JP2002049514A - Image processing method, image processing device, and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] To provide a configuration in which a desired tile can be easily obtained from tiles obtained by dividing an image in addition to an easy configuration of file management. According to the present invention, at least one of the plurality of tiles is obtained from a server machine having a plurality of tiles obtained by dividing an image into a desired image and an image file holding association information for each tile. (FIG. 6, 601)
b) selectively receiving a tile from the plurality of tiles using the association information in response to a manual instruction (s806 in FIG. 8).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to an image processing method, an image processing apparatus, and a storage medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art On the Internet, accessing a WWW server from a Web browser to browse document data, image data, and the like is actively performed. This mechanism includes a WWW server that publishes information on the Internet and a client that browses the information, and the client uses a Web browser to browse the information on the server. This WWW server has a document called Home Page in which information to be disclosed is described in HTML, and the client-side Web browser displays the document on a client computer. Client-side We
The b-browser can follow the link in the displayed page to obtain necessary information.

Further, as a method of associating a specific area of an image with other data, for example, WWW using HTML
The system has a method called an image map. An image map associates a hyperlink with a specific area of an image displayed in an HTML document, and associates each area with data at the link destination.

[0004]

However, the above-described image map communicates between the server and the client by using the HTTP protocol, and this protocol operates as follows.

For example, hyperlinks are added to the respective areas 10111, 10112, and 10113 in an image 10101 as shown in FIG. 11, and the image of FIG. 11 is displayed by an HTML browser. When the user clicks on, the jump destination of the link is determined from the coordinates at which the user has clicked and each area.

[0006] This image map roughly manages access to data associated with an area, that is, a method in which a server determines when the next jump destination is determined from the coordinates clicked by the user and each area. There is a method in which a server passes a list of data associated with an area to a client in advance, and the client manages access to the associated data. Hereinafter, the former is called a server-side image map, and the latter is called a client-side image map.

[0007] For example, in the case of a publicly known NCSA http server, the image map on the server side is 10 in FIG.
A map file as shown in 201 (chibi.ma
p), and a partial HT such as 10202 in the HTML document to provide the image map to the user.
This is realized by inserting the ML.

[0008] The map file 10201 of FIG. 12 will be briefly described. In the first row, a URL is assigned to an area other than the area after the second row. Therefore, if the coordinates specified by the user by clicking are not included in any of the areas specified in the second and subsequent rows, the URL specified here (http: //somewhere.doma)
in / tsuyu. html) apply. The second line is a polygon designation, "50, 0", "0, 50", "1".
00, 50 "indicate coordinate values with the pixel in the image as a unit and the origin at the upper left of the image. In the case of polygon designation, an area surrounded by points represented by some coordinate values is designated. 12, "50,0", "0,
"/ Hanpen. 50" and "100, 50" in a region surrounded by three points. html ". The third line is a circle designation, 50 and 80 represent the center of the circle, and 30 represents the radius of the circle. The coordinates are coordinates with the origin at the upper left corner of the image, and here, “http: // other. domain / tama
go. The fourth line is a rectangle designation, and “0, 110”, “100, 160” indicate the coordinates of both ends of one of the diagonal lines of the rectangle. Is the coordinate value of the coordinates with the origin at the upper left of the image, and “http:
// another. domain / chikuwab
u. html ”.

The second line img of the partial HTML of 10202
Due to the ismap attribute in the tag, the client starts with “<a href ...>” on the first line and
It is understood that the hyperlink ending with “</a>” in the line is a server-side image map. The value of the href attribute of the A tag in the first line usually indicates the URL of the hyperlink destination, but in the case of the server-side image map, it is composed of two parts. in this case,
CGI script / cgi-bin / imagemap map file path / mapfiles / chib to process server-side image maps on server WWW service path
i. map. The client generates a URL from the URL on the first line and the coordinates clicked by the user, and issues a request to the URL. Upon receiving the request, the server executes the CGI script (/ cg
(i-bin / imagemap) is started. The CGI script refers to the contents (10201) of the map file from the map file path, determines the jump destination from the coordinates clicked by the user and the map file, and
Returns RL. The client issues a request again to the returned URL to access the target data.

[0010] The image map on the client side is realized as follows. In FIG. 13, reference numeral 10301 denotes partial HTML data corresponding to a map file in a server-side image map, and reference numeral 10302 denotes a partial HTML for specifying an image map in the case of specifying an area by 10301.

Part HTML1 for specifying the map of FIG.
0301 will be described briefly. Beginning with the map tag on the first line, the corresponding range of “</ map>” on the ninth line indicates that the map is used for an image map on the client side. Also, nam of the map tag
The e attribute specifies “chibi_client_” for the area specification on the second to eighth lines and the map specification using a set of URL pairs.
map ". This name is 103
It is referenced by the 02 img tag.

Lines 2 to 8 of 10301 are, as described above, for specifying a pair of an area and a URL. Also, a
Each attribute of the rea tag is as follows: shape attribute The shape of the area. Default means “other”. ・ coord attribute A parameter for specifying the shape of the area. ・ href attribute A URL to be associated with the area. Although the format is different, the specification of the second to seventh lines is the same as the area specification by 10201. 1st line of 10201 and 2nd line of 10301. 2nd line of 10201 and 3rd and 4th lines of 10301. 3rd line of 10201 and 5th and 6th lines of 10301. 4th line of 10201 and 7th and 8th lines of 10301. Therefore, description of each area tag is omitted.

Reference numeral 10302 denotes a partial HTML linking an image with a map designated by 10301. 10302
Then, "kanto" is added to the usemap attribute of the img tag.
u. html # chibi_client_map ", where the part before"#"indicates the URL of the file with the map specification, and the part after"#"indicates the name of the map. Therefore,
This part is "chibi_client_map in the file at the URL of kantou.html"
The map specification indicated by the name. Therefore, 1
The partial HTML of 0301 is “kanoto.html”
It should be inside. Also, in the case of 10302, an example has been given in which a map designation in another file is indicated. However, when 10301 and 10302 are included in the same file, the part before # may be omitted (10302-
2).

The client program is an HTM including a partial HTML such as 10302 or 10302-2.
When L is received, the usemap attribute is checked, and if necessary, a request is generated based on the URL, for example, when another URL is referenced such as 10302. Then, the name indicated by the usemap attribute (#chib
i_client_map) is searched for and referred to to obtain each area information.

[0015] When the user enters the client program image ch
ibi. When the user clicks on jpg (10101), the next jump destination is determined from the coordinates clicked by the user and the area information specified by 10301.

As described above, in the image map, an object inside a certain image is represented by coordinates in units of pixels in the image, and the client side sends a request to open the URL associated with the object to the server side. When sent, the server performs an operation of sending the document body specified by the URL to the client.

However, in the above-described method using the image map, the image data and the map data that associates a specific area of the image with other data are managed in separate files. Therefore, in order to associate a specific area in an image with other data, the image data and the map data must exist, be stored in a file, and have consistency. Further, in the case of an image map in WWW, HTML data for associating the image map with the image data is required.

On the other hand, the IIP protocol used when distributing and displaying an image data file basically performs the same operation as when using the HTTP protocol.
Image data and the like are received from the server using the IIP protocol and processing such as display is performed. In the IIP protocol, the image data to be displayed is a partial image of the image data stored in the server, There are requests on the side, for example, enlargement, reduction, panning, etc., and each time a request is issued to the server. Thus IIP
The protocol does not end with a single request, but rather issues several requests.

In such an environment, let's consider displaying a panorama from a plurality of files. In this case, the image map client software cannot perform this panorama display, and requires dedicated panorama display client software. In addition, there is a problem that image map processing cannot be performed with client software for panoramic display.

[0020]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a configuration in which file management is easy and a desired tile can be easily obtained from tiles obtained by dividing an image. Aim. In order to achieve this object, the present invention provides a method for dividing a desired image into a plurality of tiles obtained by dividing an image from a server machine having an image file holding association information for each tile. An image comprising at least one and the association information are received, and tiles are selectively received from the plurality of tiles using the association information in response to a manual instruction.

[0021]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS (First Embodiment) An image data transmitting apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a state where a plurality of computers are connected on a network represented by the Internet. In FIG. 1, 100 is a network represented by the Internet, 101 and 103 are servers,
A computer for transmitting image data II
Software required for the WWW server function including the P server is being executed. Also, a large amount of image data is stored. Client computers 102a and 102b execute necessary software such as a Web browser on the client side.

FIG. 2 shows 101, 103 or 10 in FIG.
It is a block diagram which shows the structure of computer systems, such as 2a and 102b. A CPU 201 controls the entire system. 202 is a keyboard;
Used for inputting information and the like to the system together with the mouse of a. Reference numeral 203 denotes a display unit, which includes a CRT and a liquid crystal display. A ROM 204 and a RAM 205 constitute a storage device of the system and store programs executed by the system and data used by the system. A hard disk device 206 and a floppy (registered trademark) disk device 207 constitute an external storage device used for a file system of the system. 20
Reference numeral 8 denotes a printer. A network control unit 209 accesses resources connected to the network, such as the Internet.

Here, it is assumed that the image data stored in the server machine 101 is a Flashpix file. The operation of accessing and displaying the Flashpix file from the client side via the Internet will be described with reference to FIG. In the first embodiment, a case will be described in which the server machine operates on one machine 101 and the client machine operates on one machine 102a.

In this embodiment, a panoramic display from three pieces of image data will be described with reference to FIGS. 3, 4, and 5. FIG. FIG. 3 shows that there are three images 300, 301, and 302, each of which is composed of three layers 303, 304, and 305, and each layer is divided into tiles.
Here, each tile is 64 pixels × 64 pixels. Each tile is assigned a tile number with the upper left tile being 0 for each resolution. For example, 30 of resolution 303
The 0c tile is the 0th tile, and has a resolution of 305
The 00b tile is also the 0th tile.

The three pieces of image data are converted into one image as shown in FIG.
The operation displayed on the monitor 401 a will be described. 6 and 7 are conceptual diagrams of data exchange between the server and the client.

First, when the user uses the client browser to
It is assumed that a page for displaying the image data of the file 300 is displayed, and the link portion of the file 300 is clicked with a pointing device such as a mouse. This link information is link information to the Flashpix file. From the link information, the client machine 102a
A request 600a is issued to the server machine 101 from the link information. Upon receiving the request 600a, the server machine 101 sends
Return b to the client machine. The information returned as this response includes an HTTP header and data, and a specific example is shown in FIG. In FIG. 7, reference numeral 701 denotes a header portion, and 702 denotes a data portion. Upon receiving this information, the client machine reads “Conte
From the “nt-type”, the application to be executed is selected and activated, and the data 702 is passed to the activated application. This time, the application corresponding to the Flashpix file is activated.

Next, a request is issued to the server machine for the information of the File 300, for example, information such as the number of layers, the image size of the maximum resolution, the color space, and the association information (601a). Then, the above information is returned from the server machine to the client machine as a response 601b. As an example of the above association information, information 500 shown in FIG. 5 is returned. Similarly, the association information of the file 301 is 501, and the association information of the File 302 is 5
02. Next, a request 602a for actual image data is transmitted from the client to the server machine, and the image data is returned 602b.
The pix display application performs the display. Then, as shown in FIG.
The image data of the file 300 is displayed on the display device 401 a.

Thereafter, it is assumed that the user requests scrolling in the right direction toward the screen. In this case, for example, assuming that the currently displayed hierarchy is the hierarchy 303, that is, the lowest resolution, a further right scroll is performed on the File 300.
This cannot be done with the image data. The processing flow at this time is shown in FIG.
Shown in

First, in step S800, the client machine 102a extracts association information for the currently displayed tile. This time, since tile 0 having the lowest resolution is displayed, the association information of this tile is extracted.
Next, in step S801, it is determined whether there is association information. If not, the process jumps to step S807. If this information is found in step S801, step S802
It is determined whether or not there is association information corresponding to the current user request.

This time, the tile has the information shown at 500 in FIG. Also, the user request this time is "scroll right"
Since 500 means "the right of this tile is File 301", this is exactly the case this time.
Therefore, in the client machine 102a, step S80
In step S803, it is determined that the corresponding information exists.
Move on to Conversely, if there is no corresponding information, step S8
The process jumps to step S807 similarly to 01. Step S80
In 3, the client machine 102a creates a request for the next access from the association information, and issues it to the server machine 101 in step S804. In step S805, the information of the new file, which is the response, is received from the server machine 101.
At 806, the client machine 102 displays new image data. In this state, Fi is displayed on the display device 401.
An image of the tile 301c of le301 is displayed.

On the other hand, step S807 is a normal display. For example, when a user requests "left scroll" while displaying 300c, there is no association information corresponding to this user request. Therefore, "left scroll" cannot be performed on this image, which means that the left end of the image is displayed.

By repeating this process, 3 in FIG.
Images can be displayed as if they were one image. With the above configuration, the association for each tile is facilitated, and the association information and the image data can be managed in the same file, which facilitates the handling.

Next, consider increasing the resolution in response to a user request. In this case, for example, it is assumed that the resolution has been increased to a layer from 303 to 304. In this case, the resolution of each file has four tile data. In this case, display of four tiles in one file can be performed by normal display processing. 304 of 300 files as described above
It is assumed that the user has specified to display the right of the resolution of.

In this case, the file managed by the server machine does not include the direct association information for the tile having the resolution of 304. In this case, as shown in FIG. 9, a mechanism for inheriting the association information from the low resolution side to the corresponding high resolution side in the client machine 102 is provided. For example, 0-0 is inherited to 1-0,1-1,1-2,1-3 1-0 is inherited to 2-0,2-1,2-4,2-5 1-1 2-2, 2-3, 2-6, 2-7 Inherit 1-2 to 2-8, 2-9, 2-12, 2-13 1-3, 2-10, 2 Succeeded to 11, 12, 14 and 2-15. Then, the information of 0-0 is inherited for all resolutions, and even if the data has a resolution of 304, the right of File 300 can be identified as File 301 and the control of displaying the right of File 300 can be performed. Becomes

For example, when the tile 1-2 of FIG. 9 is selected, the search for the association information is performed in the reverse of the above inheritance.
That is, the information of tile 0-0 is searched. Alternatively, when the tile 2-13 is selected, the search is performed for the tile 1-2 and the tile 0-0, and the search is performed to the end, that is, the tile 0-0 of the lowest resolution. Other control methods are the same as those in the above embodiment. Therefore, the amount of association information managed on the server side can be reduced, and the file size can be reduced.

Further, as the association information, “Resol
Ution 0: Tile 0: File 30 right from here
As in the case of "1 + 32 pixels", offset information (additional information) from the beginning may be described instead of starting from the beginning of the file. If the pixel value of the offset in this case is a value at the resolution that describes this association information, the condition is that this value is used at a resolution other than this resolution. "3
2 * 2 = 64 pixels ". Further, the pixel value of this offset can be determined as “pixel value at the maximum resolution”. In this case, the reverse conversion may be performed.

(Other Embodiments) In the first embodiment, association information for panorama display is embedded at the lowest resolution, and the display method has been described. In the present embodiment, a case where an operation such as an image map using this method is performed will be described.

For example, the association information 5 of File 300
It is assumed that information “Resolution 1: Tile 0: Association URL1” is added to 00.
Further, it is assumed that the user selects tile 0 while displaying the resolution 304 of the File 300. At this time, according to the flow of FIG. 8, a new request is issued based on the new URL 1 (additional information), the associated data is obtained, an application for displaying the data is activated and displayed. .

In this case, the condition that the user selects any one of the tiles 2-0, 2-1, 2-4, and 2-5 on the client machine 102 while the data of the resolution 305 is displayed. Operates to acquire the association information. Alternatively, the above 2-0, 2-
Under the condition that different association information is stored in 1, 2, 4 and 2-5, the association information of the resolution is prioritized, and the information on the lower resolution side may not be selectable. It can be easily inferred that the user of the client machine 102 may select whether or not to select.

As another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 10, face data is divided into "forehead", "eyes", "nose", and "mouth", and each part is independently changed and displayed. For example,
It can also be applied to display methods such as when making montage photos.

(Another Embodiment of the Present Invention) A program for operating the configuration of the above-described embodiment so as to realize the functions of the above-described embodiment is stored in a storage medium, and the program stored in the storage medium is stored in code. A processing method that is read as a computer and executed by a computer is also included in the scope of the above-described embodiment, and a storage medium that stores the above-described program is also included in the above-described embodiment.

As such a storage medium, for example, a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, and ROM can be used.

The present invention is not limited to the one that executes the processing by the program stored in the storage medium alone, and operates on the OS in cooperation with the functions of other software and the extension board to execute the processing of the above-described embodiment. The one that performs the operation is also included in the category of the above-described embodiment.

[0045]

According to the present invention, the file management is simplified.
A configuration in which a desired tile can be easily obtained from tiles obtained by dividing an image can be provided. Further, by enabling the inheritance of the association information, it is possible to make the file size in the server compact, and to reduce the processing in the server and realize a high-speed response. Further, for example, it is possible to provide a configuration in which processing realized by dedicated applications such as panorama, image map, and montage can be easily realized by using the association information.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an entire system.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a computer system.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between image data, a hierarchy, and a tile.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a conceptual diagram of a panoramic image and a display image.

FIG. 5 is an example of association information described for each tile.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram of communication between a server and a client machine.

FIG. 7 is an example of data returned by a server machine.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a first embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between tiles when inheriting association information.

FIG. 10 is an example in which a montage photograph is displayed.

FIG. 11 is an example of a region-divided image.

FIG. 12 is an example of data of a server-side image map.

FIG. 13 is an example of data of an image map on the client side.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI theme coat ゛ (reference) G06T 1/00 200 G06T 1/00 200E F term (reference) 5B050 AA08 CA07 CA08 FA02 FA19 GA08 5B075 KK07 KK34 KK40 ND06 ND36 PP03 PP30 PQ02 PQ13 PQ16 5B082 AA01 AA13 BA09 GC05

Claims (17)

[Claims] An image association information including at least one of the plurality of tiles is received from a server machine having a plurality of tiles obtained by dividing an image and an image file holding association information for each of the tiles, According to the manual instruction, using the association information,
An image processing method, wherein a tile is selectively received from the plurality of tiles. 2. The reception is performed by IIP (Internet Image Protocol), and the association information is a URL (Uniform ResourceLocat).
or) or URI (Uniform Resou)
rce Identifier) or URL / U
2. The image processing method according to claim 1, wherein the information is RI + additional information. 3. A tile different from the tile composed of at least one of the plurality of tiles is received from the association information corresponding to a tile of an image composed of at least one of the plurality of tiles in response to the manual instruction. 2. The image processing method according to claim 1, wherein 4. The image processing method according to claim 3, wherein the manual instruction is a scroll instruction. 5. The image file holds tiles having different resolutions for each of the plurality of tiles, and information associated with the plurality of tiles obtained by dividing the image is inherited by the tiles having different resolutions. The image processing method according to claim 1, wherein 6. The image processing method according to claim 5, wherein the association information is inherited by high-resolution tiles corresponding to a plurality of tiles obtained by dividing the image. 7. For one tile obtained by dividing the image,
6. The image processing method according to claim 5, wherein a plurality of high-resolution tiles correspond, and inheritance is performed between the corresponding tiles. 8. The image processing method according to claim 1, wherein the reception of the association information is performed prior to the reception of an image including at least one of the plurality of tiles. 9. The image processing method according to claim 2, wherein the additional information is a condition under which the association information becomes valid, and information indicating an arrangement position of the received tile. 10. A server machine that manages one image data by a plurality of hierarchical data, and manages an image data file stored in a file by dividing each of the hierarchical data into a plurality of tiles. An image processing method in a client machine that issues a request to the server machine via a network using an IIP protocol, wherein an image data file managed by the server machine includes, for each tile, association information for the tile. Having the step of extracting the association information from the server machine, selecting the extracted association information in accordance with a user's instruction, and selecting an image from the server machine in accordance with the selected association information. Receiving the image. 11. The association information includes a URL (Uni).
form Resource Locator) or URI (Uniform Resource Id)
11. The image processing method according to claim 10, wherein the information is URL / URI + additional information. 12. The image processing method according to claim 10, wherein the image display on the client machine is a part of image data to be displayed. 13. The image processing method according to claim 10, wherein the association information of the low-resolution tile among the tiles is inherited by a high-resolution tile corresponding to the low-resolution tile. 14. The image processing method according to claim 11, wherein the additional information is a condition under which the associated information to be described is valid or other information. 15. The image processing method according to claim 14, wherein the other information is an offset value from a head of a file or information indicating a position of image data. 16. An image processing apparatus for performing the image processing method according to claim 1. Description: 17. A storage medium storing a code for realizing the image processing method according to claim 1. Description: