JP3533811B2 - Data conversion device, network system including data conversion device, and data transmission method - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a conversion device which converts the size of input data and outputs the converted data, and more particularly,
The present invention relates to a data conversion device that functions as a relay device that relays multimedia data such as images and audio data transmitted in a plurality of types of transmission media, a network system including the data conversion device, and a data transmission method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in a network system, services are provided between a plurality of information processing devices connected to a network.

In this case, the information processing apparatus requesting the service is usually called a client, while the information processing apparatus providing the service is called a server.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the configuration of a multimedia network system. In FIG. 3, 101 is a server, 102 and 104 are networks, 105 is a client, and 301 is a relay device.

As described above, the server 101 is connected to the relay device 301 via the network 102, and the relay device 301 is further connected to the relay device 301 via the network 104.
It is connected to the client 105.

In response to a service request from the client 105 to the server 101, the server 101 provides the service to the client 105. At this time, transmission / reception of various types of information between the server 101 and the client 105 is performed via the network 102, the relay device 301, and the network 104.

The relay device 301 has a function of receiving information and transmitting the information to a desired destination. At this time, the relay device 301 only transmits and receives information according to a predetermined communication procedure.
In particular, it has not been designed to control the amount of information.

Although a large number of information processing devices are usually present on the network system, the information processing devices not directly related to the information transmission between the server 101 and the client 105 are omitted in FIG. . Note that examples of the information processing device include a workstation, a personal computer (hereinafter abbreviated as “PC” as appropriate), a home game machine, a home information terminal, a personal information management terminal device, a cable television transmitter, a television receiver, and the like. To be

By the way, when the server provides the service to the client, various data is transmitted and received between the server and the client. In particular, a network system considering the delivery of "multimedia data" is called a "multimedia network system".

In this specification, "multimedia
"Data" is defined as data including at least one of a plurality of types of data as described below.

As an example of the plurality of types of data,
Text data, audio data, vector picture data, still image data, moving image data, music track data, hypertext data, multimedia script data, virtual reality data, etc.
Data containing any of these is multimedia
It becomes data.

Most of the data handled by the conventional information processing apparatus are text data and program software data, and the difference between these 1-bit data is not allowed. That is, if a difference in data occurs even with 1 bit, the program will not operate as intended.

On the other hand, in recent years, due to the improvement in the processing capability of the information processing apparatus, the number of cases of handling image data and audio data having a relatively large data size is increasing. The characteristic of these data is that they have redundancy in nature, and can be said to be data that can serve as data even if the data is somewhat incomplete.

For example, the resolution of a still image is reduced, or the sampling rate of audio data is reduced to reduce the data size. Even if the data size is a desired one, it still functions as a still image or audio data.

In view of these circumstances, the concept of controlling the quality of these data was born.

Assuming that multimedia data including a large amount of such data is transmitted, if the client side does not have the capability of receiving high quality data, the server side transmits high quality data. Since it is impossible to output, it is possible to shorten the transmission time by sending low quality and small size data to the client from the beginning.
Since it reduces network traffic, it may be efficient in data transmission. Note that, for example, low quality includes data in which the image quality is degraded by thinning out the number of pixels of a still image (high quality data) having a certain number of pixels (in this case, the data size is also small at the same time. ).

There are various types of transmission media connecting the server and the client, and even if the client has high performance, if the transmission capacity of the transmission medium is low, the transmission time of data is reduced. In some cases, it becomes too long to realize a practical system. Further, there are cases where the user wants to observe the outline of the multimedia data by previewing or the like.

Therefore, a technique related to a media conversion server has been proposed as a technique for the server to provide data suitable for a user's request in consideration of the transmission capability of the network and the performance of the client. In this technology, when providing high-quality data that a server has, it adjusts the data size, etc., that is, by changing the data size, it transmits suitable data that considers traffic and client performance. It is possible to

In wide area network systems, servers often allow connections to unspecified clients. "Internet magazine February 1995 issue (published by SoftBank Corp.)", pages 35 to 61,
Techniques are described for multimedia network systems that provide services to a large number of unspecified clients.

[0020]

By the way, it can be said that the media conversion server technology described above is difficult to apply to such a system.

The reasons are as follows: (1) There is often no contractual relationship between the user of the client and the management organization of the server regarding the size of the transmission data, etc., which satisfies the request from the client side. As such, it is often difficult to make a server function.

(2) Is it difficult for the server side to judge the connection environment and performance of the client (transmission capacity of the connection line, etc.), and is it possible to provide data suitable for the capacity of the server side? It is difficult to investigate.

That is, in the multimedia network system, although it is necessary to control the data amount of the data received by the client, in the wide area network environment, a means for controlling the data amount is provided on the server side. Is practically difficult.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to convert the data transmitted from the server into the data in consideration of the performance of the client, the transmission medium connected to the client, etc. without changing the specifications of the server, and convert the data. It is to provide a data conversion device to be received by the client, a network system including the data conversion device, and a data transmission method.

Another object of the present invention is data conversion which enables a user of a client to give an instruction to control conversion processing of multimedia data, and to perform data conversion processing according to the instruction. An object of the present invention is to provide a network system including a device and a data conversion device, and a data transmission method.

[0026]

In order to solve the above-mentioned object, the following means can be considered.

That is, information input means for receiving input information including one or more types of data and the type of each data forming the input information are checked, and predetermined as conversion target data which is data for converting the amount of data. When it is determined that the data is the data, the data analysis means for extracting the data from the input information, the control means for converting the data amount of the extracted data according to a predetermined rule for the type of data, Of the input information, the data having undergone the conversion processing is replaced with the data before the conversion processing to reconstruct the input information, and an information output means for outputting the reconstructed information. It is a device that is used.

Further, the following modes are also possible.

That is, the information input means is configured to have a function of accepting a command (extended command) for converting the size of specific data at a specific conversion rate, and further analyzes the content of the received extended command. However, the processing device has a function of giving the data obtained by converting the size of the specific data at the specific conversion rate as the converted data handled by the information forming device.

Further, the following means can be considered.

That is, the information input means mainly accepts multimedia information that refers to data other than character strings by character strings, classifies the input information into descriptions, examines each of the constituent descriptions, and converts the amount of data. If the description refers to a predetermined data as the conversion target data that is the data to be executed, the data analysis means for extracting the description from the input information and the reference method of the extracted data are set to the data type. On the other hand, of the input information, the control means for making a copy according to a predetermined rule and converting
It is an apparatus provided with an information forming means for reconstructing input information by replacing the converted data with the data before the conversion processing, and an information outputting means for outputting the reconstructed information.

Further, the following means can be considered.

That is, the information input means mainly receives multimedia information that refers to data other than a character string by a character string, classifies the description of the input information, examines each constituent description, and converts the amount of data. In the case where the description cites in the predetermined data as the conversion target data which is the data to be executed, the data analysis means for extracting the description from the input information, the reference method of the extracted data, and the data type A control means for converting in accordance with a predetermined rule, and an information forming means for reconstructing the input information by replacing the converted data of the input information with the data before the conversion processing. And an information output means for outputting the stored information.

The information input means accepts one or more types of data, and the data analysis means further checks the type of each data forming the input information, and as data to be converted which is the data amount conversion processing. When it is determined that the data is predetermined data, the data is extracted from the input information.

The control means converts the data amount of the extracted data according to a predetermined rule corresponding to the type of data, and the information forming means further converts the converted data of the input information. , The input information is reconstructed by replacing the data before the conversion process.

The information output means outputs the reconstructed information.

This makes it possible to automatically adjust the data amount of the input data.

The input means accepts a command to convert the size of the specific data at a specific conversion rate.

Then, the processing means analyzes the content of the received command, and gives the data obtained by converting the size of the specific data at the specific conversion rate as the converted data handled by the information constructing means.

As a result, the user can
It is possible to give an instruction to control the data conversion processing and perform the data conversion processing according to the instruction.

[0041]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
This will be described with reference to FIG.

(First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the first embodiment according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the system according to the first embodiment has a server 101 and networks 102 and 104.
And a multimedia data amount control relay device 103 and a client 105.

Connected cellphones are similar to conventional multimedia network systems. It should be noted that multimedia data is communicated between the server 101 and the client 105, and the multimedia data amount control relay device 103 controls the data amount at this time.

The server 101 is the client 10
It is possible to provide services other than 5, but in order to simplify the description, FIG. 1 shows only one client 105.

If the system configuration is such that the transmission capacities of the networks 102 and 104 are different, the present multimedia data amount control relay device 10
3 shows the effect to a large extent.

It is also preferable to connect the different networks 102 and 104 and configure the present multimedia data amount control relay device 103 as a gateway.

The networks 102 and 104 may each be composed of a plurality of networks.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the multimedia data amount control relay device 103 shown in FIG.

The device 103 shown in FIG. 2 is a storage device 2 for storing necessary information including a CPU 201 for performing a predetermined process and a program for operating the CPU 201.
02, a communication control unit 203 for controlling data communication among the networks 102 and 104, and the present device, and an auxiliary storage device 205. Each component can mutually transmit information. As described above, the bus 204 is connected.

Now, the operation of the multimedia data amount control relay device 103 will be described.

The storage device 202 and the communication control unit 20
3, the auxiliary storage device 205, the communication control unit 206, the CPU
Depending on the commands and data that 201 sends via bus 204,
Shall be controlled. Also, the main function of the multimedia data amount control relay device 103 is realized by the CPU 201 operating according to predetermined software.

First, with reference to FIG. 5, there is shown a structure of multimedia data to be controlled in the present embodiment.

In FIG. 5, reference numeral 501 denotes multimedia data composed of n pieces of data.
2 is the first data, 503 is the second data, ... 5
04 is the n-th data. Each data has a data number, a data type, and a data content. Specifically, 505 is the data number of the data 502, 50
6 is the data type of the data 502, 507 is the data 502
Is the data content of.

Similarly, 508 is the data number of the data 503, 509 is the data type of the data 503, 510 is the data content of the data 503, 511 is the data number of the data 504, 512 is the data type of the data 504, 513 is the data content of the data 504.

The multimedia data having the structure shown in FIG. 5 is to be controlled.

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram schematically showing the functions realized by the CPU 201 shown in FIG. 2 operating in accordance with predetermined software.

The components of this functional block diagram will be described, and the operation thereof will be described.

The communication control units 203 and 206 are the same as those shown in FIG. 2, and the network 1 on the server side, respectively.
02, connected to the network 104 on the client side.

The data amount control unit 401 includes conversion target (control target) multimedia data 409 and control information 408.
, And based on the control information 408, the data constituting the multimedia data 409 to be converted is converted according to each data, the data amount is controlled, and it is converted. Multimedia data 410
Is output.

The extraction unit 402 inputs the multimedia data 407 and the extraction information 412, extracts a data group whose data amount is to be controlled from the multimedia data, and converts it into the conversion-target multimedia data 409. Is output. It also has a function of extracting a data group to be expanded from multimedia data and outputting it as expansion target multimedia data 416.

The expansion unit 403 inputs the expansion target multimedia data 416 and the expansion policy information 418, expands the expansion target multimedia data 416 based on the expansion policy information 418, and has expanded it. A process of outputting the multimedia data 413 is performed. The concept of “extension” will be described later.

The storage processing unit 404 stores the multimedia data 407, the converted multimedia data 410,
The expanded multimedia data 413 is input, a part of the multimedia data 407 is changed, the converted multimedia data 410 is replaced with the corresponding unconverted data, and the expanded multimedia data 413 is input. Data 413 is newly inserted and is output as converted and expanded multimedia data 411. When the extension process is not performed, the extended multimedia data 413 is not inserted into the multimedia data 407.

The interpreting unit 405 inputs the command 414 sent from the client side and the extension policy information 418, and when the command 414 is an extension command instructing to control the data amount, Based on the expansion policy information 418, the command is converted into a command before being expanded, the converted command 415 is output, and a control parameter 419 corresponding to the expansion command is output. On the other hand, if the command 414 is not an extended command, the command 414 is not converted and is output as the interpreted command 415 as it is. The extended command will also be described later.

The control table 406 is used by the data amount control unit 4
01 is a means for storing at least the types of data that can be converted and the parameters for converting each data.

The extension table 417 stores extension policy information 418 indicating an extension method of multimedia data extension processing performed by the extension unit 403.

In the present invention, the communication control unit 203
It is also possible to realize the function of the multimedia data amount control relay device 103 by one communication control unit by combining the above and 206.

In this case, the same function as the system shown in FIG. 1 can be realized by any of the following three configurations.

(1) Server 10 on network 102
1, the multimedia data amount control relay device 103 and the client 105 are connected. (2) In the system of FIG. 3, a multimedia data amount control relay device 103 is connected to the network 102.
(3) In the system of FIG. 3, the multimedia data amount control relay device 103 is connected to the network 104.

Next, a specific operation example will be described.

First, the conventional multimedia shown in FIG.
The operation of the network system when the present invention is not applied will be described. Although this has been described a little in the prior art, it will be specifically described in order to clarify the features of the present invention.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 301 denotes the network 1.
02 is a relay device having a function of passing data between the network 02 and the network 104.

The server 101 includes the multimedia data A shown in FIG. 6 and the multimedia data B shown in FIG.
Assume that you own 701. Then, after the system is activated, a transfer request command for these data transmitted from the client is accepted, and the data is transferred to the client in response to the request.

In FIG. 6, reference numeral 601 denotes multimedia data A composed of three data,
02, 603, and 604 are multimedia data A6
This is the data forming 01.

605 is the data number of the data 602, 60
6 is a data type indicating that the data 602 is text data, 607 is the data content of the data 602,
Stores text data. Similarly, 608
Is the data number of the data 603, and 609 is the data 603.
Data type indicating that is still image data, 610
Is the data content of the data 603, and the still image data A
Is stored.

Further, 611 is the data number of the data 604, 612 is the data type indicating that the data 604 is button data, and 613 is the data content of the data 604, in which button data is stored. Here, "button data" means that a user displays a selectable button on the display device on the client side, and the user selects the displayed button to send a command corresponding to the button to the server. This is data for performing possible processing.

The data 604 stores button data for enabling the server to issue a command requesting the transfer of the multimedia data B701. Although not shown, the button data has data called a button name.
The button name of the button data 604 is “running scenery”.

Next, in FIG. 7, 701 is multimedia data B consisting of one data, and 702
Is data constituting 701.

703 is a data number, 704 is a data 70
Data type indicating that 2 is still image data, 70
Reference numeral 4 denotes the data content of the data 702, in which still image data B is stored.

The client 105 connected to the network 104 transmits at least information such as a means for interpreting multimedia data, a display, a pointing device, and a command to the network 104, and receives information from the network 104. A communication device having a function of receiving is provided.

Now, it is assumed that the client 105 is activated and issues a transfer request command for the multimedia data A to the server 101. The transfer request command is received by the relay device 301 via the network 104 and transferred to the server 101.

The server 101 receives this command via the network 102 and sends the multimedia data A 601 to the client 105. Repeater 3
01 is a multimedia
Data A601 is received and the received multimedia
The data A 601 is transferred to the client 105.

The client 105 is the network 10
Receive multimedia data A 601 via 4,
Interpret the received contents, display the image information as shown in FIG. 8 on the display, and wait for the instruction from the user by the pointing device.

In FIG. 8, 801 is a screen display of multimedia data A 601, 802 is a screen display of text data 607, and 803 is still image data A.
610 is a screen display and 804 is a screen display of button data 613. In this way, the data is displayed according to the storage order of the data that constitutes the multimedia data (such storage means "to configure". The same applies hereinafter).

When the user of the client 105 selects the button 804 with the pointing device,
The client 105 sends a transfer request command for the multimedia data B 701 to the server 101. The transfer request command is received by the relay device 301 via the network 104 and transferred to the server 101. The server 101 receives this command via the network 102 and outputs the multimedia data B701.
Is transmitted to the client 105.

The relay device 301 receives the multimedia data B701 via the network 102 and transfers it to the client 105. Client 10
5 receives the multimedia data B701 via the network 102, interprets the received contents, and displays the image data on the display as shown in FIG.

In FIG. 9, 901 is a screen display of the multimedia data B701, and 902 is a screen display of the still image data B705.

The above is the operation of the conventional apparatus. Next, the operation of the system according to the present invention as shown in FIG. 1 will be described.

In the present embodiment, the following preconditions are set in order to simplify the explanation.

(Premise 1) The data that can be converted by the data amount control unit 401 is only still image data. conversion,
That is, the amount of data is reduced by reducing the display size of the image to "1/2" both vertically and horizontally.

(Assumption 2) The expansion unit 403 should not expand multimedia data.

(Premise 3) The extended command should not be transmitted from the client 105 to the server 101. This is related to Assumption 2.

An example of the control table 406 based on the premise 1 is shown in FIG.

In FIG. 10, 1001 is one item in the control table 406 (usually, a plurality of items are registered), and 1002 is a data type indicating that the item 1001 is an item related to still image data. ,
1003 is a data amount control method for still image data,
Here, the image display size change is designated. Further, 1004 is a parameter used in the data amount control method. Here, the item 1001 sets the parameter for changing the image display size to “1 /” for still image data.
2 ”, and the display size is halved.

From the assumption 2 and the assumption 3, the extension table 4
17 is not used.

Based on these conditions, the operation of the apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail.

First, when the client 105 starts up,
Multimedia data A601 for server 101
Shall be transmitted. The communication control unit 206 receives the transfer request command transmitted to the server 101 via the network 104, and passes it as a command 414 to the interpretation unit 405.

The interpreting unit 405 confirms that the command 414 is not an extended command, and interprets the command 415
Is passed to the communication control unit 203. Then, the communication control unit 203 transfers the interpreted command 415 to the server 101. That is, the command from the client 105 is transferred to the server 101 without any change.

The server 101 receives the command via the network 102 and sends the multimedia data A60.
1 is transmitted to the client 105.

The communication control unit 203 receives the multimedia data A 601, and receives the multimedia data 407.
And passes it to the extraction unit 402 and the storage processing unit 404.

When the extraction unit 402 receives the multimedia data 407, the extraction unit 402 extracts the data to be converted from the multimedia data as a "conversion target data extraction process" and an extension target from the multimedia data. “Extension target data extraction process” that is a process of extracting the following data is performed.

According to the premise 2, since the extension processing of multimedia data by the extension unit 403 is not performed, the description of the extension target data extraction processing by the extraction unit 402 will be omitted here.

Further, in the conversion target data extraction processing, the extraction information 412 is acquired from the control table 406 and used for the processing. The extraction information 412 is an information string in which only the data types of the items for which parameters are set (the parameters are not “OFF”) among the items registered in the control table 406 are collected.

If the extraction information 412 corresponding to the received multimedia data does not exist, the extraction unit 402 does not execute the conversion target data extraction process, and the received multimedia data is directly used as the conversion target multimedia data. The data is output and passed to the data amount control unit 401.

In this embodiment, the items registered in the control table 406 are items 1001 related to still images.
And the parameter of item 1001 is "1 /
2 ”, the extraction information 412 is only“ still image ”, and the extraction information 412 corresponding to the received multimedia data exists, so the extraction unit 402 executes the conversion target data extraction process.

The extraction unit 402 executes the conversion target data extraction processing according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

The conversion target data extraction processing will be described below with reference to FIG.

Step 1101 is the start of conversion target data extraction processing by the extraction unit 402.

In step 1102, the extraction unit 402
Prepares five types of data.

The first is the multimedia data 407 received from the communication control unit 203. The second is extraction information 412. The third is the multimedia data X whose constituent data is "0". The fourth is a variable n indicating the number of constituent data of the multimedia data 407.
Since the multimedia data 407 is, specifically, the multimedia data A601, n =
It becomes 3. The fifth is a process control variable i used for repeating the process, and 1 is substituted as an initial value.

In step 1103, the extraction unit 402
Confirms whether the data type of the i-th data of the multimedia data 407 is not included in the extraction information 412, and if it is included, makes “YES” and proceeds to step 1104. On the other hand, if not included, “NO”
Then, the process proceeds to step 1105. Here, the value of i is “1”, and the data type of the first data of the multimedia data 407 is “text”. Therefore,
The result is "NO" and step 1104 is skipped.

Next, in step 1105, the extraction unit 402 substitutes the result of "i + 1" into i. This result i
Has a value of 2.

In step 1106, the extraction unit 402
Compares the magnitude relationship between i and n, and if i> n, then "YE
S ”and proceed to step 1107, otherwise,
If “NO”, the process proceeds to step 1103. Here, since the value of i is 2 and the value of n is 3, the result is “NO” and the process proceeds to step 1103.

In step 1103, i is 2, and the data type of the second piece of multimedia data 407 is “still image”. Therefore, the processing result of the extraction unit 402 is “YES”, and step 1104 follows. move on.

In step 1104, the extraction unit 402
Adds the i-th data to the multimedia data X. The data number of the data added at this time is not changed. Here, the second data is added to the multimedia data X.

Then, in step 1105, the extraction unit 40
2 sets the value of i to 3.

At step 1106, the processing result of the extraction section 402 becomes "NO", and the routine proceeds to step 1103.

In step 1103, i is 3, and the data type of the third data of the multimedia data 407 is “button”. Therefore, the processing result of the extraction unit 402 is “NO”, and the process proceeds to step 1105. . In step 1105, the extraction unit 402 sets the value of i to 4. In step 1106, the processing result of the extraction unit 402 is “YE
S ”, and the process proceeds to step 1107.

Then, in step 1107, the extraction unit 402 outputs the multimedia data X as conversion target multimedia data 409, and passes it to the data amount control unit 401.

FIG. 12 shows the multimedia data 409 to be converted at this time.

In FIG. 12, reference numeral 1201 is conversion target data.

Then, in step 1108, the extraction unit 40
2 ends the process.

Through the above processing, the extraction unit 402 obtains the multimedia data 407, and based on this,
The conversion target multimedia data 409 is generated and passed to the data amount control unit 401.

Upon receiving the conversion target multimedia data 409, the data amount control unit 401 executes the data conversion process according to the flowchart of FIG.

The data conversion process performed by the data amount control unit 401 will be described with reference to FIG.

First, in step 1301, the data amount control unit 401 starts data conversion processing.

In step 1302, the data amount control unit 4
01 prepares three types of data. The first is the conversion target multimedia data 409 received from the extraction unit 402. The second is multimedia to be converted.
It is a variable n representing the number of pieces of data constituting the data 409, and here, the conversion target multimedia data 409.
Since there is one piece of configuration data of n, n = 1. The third is a process control variable i used for repeating the process, and 1 is assigned as an initial value.

In step 1303, the data amount control unit 4
01 determines the magnitude relationship between i and n, and if i> n,
If “YES”, the process proceeds to step 1307. If not, “NO”, and the process proceeds to step 1303.

Since the value of i is 1 and the value of n is 1, the result is "NO", and the process proceeds to step 1304.

In step 1304, the data amount control unit 4
01 is control information 408 corresponding to the data type of the i-th data of the conversion target multimedia data 409,
Obtained from the control table 406. The control information 408 is information on a data amount control method and its parameters (see FIG. 10) that are defined in the control table 406 in correspondence with a certain data type.

Now, the value of i is 1, and the data type of the first data of the conversion target multimedia data 409 is “still image”. Therefore, control information 408
The contents of "the data amount control method: image display size change,
The parameter is 1/2 ".

At step 1305, the data amount control unit 4
Reference numeral 01 denotes the still image data A, which is the data content of the i-th data of the conversion target multimedia data 409, according to the control information 408, and the display size thereof is vertical and horizontal “1/2” according to the control information 408. To reduce (convert) the amount of data. Further, this data is overwritten on the data content of the i-th data of the conversion target multimedia data 409. As a result, the data content before overwriting is erased, and the converted data is stored.

In step 1306, the data amount control unit 4
01 performs the operation of "i + 1" and substitutes the result for i.
As a result, the value of i becomes 2. Further, the data amount control unit 401 performs the process of step 1303.

Here, since the value of i is 2, the execution result of step 1303 of the data amount control unit 401 is "Y.
ES ”, and the data amount control unit 401 advances the process to step 1307.

Then, in step 1307, the data amount control unit 401 outputs the conversion target multimedia data 409 in which the respective constituent data have been converted, as converted multimedia data 410, and the storage processing unit 4
Pass to 04.

FIG. 14 shows the structure of the converted multimedia data 410 at this time.

In FIG. 14, 1401 is the converted multimedia data, 1402 is the first component data of the converted multimedia data, 1403
Means that the display size of the still image A is 1/2 in both the vertical and horizontal directions.
The image data is reduced to.

Then, in step 1308, the data amount control unit ends the process.

Through the above processing, the data amount control unit 40
1 obtains the conversion target multimedia data 409,
The converted multimedia data 410 is generated and passed to the storage processing unit 404.

From the premise 2, the description of the operation of the extension section 403 will be omitted here.

The storage processing unit 404 stores the multimedia data 407 and the converted multimedia data 410.
When the extended multimedia data 413 is received, the "converted data storing process" and the "extended data storing process" are executed.

The storage processing unit 404 executes the converted data storage processing according to the flowchart of FIG.

The converted data storage processing will be described below with reference to FIG.

First, in step 1501, the storage processing unit 4
04 starts the converted data storage processing.

At step 1502, the storage processing unit 404.
Prepares five types of data.

The first is the multimedia data 407 received from the communication control unit 203. The second is the converted multimedia data 410 received from the data amount control unit 401. The third is a variable n that represents the number of constituent data of the converted multimedia data 401.
And here, the converted multimedia data 4
Since the number of data forming 10 is one, n = 1. The fourth is a process control variable i for performing repetitive processing, and 1 is substituted as an initial value. The fifth one is
It is a variable k and its initial value is not set in particular.

In step 1503, the storage processing unit 4
04 determines the magnitude relationship between i and n, and if i> n,
If “YES”, the process proceeds to step 1507. If not, “NO”, and the process proceeds to step 1504.

Since the value of i is 1 and the value of n is 1, the result is "NO" and the routine proceeds to step 1504.

At step 1504, the storage processing unit 404.
Substitutes the data number of the i-th data of the converted multimedia data 407 into "k".

Here, the value of i is 1, and from FIG. 14, the data number of the first piece of converted multimedia data is 2, so k = 2.

In step 1505, the storage processing unit 4
04 overwrites the i-th data of the converted multimedia data 410 on the k-th data of the multimedia data 407.

Here, since i = 1 and k = 2, the first data of the converted multimedia data 410 is overwritten on the second data of the multimedia data 407. As a result, the data content before overwriting is erased, and the converted data is stored.

At step 1506, the storage processing unit 404.
Performs the operation of "i + 1" and substitutes the result into i.
Here, the value of i is 2.

Next, the storage processing section 404 causes the step 15
The process proceeds to 03.

Here, since the value of i is 2, the execution result of step 1303 of the storage processing unit 404 is "YE.
S ”, and the storage processing unit 404 proceeds to step 15
Proceed to 07.

Then, in step 1507, the storage processing unit 404 temporarily holds the multimedia data 407 as the converted data-stored multimedia data.

FIG. 16 shows the multimedia data held as the converted data-stored multimedia data at this time.

In FIG. 16, reference numeral 1601 denotes multimedia data held by the converted data storage processing of the storage processing unit 404.

Then, in step 1508, the storage processing unit 404 ends the converted data storage processing.

Since the description of the expanded data storage processing is omitted here, the storage processing unit 404 outputs the multimedia data 1601 as the converted expanded multimedia data 411, and the communication control unit 206. Pass to.

The communication control unit 206 uses the client 105
To the multimedia data 1601.

The client 105 is the network 10
2 receives multimedia data 1601 via
Interpret the received contents, display the multimedia data on the display as shown in FIG. 17, and wait for the instruction from the user by the pointing device.

In FIG. 17, reference numeral 1701 denotes a screen display of the client which has received the multimedia data 1601. Reference numeral 1702 denotes a screen display of the still image data A reduced to “1/2” both vertically and horizontally.

When the user of the client 105 selects the button 804 with the pointing device, the client sends a transfer request command for the multimedia data B 701 to the server 101. This transfer request command is received by the multimedia data amount control relay device 103 via the network 104 and transferred to the server 101. The server 101 receives this command via the network 102 and performs processing for transmitting the multimedia data B701 to the client 105. Then, the multimedia data amount control relay device 103 receives the multimedia data B701 via the network 102 and performs the same data amount control process as described above. As a result, the multimedia data B701 is converted into multimedia data as shown in FIG.

In FIG. 18, reference numeral 1801 denotes multimedia data B701 converted by the multimedia data amount control relay device 103, and 1803
Is the first constituent data of the multimedia data 1801, and 1802 is still image data in which the display size of the still image B is reduced to "1/2" in both the vertical and horizontal directions.

Multimedia data amount control relay device 10
3 transfers the multimedia data 1801 to the client 105. The client 105 receives the multimedia data 1801 via the network 102, interprets the received content, and displays a screen as shown in FIG. 19 on the display. In FIG. 19, 1901
Is a screen display of multimedia data 1801, and 1902 is a screen display of still image data 1802.

Here, the effect of this example will be described.

It is assumed that the resolution of the display screen of the display provided in the client is “640 × 480 dots”. Moreover, the data amount of multimedia data is assumed as follows.

That is, the data number of each component data and the data amount of the data type are 4 bytes in total. text·
The data is 2 bytes per character. A still image is represented by 256-color representable colors of 1 dot, that is, 1-byte data. Button data is 200 bytes.

The data amount of the multimedia data 601 is calculated based on the above assumptions.

The number of characters in the text data 607 is 100
In this case, the character data amount is 200 (1
00x2) bytes. Also, the text data 60
Since 7 includes 100 bytes of information such as the size and arrangement of characters, the data amount of the text data 607 is 300 bytes.

When the display size of the still image data A610 is “200 × 150 dots”, the data amount is “1 × 200 × 150” = 30000 bytes.

From the above assumption, the data amount of the multimedia data 601 is “(4 + 300) + (4 + 300
00) + (4 + 200) = 30512 bytes ”.

Further, the display size of the still image data 1403 is reduced to "1/2" both vertically and horizontally.
It is 00 × 75 dots. Therefore, the data amount of the still image data 1403 is “1 × 100 × 75” = 750.
It becomes 0 bytes.

Therefore, the data amount of the multimedia data 1601 after the conversion processing is “(4 + 300) + (4+
7500) + (4 + 200) = 8012 bytes ”.

From the above calculation, the multimedia data amount control relay device 103 determines the data amount of the multimedia data 601 from 30512 bytes to 8012 bytes.
You can see that it has been reduced to bytes.

This is 8012/3 when converted to a ratio.
This means that the data amount has been reduced to 0512 × 100≈26.3 (%), and the data transfer time is increased by about 3.8 times.

Here, the transmission speed of the network 102 is set to 1500000 (bit / sec),
The transmission rate of 4 is 14400 (bits / second).

In the conventional example, that is, in the system configuration shown in FIG. 3, the time required to transfer the multimedia data 601 from the server 101 to the client 105 is obtained by the following calculation.

From t 101 to the relay device 301
, T2 is the transfer time from the relay device 301 to the client 105, and T is the transfer time from the server 101 to the client 105.

It is assumed that the overhead of the processing of the relay device 301 is sufficiently small and can be omitted.

T1 = 30512 × 8 / 1500000≈0.163 seconds t2 = 30512 × 8 / 14400≈17.0 seconds T = t1 + t2≈17.163 seconds Similarly, this example, that is, the system configuration shown in FIG. In, the time required to transfer the multimedia data 601 from the server 101 to the client 105 is obtained by the following calculation.

Tc is a processing time of the multimedia data amount control relay device, t1 ′ is a transfer time from the server 101 to the multimedia data amount control relay device 103, and t2 ′ is a time from the multimedia data amount control relay device 103 to the client 105. , T ′ is the transfer time of the multimedia data 601 from the server 101 to the client 105 in this example.

T1 ′ = t1≈0.163 seconds t2 ′ = 8012 × 8 / 14400≈4.45 seconds T ′ = t1 ′ + t2 ′ + tc≈ (4.613 + tc)
(Seconds). Assuming that tc = 1 second, T′≈5.
613 (seconds), and the transfer time is about (17.163 /
5.613 ≈) 3.06 times shorter. Even assuming tc = 4 seconds, T′≈8.613 (seconds), and the transfer time is reduced by about (17.163 / 8.613≈) 2.0 times.

That is, as described above, when two networks having different transmission capacities are connected to the server 101 and the client 105, if the transmission capacity of the client side network is relatively low, the conventional example is used. In comparison, the present invention significantly reduces the transfer time of multimedia data.

Multimedia data amount control relay device 10
Even if 3 has one communication control unit, if the configuration of connecting the multimedia data amount control relay device 103 to the network 102 in the system of FIG.
The same effect can be obtained.

In the present embodiment, although the quality of still image data is sacrificed in order to reduce the transfer time of multimedia data from the server 101 to the client 105, browsing is performed such that the image content is roughly grasped. It is very effective for etc.

According to this embodiment, the client 10
The user of No. 5 can access more still image data in a shorter time than the conventional example. This not only has the effect of reducing the time required to search for data, but also makes it easier to use in interactive systems.
There is an effect that the response time, which is an important factor for determining the response time, can be shortened, and an interactive system with excellent operability can be realized. The response time is the time from when the user issues a request to when the response result to the request is presented to the user.

Further, in the present embodiment, even when the transmission capacities of the network 102 and the network 104 are high and there is no great difference in their transmission capacities, that is, there is almost no effect of shortening the transmission time, Since it is possible to control the amount of data received by the client 105, the user can determine the distribution mode in consideration of the quality of information to be provided and the required time according to the purpose. An interactive system with excellent operability can be realized.

The display size conversion processing of still image data can be executed for a part of the still image data. In this way, when the data amount reduction process can be partially performed, in the multimedia data amount control relay processing device 103, for a part of the multimedia data relayed from the server 101 to the client 105, By performing the same processing as this embodiment and repeating the same, it is possible to realize the same function as this embodiment.

Similarly, in the multimedia data amount control relay processing device 103, the multimedia data to be relayed from the server 101 to the client 105 is divided in units of its constituent data, and the present embodiment is carried out for each of the divided data. It is possible to realize the same function as that of the present embodiment by performing the same processing as the above embodiment and repeating the same processing.

In the case of the above two cases, for example, in the multimedia data amount control relay processing device 103, the processing of the data amount control unit 401 is performed while the communication control unit 203 waits for the reception of data from the server 101. It can be executed and the overall processing efficiency is improved.

According to the present embodiment, the data transfer rate between the relay device 103 and the client 105 can be improved. Therefore, by arranging the relay device 103 closer to the server 101 side, the transfer speed of the entire system is improved. You can also let it. On the other hand, it is important to determine the placement of the relay device 103 in consideration of the number of installable relay devices, the convenience of system construction, and the like.

(Second Embodiment) Next, a second embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

First, before giving a concrete description of the present embodiment, the concept of expansion (processing) of multimedia data will be described.

In the first embodiment of the present invention, the multimedia data amount control relay device 103 is the server 101.
The display size is reduced for all the still image data relayed from the client to the client 105. However, depending on the user on the client 105 side, there are cases where this reduction in display size is not desired. Therefore, unless the multimedia data amount control relay device 103 can select whether or not to reduce the size of a still image, that is, whether or not to control the data amount, the user of the client cannot select it. I won't. This can be operated by the method of registering the control information registered in the control table, but it is preferable that it be realized by a simple operation using the device on the client side. Needless to say.

Therefore, in order to solve this problem, it is considered to carry out an extension process for multimedia data. It is easy to understand that "extension" is a concept that means replacing existing ones with remade data and instructions.

Now, expansion of multimedia data will be described using a specific example.

The data type of the configuration data 604 of the multimedia data 601 is button data, and the content 613 is "multimedia data B transfer request transmission".
Is. It is displayed as a button on the display screen of the display provided in the client 105, and the user selects the displayed button with the pointing device.
A "transfer request command for multimedia data B" can be transmitted to the.

For this button, "transfer request command for multimedia data B whose data amount is controlled"
If a multimedia data amount control relay device 103 can control a data amount only when the button is newly added and the button is selected, the user can use two buttons. It is possible to select whether or not to control the data amount by the multimedia data amount control relay device 103 by the selection operation of.

As described above, adding a button for requesting the transfer of data whose data amount is controlled by the multimedia data amount relay device 103 is
It is an extension of data.

The command transmitted by the user on the client side selecting the button added by the extension of the multimedia data is the "extended command".

In the second embodiment, among the three preconditions set in the first embodiment, only the premise 1 is set and the premise 2 and the premise 3 are not set.
The operation of the multimedia data amount control relay device 103 will be described.

The processing for expanding multimedia data will be described using a specific example as in the first embodiment.

Expansion table 41 in the present embodiment
An example of No. 7 is shown in FIG.

In FIG. 20, reference numeral 2001 denotes one of the items in the extension table (a plurality of items may exist), 2
002 is an extended name of the item 2001, and here, ".
"small". Reference numeral 2003 denotes a button name of the item 2001, which is “small” here.
2004 is the data type of item 2001, and item 2
001 indicates that the item is a still image. Reference numeral 2005 denotes a data amount control method of item 2001, which is referred to as “change image display size” here. 20
Reference numeral 06 is a parameter of the item 2001, which indicates a parameter for the data amount control method, and is “1” here.
/ 2 ". As can be seen by comparing with the configuration of the control table in FIG. 10, the feature is that “extended name, button name” is provided.

Now, when the client 105 starts up,
Multimedia data A601 for server 101
Send the transfer request command of. It is assumed that this transfer request command is expressed in text as "REQUEST: multimedia data A". Communication control unit 206
Receives the transfer request command transmitted to the server 101 via the network 104, and passes the received command 414 to the interpretation unit 405.

Upon receiving the command 414, the interpreting unit 405 executes a command interpreting process.

The command interpretation process is executed according to the flowchart of FIG.

The command interpretation process will be described with reference to FIG.

First, in step 2101, the interpretation unit 405.
Starts the command interpretation process.

At step 2102, the interpretation unit 405.
Prepares two types of data.

The first is the command 414 received from the communication control unit 206. The second is expansion policy information 41
8 The expansion policy information 418 is information in which all the items stored in the expansion table are collected, and here,
It becomes item 2001.

At step 2103, the interpretation unit 405.
Compares the end of the name of the multimedia data that the command 414 is requesting to transfer with the extended names of all the items in the extension policy information 418 to see if they match. If they match, the result is set to "YES" and the process proceeds to step 2104. If they do not match, the result is set to "NO" and the process proceeds to step 2106.

Here, the items of the expansion policy information 418 are 20
01 only, and the extended name of item 2001 is “.smal
1 ”. On the other hand, the name of the multimedia data requested to be transferred by the command 414 is "multimedia.
The end name and the extended name of the item 2001 do not match. Therefore, the result is “NO” and the process proceeds to step 2106.

When proceeding to step 2104,
A process of removing the extension name from the end of the requested multimedia data name and writing the data amount control method and parameter corresponding to the removed extension name in the extension policy information to the control table 406 in step 2105. To do.

At step 2106, the interpretation unit 405
“OFF” is output as the control parameter, and the parameters of all items in the control table 406 are changed to “OFF”. “OFF” means that the conversion process is not performed.

Further, in step 2107, the interpretation unit 40
5 outputs the command 414 as the interpreted command 415 and passes it to the communication control unit 203. The interpreted command 415 at this time is, as described above, “REQUES
T: multimedia data A ".

At step 2108, the interpretation unit 405 finishes the command interpretation process.

As described above, the interpretation unit 405 interprets the command 414 and changes the control parameter 419 to change the contents of the control table 416 and output the interpreted command 415.

Here, the command 414 and the interpreted command 415 are the same, and the interpreting unit 405 sets the parameters of all items in the control table 406 to “OF”.
Change to "F".

Next, the communication control unit 203 transfers the interpreted command 415 to the server 101.

The server 101 receives this command via the network 102 and sends the multimedia data A
601 is sent to the client 105.

The communication control unit 203 receives the multimedia data A601 and converts the received data into the multimedia data A601.
As the data 407, the extraction unit 402 and the storage processing unit 4
Pass to 04.

Upon receipt of the multimedia data 407, the extraction unit 402 carries out conversion target data extraction processing and extension target data extraction processing.

Here, since the interpretation unit 405 has changed the parameters of all the items in the control table 406 to “OFF”, the extraction information 41 on the data to be converted 41
2 does not exist. Therefore, the extraction unit 402 does not execute the conversion target data extraction process, and the configuration data is “0”.
And outputs the empty multimedia data as the conversion target multimedia data 409.
Pass to 1.

The extraction unit 402 executes the extension target data extraction processing according to the flowchart of FIG.

With reference to FIG. 22, the extension target data extraction processing performed by the extraction unit 402 will be described.

First, in step 2201, the extension target data extraction process is started.

At step 2202, the extraction unit 402
Prepares four types of data.

[0232] The first is the multimedia data 407 received from the communication control unit 203. The second is the multimedia data X whose constituent data is "0". The third is a variable n representing the number of constituent data of the multimedia data 407, and the multimedia data 4
07 is, specifically, multimedia data A 601.
Therefore, n = 3. The fourth is a process control variable i used in the iterative process, and 1 is substituted as an initial value.

At step 2203, the extraction unit 402
It is checked whether the data type of the i-th data of the multimedia data 407 is "button" and the command transmitted when the user of the client selects the button is the data transfer request command. To do. If the extraction unit 402 determines that the condition is satisfied, the extraction unit 402 proceeds to step 2204, and if not, proceeds to 2205.

Here, the value of i is 1, and the data type of the first piece of multimedia data 407 is “text”. Therefore, the result is “NO”, and the extraction unit 402 advances the process to step 2205.

At step 2205, the extraction unit 402
The result of “i + 1” is substituted into i, and the value of this result i is 2
Becomes In step 2206, the extraction unit 402
The magnitude relation between i and n is judged, and if i> n, the result is "Y
ES ”and proceed to step 2207. If not, the result is“ NO ”and proceed to step 2203.

Since the value of i is 2 and the value of n is 3, the result is "NO" and the routine proceeds to step 2203.

In step 2203, i is 2 and
Since the data type of the second piece of multimedia data 407 is “still image”, the processing result of the extraction unit 402 is “NO”, and the process proceeds to step 2205. In step 2205, the extraction unit 402 sets the value of i to 3.

Then, in step 2206, the processing result of the extraction section 402 becomes "NO", and step 220
Go to 3. In step 2203, i is 3 and the data type of the third data of the multimedia data 407 is “button”. Therefore, the processing result of the extraction unit 402 is “YES”, and the process proceeds to step 2204.

At step 2204, the extraction unit 402
The i-th data of the multimedia data 407 is added to the multimedia data X.

[0240] Here, the extraction unit 402 uses the data 604.
Is added to the multimedia data X. Then, in step 2205, the extraction unit 402 sets the value of i to 4.

At step 2206, the processing result of the extraction section 402 becomes "YES", and the routine proceeds to step 2207.

At step 2207, the extraction unit 402
Expanding multimedia data X
The data is output as data 416 and passed to the extension unit 403.

FIG. 23 shows multimedia data to be expanded at this time.

In FIG. 23, reference numeral 2301 denotes the extraction unit 40.
2 is the multimedia data output as the extension target multimedia data 416.

Then, in step 2208, the extraction unit 40
2 ends the extension target data extraction processing.

Next, the operation of the expansion section 403 will be described.

When the extension unit 403 receives the extension target multimedia data 416 sent from the extraction unit 402, the extension unit 403 performs extension processing according to the flowchart of FIG.

With reference to FIG. 24, the expansion process performed by the expansion unit 403 will be described.

At step 2401, the expansion section 403 starts expansion processing.

At step 2402, the expansion section 403
Prepare 7 types of data. The first is the extension target multimedia data 416 received from the extraction unit 402. The second is extended policy information 418, which is
The extension unit 403 acquires from the extension table 417. The third is the multimedia data X whose constituent data is "0". The fourth is a variable m representing the number of items of the expansion policy information 418. Here, since the expansion policy information 418 has only 2001 items, m = 1. The fifth is a variable n that represents the number of data of the extension target multimedia data 416. Here, the extension target multimedia data 416 is the multimedia data 2301.
Therefore, n = 1. The sixth and seventh items are process control variables i and j used for the iterative process, and the extension unit 40
3 substitutes 1 as an initial value for i.

At step 2403, the expansion section 403
The magnitude relation between i and n is judged, and if i> n, the result is "Y
ES ”and proceed to step 2410. If not, the result is“ NO ”and proceed to step 2404.

Since i = 1 and n = 1 here, the result is "NO", and the extension unit 403 proceeds to step 2404.
Proceed to.

At step 2404, the expansion section 403
The i-th data of the multimedia data to be expanded is m
Duplicate each. The copied information may be temporarily stored in the auxiliary storage device or the like.

Here, since i = 1 and m = 1, one copy of the data 604 is created.

At step 2405, the expansion section 403
Substitute 1 for j. In step 2406, the expansion unit 40
3 expands the j-th duplicated data. Extension 403
First, the extension name of the j-th item of the extension policy information 418 is added to the end of the data name required by the button data of the j-th duplicated data. Further, the expansion unit 403 overwrites the button name of the j-th item of the expansion policy information 418 with the button name of the button data of the j-th duplicated data.

Here, j = 1, and 1 of the duplicated data.
The second is data 604. The name of the data requested by the button data 613 is "multimedia data B".
Is. The expansion unit 403 adds the first item of the expansion policy information, that is, the expanded name of the item 2001, to the end of this name, and rewrites the button name “running scenery” of the button data 613 to the button name “small” of the item 2001. .
Further, this data is added to the multimedia data X.

FIG. 25 shows the structure of the multimedia data X at this time.

In FIG. 25, 2501 is multimedia data, 2502 is extended data, and 2503 is "multimedia data B.sm".
It is button data with a button name of "small" that can issue a transfer request command for data having a name of "all".

At step 2407, the expansion section 403
The operation of "j + 1" is performed, and the result is substituted for j. As a result, the value of j becomes 2.

At step 2408, the expansion section 403
The magnitude relationship between j and m is judged. If j> m, the result is "Y
ES ”and proceed to Step 2409, otherwise,
The result is set to “NO” and the process proceeds to step 2406.

Here, since j = 2 and m = 1, the expansion section 403 advances the processing to step 2409.

At step 2409, the expansion section 403
The operation of "i + 1" is performed and the result is substituted for i. As a result, the value of i becomes 2. Further, the extension unit 403 advances the processing to step 2403.

At step 2403, since i = 2 and n = 1, the processing result of the expansion section 403 is “YES”, and the expansion section 403 advances the processing to step 2410.

At step 2410, the expansion section 403
Expanded multimedia data X
The data is output as data 413 and passed to the storage processing unit 404.

[0265] The multimedia data 413 at this time
Is, specifically, multimedia data 2501.

Then, in step 2411, the expansion unit 40
3 ends the extension process.

Next, the operation of the data amount control unit 401 will be described.

The data amount control unit 401 proceeds with the process according to the flowchart of FIG. 13 as in the case of the first embodiment. The processing outline is as follows.

Here, since the conversion target multimedia data 409 received from the extraction unit 402 is empty multimedia data, the data amount control unit 401 sets n = 0 in step 1302.

At step 1303, the data amount control unit 4
The processing result of 01 is “YES”, and the data amount control unit 4
01 proceeds to step 1307.

At step 1307, the data amount control unit 4
01 outputs the multimedia data X, that is, empty multimedia data as converted multimedia data 410, and transfers it to the storage processing unit 404.

Next, the operation of the storage processing unit 404 will be described.

The storage processing unit 404 stores the multimedia data 407 and the converted multimedia data 410.
When the extended multimedia data 413 is received, the converted data storing process and the extended data storing process are executed.

First, the storage processing unit 404 performs the converted data storage processing according to the flowchart of FIG. 15, as in the first embodiment.

Here, since the converted multimedia data 413 is empty multimedia data, the storage processing unit 404 sets n = 0 in step 1502.

At step 1503, the storage processing unit 404.
The processing result of 0 is “YES”, and the storage processing unit 404
Advances the processing to step 1507.

In step 1507, the storage processing unit 404
Outputs the multimedia data 407 as converted data-stored multimedia data.

At this time, since no change is made to the multimedia data 407, the converted data stored multimedia data is specifically the multimedia data A601.

Next, the storage processing unit 404 executes the expanded data storage processing according to the flowchart of FIG. Figure 2
This process will be described with reference to FIG.

First, in step 2601, the storage processing unit 4
04 starts the expanded data storage processing.

In step 2602, the storage processing unit 4
04 prepares four types of data.

The first one is the converted data stored multimedia data obtained by the converted data storage processing of the storage processing unit 404. Here, it is multimedia data A601. The second is expanded multimedia data 413 received from the expansion unit 403. The third is a variable n representing the number of constituent data of the converted data stored multimedia data. Since the number of constituent data of the multimedia data A601 is 3, n = 3. The fourth is a process control variable i, and the storage processing unit 404 substitutes 1 as i as an initial value.

At step 2603, the storage processing unit 404.
Judges the magnitude relationship between i and n. If i> n, the result is “YES” and the process proceeds to step 2607. Otherwise, the result is “NO” and the process proceeds to step 2604.

Here, since i = 1 and n = 1, the result is "NO", and the storage processing unit 404 proceeds to step 2
The processing advances to 604.

At step 2604, the storage processing unit 4
04 searches the constituent data of the expanded multimedia data for the data having the data number i. If there is any data with data number i, the result is "YE
S ”, and the storage processing unit 404 advances the processing to step 2605. If it does not exist, the result will be "NO",
The storage processing unit 404 advances the processing to step 2606.

Now, i = 1. Specifically, the expanded multimedia data is multimedia data 2
It is 501. The multimedia data 2501 has one configuration data, and its data number is 3.
Therefore, the processing result is “NO”, and the storage processing unit 4
04 advances the process to step 2606.

At step 2606, the storage processing unit 4
04 substitutes the result of "i + 1" for i. This result i
Has a value of 2. Then, the storage processing unit 404 advances the processing to step 2603.

At step 2603, the storage processing unit 404.
The processing result of is “NO” as in the previous time, and the storage processing unit 404 advances the processing to step 2604.

Then, in step 2604, the processing result of the storage processing unit 404 becomes “NO” similarly to the previous time, and the storage processing unit 404 advances the processing to step 2606.

At step 2606, the storage processing unit 404.
Substitutes the result of “i + 1” into i, and the result i is 3
become. Next, the storage processing unit 404, the step 2603.
Proceed to.

At step 2603, the storage processing unit 404.
The processing result of No. becomes “NO” as in the previous time, and the storage processing unit 404 advances the processing to Step 2604.

At step 2604, i = 3 and the data number of the constituent data of the multimedia data 2501 is 3, so this time becomes “YES”, and the storage processing unit 404 proceeds to step 2605. Proceed.

In step 2605, the storage processing unit 404
Is the converted multimedia data for all data whose data number is i in the expanded multimedia data.
It is inserted after the data whose data number is i.

Here, since the expanded multimedia data is the multimedia data 2501 and i = 3, the converted data-stored multimedia data, that is, the third data of the multimedia data A601 is stored. Next, the data 2502 is inserted. As a result, the structure of the converted data-stored multimedia data is as shown in FIG.

In FIG. 27, 2701 is next to the third data 604 of the multimedia data A 601,
It is multimedia data in which data 2502 is inserted.

Next, in step 2606, the storage processing unit 404 substitutes the result of "i + 1" for i, and the result i
Becomes 4. Then, the storage processing unit 404 advances the processing to step 2603.

At step 2603, since i = 4 and n = 3, the processing result of the storage processing unit 404 becomes “YES”, and the storage processing unit 404 advances the processing to step 2607.

At step 2607, the storage processing unit 404.
Renumbers the data numbers of the constituent data of the converted multimedia data in order from the first.

[0299] Here, the storage processing unit 404 renumbers the constituent data of the multimedia data 2701 and changes it as shown in Fig. 28.

In FIG. 28, reference numeral 2801 denotes multimedia data to which the storage processing unit 404 has renumbered the constituent data of the multimedia data 2701, and 2802 denotes a data number renumbered by the storage processing unit 404. Is.

Then, in step 2608, the multimedia data 407 renumbered by the storage processing unit 404 in step 2607 is output as the conversion-expanded multimedia data 411 and passed to the communication control unit 206. At this time, the converted and expanded multimedia data 4
11 is, specifically, multimedia data 2801.
Is.

Then, in step 2609, the storage processing unit 404 ends the expanded data storage processing.

Further, the communication control unit 206 receives the conversion-expanded multimedia data 41 from the storage processing unit 404.
1, i.e., the multimedia data 2801 is received and passed to the client 105.

The client 105 uses the network 10
2 receives multimedia data 2801 via
Interpret the received contents, display the display screen on the display as shown in FIG. 29, and use the pointing device to
Wait for instructions from the user.

In FIG. 29, 2901 is a display screen of multimedia data 2801, and 2902 is
It is a display screen of button data 2503.

[0306] Here, the user of the client 105
When the button 804 is selected by the pointing device, the client 105 sends the command “REQUEST: multimedia data B” to the server 101.

When this command is relayed by the multimedia data amount control relay device 103, the interpreter 4
However, since this command is not an extended command, the interpretation unit 405 causes the control table 406
All the parameters of are set to “OFF”, and the command is transferred to the server 101 as it is.

Then, the server which has received the command “REQUEST: multimedia data B” transmits the multimedia data B 701 to the client 105.

When the multimedia data B701 is relayed by the multimedia data amount control relay device 103, all the parameters in the control table 406 are "OFF", and therefore the data amount control for this data is performed. Absent.

Also, since the multimedia data B701 does not include button data, the data is not expanded.

Therefore, the multimedia data amount control relay device 103 determines that the multimedia data B701
Is directly transferred to the client 105, and as a result,
The display screen of the display included in the client 105 is as shown by 901 in FIG.

On the other hand, when the user of the client 105 selects the button 2902 with the pointing device, the client 105 sends the command “REQUEST: multimedia data B.small” to the server 101.

The operation of the multimedia data amount control relay device 103 in this case will be described.

The communication control unit 206 uses the network 104.
The command “REQUEST: multimedia data B.small” is received via the command line and passed to the interpretation unit 405 as a command 414.

When the interpreting unit 405 receives the command 414, it executes the command interpreting process according to the flowchart of FIG.

At step 2103, the expansion policy information 41
The item 8 is only 2001, and the extension name of the item 2001 is “.small”.

On the other hand, the name of the multimedia data requested to be transferred by the command 414 is "multimedia.
Data B. “Small” and this end and item 200
The extension name of 1 matches, the result is “YES”, and the interpretation unit 405 advances the processing to step 2104.

At step 2104, the interpretation unit 405
Remove the extended name from the end of the multimedia data name requested by command 414. Here, the command “REQUEST: multimedia data B.sma
"ll" is changed to "REQUEST: multimedia data B".

At step 2105, the interpretation unit 405
The data type, data amount control method, and parameter corresponding to the removed extension name in the extension policy information 418 are output as the conversion parameter 419 and written in the control table 406.

Here, among the items of the extension policy information 418, the item corresponding to the extension name ".small" is item 2.
001, and the conversion parameter 419 at this time is
“Still image, image display size changed, 1/2”. The interpretation unit 405 outputs this conversion parameter 419,
The item regarding the “still image” in the control table 406 is changed. The result of this change is similar to that of FIG.

At step 2107, the interpretation unit 405.
Outputs a command 414, that is, “REQUEST: multimedia data B” as an interpreted command 415, and passes it to the communication control unit 203.

The communication control unit 203 uses the interpreted command 4
15 is transferred to the server 101.

The server 101 receives this command via the network 102, and the multimedia data B
701 is transmitted to the client 105.

Here, in the multimedia data amount control relay device 103, the control table 406 is the same as that of the first embodiment of the present invention, and
Data B701 does not include button data, so
The operation of the multimedia data amount control relay device 103 is as follows.
The multimedia data amount control relay device 103 is exactly the same as the first embodiment of the present invention.
The data amount of the data B 701 is controlled, and the multimedia data 1601 is transmitted to the client 105.

Then, the client 105 receives the multimedia data 1601 via the network 102, interprets the received contents, and displays the display screen 1701 on the display provided in the client 105.

As described above, in the second embodiment of the present invention, the number of buttons displayed on the client 105 is increased,
When the user of the client 105 selects the button, the multimedia data amount control relay device 103
In, it becomes possible to specify whether or not to perform data conversion.

Now, the effect of this embodiment will be described.

The server 101 is configured to hold a large amount of still image data, and in order to retrieve the data to be provided to the client 105 from among these data, the transfer amount of the still image data for confirming the contents is required. It becomes enormous and sometimes takes a very long time. In the present embodiment, when performing a data search, the client 105
By selecting the added "small", the user can search for an image whose size is reduced to "1/2" in both the vertical and horizontal directions, thereby enabling a quick search. In other words, even if the image quality is slightly deteriorated, it is sufficient to confirm the content by the search. Therefore, by deleting the data amount, the high-speed search can be performed. Then, when the still image to be searched is confirmed, the user of the client 105 can finally see the still image by selecting the original button.

As described above, the present embodiment is particularly effective when the user searches for multimedia data at high speed and wants to finally obtain the data without limiting the data amount. .

Further, in the first and second embodiments of the present invention, since the format of multimedia data, the communication rule between the client 105 and the server 101, etc. are not changed at all, the client 105 and the server are not changed. For 101, the conventional system can be used as it is. That is, the device can be arranged at any position, and the number of man-hours required to change the system configuration due to the arrangement of the device is extremely small.

Further, in the present embodiment, for simplification of the description, the case where the number of button data included in the multimedia data is one has been described, but a plurality of button data is included in the multimedia data. Also in the case where the button data is included, the multimedia data amount control relay device 103 adds a button for transmitting the extended command to all the buttons, and when the client 105 side selects it, It goes without saying that the data suitable for selection can be transferred to the client 105.

Further, in the present embodiment, the number of buttons added to the display screen of the client 105 by the command extension is one, but by adding the item of the extension table 417, the display of the client 105 is displayed. It is also possible to add a plurality of buttons on the screen.

For example, when the expansion table has two items as shown in FIG. 30, when the client 105 receives the multimedia data A601 expanded by the multimedia data amount control relay measure, the client 105 105 displays the screen of FIG.

In FIG. 30, 3001 is the second item of the extension table 417, and 3002 is the item 300.
1 extended name, 3003 button name of item 3001, 30
04 is the data type of item 3001, 3005 is item 30
01 is a data amount control method, and 3006 is a parameter of item 3001.

In FIG. 31, reference numeral 3101 denotes the multimedia contents when the extension table 417 has the structure shown in FIG.
The result of the transfer request for the data A601 is displayed by the client 10
5 is a display screen displayed on the 5 side, and 3102 is item 30
It is a button added based on 01.

When the user selects the button 3102, finally, the data of the still image data B, which is reduced to 1/4 in the vertical and horizontal directions, is transferred to the client 105.

In the present embodiment, the type of data extended by the extension unit 403 is limited to button data.
If the user of the client 105 can send a command, such as button data, the data can be expanded to achieve the same purpose as this embodiment.

The matters described below can be said to be common to the first and second embodiments.

First, from the server 101 to the client 10
Of the multimedia data transferred to 5, only one was subject to data amount control, but it is also possible to control the data amount of multiple data in one multimedia data. Is.

Next, in the first and second embodiments, the multimedia data amount control relay device 103 limits the data amount to only the still image, but the data amount control unit 401 However, it is also possible to configure so that the data amount control processing is performed on a plurality of types of data. If items for each data type are registered in the control table, the multimedia data amount control relay device 103
It is possible to control the amount of data for a plurality of types of data. At the same time, it is possible to control the data amount of a plurality of types of data included in one multimedia data.

[0341] The following are examples of data amount reduction modes other than the display size conversion of still images. For example, frame dropping of moving image data, conversion of sampling rate of audio data, conversion of audio data to text data, still image, conversion of moving image from color to black and white, conversion of kanji mixed text into katakana text, voice and This is extraction of a part of moving image data.

Furthermore, in the above description, the number of servers is 1.
Although it has been described as a single server, even if there are a plurality of servers on the network 102 and the user of the client 105 selects and connects to those servers as necessary, all the servers are connected to the client 105. The present invention is applicable to the transfer of multimedia data of the relay device 103 in this case,
By considering the system configurability and the like, it is possible to configure an optimum system as a whole that maximizes the effects of the present invention.

Similarly, in the above description, the number of clients is one, but even if there are a plurality of clients on the network 104 and they are connected to the server 101, the server 101 is The present invention is applicable to the transfer of multimedia data to all clients.

Further, the server 101 and the client 105
The case where there are two networks between the two has been described, but the present invention can be applied as long as there is at least one network existing between the server 101 and the client 105.

(Third Embodiment) Next, a third embodiment according to the present invention will be described.

In the third embodiment, when the multimedia data handled in the second embodiment is assigned a specific type, for example, multimedia data including only still image data or Consider a case where multimedia data such as multimedia data including only moving image data is transferred from a server to a client.

In this case, by having the extension table 417 for each type of multimedia data, it is possible to change the extension policy of the multimedia data.

For example, the end of the name of multimedia data containing only text data is ".text", and the end of the name of multimedia data containing only still image data is ".picture". Consider a case where the end of the name of multimedia data including only data is always ".video".

Here, two extension tables are prepared.
The extension table corresponding to the end ".picture" of the data name is the same as in FIG. 20, and the extension table corresponding to ".video" is configured as shown in FIG.

In FIG. 32, 3201 is ".vide.
3202 is one item of the extension table 3201 and 3203 is an item 3002.
The extension name 3204 is a button name of the item 3002.
Also, 3205 is the data type of the item 3002, 3206
Is an item 3002 data amount control method, 3207 is an item 3
002 parameter.

The extension table corresponding to ".text" is not prepared.

In this embodiment, the data amount control unit 401
Is characterized by having a function of cutting an arbitrary time at the beginning of moving image data, and when “intro” is designated as the data amount control method of the item relating to the moving image in the contents of the control table 406, , "Time" which is the "parameter" for the moving image data to be transferred to the client 105 is extracted.

When the extension unit 403 executes extension of multimedia data, the extension unit 403 analyzes the end of the transfer request data name in the button data, and selects the extension table used by the extension unit 403 according to the result. The button data for transferring the text data is not expanded (the expansion table corresponding to the text data is not prepared), and the button for transferring the still image data is expanded as in the second embodiment. The button data for transferring the moving image data is expanded so that a button named “intro” is added.

As a result, in the screen display of the display provided in the client 105, the button data is not added to the text data transfer request button, and the button "small" is added to the still image data transfer request button. The transfer request button for moving image data is displayed as "intr
A button "o" is added.

[0355] When the user of the client 105 selects the "intro" button added to the transfer request button for moving image data, the server 101 sends the client 105 a request.
The amount of moving image data transmitted to the client is controlled by the multimedia data amount control relay device 103, and the moving image data for the first 5 seconds is transmitted to the client 105 side. That is, the user of the client 105 can view the first 5 seconds of the moving image data without receiving all of the moving image data.

As described above, in this embodiment, the operability can be improved by adding the button corresponding to the characteristic of the multimedia data.

(Fourth Embodiment) Next, a fourth embodiment according to the present invention will be described.

The present embodiment differs from the second embodiment in that the method of expanding multimedia data is changed.

When expanding the multimedia data, a button is added in the second embodiment.
The multimedia data was expanded, but here the button data is changed to pull-down menu data. What is pull-down menu data? Client 1
In the screen display of 05, when the user selects, a new option is displayed, and the menu is displayed so that the user can further select the option.

This is applied to the display example described in the second embodiment.

The client, which has transmitted the transfer request for the multimedia data A to the server 101, finally performs a display similar to the screen 801 of FIG. Here, when the user selects 804, the screen changes as shown in FIG.

In FIG. 33, reference numeral 3301 is a screen display example of the client 105 in this embodiment. In the figure, 3302 is a pull-down menu display button, 3303 is a pull-down menu, 330
4 is a transfer request option of the still image data B, 3305
Is a transfer request option of the still image data B reduced to "1/2".

The user of the client 105 selects option 3
When 304 is selected, the client 105 receives the still image data B, and when the user selects the option 305, the client 105 displays a still image whose display size is reduced to “1/2” in both vertical and horizontal directions. It is possible to receive the data B.

In order to realize this, the expansion unit 403 generates such pull-down menu data instead of generating the button data to be added, and the storage processing unit 4
In 04, the original button data may be overwritten.

As described above, according to this embodiment, it is possible to realize the screen display for expanding the multimedia data without changing the screen display layout of the client 105. User operability is further improved.

(Fifth Embodiment) Next, a fifth embodiment according to the present invention will be described.

The fifth embodiment is an embodiment in the case where the second embodiment is implemented in a hypertext system in which data other than text is described mainly by mainly using character strings.

Communun issued by ACM Press
ications of ACM Vol. 37, N
o. 8, pp. 76-82 (1994) describes an example of a hypertext system in which the configuration is mainly described by a character string in a wide area network system. In such a hypertext system, the page description language is used to display the screen as shown in FIG. 8 on the client. What is page description language?
It is a language for describing decoration of a character string itself, laying out image data and the like in the character string using a character string, and laying out a button for referring to a new page or data. An example of this page description language is the pp. 2 of the Internet magazines February 1996 and March 1996 issued by Impress. 202-205, pp. 234-2
37.

In the following, in the present embodiment, the case where the present invention is implemented in the hypertext system configured by the above page description language will be described.

First, before describing the contents of this embodiment, a description of a page description language used as an example in this embodiment and a communication method between a server and a client in a hypertext system using this page description language will be given. explain.

First, the page description format data will be described by taking the multimedia data 601 displayed on the client 105 as shown in FIG. 8 as an example.

Now, in the page description format, the multimedia data 601 becomes like 3401 in FIG. In the page description data, multimedia data as shown in FIG. 5 is described in text format.

The contents of the page description data 3401 will be described below with reference to the screen display result on the client 105.

In FIG. 34, 3402, 3403, 3
The three descriptions 404 are the data 602,
It corresponds to 603 and 604. Text delimited by "<" and ">" in the page description is called a tag,
It is used to add an effect to text, indicate still image embedding, and describe embedding of a button operable by the user of the client 105. Tag 3405 “<CENTER>” in description 3402 of FIG. 34,
3406 “</ CENTER>” is a description for arranging the text between these two tags at the center when the screen is displayed. A tag 3407 “<BR>” is a description for instructing a line break. With these tag descriptions, the description 3402 is displayed on the screen of the client 105 like the text display 802 in FIG.

In the description 3403, “<IMG SRC
= “PictA.gif”> ”is a tag called an image tag. Here,“ SRC ”is added to this part of the text.
It is described that the data specified by “=” ”is embedded. “PictA.gif” specified here indicates multimedia data including only still image data A610. The client 105 uses this pict. g
By requesting the server 101 to transfer the if, receiving the same data from the server 101, and displaying the data on the screen following the text display 802, the still image data A601 is displayed on the screen of the client 105 as indicated by 803 in FIG. It

In the description 3404, “<A HREF
= “PictB.gif”> ”and“ </A> ”are called anchor tags. The part surrounded by these tags becomes a button on the screen of the client 105, and when the user clicks this, the client 105 is the anchor tag. The transfer request for the data designated by "HREF =""" is sent to the server. “PictB.gif” indicates multimedia data 701 including only still image data B705. In the description 3404, the text "running scenery" surrounded by the anchor tags becomes the button 804 in FIG. 8 when the screen is displayed, and the user selects the button 804 to cause the client 105 to store the still image data B705 in the server 101. A transfer request is transmitted, and finally the content of the still image data B705 is displayed on the screen as shown by 902 in FIG.

The multimedia data 3401 has been described above.

Next, a communication method between the server and the client in hypertext will be described. First, the client 105 sends a “GET i
ndex. The command "html" is transmitted. Here, "index.html" is the page description data 34
Point 01. Upon receiving this request, the server 101 transfers the page description data 3401 to the client 105. The client 105 receiving the page description data 3401 analyzes the data. The client 105 first analyzes the portion of the description 3402 and displays the text on the screen. The client 105 then analyzes the portion of the description 3403, detects that the image tag cites other data, and issues a “GETpictA.gif” command requesting the transfer of “pictA.gif” to the server 10.
Send to 1. Upon receiving this request, the server 101 returns "pictA.gif", that is, the multimedia data 3501. Upon receiving this, the client 105 displays the still image data A610 on the screen following the text display of 3402. Finally, the client 105 analyzes the description 3404, detects an anchor tag, and displays a button "running scenery". As described above, the client 105 displays the page description data on the screen as indicated by 801 in FIG.

When the user further selects the button 804, the client 105 displays "pictB.gif".
A “GET pictB.gif” command requesting the transfer of the above. Upon receiving this, the server 101 transfers “pictA.gif”, that is, the multimedia data 701 to the client 105. The client 105 displays the received multimedia data 701 on the screen as shown in FIG.

The above is the flow of processing between the server and client in hypertext.

Next, the fifth embodiment of the present invention, which is the second embodiment of the present invention implemented in the hypertext system described above, will be described.

In this embodiment, the operation of the multimedia data amount control relay device 103 is basically the same as that of the second embodiment of the present invention. Here, the part different from the second embodiment will be described in particular.

In this embodiment, the operation of the present invention will be described with reference to the functional block diagram of FIG. The functional block diagram of FIG. 35 is obtained by adding a disassembling unit 3501 to the functional block diagram of FIG. The decomposition unit 3501 performs page description data decomposition processing. The details will be described later.

In the second embodiment, the multimedia data amount control relay device 103 changes from the server 101 to the client 1
The button data in the multimedia data transferred to 05 was extracted and expanded, but in this embodiment, this expansion is performed on the anchor tag of the page description data.

Now, when the client 105 starts up,
A transfer request command for page description data 3401 is transmitted to the server 101. This transfer request command is expressed in text as "GET index.html". The communication control unit 206 receives the transfer request command transmitted to the server 101 via the network 104, and passes the received command 414 to the interpretation unit 405.

Upon receiving the command 414, the interpreting unit 405 executes a command interpreting process.

The command interpretation processing is executed according to the flowchart of FIG.

The command interpretation process will be described with reference to FIG.

First, in step 2101, the interpretation unit 405.
Starts the command interpretation process.

At step 2102, the interpretation unit 405.
Prepares two types of data. The first is the command 414 received from the communication control unit 206. The second is expansion policy information 418. Expansion policy information 418
Is information that collects all the items stored in the extension table, and here is the item 2001.

In this embodiment, part of the processing in step 2103 of the command interpretation processing is partially different from that in the second embodiment. In the second embodiment, the extension names of all items in the extension policy information 418 are compared with the end of the name of the multimedia data requested to be transferred to the server. However, in hypertext, a character string starting with "." At the end of a data name is generally used as an extension indicating the type of the data. Therefore, in this embodiment, the expansion unit 40
When an extension name is added to the data name in 3, the extension is added before the conventional extension. For example, "pi
ctA. Adding the extended name ".small" to "gif" results in "pictA.small.gif".

Therefore, in this embodiment, the interpretation unit 405.
In the command interpreting process of, the command 414 compares the end of the name of the multimedia data requested to be transferred, excluding the extension, with the extended names of all items of the extension policy information 418, and determines whether they match. Check. If they match, the result is set to "YES" and the process proceeds to step 2104. If they do not match, the result is set to "NO" and the process proceeds to step 2106.

Here, the items of the expansion policy information 418 are 20
01 only, and the extended name of item 2001 is “.smal
1 ”. On the other hand, if the extension is removed from the name of the multimedia data requested to be transferred by the command 414, it becomes “index”, and the end of this and the extended name of the item 2001 do not match. Therefore, the result is "NO",
Proceed to step 2106.

Incidentally, when proceeding to step 2104,
A process of removing the extension name from the end of the requested multimedia data name and writing the data amount control method and parameter corresponding to the removed extension name in the extension policy information to the control table 406 in step 2105. To do.

At step 2106, the interpretation unit 405
“OFF” is output as the control parameter, and the parameters of all items in the control table 406 are changed to “OFF”. “OFF” means that the conversion process is not performed.

Also, in step 2107, the interpretation unit 40
5 outputs the command 414 as the interpreted command 415 and passes it to the communication control unit 203. The interpreted command 415 at this time is, as described above, the “GET ind
ex. html ”.

In step 2108, the interpretation unit 405 ends the command interpretation process.

As described above, the interpretation unit 405 interprets the command 414 and changes the control parameter 419 to change the contents of the control table 416 and output the interpreted command 415.

Here, the command 414 and the interpreted command 415 are the same, and the interpreting unit 405 sets the parameters of all the items in the control table 406 to "OF".
Change to "F".

Next, the communication control section 203 transfers the interpreted command 415 to the server 101.

The server 101 receives this command via the network 102 and sends page description data 3401.
To the client 105.

The communication control unit 203 uses the page description data 3
401 is received and the received data is the page description data 350.
It is passed to the disassembling unit 3501 as 2.

The decomposing unit 3501 uses the page description data 350.
When 2 is received, the page description data decomposition process is started according to the flowchart of FIG. When the decomposition unit 3501 receives data other than the page description data (for example, still image data), this page description data decomposition process is not performed.

Here, the page description data decomposing process by the decomposing unit 3501 will be described. The page description data is basically text data, not structured data such as the multimedia data shown in FIG. In the page description decomposition process, the page description data is first divided into a text portion, an image tag portion, and an anchor tag portion in order to perform the conversion target data extraction processing and the extension target data extraction processing as in the second embodiment. It is the process of disassembling.

The page description decomposing process will be described below with reference to FIG.

In step 3601, the page description decomposition process by the decomposition unit 3501 is started.

At step 3602, the decomposition unit 350
1 prepares seven variables necessary for page description decomposition processing. The first is the number of characters s of the received page description data 407, and here the number of characters of the page description data 3401 is substituted. The second is page description data 40
7 is a D page description of text data storing 7. Three
The fourth and fourth are two arrays, PART [m] that stores the decomposed page description text and TYPE [m] that indicates the description contents of the decomposed text, where m is the case where the page description data 407 is decomposed. A sufficient number (eg 2
048), or increase as necessary. The fifth and sixth are D in the page description decomposition process.
H and p indicating the position of the page description, and the seventh is a variable i. 1 is assigned as an initial value to each of h, p, and i.

Next, in step 3603, the decomposition unit 3
501 substitutes the value of p for h. Since p = 1 here,
A value of 1 is assigned to h.

Next, in step 3604, the decomposition unit 3
501 is the text from the p-th character of the D page description,
"<IMG" and "<A" are compared to detect the image tag or anchor tag. If they match, the decomposing unit 3501 advances the processing to step 3608, and if they do not match, the processing advances to step 3605.

Since p = 1 here, the pth character of the D page description continues to be "<CENTER ...", and therefore does not match.

Therefore, the disassembling unit 3501 executes the processing in step 3
Proceed to 605.

Next, at step 3605, the disassembling unit 3
501 substitutes p + 1 for p. As a result, p = 2.

Next, in step 3606, the decomposition unit 3
501 determines p> s, and if the result is true, the process proceeds to step 3607, and if the result is false, the process proceeds to step 3604. Here, the determination of p> s is determination of whether or not the position indicated by p does not extend beyond the end of the D page description. Here, since p still points to the second character of the D page description, the result is false, and the decomposition unit 3501 advances the process to 3604.

The decomposition unit 3501 repeats steps 3604 to 3606 to increase the value of p until the image tag or anchor tag in the D page description is found.

Here, the page description data 340 of FIG. 34 is used.
Since 1 is processed as the D page description, the decomposition unit 3
First, 501 detects the image tag of the description 3403. Here, the repetition up to step 3404 at the time of detecting the image tag of the description 3403 is omitted.

Now, in step 3604, the decomposition unit 3
501 is a character string from the p-th character of the D page description and "<I
It is confirmed that "MG" match, the image tag is detected, and the process proceeds to step 3608.

Next, in step 3608, the decomposition unit 3
501 determines p = h, the process proceeds to step 3610 if the result is true, and the process proceeds to step 36 if the result is false.
Proceed to 09.

Here, h = 1 and p is not 1. Therefore, the determination result is false, and the disassembling unit 3501 advances the process to step 3609.

In step 3609, the disassembling unit 350
1 assigns the character string from h to p-1 to PART [i] and assigns "text" to TYPE [i]. Then i
The value of i + 1 is substituted into and the value of p is substituted into h.

Here, since i = 1 and p indicates the beginning of the description 3403 of the D page description, the decomposition unit 35
01 substitutes the text of the portion 3402 in FIG. 34 in PART [1] and substitutes “text” in PTYPE [1]. Next, the decomposition unit 3501 substitutes 2 for i, and substitutes a value indicating the beginning of the description 3403 for h.

Next, in step 3610, the disassembling unit 3
501 increments p by 1 and detects the end of the tag. The decomposer 3501 detects the character ">" when the tag detected in step 3604 is an image tag, and the character "</A>" when the tag detected in step 3604 is an anchor tag. Detect columns. Further, the decomposing unit 3501 sets the value of p so as to indicate the next character of the detected character string. That is, the disassembling unit 35
01 substitutes the value that indicates the character next to the character ">" when searching the end of the image tag and the value that indicates the character next to the character "</A>" when searching the end of the anchor tag to p To do.

The disassembling unit 3501 substitutes a value indicating the leading character of the description 3404 of the D page description into p here.

Next, in step 3611, the disassembling unit 3
501 is a character string from h to p-1 of the D page description is P
Substitute in ART [i]. Then, the decomposing unit 3501 substitutes “still image” in TYPE [i] when the tag detected in step 3604 is an image tag, and TYPE when the detected tag is also an anchor tag.
Substitute "button" for [i].

Here, since i = 2, the decomposition unit 35
01 substitutes the text of the portion of description 3403 in FIG. 34 in PART [2], and the tag detected in step 3604 is an image tag, so the decomposition unit 3501 determines TY.
Substitute "still image" for PE [2].

Next, in step 3612, the disassembling unit 3
501 determines p> s, and if the result is true, step 36
If the result is false, the process proceeds to step 3613. Here, p is the description 34 of the D page description.
Since it is a value that points to the beginning of 04, the result is false,
The disassembling unit 3501 advances the processing to 3613.

Next, in step 3613, the disassembling unit 3
501 substitutes the value of i + 1 for i. Since i = 2 here, the decomposing unit 3501 substitutes a value of 3 for i.

Next, the disassembling unit 3501 executes the processing in step 36.
Go to 03.

In step 3603, the disassembling section 350
As in 1 above, 1 substitutes a value indicating the beginning of the description 3404 into h.

Next, in step 3604, the disassembling unit 3
501 detects an anchor tag.

Next, in step 3608, the decomposition unit 3
501 determines p = h, and since it is true, the process advances to step 3610.

Next, in step 3610, the disassembling unit 3
501 detects the end of the anchor tag and describes in p 340
4 Substitute a value that points to the next character at the end.

Next, in step 3611, the disassembling unit 3
501 is a description 3404 of D page description in PART [3]
And the "button" is assigned to TYPE [3].

Next, in step 3612, the disassembling unit 3
501 determines p> s. p exceeds the value indicating the end of the D page description and is larger than the number of characters s in the D page description. Therefore, the determination result is true, and the disassembling unit 3501 advances the process to step 3614.

As described above, the disassembling unit 3501 converts the page description data stored in the D page description into “text”.
Disassemble into "image tags" and "anchor tags",
When the end of the page description data is detected by the determination of “p> s”, the process ends.

Here, when the decomposition unit 3501 decomposes the page description data 3401, TYPE [1] = “text”, PART [1] is the character string of the description 3402, TYP.
E [2] = “still image”, PART [2] is description 340
Character string of 3, TYPE [3] = “button”, PART
[3] is the character string of the description 3404. The value of i is 3
Which indicates the number of decomposed parts.

As described above, the decomposition unit 3501 decomposes the page description data 3502 and passes it as structured multimedia data 407 to the extraction unit 402 and the storage processing unit 404.

As described above, the decomposition unit 3501 decomposes the page description data that is a character string to make the page description data 3401 the same as the multimedia data shown in FIG. In this case, TYPE [1], TYPE
[2] and TYPE [3] are data types 606, 609,
612 respectively, PART [1], PART
[2] and PART [3] are data 607, 610, 61.
It corresponds to 3. While the data 610 is the still image data A, PART [2] is a character string of “text description that cites the still image A”, and processing for this difference will be described later. After that, multimedia data 40
The x-th data type of No. 7 is TYPE [x], and the x-th data of No. 407 is PART [x].

Upon receiving the multimedia data 407, the extraction section 402 carries out conversion target data extraction processing and extension target data extraction processing.

Here, since the parameters of all the items in the control table 406 have been changed to “OFF” by the interpretation unit 405, the extraction information 41 of the data to be converted 41
2 does not exist. Therefore, the extraction unit 402 does not execute the conversion target data extraction process, and the configuration data is “0”.
And outputs the empty multimedia data as the conversion target multimedia data 409.
Pass to 1.

The extraction unit 402 executes the extension target data extraction processing according to the flowchart of FIG.

With reference to FIG. 22, the extension target data extraction processing performed by the extraction unit 402 will be described.

First, in step 2201, the extension target data extraction processing is started.

At step 2202, the extraction unit 402
Prepares four types of data.

The first is the multimedia data 407 received from the communication control unit 203. The second is the multimedia data X whose constituent data is "0". The third is a variable n representing the number of constituent data of the multimedia data 407, and the multimedia data 4
When 07 is specifically considered as page description data decomposed into description 3402, description 3403, and description 3404,
n = 3. The fourth is a process control variable i used in the iterative process, and 1 is substituted as an initial value.

At step 2203, the extraction unit 402
It is checked whether or not the data type of the i-th data of the multimedia data 407 is "button".

In the second embodiment, it is also checked whether the command transmitted when the user of the client selects the button is the data transfer request command. In the present embodiment, the decomposed page description is used. If the data is a "button", this check is not performed because the data transfer request command is always transmitted when the user selects it.

If it is determined that the condition is satisfied, the extraction unit 402 proceeds to step 2204, and if not, proceeds to 2205.

Here, the value of i is 1, and the data type of the first piece of multimedia data 407 is “text”. Therefore, the result is “NO”, and the extraction unit 402 advances the process to step 2205.

At step 2205, the extraction unit 402
The result of “i + 1” is substituted into i, and the value of this result i is 2
Becomes In step 2206, the extraction unit 402
The magnitude relation between i and n is judged, and if i> n, the result is "Y
ES ”and proceed to step 2207. If not, the result is“ NO ”and proceed to step 2203.

Since the value of i is 2 and the value of n is 3, the result is "NO" and the routine proceeds to step 2203.

In step 2203, i is 2 and
Since the data type of the second piece of multimedia data 407 is “still image”, the processing result of the extraction unit 402 is “NO”, and the process proceeds to step 2205. In step 2205, the extraction unit 402 sets the value of i to 3.

Then, in step 2206, the processing result of the extraction section 402 becomes "NO", and step 220
Go to 3. In step 2203, i is 3 and the data type of the third data of the multimedia data 407 is “button”. Therefore, the processing result of the extraction unit 402 is “YES”, and the process proceeds to step 2204.

At step 2204, the extraction unit 402
The i-th data of the multimedia data 407 is added to the multimedia data X.

[0454] Here, the extraction unit 402 uses the data 604.
Is added to the multimedia data X. Then, in step 2205, the extraction unit 402 sets the value of i to 4.

At step 2206, the processing result of the extraction section 402 becomes "YES", and the routine proceeds to step 2207.

At step 2207, the extraction unit 402
Expanding multimedia data X
The data is output as data 416 and passed to the extension unit 403.

FIG. 23 shows multimedia data to be expanded at this time.

In FIG. 23, reference numeral 2301 denotes the extraction unit 40.
2 is the multimedia data output as the extension target multimedia data 416.

Then, in step 2208, the extraction unit 40
2 ends the extension target data extraction processing.

Next, the operation of the expansion section 403 will be described.

When the extension unit 403 receives the extension target multimedia data 416 sent from the extraction unit 402, the extension unit 403 performs the extension process according to the flowchart of FIG. 24 as in the second embodiment. Part of the processing is different from that of the second embodiment.

At step 2406, the expansion section 403
The j-th copy data is expanded. The extension unit 403 first sets the extension name of the j-th item of the extension policy information 418 to j
"HREF =""" of the anchor tag of the second duplicated data
Add immediately before the extension of the data name specified by. Further, the expansion unit 403 replaces the button name of the j-th item of the expansion policy information 418 with the text enclosed by the anchor tag of the j-th duplicated data.

When j = 1, the j-th copy data is the anchor tag description 3404. Anchor tag 3
The name of the data requested by the 409 is "pictB.gi.
f ”. The extension unit 403 uses the extension ".g" of this name.
Immediately before "if", the first item of the extension policy information, that is, the extension name ".small" of the item 2001 is added, and the text "running scenery" enclosed by the anchor tag description 3404 is added to the button name "small" of the item 2001. Rewrite In addition, this data is multimedia data X
Add to.

FIG. 25 shows the structure of the multimedia data X at this time.

In FIG. 25, data 25 is used in this embodiment.
Reference numeral 03 is an anchor description 3701.

The processing of the expansion section 403 in the other steps is the same as in the second embodiment.

At step 2410, the expansion section 403
Expanded multimedia data X
The data is output as data 413 and passed to the storage processing unit 404.

[0468] The multimedia data 413 at this time
Is, specifically, multimedia data 3801.

Next, the operation of the data amount control unit 401 will be described.

Here, the data amount control unit 401 outputs the multimedia data as the converted multimedia data 410, as in the second embodiment, and the storage processing unit 4
Hand it over to 04. Here, since the conversion target multimedia data 409 is empty data, the converted multimedia data 410 is also empty.

Next, the operation of the storage processing unit 404 will be described.

The storage processing unit 404 stores the multimedia data 407 and the converted multimedia data 410.
When the extended multimedia data 413 is received, the converted data storing process and the extended data storing process are executed.

Similar to the second embodiment, the storage processing unit 404 transfers the multimedia data 2801 shown in FIG. 28 to the communication control unit 206 as the converted and expanded data 411.

In this embodiment, the multimedia data 28
01 is specifically the page description data shown in FIG. In FIG. 3801, 3801 is page description data that has been converted and expanded.

Next, the communication control unit 206 causes the storage processing unit 4
04, converted and expanded multimedia data 411,
That is, the multimedia data 2801 is received and passed to the client 105.

The client 105 is the network 10
2 receives multimedia data 2801 via
Interpret the received contents, display the display screen on the display as shown in FIG. 29, and use the pointing device to
Wait for instructions from the user.

In FIG. 29, 2901 is multimedia data 2801, that is, page description data 380.
1 is a display screen of 1 and 2902 is button data 250.
3 is a display screen of the extended anchor tag description 3701.

Here, the user of the client 105
When the button 804 is selected by the pointing device, the client 105 sends the command “GET pictB.gif” to the server 101.

When this command is relayed by the multimedia data amount control relay device 103, the interpreter 4
However, since this command is not an extended command, the interpretation unit 405 causes the control table 406
All the parameters of are set to “OFF”, and the command is transferred to the server 101 as it is.

Then, the command "GET pictB.
The server that has received the "gif" sends the multimedia data B701 to the client 105.

When the multimedia data B701 is relayed by the multimedia data amount control relay device 103, all the parameters of the control table 406 are "OFF", and therefore the data amount control for this data is performed. Absent.

Further, since the multimedia data B701 does not include button data, the data is not expanded.

Therefore, the multimedia data amount control relay device 103 determines that the multimedia data B701
Is directly transferred to the client 105, and as a result,
The display screen of the display included in the client 105 is as shown by 901 in FIG.

On the other hand, when the user of the client 105 selects the button 2902 with the pointing device, the client 105 sends a command “GET pictB.small.gi” to the server 101.
f ”is transmitted.

The operation of the multimedia data amount control relay device 103 in this case is the same as that of the second embodiment of the present invention, but as described above, the extension name is detected by the normal extension (for example, ".gif"). This is different from the second embodiment in that it is applied to the data name from which the () etc. are removed.

The communication control unit 206 uses the network 104.
Via the command "GET pictB.smal
l. gif ”is received.

Then, similarly to the second embodiment, the client 105 finally receives the multimedia data 1601 via the network 102, interprets the received contents, and the client 105 is provided with a display screen 1701. Display on the display.

As described above, according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention, the number of buttons displayed on the client 105 in the hypertext system is increased, and the user of the client 105 selects the button, whereby the multimedia data amount control relay device. In 103, it is possible to specify whether or not to perform data conversion.

Next, a method for controlling the data amount of the image quoted by the image tag in the page description data will be described. In the operation example of the present embodiment, PART generated by the page description data decomposition process of the decomposition unit 3501.
[2] is a character string of "text description that cites still image A", but the amount of data cannot be controlled with this data as a still image.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the data amount control unit 401
Uses the extension policy information stored in the extension table 417 to add the extension name to the data name in the image tag such as PART [2], so that PART [2] is finally displayed on the display screen of the client. ], The data amount of the still image data quoted in the image tag description is controlled.

A detailed description will be given below.

Here, the client 105 determines that "GET
index. small. A case where a command "html" is transmitted will be described. Communication control unit 206
Receives the transfer request command transmitted to the server 101 via the network 104, and passes the received command 414 to the interpretation unit 405. Interpretation unit 405
Is the command "GET index.small.htm.
The extension name ".small" in "l" is detected. In the second embodiment, the interpretation unit 405 extracts an item having “.small” as an extension name from the items in the extension policy information 418 and writes it in the control table 406. However, in the present embodiment, the interpretation unit 405 first confirms whether the extension of the data name is not “.html”. When the extension is “.html”, the interpretation unit 405 sets the data amount control method of all items of the control table 406 to “image tag extension”, and the parameters of all items of the control table 406. Is set to the detected extended name.

Here, since the extension name detected by the interpretation unit 405 is "small", the control table is as shown in FIG.

In FIG. 42, 4201 is one item of the control table, 4202 is a data amount control method set by the interpretation unit 405, and 4203 is the interpretation unit 40.
It is a parameter set by 5.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the interpretation unit 405 detects the extension name stored in the extension policy information 418 in the transfer request data name in the command received from the communication control unit 206, and When the extension of the transfer request data name is “.html”, the control table 406
On the other hand, the data amount control method is set to “image tag extension” and the parameter is set to the detected extension name.

The subsequent processing is performed in the same manner as in the second embodiment,
Finally, the communication control unit 203 determines that the command "GET in
dex. small. Server 1 with the command "GET index.html" with the extended name removed from "html"
Transfer to 05.

Then, when the server 105 passes the page description data 3401 to the communication control unit 203, the decomposing unit 3501 performs the page description data decomposing process as in the previous time.
The decomposed page description data 407 and the extraction unit 402 are transferred.

Since the parameter of the data type “still image” is not “OFF” in the control table 406 this time, the extraction unit 402 sets the conversion target multimedia data 40.
T from the page description data 407 decomposed as 9
The YPE is a “still image” and is extracted and passed to the data amount control unit 401. Here, the extraction unit 402 is shown in FIG.
Data having the description 3403 in No. 4 as a character string is transferred to the data amount control unit 401.

When performing the data conversion processing, when the data amount control method of the control information 408 is set to "image tag extension" at the time of performing the data conversion processing, the data amount control unit 401 displays the image tag Perform extension processing. When the data amount control method of the control information 408 is not "image tag extension", the data amount is controlled as in the second embodiment.

The extension of the image tag means that in the description of the image tag "<IMG SRC =""">,"SRC
This is to add the extension name set as the parameter of the control information 408 to the data name designated by "=""".

Here, since the image tag is the description 3043 and the extension name set as the parameter of the control information 408 is “.small”, the data amount control unit 401 shows the description 3403 in FIG. 39. Extend to. In FIG. 39, 3901 is an image tag description extended by the data amount control unit 401.
The data amount control unit 401 finally passes the multimedia data including only the expanded image tag description 3901 to the storage processing unit 404 as the converted multimedia data 410.

The other processing is executed by the client "GET index.html", which is the first example in this embodiment.
Is the same as when the command is sent.

Here, the storage processing unit 404 transfers the page description data 4001 shown in FIG. 40 to the communication control unit 206 as the converted and expanded multimedia data 411.

In FIG. 40, 4001 is page description data that has been converted and expanded. The page description data 4001 differs from the page description data 3801 shown in FIG. 38 in that the image tags are 3901 and 3403, respectively.

The communication control unit 206 uses the page description data 40
01 is transferred to the client 105.

The client 105 analyzes the image tag description 3901 in the received page description data 4001 and issues the “GET pictA.small.gif” command, and finally receives the still image data A1403 whose data amount is controlled. . Then, the client 105 displays the data on the screen as shown in FIG.

In FIG. 41, 4101 is the client 1
Reference numeral 05 is a screen display of the client when the page description data 4001 is received.

As described above, in the present embodiment, when the client 105 sends a page description data transfer request command, if an extended name is added to the data name,
The multimedia data amount control relay device 103 is the server 1
01 is expanded in the page description data and is added indirectly to the page description data by adding the expanded name to the data name of the data from which the client 105 will automatically issue a transfer request in the future. Controls the amount of multimedia data being stored.

Now, the effect of this embodiment will be described.

According to this embodiment, the following effects can be obtained even for unstructured text-based multimedia data such as page description, as in the second embodiment.

This is particularly effective when the user searches for multimedia data at high speed and wants to obtain the final desired data without limiting the data amount.

Since no changes have been made to the format of multimedia data used in the hypertext system, the communication rules of the client 105 and the server 101, etc., the conventional system can be used as it is for the client 105 and the server 101. Is possible. That is, the device can be arranged at any position, and the number of man-hours required to change the system configuration due to the arrangement of the device is extremely small.

Further, in the present embodiment, for simplification of description, the case where the number of button data included in the multimedia data is one has been described, but a plurality of button data is included in the multimedia data. Also in the case where the button data is included, the multimedia data amount control relay device 103 adds the button for transmitting the extended command to all the buttons, and the client 105 side, as in the second embodiment of the present invention. If you select it,
It goes without saying that the data suitable for the selection can be transferred to the client 105.

Further, in the present embodiment, the number of buttons added to the display screen of the client 105 by the command expansion is one, but by adding the item of the expansion table 417, the second of the present invention can be realized. It is also possible to add a plurality of buttons on the display screen of the client 105 as in the embodiment.

Also, in common with the first and second embodiments, this embodiment has the following effects.

In this embodiment, the multimedia data amount control relay device 103 limits the data type for controlling the data amount to only still images. However, the data amount control unit 401 controls the data amount for a plurality of types of data. The multimedia data amount control relay device 103 can control the data amount for a plurality of types of data by registering an item for each data type in the control table. It is possible to At the same time, it is possible to control the data amount of a plurality of types of data included in one multimedia data.

[0517] The following are examples of data amount reduction modes other than the display size conversion of still images. For example, frame dropping of moving image data, conversion of sampling rate of audio data, conversion of audio data to text data, still image, conversion of moving image from color to black and white, conversion of kanji mixed text into katakana text, voice and This is extraction of a part of moving image data.

Furthermore, in the above description, the number of servers is 1.
Although it has been described as a single server, even if there are a plurality of servers on the network 102 and the user of the client 105 selects and connects to those servers as necessary, all the servers are connected to the client 105. The present invention can be applied to the transfer of multimedia data in.

Similarly, in the above description, the number of clients is one, but even if a plurality of clients exist on the network 104 and are connected to the server 101, the server 101 can The present invention is applicable to the transfer of multimedia data to all clients.

Further, the server 101 and the client 105
The case where there are two networks between the two has been described, but the present invention can be applied as long as there is at least one network existing between the server 101 and the client 105.

[0521]

As described above, according to the present invention, the amount of multimedia data received by a client can be adjusted without changing the system configuration.

Therefore, the client / server system can be constructed without taking into consideration the change of the client function or the transmission capacity of the network.

[0523] Further, since the data amount is appropriately controlled according to the type of data requested by the client, the data can be distributed according to the purpose of use, for example, browsing, etc., and the operability of the user is improved. A rich system can be realized.

Also, by installing the multimedia data amount relaying device in a place where the transmission capacity of the transmission medium is different, it is possible to absorb the difference in the transmission capacity.

Furthermore, by allowing the user to specify options regarding the adjustment of the amount of data, the user can
It becomes possible to adjust the amount of data according to one's purpose.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a multimedia data amount control relay device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a conventional multimedia network system.

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a structure of multimedia data.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of an example of multimedia data.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of an example of multimedia data.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a client screen display example.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of a client screen display example.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a control table.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing processing contents in the embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of an example of conversion target multimedia data.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing processing contents in the embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram of an example of converted multimedia data.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing processing contents in the embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram of an example of multimedia data.

FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram of a client screen display example according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram of an example of multimedia data.

FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram of a client screen display example according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 20 is an explanatory diagram of an extension table.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing processing contents in the embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart showing processing contents in the embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 23 is an explanatory diagram of an example of extension target multimedia data.

FIG. 24 is a flowchart showing processing contents in the embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 25 is an explanatory diagram of an example of extended multimedia data.

FIG. 26 is a flowchart showing processing contents in the embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 27 is an explanatory diagram of an example of multimedia data.

FIG. 28 is an explanatory diagram of an example of multimedia data.

FIG. 29 is an explanatory diagram of a client screen display example according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 30 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of the extension table.

FIG. 31 is an explanatory diagram of a client screen display example according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 32 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of the extension table.

FIG. 33 is an explanatory diagram of a client screen display example according to the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 34 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of page description data.

FIG. 35 is an explanatory diagram of a functional block diagram according to the fifth embodiment.

FIG. 36 is a flowchart showing processing contents in the embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 37 is an explanatory diagram of an example of an extended anchor tag according to the fifth embodiment.

FIG. 38 is an explanatory diagram of an example of extended page description data according to the fifth embodiment.

FIG. 39 is an explanatory diagram of an example of an extended image tag according to the fifth embodiment.

FIG. 40 is an explanatory diagram of an example of extended page description data according to the fifth embodiment.

FIG. 41 is an explanatory diagram of a client screen display example according to the fifth embodiment.

FIG. 42 is an explanatory diagram of a control table according to the fifth embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 ... Server, 102 ... Network, 103 ... Multimedia data amount control relay device, 104 ... Network, 201 ... CPU, 202 ... Storage device, 203 ... Communication control unit, 204 ... Bus, 205 ... Auxiliary storage device, 206
... communication control unit, 301 ... relay device, 401 ... data amount control unit, 402 ... extraction unit, 403 ... expansion unit, 404 ... storage processing unit, 405 ... interpretation unit, 406 ... control table, 40
7 ... Multimedia data, 408 ... Control information, 40
9 ... Conversion target multimedia data, 410 ... Converted multimedia data, 411 ... Conversion expanded multimedia data, 412 ... Extraction information, 413 ... Expanded multimedia data, 414 ... Command, 41
5 ... Interpreted command, 416 ... Extension target multimedia data, 417 ... Extension table, 418 ... Extension policy information, 419 ... Control parameter, 501 ... Multimedia data composed of n pieces of data.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Toru Nonomura 1099, Ozenji, Aso-ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa Stock Company, Hitachi, Ltd. System Development Laboratory (72) Inventor, Yuji Kimura 1099, Ozenji, Aso-ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa Hitachi, Ltd. System Development Laboratory (72) Inventor Takehiro Yamada 810 Shimoimaizumi Stock Company, Ebina City, Kanagawa Prefecture Hitachi Systems Office Systems Division (72) Inventor Shinichi Hashimoto 810 Shimoimaizumi, Ebina City, Kanagawa Stock Company Hitachi Office system business division (72) Inventor Yasushi Hori Ebisu Izumi, Ebina, Kanagawa 810, Shimoimai Stock Company Hitachi, Ltd. Office system division (72) Inventor Kazuaki Tanaka 5030 Totsuka-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Hitachi, Ltd. Software Development Division (56) References JP-A 63-86655 (JP, A) JP-A 57-174769 (JP, A) JP-A 7-44687 (JP, A) JP-A 8-6875 (JP, A) Kaihei 8-83157 (JP, A) JP-A 8-297565 (JP, A) JP-A 6-250858 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06F 5 / 00 G06F 13/00 G06T 1/00 H04L 29/02 H04M 11/00

Claims (8)

(57) [Claims] 1. An information input means for receiving input information including one or more kinds of data, and a predetermined conversion target data which is a data for performing a conversion process of a data amount by checking a kind of data constituting the input information. Data analysis means for extracting the data from the input information, and a control means for converting the data amount of the extracted data according to a predetermined rule according to the type of the data. Of the input information, the data that has undergone the conversion process is replaced with the data before the conversion process to reconstruct the input information, and an information output device that outputs the reconstructed input information. has, the information input unit receives a command that specifies the conversion of the size of the specific data in a specific conversion, wherein, before the accepted Data conversion characterized by outputting the data obtained by converting the size of the data designated by the command at the specific change rate according to the content of the command, as the converted data handled by the information constructing means. apparatus. Wherein said command is a command instructing the content that the image data horizontal and vertical sizes respectively to 1/2 or vertical and horizontal sizes, respectively 1/4 the data, wherein, The image data size is halved in both vertical and horizontal sizes, or 1 / each in vertical and horizontal sizes.
The data conversion device according to claim 1, wherein the data converted at the conversion rate of 4 is output. 3. A network system in which a transmission medium is connected to the information input means and the information output means of the data converter according to any one of claims 1 and 2. 4. The network system according to claim 3, wherein the transmission medium connected to said information input means and the transmission medium connected to said information output means have different transmission rates. 5. A network system configured by connecting the information input means and the information output means of the data converter according to any one of claims 1 and 2 to different networks. . 6. A communication control means for performing input and output of the input information from the first information processing apparatus through a transmission medium, examines the type of each data constituting the input information accepting of the communication control means, the amount of data When it is determined that there is conversion target data for performing the conversion processing of, the data analysis unit that extracts the conversion target data from the input information, and the data amount of the data extracted by the data analysis unit are set to the data type. A control unit that performs conversion processing according to a predetermined rule, and an information configuration unit that reconstructs the input information by replacing the data that has been converted by the control unit in the input information with the data before the conversion processing. And the communication control means adds the information indicating that the data has been converted to the information reconstructed by the information composing means to the transmission medium. To the second information processing device, the communication control means receives an extended command for converting the size of the specific data at a specific conversion rate, analyzes the content of the received extended command, and transmits the transmission medium. A transfer request command for the specific data is output to a first information processing device connected via the communication device, and the data output by the first information processing device as a result is input to the communication control means, The control means outputs the data obtained by converting the size of the specific data at the specific conversion rate as the converted data handled by the information forming means. 7. A data conversion device connected to a first information processing device and a second information processing device, comprising: a first communication control unit connected to the first information processing device; A second communication control unit connected to a second information processing device, an arithmetic processing unit, and a memory, the arithmetic processing unit extending from the second information processing device to the second communication control unit. Based on the command received via
The data included in the information received from the first information processing device via the first communication control unit is converted into the second data.
The information processing apparatus, the command includes information designating reduction of the image data included in the information received from the first communication control unit, and the arithmetic processing unit stores the information in the information. A data conversion apparatus, which reduces the included image data so as to comply with a designation included in the command and transfers the image data to the second information processing apparatus. Wherein said control unit, said second and adds information indicating that the information is converted to information to be transferred to the information processing apparatus is transferred to the second information processing apparatus, the second 8. The data conversion device according to claim 7, wherein the command transferred from the information processing device is a command created based on the information indicating that the information is to be converted.