JP2004062464A - Image processing resource mediation method and system - Google Patents

Abstract

In a service for converting a Web page to a 3D display image, a large number of image conversion requests are answered without increasing the number of installed image conversion apparatuses.
An image conversion function is provided also to a terminal using a service, and when there are many image conversion requests, a resource management device transmits an image conversion function to a terminal other than the terminal that has made the image conversion request. Make a request. The number of requests for image conversion and the number of requests for image conversion are counted, and the usage amount of the service and the price for image conversion are offset.
[Selection] Fig. 2

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides image processing for providing a service for displaying product display image data on a homepage on the Internet or electric commerce (EC) in a three-dimensional (sometimes referred to as 3D) space on a terminal screen. The present invention relates to a resource mediation method and system.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art There has been proposed a system for providing a service of displaying image data used for displaying a product on an Internet homepage or EC in a three-dimensional space of a terminal screen. FIG. 1 shows a typical system configuration example of such a system.
[0003]
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes a terminal used by a user. For the terminal 10, for example, a general-purpose information processing device having a communication function such as a personal computer can be used, and a detailed description of the hardware configuration is omitted. The terminal 10 has a 3D display unit 1 and a communication interface unit 3. The 3D display unit 1 has a function of displaying an image for 3D display on a three-dimensional space of the screen of the terminal 10 and is realized by a program.
[0004]
As a technique relating to the 3D display unit 1, for example, a browsing technique called Infored by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation is well known.
[0005]
The communication interface unit 3 communicates with a service control device 30 and a resource management device 40 described below. The communication interface unit 3 can use an existing communication program.
[0006]
30 receives a search request from the terminal 10, searches one or more Web servers 70 connected to the Internet 60, and lists (URL list) a storage location (generally referred to as a URL) of a Web page that matches the search request. (May be referred to as a service control device). The service control device 30 further arranges a Web page in a three-dimensional space when the terminal 10 displays the Web page stored in the Web server indicated by the URL (HTML document stored in the Web server) in 3D. The coordinate value (x, y, z) is created for each Web page, and the coordinate values of the created arrangement are returned to the search requesting terminal 10 in the form of a list.
[0007]
Reference numeral 40 denotes a resource management device that receives a request for converting a 3D display image from the terminal 10. More specifically, when a request for conversion of a 3D display image is received from the terminal 10 in the form of the URL list, the image conversion request of the URL described in the URL list is distributed to the connected image conversion device 50. FIG. 1 shows an example in which the first and second image conversion devices 50 are connected.
[0008]
An image conversion device 50 converts a Web page into an image for 3D display. The first and second image conversion apparatuses 50 use the URL transferred from the resource management apparatus 40 to acquire a Web page at a storage location indicated by the URL from one or a plurality of Web servers 70. Further, the acquired Web page is converted into a 3D display image by an HTM rendering process. The 3D display image obtained by the conversion is returned to the conversion request source terminal 10 via the resource management device 40. The conversion request source terminal 10 uses the returned 3D display image to display the 3D display image on the display screen by the 3D display unit 1 based on the coordinate values (list form) of the arrangement previously acquired. Display in 3D.
[0009]
Internet 60 is a dedicated communication line called the "Internet" and will not require detailed description.
[0010]
Reference numeral 70 denotes a Web server that stores various Web pages and provides the terminal 10 with Web pages. Usually, a Web page is displayed on the terminal 10 by display software called a browser.
[0011]
Reference numerals 11 to 13 denote (communication) lines connecting the first to third terminals 10 and the service control device 30. Reference numerals 14 to 16 are (communication) lines connecting the first to third terminals 10 and the resource management device 40. 17 and 18 are (communication) lines connecting between the resource management device 40 and the first and second image conversion devices 50.
[0012]
Reference numerals 19 and 20 denote (communication) lines for connecting the first and second image converters 50 to the Internet 60. Reference numeral 21 denotes a (communication) line connecting the Web server 70 and the Internet 60.
[0013]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
From the viewpoint of the resource management device 40, when a large number of terminals 10 request image conversion, a large number of image conversion devices 50 must be prepared to respond to the request. For this reason, there is a problem that equipment cost increases for a company that provides the image conversion service. Further, it is difficult to estimate the traffic condition as to how many image conversion requests are required. For this reason, if a large number of image conversion apparatuses are installed from the beginning, these facilities are not used, and there is a risk of becoming a defective asset.
[0014]
In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide an image processing resource mediating method and system capable of economically providing an image conversion processing service for 3D display.
[0015]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve such an object, the invention according to claim 1 includes a conversion image conversion device (50) for converting a Web page into an image for 3D display, and a request from a user terminal (10). The image processing resource mediation system provides a service for converting a Web page into an image for 3D display in response to the request, and the terminal requesting the image conversion provides an image processing resource for displaying the converted image for 3D display in 3D. In the mediation method, the user terminal is provided with a function of converting a Web page to the image for 3D display, and the image processing resource mediation system sends a request for conversion of a plurality of Web pages to the image for 3D display. If received, the terminal of another user to perform the conversion and the image conversion apparatus are determined according to the number of requests (S30, S100), and the determined Executing the conversion in the other user terminal, and an image conversion apparatus, and returns the result of the conversion to the image conversion requesting terminal (S60) that is characterized.
[0016]
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the image processing resource intermediation method according to the first aspect, the image processing resource intermediation system counts the number of image conversion requests from the user terminal and the number of image conversion requests to the user terminal. It is characterized by doing.
[0017]
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the image processing resource intermediation method according to the second aspect, the user terminal is determined based on a result of counting the number of image conversion requests from the user terminal and the number of image conversion requests to the user terminal. And the price for the image conversion request of the user and the request for the image conversion to the user terminal are offset.
[0018]
The invention according to claim 4 includes a conversion image conversion device (50) for converting a Web page into the image for 3D display, and receives the request from the user terminal (10) to display the Web page for 3D display. An image processing resource intermediary system provides a service of converting the image into an image of the user. In the image processing resource intermediary system of displaying the converted 3D display image in 3D, A conversion function from the Web page to the image for 3D display is provided, and when the image processing resource mediation system receives a request for the image for 3D display from the Web page, the number of requests becomes Means (40) for determining the terminal of the other user to perform the conversion and the image conversion device accordingly, and the determined other user terminal and image The conversion in the conversion device is performed, and having a means (40) to return the result of the conversion to the image conversion requesting terminal.
[0019]
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the image processing resource mediation system according to the fourth aspect, means (80, 90) for counting the number of image conversion requests from the user terminal and the number of image conversion requests to the user terminal, respectively. Is further provided.
[0020]
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the image processing resource mediation system according to the fifth aspect, the user terminal is determined based on a result of counting the number of image conversion requests from the user terminal and the number of image conversion requests to the user terminal. And the price for the image conversion request of the user and the request for the image conversion to the user terminal are offset.
[0021]
The part () is provided for the purpose of clarifying the correspondence between the components of the claims and the embodiments, and does not limit the components of the claims. The present invention has various modes other than the embodiment.
[0022]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
(1st Embodiment)
FIG. 2 shows an example of a system configuration according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 2, the same parts as those in the conventional example of FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted. First, hardware differences between the conventional example and the image processing resource mediation system of the first embodiment will be described. In the first embodiment, the user's terminal 10 is connected to the Internet 60 via twelfth to fourteenth lines 1001 to 1003, and the terminal 10 itself converts a Web page (image processing resource) to be converted from the Web server 70. , That is, an HTML document). Further, the conventional image processing lease mediation system includes the service control device 30, the resource management device 40, the image conversion device 50, and the like. However, in the first embodiment, the image processing lease mediation system further does not issue an image conversion request. Is different from the conventional example in that the user's terminal 10 is added to the image processing resource mediation system as the image conversion device 50. For this purpose, each terminal 10 has an image conversion unit 2 having the same image conversion function as the image conversion device 50.
[0023]
Next, differences in processing contents will be described. In the conventional example, when an image conversion request (conversion from a Web page to a 3D display image) is requested from one of the terminals 10, the image conversion processing is performed only by the image conversion device 50. The embodiment is different from the conventional example in that the resource management device 40 requests the terminal 10 other than the image conversion request source to perform the image conversion, and the terminal 10 that has received the request performs the image conversion.
[0024]
The operation of the image processing lease mediation system executed in the system configuration of FIG. 2 will be described with reference to FIG.
In this example, the first terminal 10 is the request source of the image conversion.
[0025]
When a search request is sent from the first terminal 10 to the service control device 30, the service control device 30 searches the Internet in the same manner as in the related art, and obtains a URL of a Web page that matches the search request. A list describing the acquired URL and a coordinate value (sometimes called arrangement information) indicating the arrangement position of the 3D display image on the screen of the terminal 10 are returned to the first terminal 10. The first terminal 10 transmits this list to the resource management device 40 as an image conversion request.
[0026]
The resource management device 40 distributes the URLs listed in the list to one or more image conversion devices 50 and the second and third terminals 10 according to a predetermined distribution rule. The distribution rule may be determined as appropriate by the system enforcer. However, two or three examples will be described below. (A) A conversion is performed on an empty (not performing image conversion processing) image conversion apparatus 50. Assign an executable number of URLs. If the number of requested URLs exceeds the number of empty image conversion apparatuses 50, the excess is allocated to a plurality of empty terminals 10 by a predetermined number.
(B) The number of URLs is equally distributed between the empty terminal 10 and the empty image converter 50.
[0027]
The example of FIG. 3 shows the method (a). The resource management device 40 determines (selects) the terminal 10 and the image conversion device 50 that perform image conversion by distributing URLs to the first and second image conversion devices 50 and the second and third terminals.
[0028]
Each of the first and second image conversion apparatuses 50 and the terminal 10 that have received the URL receives a Web page indicated by the URL from a Web server (for example, 70) on which the URL is mounted, and performs image conversion. The 3D display image (Web page after image conversion) obtained as a result of the conversion is transmitted from the first and second image conversion devices 50 and the second and third terminals 10 via the resource management device 40 to the image conversion request source. Returned to the first terminal 10.
[0029]
The first terminal 10 displays the received image at a position on the screen corresponding to the coordinate value indicated by the above-described arrangement information. The processing for this is executed by the 3D display unit 1.
[0030]
FIG. 6 shows an example of a processing procedure in the resource management device 40 that executes the above processing. This processing procedure is realized by a program (a script or a machine language program converted from a high-level language program).
[0031]
The resource management device 40 repeatedly executes the processing procedure of FIG. That is, it is determined whether or not there is an image conversion request from the terminal 10 to wait for an image conversion request from the terminal 10 (Step S10 → end is repeated). When the image conversion request is transmitted from terminal 10, the determination in step S10 becomes YES, and the procedure proceeds to step S20. In step S20, the resource management device 40 counts the number of URLs described in the list transmitted as the image request, and checks the number of currently available image conversion devices 50. From the number, the number of URLs that can be processed by the empty image conversion apparatus 50 is calculated from a predetermined formula, and is compared with the number of URLs in the list (step S20). If the number of URLs in the list is larger than the URLs that can be processed, the procedure proceeds to step S30.
[0032]
In this step, the resource management device 40 determines a free image conversion device 50 and a terminal 10 to which the URL is to be sent according to a predetermined distribution rule. The URL described in the list is sent from the resource management device 40 to the determined image conversion device 50 and the terminal 10. As a transmission method, for example, a known method such as HTTP may be used. The resource management device 40 receives the conversion result 3D display image from the image conversion device 50 and the terminal 10 (step S50), and transmits the conversion result 3D display image to the terminal 10 that has requested the image conversion (step S50). S60).
[0033]
If it is determined in step S20 that the number of URLs described in the list is less than the number that can be processed by the empty image conversion device 50, the same processing as that in the related art is performed. That is, only the empty image converter 50 is selected, and the URL is sent to the image converter 50. Also, the 3D display image of the conversion result received from the image conversion device 50 is returned to the terminal that has requested the image conversion (steps S100 to S120 → S60).
[0034]
It goes without saying that the resource management device 40 manages the terminal 10 and the image conversion device 50 that have requested the image conversion in connection with the above processing. For example, as a management method, available terminal devices and image conversion devices may be described in a table, and whether image conversion is in progress or empty may be managed by flag information.
[0035]
FIG. 7 shows a processing procedure of the terminal 10 supporting the image conversion. This processing procedure is distributed by a program that functions as the image conversion unit 2 and the communication interface unit 3.
[0036]
The communication interface unit 3 repeatedly determines whether or not a request for image conversion has been received from the resource management unit 40. If the request has not been received, another process is executed (repeat of step S200 → S240 → end). This includes processing for requesting a Web page search, requesting image conversion, and the like.
[0037]
When receiving a request for image conversion from the resource management device 40, the communication interface unit 3 receives a Web page to be converted, that is, an HTML document, and transfers it to the image conversion unit 2 (steps S200 → S210). The image conversion unit 2 converts the HTML document into an image for 3D display, and delivers it to the communication interface unit 3 (Step S220). The communication interface unit 3 transmits the delivered 3D display image to the resource management device 40 and ends the processing procedure of FIG. 7 (Step S230 → End).
[0038]
By executing the above-described processing in the image processing resource mediation system, the image conversion device 50 is not overloaded (the number of conversion requests exceeds the number that can be processed). Also, there is no need to install a large number of dedicated image conversion devices (50) from the beginning, and equipment costs can be minimized. Also, it is possible to respond to many image conversion requests.
[0039]
(Second embodiment)
An application of the first embodiment will be further described. FIG. 4 shows a system configuration of the second embodiment. In FIG. 4, the same parts as those in the conventional example in FIG. 1 and the first embodiment in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.
[0040]
In the second embodiment, the resource management device 40 includes a network processing frequency counting unit 80 that counts the number of image conversions (the number of network processings) by a request in order to charge for an image conversion service involving a Web search. ing.
[0041]
The resource management device 40 also has a terminal processing frequency counting unit 90 that counts the number of times of image conversion of the terminal 10 in order to pay for the terminal 10 that has requested image conversion from the resource management device 40. . The network processing frequency counting section 80 and the terminal processing frequency counting section 90 are also realized by a program. The counting process is well known and need not be described in detail. The counting results of the network processing number counting unit 80 and the terminal processing number counting unit 90 are stored in the processing number storage unit 100 (for example, the hard disk of the resource management device 40).
[0042]
The resource management device 40 further has a difference counting unit 110. The difference counting unit 110 is implemented by a program, and calculates a difference between the number of image conversions requested by the terminal 10 and the number of image conversions requested by the terminal in a predetermined period unit such as one month. Based on the calculation result, the amount to be collected or paid is determined. The method of determining the collection amount and the payment amount may be appropriately determined by the system holder. Further, the difference counting unit 110 may determine the collected amount (charge amount) or the payment amount.
[0043]
FIG. 5 shows an example of the cancellation of the number of image conversion requests and the number of reception requests. Note that the processing sequence (procedure) shown in FIG. 5 is the same as that in FIG.
[0044]
In this example, the number of network processings (the number of Web pages fetched from the Internet, that is, the number of image conversions) “125” by the first terminal 10 and the number of image conversions (the number of terminal processings) “50” executed by the request are “1”. It is stored in the processing count storage unit 100. It is assumed that the network processing number of the second terminal 10 is “225”, the terminal processing number is “150”, the network processing number of the third terminal 10 is “325”, and the terminal processing number is “250”.
[0045]
It is assumed that the first terminal 10 has made a search / image conversion request and has made an image conversion request for eight URLs. Further, when an image conversion request for one Web page is made to each of the second and third terminals 10, the number of network processes of the first terminal 10 stored in the processing count storage unit 100 becomes 125 + 8. Be updated.
Also, the second and third terminal processing numbers are updated to 150 + 1, 250 + 1.
[0046]
The following embodiments can be implemented in addition to the above-described embodiments.
1) The service control device 30 and the resource management device 40 may be connected via the Internet 60.
2) The terminal registration for performing the image conversion process from the terminal 10 by the resource management device 40 may be accepted. When the registration is accepted, the image conversion program (image conversion unit 2) may be downloaded to the registered terminal 10.
3) The processing executed by the service control device 30 and the resource management device 40 may be executed by one computer, or may be distributed by a plurality of computers.
4) In the above embodiment, the image processing resource mediation system also provides a Web page search service, but the user terminal itself may search for a Web page.
5) The Web page can be a document that can be displayed by a browser, such as an XML document, other than the HTML document.
[0047]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the first and fourth aspects of the present invention, the user not only uses a service for converting a Web page obtained for a search or the like into an image for 3D display, but also performs image conversion. By doing so, the price can be obtained. Further, the company that has the image processing resource mediation system can respond to many image conversion requests from users without having to own many image conversion apparatuses.
[0048]
According to the second and fifth aspects of the present invention, the user can reduce the usage amount of the service by using the image conversion service and providing the service of the image conversion.
[0049]
According to the third and sixth aspects of the present invention, the price for executing the image conversion and the price for the request for the image conversion are offset, so that the user can reduce the amount to be paid for the request for the image conversion.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a conventional system configuration.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a system configuration according to the first embodiment of this invention.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a processing procedure according to the first embodiment of this invention.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a system configuration according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a processing procedure according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of the resource management device.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of a terminal.
[Explanation of symbols]
10 Terminal 30 Service Control Device 40 Resource Management Device 50 Image Conversion Device 60 Internet 70 Web Server

Claims (6)

It has a conversion image conversion device that converts a Web page to an image for 3D display, and provides a service for converting a Web page to an image for 3D display in response to a request from a user terminal through an image processing resource mediation system. In the image processing resource intermediation method for displaying the converted 3D display image in 3D,
The user terminal has a function of converting the Web page to the image for 3D display,
When the image processing resource mediation system receives a request to convert a plurality of Web pages into the image for 3D display, according to the number of requests, a terminal of another user to perform the conversion and the image Determine the conversion device,
Perform the conversion in the determined other user terminal and the image conversion device,
An image processing resource intermediation method, wherein the result of the conversion is returned to the terminal of the image conversion request source. 2. The image processing resource intermediation method according to claim 1, wherein the image processing resource intermediation system counts the number of image conversion requests from a user terminal and the number of image conversion requests to a user terminal. Processing resource mediation method. The image processing resource intermediation method according to claim 2, wherein the number of image conversion requests from the user terminal and the count result of the number of image conversion requests to the user terminal are counted based on the value for the image conversion request of the user terminal. An image processing resource intermediation method, wherein compensation for a request for image conversion from a user terminal is offset. It has a conversion image conversion device that converts a Web page to an image for 3D display, and provides a service for converting a Web page to an image for 3D display in response to a request from a user terminal through an image processing resource mediation system. In the terminal of the image conversion request source, in the image processing resource intermediary system for displaying the converted 3D display image in 3D,
The user terminal has a function of converting the Web page to the image for 3D display,
When the image processing resource intermediary system receives a request for the 3D display image from the Web page, another user terminal to perform the conversion and the image conversion device according to the number of requests. Means for determining
Means for performing the conversion in the determined other user terminal and the image conversion apparatus, and returning a result of the conversion to the terminal of the image conversion request source. 5. The image processing resource mediation system according to claim 4, further comprising means for counting the number of image conversion requests from a user terminal and the number of image conversion requests to a user terminal. Mediation system. The image processing resource intermediation system according to claim 5, wherein, based on a count result of the number of image conversion requests from the user terminal and the number of image conversion requests to the user terminal, a value for the image conversion request of the user terminal. An image processing resource mediation system, wherein compensation for a request for image conversion from a user terminal is offset.

Images