames of the manga content is generated.

Preferably, the reading order information generation unit determines, based on a distance between the first frame and the second frame, a frame read by the reader next to the reference frame among the first frame and the second frame. To decide.

Further preferably, the reading order information generating unit determines a frame read by the reader next to the reference frame from the first frame and the second frame, and a predetermined distance between the first frame and the second frame. It is determined based on the comparison with the threshold value.

Also preferably, a display unit for sequentially displaying the elements of the manga content according to the reading order information generated by the reading order information generating unit is provided.

The content creation method of the present invention includes a step in which a content creation device analyzes an element and an arrangement of elements constituting digitized manga content, a step of determining a progress direction of a manga content page, and a manga content page. A step of designating a reading order rule for the elements of the manga content based on the advancing direction and a step of creating reading order information corresponding to the arrangement of the elements of the manga content according to the rule are executed.

A content creation program according to the present invention includes a step of analyzing elements constituting electronic manga content and an arrangement of the elements in a content creation device, a step of determining a progress direction of a manga content page, and a manga content page A step of designating a reading order rule for the elements of the manga content based on the advancing direction and a step of creating reading order information corresponding to the arrangement of the elements of the manga content according to the rules are executed.

The present invention specifies a reading order rule for manga content elements based on the direction of progress of the manga content page, and reads the reading order corresponding to the arrangement of the manga content elements analyzed by the content analysis unit according to the specified rule. Therefore, it is possible to specify the reading order rule of the manga content element according to the progress direction of the manga content page, and to determine the reading order of the manga content element more accurately.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a content creation apparatus. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the frame reading order rule. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a balloon reading order rule. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the cut reading order rule. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a display example of radio buttons of the page progress direction determination unit. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a line of lines. FIG. 7 is a flowchart of the content creation process.

FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a content creation device 1 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The content creation device 1 is configured by an information processing device (smart phone, portable information terminal, PC, or the like) that includes an arithmetic device (CPU), a storage device, an input / output circuit, and the like.

The content creation device 1 includes a content input unit 11, a content analysis unit 12, a reading order information creation unit 13, a page progression direction determination unit 14, a rule designation unit 15, a display unit 16, a reading order information embedding unit 17, a rule DB 20, a content Includes DB21.

The content input unit 11 inputs content obtained by digitizing manga. The content input unit 11 is a means for digitizing a paper manga book into an electronic book (such as a camera with a built-in information terminal), a USB connector connected to an external digitizing means such as a scanner, a network such as the Internet, a memory card, Content can be input from a computer-readable non-transitory recording medium such as a CDROM. Additional information may be recorded in the input content. This supplementary information may include the author of the content, title, total number of pages, volume number, episode number, language used, and the like. The content creation device 1 itself can also create incidental information based on user input information and content analysis results by the content analysis unit 12. Of course, when digitizing manga, it is necessary to pay attention to the proper handling of manga copyrights.

The content analysis unit 12 analyzes the content (including the accompanying information if necessary) and outputs the content analysis information. The content analysis information includes the content author, content title, and if the content is a series of multiple volumes or episodes, the episode number, the number of content pages, and the content elements for each page (frame, drawing, (Existing character type, balloon, text, etc.) existence area / layout, character characteristics (character name, character gaze direction, character size, position, etc.), text content, text position, text amount (number of characters) , Including page / section / chapter breaks. The position, size, and type of the content element may be automatically detected based on the feature amount of the face or other object. Automatic detection of content elements may be performed based on machine learning.

The rule DB 20 stores reading order rules for frames, balloons, and cuts according to the progress direction of the content page.

Specifically, when the page progress direction is right, that is, a right-open (right-bound) manga, the position of the frame included in the content analysis information is the uppermost position as illustrated in part (a) of FIG. A rule that sequentially scans the representative points (the center, the center of gravity, etc.) of each frame in the horizontal direction from the first to the lower left one is stored in the rule DB 20 as a frame reading order rule a. The right-open (right-bound) manga is a manga with the right text written vertically (for example, Japanese manga with vertical written words, Chinese with words written vertically (Mandarin, Cantonese, Shanghai, Taiwan) Manga) (including words and other dialects), or right-handed manga (eg, arabic manga).

Alternatively, when the page progress direction is left, that is, a left-open (left-binding) manga, the position of the frame included in the content analysis information is from the top left as illustrated in the part (b) of FIG. A rule that sequentially scans the representative points (the center, the center of gravity, etc.) of each frame in the horizontal direction from the bottom right is accumulated in the rule DB 20 as a frame reading order rule b. Note that left-handed (left-bound) manga is a left-handed manga (for example, a Japanese manga in English or a horizontal Japanese manga), or a manga in which the text in a left-handed vertical (for example, a speech in Mongolian). Manga).

Alternatively, in the case of a right-open (right-bound) manga, as illustrated in part (a) of FIG. 3, the balloons are sequentially moved in the horizontal direction from the rightmost to the leftmost balloons. Are stored in the rule DB 20 as the balloon reading order rule a.

Alternatively, in the case of a left-open (left-bound) manga, as illustrated in the part (b) of FIG. 3, the balloons are sequentially placed in the horizontal direction from the leftmost to the rightmost balloons included in the frame. Are stored in the rule DB 20 as the balloon reading order rule b.

Alternatively, as shown in the part (a) of FIG. 4 and the part (b) of FIG. 4, the cut reading order rules a and b similar to the frame reading order rules a and b can be accumulated for the cuts. It is desirable that the cut includes a part of each frame, preferably all, and has a shape and an aspect ratio that fits the display screen of the display unit 16. The reading order rule a and rule b for frame, speech balloon, and cut have a mirror image inversion relationship between the start point at which an element is read and the end point at which the element is read. Therefore, it is sufficient that either one of the reading order rule a and the rule b is accumulated in the rule DB 20, and one of the rules accumulated in the rule DB 20 is mirror-inverted to create the other not accumulated. May be.

The page progress direction determination unit 14 determines the page progress direction of the content manually or automatically. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the page progression direction determination unit 14 determines the page progression directions of “right to left” (that is, the page progression direction is right) and “left to right” (that is, the page progression direction is left). The display unit 16 displays a user interface including radio buttons R that accept any one of the selections. The page progression direction determination unit 14 determines the page progression direction selected by the user via the radio button as the page progression direction of the content.

Alternatively, the page progression direction determination unit 14 determines the page progression direction from the arrangement direction of the text (serif) in the balloon. For example, as shown in part (a) of FIG. 6, if the lines are arranged vertically (mainly, but not limited to Japanese lines), the page progress direction determination unit 14 determines “right”. Is determined in the page direction of the content.

Alternatively, as shown in part (b) of FIG. 6, if the lines are arranged side by side (mainly, but not limited to English lines), the page progression direction determination unit 14 sets “left” as the content. Determine the direction of the page. The line-up direction of the lines may be automatically detected by a text detection technique such as OCR built in the content creation device 1.

The rule designating unit 15 designates a reading order rule to be applied to each element of content from the reading order rules in the rule DB 20 based on the page progression direction determined by the page progression direction determining unit 14.

That is, if the page progression direction determined by the page progression direction decision unit 14 is “right”, the rule designating unit 15 designates the reading order rule “a” for frame / balloon / cut, and the page progression direction is “left”. For example, the frame / balloon / cut reading order rule b is designated.

The reading order information creating unit 13 creates reading order information for each element of the content based on the content analysis information output from the content analyzing unit 12 and the reading order rule designated by the rule designating unit 15.

The reading order information includes a starting point at which an element is read, an ending point at which the element is read, and an order of passing points that are elements between the starting point and the ending point. Since the order of the start point, the end point, and the passing point can be equated with the order of the representative points of the elements, the reading order information may be the order of these representative points. The expression of the order based on the reading order information is arbitrary, and may include an order number assigned to each element or each representative point, a line segment trajectory passing through each element or each representative point, and the like.

Specifically, the reading order information creating unit 13 adds the reading order rule for the frame specified by the rule specifying unit 15 and the position information of all the frames on the specific page indicated in the content analysis information from the content analyzing unit 12. Based on this, the top frame of a specific page is determined. If the rule designating unit 15 designates the frame reading order rule a, the reading order information creating unit 13 determines the order of the top right frame on the page as the first. Alternatively, the reading order information creating unit 13 determines that the order of the top left frame of the page is the first when the rule specifying unit 15 specifies the reading order rule b of the frame.

Next, the reading order information creation unit 13 sets the first frame as a reference frame.

Next, the reading order information creation unit 13 specifies a frame candidate in the next order of the reference frame according to the reading order rule of the designated frame. In other words, the reading order information creating unit 13 is located on the page on the left side of the reference frame among the frames whose order has not been determined, if the rule designating unit 15 specifies the frame reading order rule a. The frame candidate a and the frame candidate b existing right next to the page below the reference frame are specified. In addition, if the rule designating unit 15 specifies the frame reading order rule b, the reading order information creating unit 13 among the frames whose order has not been determined, the frame that is present on the page most immediately to the right of the reference frame. The candidate a and the frame candidate b that is present at the left of the page most immediately below the reference frame are specified.

When there is no frame candidate a and frame candidate b that meet the above criteria, the reading order information creation unit 13 determines that the frame on the page is only the reference frame, and stops determining the next frame. When only one frame candidate a or only one frame candidate b that meets the above-mentioned criteria exists, the reading order information creation unit 13 determines that the next frame after the reference frame is the one frame candidate a or 1 It is determined that there is one frame candidate b, and the order of the one frame candidate a or one frame candidate b is determined as the reference frame order + 1. It is assumed that the same handling is performed when frame candidate a = frame candidate b.

The reason why two different frame candidates a and b are specified is as follows. Even if the basic reading order rule of reading from top right to bottom left or from top left to bottom right is fixed, there are several top, bottom, left, and right adjacent frames for one frame on the actual manga page. In this case, which of the frames is the next frame cannot be uniquely determined only by the reading order rule. Therefore, in the following, it is assumed that the reading order information creating unit 13 determines the next frame of the reference frame based on the relative positional relationship (coordinates) between the reference frame and the adjacent frame.

When the frame candidate a and the frame candidate b are different, the reading order information creation unit 13 determines whether or not the lower end of the frame a <the upper end of the frame b + α. In the case of Yes, the reading order information creation unit 13 determines the order of the frame a as the reference frame order + 1, and in the case of No, the reading order information creation unit 13 determines the order of the frame b as the reference frame order + 1. α is a threshold value for determining whether the transition from the reference frame to the horizontally adjacent frame a or the vertically adjacent frame b is performed. If α is large, the order of transition from the reference frame to frame a is high, and if α is small, the order of transition from the reference frame to frame b is high. For example, α is determined empirically between 0.2 and 0.6.

Here, the reference frame set by the reading order information creation unit 13 includes not only the first frame but also an arbitrary frame whose order has not been determined. The specific page is any one arbitrary page among all the pages constituting the manga. The reading order information creating unit 13 repeats the above algorithm for every frame and page whose order has not been determined, and determines the order of all frames on all pages.

The reading order information embedding unit 17 embeds the reading order information created by the reading order information creation unit 13 in the content. The embedding method is arbitrary. For example, XML format metadata is associated with content. Content in which reading order information is embedded is stored in the content DB 21.

In addition to the reading order information, the reading order information embedding unit 17 enlarges the display rate of elements such as frame and cut, the speed of display switching from the previous element to the next element, and the display switching method (scroll, fade out / fade). In), display switching speed, duration of display of each element, positioning of overview images and detailed images (page, section) in content, heading information, and the like may be embedded and accumulated in the content DB 21.

FIG. 7 shows a flowchart of content creation processing executed by the content creation device 1. A program for causing each block of the content creation device 1 to execute this processing is stored in a readable storage medium (RAM, ROM, memory card, etc.) of the content creation device 1.

In S1, the content input unit 11 inputs content.

In S2, the content analysis unit 12 analyzes the content.

In S3, the page progression direction determination unit 14 determines the page progression direction.

In S4, the rule specifying unit 15 specifies a reading order rule to be applied to each element of the content based on the page progress direction determined by the page progress direction determining unit 14.

In S5, the reading order information creating unit 13 creates reading order information for each element of the content based on the content analysis information output from the content analyzing unit 12 and the reading order rule specified by the rule specifying unit 15.

In S6, the reading order information embedding unit 17 embeds the reading order information in the content and stores it in the content DB 21.

Second Embodiment
The program relating to the content creation processing of FIG. 6 is stored in a server, transmitted from the server to the content creation device 1 as an end user information terminal via the network, and executed by the received end user content creation device 1. Are also included in the embodiments of the present invention.

In addition, a method and means for providing content in which reading order information is embedded from the content creation device 1 to other information terminals other than the content creation device 1 are arbitrary. For example, the content creation device 1 transmits the content to another information terminal via a network, or the content creation device 1 records the content on a non-transitory recording medium that can be read by a computer, and the other information terminal records the content. Read the content from the medium.

Also, the content in which the reading order information is embedded can be reproduced on the display devices of various information terminals including the display unit 16 of the content creation device 1. That is, various information terminals sequentially display the content elements according to the embedded reading order information, so that the user can make progress by reading the manga elements on the information terminal.

Further, the content created by the content creation device 1 and the display program (application) in which the reading order information is embedded are stored in a server and transmitted to various information terminals via a network, a memory card, a CD- It may be recorded on a computer-readable non-transitory recording medium such as a ROM and provided to the end user.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1: Content creation apparatus, 11: Content input part, 12: Content analysis part, 13: Reading order information preparation part, 14: Page progress direction determination part, 15: Rule designation part, 16: Display part, 17: Reading order information Embedded part

Claims

A content analysis unit that analyzes the elements constituting the digitized manga content and the arrangement of the elements;
A page advancing direction determination unit that determines a advancing direction of the page of the manga content;
A rule designating unit for designating a rule of reading order of the elements of the manga content analyzed by the content analysis unit, based on the progress direction of the page of the manga content determined by the page progress direction determination unit;
A reading order information creating unit that creates reading order information corresponding to the arrangement of the elements of the manga content analyzed by the content analyzing unit according to the rules specified by the rule specifying unit;
A content creation device comprising:
The direction of the manga content page is left or right,
The content creation device according to claim 1, wherein the rules for the reading order can be reversed with respect to the right and left traveling directions of the page of the manga content.
The content creation device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the page progress direction determination unit determines a page progress direction of the manga content based on a user's selection operation.
The content creation device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the page progress direction determination unit determines a page progress direction of the manga content based on a speech language layout direction of the manga content balloon.
5. The content creation device according to claim 1, wherein the element includes at least one of a frame included in the manga content page, a cut division of the frame, and a balloon of the frame.
6. The content creation device according to claim 1, wherein the reading order information includes a reading start point and an end point of the element, a reading direction, or an order of the element.
The reading order information generation unit selects a first frame which is another frame vertically adjacent to the reference frame on the page from a reference frame set to an arbitrary frame of an arbitrary page of the manga content. And specifying a second frame which is another frame horizontally adjacent to the reference frame on the page, and next to the reference frame among the first frame and the second frame. The information of the reading order of the frames of the manga content is generated by determining a frame to be read by a reader according to a predetermined rule regarding a relative position of the first frame and the second frame. The content creation device according to any one of the above.
The reading order information generation unit sets a frame read by the reader next to the reference frame among the first frame and the second frame to a distance between the first frame and the second frame. The content creation device according to claim 7, which is determined based on the content.
The reading order information generation unit is configured to determine, among the first frame and the second frame, a frame that the reader reads next to the reference frame, and a distance between the first frame and the second frame. The content creation device according to claim 8, wherein the content creation device is determined based on a comparison with a predetermined threshold.
10. The content creation device according to claim 1, further comprising a display unit that sequentially displays the elements of the manga content according to the reading order information generated by the reading order information generation unit.
The content creation device
Analyzing the elements constituting the digitized manga content and the arrangement of the elements;
Determining a direction of progress of the page of the manga content;
Designating rules for the reading order of the elements of the manga content based on the direction of progress of the page of the manga content;
In accordance with the rules, creating reading order information corresponding to the arrangement of the elements of the manga content;
Content creation method to execute.
The content creation device
Analyzing the elements constituting the digitized manga content and the arrangement of the elements;
Determining a direction of progress of the page of the manga content;
Designating rules for the reading order of the elements of the manga content based on the direction of progress of the page of the manga content;
In accordance with the rules, creating reading order information corresponding to the arrangement of the elements of the manga content;
Content creation program for executing.
Manga content in which reading order information is created by the content creation method of claim 11.