JPH10276323A - Image processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To provide an image processing system that performs efficient image distribution processing under optimal processing conditions. An original image is divided into a plurality of image areas by an image processing control device at the request of an image processing request device,
An image processing procedure is created based on the processing capabilities of the distributed image processing apparatuses 5a to 5n, data of an image area corresponding to the distributed image processing apparatuses 5a to 5n is captured, and a corresponding image is created based on the created processing procedure. The image processing of the area is performed, the processing result is synthesized by the image synthesizing device 7, and high-quality image processing is efficiently executed under the optimum processing condition. The image processing control device 3 and the distributed image processing devices 5a to 5n operate independently, so that addition and replacement of the devices are simple, and various image processing characteristics can be set.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing system, and more particularly to an image processing system for performing distributed image processing via a network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There has been proposed a communication system in which image information is provided by a server via a network based on a request of a client, or image processing requested by the client is performed by the server.

A communication system of this type for providing image information is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 6-209460, in which image information divided into a plurality of blocks is distributed and stored in a plurality of storage means for management. By doing so, there is a communication management system that addresses the contention of image reading requests and improves the distribution efficiency of image information.

On the other hand, in a communication system in which image processing requested by a client is divided and processed by a plurality of servers via a network, a processing schedule is created by the client, and an image to be processed is processed by a plurality of tasks based on the schedule. There has been proposed an image processing system which is divided into a plurality of servers and assigned to a plurality of servers connected to a network for processing.

[0005] In this case, the data of the divided tasks are different, but the processing contents are the same. For example, 100
At the time of printout processing of page 0, the host computer as a client causes printout from page 1 to page 500 to be performed by the first network printer, and printout from page 501 to page 1000 to the second network. It was done with a printer.

[0006]

However, in a conventional image processing system in which the above-described image processing requested by a client is divided by a plurality of servers via a network, image data is processed according to a processing procedure designated by the client. On the other hand, since the client has no means to check the functions such as the processing capacity of the server, the functions and functions of the server
There is a problem that the optimal division according to the ability is not performed.

[0007] Further, the division is performed only by quantitatively sharing the same / same type of image processing tasks among a plurality of servers, and image processing is not always performed under optimal processing conditions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems in the prior art, and utilizes image processing apparatuses connected to a network and having their own operating characteristics to optimize processing conditions. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image processing system capable of performing high-efficiency image processing on a computer.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing system, comprising: an image processing control device connected to a network; a plurality of distributed image processing devices; An image division control unit, wherein the image processing control unit is configured to divide an image to be processed given from an image processing request device via the network into a plurality of regions to form a divided image to be processed, An image processing procedure for allocating each divided image to be processed to any of the plurality of distributed image processing devices, wherein each of the distributed image processing devices processes the divided image to be processed allocated from the image processing control device. And the image synthesis processing device is configured to synthesize the processing results of the respective distributed image processing devices to obtain a processed image.

According to the above arrangement, the image to be processed is divided by the image processing control device which is a part of the image processing system, and the assignment of each divided image to the distributed image processing device is also performed by the image processing control device. The processing is performed by an apparatus, and the synthesis of the processed divided images is performed by an image synthesis processing apparatus that is a part of the image processing system.
As described above, the procedure of image processing and execution of distributed image processing are performed by the image processing system alone without scheduling from outside.

Further, according to the above configuration, each component of the image processing system, for example, the image processing control device, the distributed image processing device, and the image synthesizing device is connected via a network, so that each device can be added. , Exchange and disconnection are easily done.

In the image processing system according to a second aspect of the present invention, in the configuration according to the first aspect, the image dividing unit is configured to divide the image to be processed based on at least one of a characteristic of the image and a type of the image. It is characterized in that the image area is separated.

[0013] According to the above arrangement, the divided image is divided on the basis of at least one of the characteristic of the image and the type of the image, so that the divided image processing apparatus has a function suitable for each divided image. It is possible to assign
The efficiency of image processing is improved.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing system comprising: an image processing request device for requesting image processing via a network; and an original image related to the image processing requested by the image processing request device. And an image processing control device for creating an image processing procedure via the network, and data of the characteristic processing region divided by the image processing control device are taken in, and the image processing procedure is performed. A plurality of distributed image processing devices that respectively execute the image processing of the characteristic processing region based on the image processing of the characteristic processing regions executed by the plurality of distributed image processing devices, and the image processing request device An image synthesizing processing device that inertiates the requested image processing, and a processed image to which the data of the completed image processing is transmitted from the image synthesizing processing device. A request device, characterized in that it is connected to the network.

According to the above arrangement, it is not necessary for the image processing requesting device to divide the original image into the characteristic processing regions, so that the load on the image processing requesting device is reduced and the image processing requesting device is simplified. Is done. Further, since each component of the image processing system is connected via a network, addition, replacement, and disconnection of each device can be easily performed.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the image processing system according to the third aspect, the arbitrary characteristic processing area is configured by any one of a character area, a photograph area, a person area, and a background area. It is characterized by the following.

According to the above configuration, the division of the original image into the respective characteristic processing regions is performed in any one of a character region, a photograph region, a person region, and a background region. Can be assigned to a distributed image processing apparatus having a suitable function, and the efficiency of image processing is improved.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the image processing system according to the first to fourth aspects, the image processing control device includes a processing for detecting a processing capability of the distributed image processing device via the network. A feature detecting means is provided.

According to the above configuration, it is easy for the image processing control device to detect the processing capability of the distributed image processing device.
An efficient image processing procedure is created in the image processing control device.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the image processing system according to the first to fourth aspects, each of the distributed image processing apparatuses has its own processing capability transmitted to the image processing control apparatus via the network. It is characterized in that processing capacity reporting means for reporting is provided.

According to the above configuration, the processing capability of each distributed image processing device is reported to the image processing control device, so that the image processing control device can create a more efficient image processing procedure.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the image processing system according to the first to sixth aspects, the time required for the image processing control device to perform image processing among the divided processed images or the image area separated images is provided. Means for transmitting a long image to the distributed image processing apparatus prior to transmission of a short image processing time.

According to the above arrangement, the distributed image processing apparatus having a long processing time starts the processing earlier than the other distributed image processing apparatuses, so that the output time is leveled, and the processing of the entire image processing system is performed. Speed is improved.

An image processing system according to a eighth aspect of the present invention is the image processing system according to the first to sixth aspects, wherein the image processing control device is configured to control a time required for image processing among the divided processed images or the image area separated images. The image processing apparatus further includes means for dividing a long image and transmitting the divided image to at least one distributed image processing apparatus.

According to the above configuration, the required processing time in each distributed image processing apparatus is leveled, and the processing speed of the entire image processing system is improved.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the image processing system according to the first to eighth aspects, the image processing control device does not require image processing among the divided processed image or the image area separated image. Means for sending an unprocessed image to the image synthesis processing apparatus.

According to the above-mentioned configuration, it is not necessary to perform a useless transfer procedure on a divided image to be processed or an image area separated image which does not require image processing, thereby saving time and labor.
The processing speed of the entire image processing system is improved.

[0028]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of an image processing system according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship between components of the present embodiment, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a procedure of a communication sequence of the present embodiment. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2,
The image processing system Ps according to the present embodiment includes a network 1 and the network 1 connected to the network 1.
Image processing control device 3, n distributed image processing devices 5a to 5
n, an image synthesis processing device 7.

The image processing control device 3 includes a network 1
The image processing request information 21 is input from outside via the.
The image processing request information 21 includes information (data) of the image to be processed, that is, the original image, and information on the requested image processing result.

The image processing control device 3 includes an image dividing unit that divides an image to be processed into a plurality of regions to obtain a divided image to be processed and a processing capability detecting unit that detects the processing capability of the distributed image processing device via a network. And an image processing procedure for assigning each of the generated divided images to be processed to any of the distributed image processing apparatuses 5a to 5n.

In the image processing control device 3, the processing capability detecting means transmits the processing capability confirmation information 23 to the n distributed image processing devices 5a to 5n, and the distributed image processing devices 5a to 5n.
n has a function of receiving the respective pieces of processing capability information 23A from n.

The processing capability includes whether or not processing such as dither processing, error diffusion processing, and gamma conversion is possible, the amount of data that can be processed per unit time, and the waiting time until the start of processing.

Next, the image dividing means divides the image to be processed into a plurality of regions based on the received processing capability information 23A and at least one of the characteristics of the image and the type of the image, and It has a function to do. Here, the divided image to be processed is referred to as an image area separated image.

Next, the image processing control device 3 creates a procedure of the distributed image processing by the distributed image processing devices 5a to 5n, that is, an image processing procedure, and, based on the image processing procedure, processes each image area separated image by the distributed image processing. Devices 5a to 5n
After that, the image area image processing request information 24 including the image area separated image data is transmitted to each of the distributed image processing apparatuses 5a to 5n.
It has the function of transmitting to

Further, the image processing control device 3 transmits to the image synthesizing processing device 7 image area separation information and image configuration information 22 including the ID of the original image, the ID of each image area, and the position information of each image area. Is provided.

Each of the distributed image processing apparatuses 5a to 5n transmits the processing capability confirmation information 23 transmitted from the image processing control apparatus 3.
Or a processing capacity notifying unit for transmitting processing capacity information 23A regarding each processing capacity on the network 1 based on the information processing or voluntarily. Thereby, the image processing control device 3 can confirm the processing capability of each of the distributed image processing devices 5a to 5n via the network 1.

Each of the distributed image processing apparatuses 5a to 5n processes the image area separation image assigned by the image processing control apparatus 3 based on the image area image processing request information 24 transmitted from the image processing control apparatus 3. It has a function to execute and transmit the image area image processing data and the image area ID, which are the processing results, as processed image area data 25 to the image synthesis processing device 7 via the network 1.

The image synthesizing unit 7 processes the processed image area data 25 received from each distributed image processing unit 5 and the image configuration information 2 already transmitted from the image processing control unit 3.
2 and a function of organizing the synthesized image into a processed image of the same frame as the original image frame, and transmitting the processed image as synthesized image information 26 on the network 1.

The operation of the present embodiment having such a configuration is described below.
This will be described with reference to FIG. External image processing request device 2
From time t1 to time t1, the image processing request information 21 is input to the image processing control device 3 via the network 1. Based on the image processing request information 21, the processing capability confirmation information 23 is transmitted from the image control processing device 3 to the distributed image processing device 5a at time t21. The processing capability information 23A is transmitted from the processing device 5a to the image processing control device 3.

Similarly, at time t31... Tn1, the distributed image processing device 5
b to 5n, the processing capacity confirmation information 23 is transmitted, and the processing capacity confirmation information 23 is transmitted from the distributed image processing apparatus 5b at time t32 to the distributed image processing apparatus 5 at time tn2.
The processing capability information 23A is transmitted to the image processing control device 3 from n.

The image processing control device 3 separates the image data of the original image to be processed received from the image processing requesting device 2 into image area separation based on the processing capability information received from the distributed image processing devices 5a to 5n. Apply processing to the text area,
The image data is divided into a plurality of image areas such as a photograph area, a person area, and a background area, and each image area image data corresponding to the original image data is transmitted to the image composition processing apparatus 7 at time t4 as image configuration information 22.

At the same time, in order to achieve the purpose of requesting the image processing request information 21 from the image processing requesting device 2, the image processing control device 3 determines an optimal image based on the processing capabilities of the distributed image processing devices 5 a to 5 n. A processing procedure is created, and according to the obtained image processing procedure, the distributed image processing apparatuses 5 a to 5 a
At time n, image data of the image area to be subjected to image processing is distributed and transmitted at times t51, t52,..., t5n.

The distributed image processing devices 5a to 5n perform image processing with their respective processing capacities on the image data of the assigned image area distributed and transmitted, and perform the distributed image processing devices 5a to 5n.
Thereafter, the processed image data is transmitted to the image synthesis processing device 7 at times t61, t62,..., T6n.

The image synthesizing processing device 7 performs a synthesizing process on the processed image data transmitted from the distributed image processing devices 5 a to 5 n based on the image configuration information 22 transmitted from the image processing control device 3. And transmits the synthesized image data 26 reconstructed into the same frame as the frame of the original image on the network 1.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, in response to an image processing request from the image processing request device 2, the image processing control device 3 operates the plurality of distributed image processing devices 5 a to 5 n connected to the network 1. Divides the original image into a plurality of image areas, creates an optimal image processing procedure using the distributed image processing execution apparatuses 5a to 5n, and, according to this image processing procedure, executes the distributed image processing apparatus. 5a-5n
The image data of the image area in charge is transmitted to the distributed image processing apparatuses 5a to 5n to execute the image processing of each image area, and the processed image data of each image area is synthesized by the image synthesis processing apparatus 7, 1 is sent over.

For this reason, in the present embodiment, the original image is divided by properly grasping the processing capability of the image processing execution device. Here, in particular, by dividing the image area into a plurality of image areas having different characteristics such as a character area, a photograph area, a person area, and a background area, the following processing becomes more efficient.
As described above, by combining the image processing data of each image area that has been subjected to the image processing in conformity with the processing capability of each distributed image processing apparatus (particularly, the processing capability for images of various characteristics), high-quality image processing can be performed on a network. It is possible to efficiently execute the processing under the optimum processing conditions.

Further, since the image processing request device, the image processing control device, and the distributed image processing device operate independently, it is possible to easily add, exchange, and disconnect the devices, and easily set various image processing characteristics. Becomes possible.

The configuration of the above-described embodiment can be further expanded as follows. That is, the image processing system according to the present embodiment incorporates the image processing request device 2 and the processed image request device 6 in addition to the configuration of the above-described embodiment in FIG. Configuration. Other parts are the same as in the configuration of the above embodiment.

The image processing request device 2 is composed of a host computer, a facsimile machine, a scanner device, etc., and transmits the image processing request information 21 via the network 1 to the image processing control device 3 as a request source of the image processing request. To enter. On the other hand, the processed image request device 6
It is composed of a host computer, a printer device, a storage device, and the like, and receives the synthesized image information 26 from the image synthesis processing device 7 via the network 1 as a destination of the processed image.

The image processing system having such a configuration enables complete image distribution processing and image storage only with this system, and can be used as a system suitable for processing confidential image data, for example.

By the way, the image processing system according to the above-described embodiment has a configuration that does not need a scheduling instruction from the outside by providing the scheduling function for the distributed processing by itself. Furthermore, when dividing an image, image area separation based on the characteristics of the image is performed, whereby a plurality of image areas each consisting of a single homogeneous image are obtained, and processing that has occurred due to the mixture of different image parts is performed. The improvement in efficiency was improved. In view of this, the following embodiment is designed to further improve the processing efficiency of the above-described embodiment, particularly for the image area configuration composed of a single homogeneous image.

FIG. 4 is a view for explaining the principle of another embodiment described above. Generally, the speed of image processing is different from the processing algorithm depending on the characteristics of the image.For example, if there is a large variation in the time when a processed image is sent from a certain distributed image processing apparatus, this part is a rate-determining step in image synthesis,
In other words, it becomes a bottleneck that regulates the speed of the entire system,
The whole process will be delayed. Moreover, since the processing algorithms are different, the time at which the processed image is sent from each distributed image processing apparatus cannot be simply estimated from the data length alone.

The principle is as follows. In order to cope with a case where the required processing time of the divided processed image or the image area separated image varies, the image processing control device first sets the processing time of each divided processed image or the image area separated image. Calculated and prioritized transmission to the distributed image processing apparatus prior to transmission of the divided image to be processed or the image area separated image that requires a longer time for image processing, but transmits the shorter image processing time.

The image processing control device 3 executes the division processing or the image area separation at the required time T1, and distributes the image area image processing request information 24 including the divided image data to be processed or the image area separated image data to the allocated distribution. Image processing devices 5a to 5n
At the required time T2. The distributed image processing apparatus executes data processing in the required time T3, and transfers the processed image area data 25 to the image composition processing apparatus 7 in the required time T4.

In this case, for example, if the required time T3 of the data processing in the distributed image processing device 5n is longer than the required time in the other distributed image processing devices, the distributed image processing device 5n performs the image synthesis processing on the processed image area data. The time when the transfer to the device 7 is started is delayed. Therefore, if the image processing control device 3 is configured to transfer the image area image processing request information 24 to the distributed image processing device 5n with the highest priority, the data processing in the distributed image processing device 5n is started earlier, and the output is performed. The time becomes closer to that of the other distributed image processing devices, and is leveled.

By giving priority to the transmission order as described above, an image to be processed is input to the distributed image processing apparatus quickly with a long image processing time, so that the output time of the processing result from the distributed image processing apparatus can be adjusted. Therefore, it is possible to approach the output time of the processing result from another distributed image processing apparatus, thereby improving the speed of the entire system. This can be realized by providing the image processing control device with the above priority transmission means.

Further, in order to cope with the case where the processing time of the divided image to be processed or the image area separated image has a large variation, the image processing apparatus which divides the image which requires a long time for the image processing is processed, It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which the data is transmitted to the processing device. This can be realized by providing the image processing control device with the above dividing means. In particular, in the case of an image of the same quality, that is, an image to which the same processing algorithm can be applied, estimation can be performed only by the data length instead of estimating the processing time.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of another principle.
According to this principle, image data 30 that does not require image processing among divided images to be processed or image area separated images is passed from the image processing control device 3 to the image synthesis processing device Send it directly to. As a result,
Only the transfer T6 is required for the image data 30, so that unnecessary transfer procedures and time to the distributed image processing apparatus can be eliminated, and the total image processing speed can be improved. This can be realized by providing the image processing control device with the above-mentioned pass means.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a procedure of a communication sequence according to an embodiment based on the present principle. In this figure, the same parts as those in FIG. 3 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted. At time t60, the non-processed image area image data 30 is directly sent from the image control processing device 3 to the image synthesis processing device 7.

FIG. 7 is an operation flow of the image processing apparatus according to the above-described embodiment, and describes a process until image area image data is distributed to the image processing apparatuses under each distributed environment. Original image data is provided from an image processing request device (in the flowchart, indicated as initiator) (step 40).
1), the image processing control device that has received the processing request separates the original image data into some image area data by performing image area separation processing (step 402). Each image area image data is distributed to each distributed image processing apparatus in order to perform image processing according to the processing content requested by the initiator.

The image processing control device cannot determine whether or not the processing function satisfying the image processing request is implemented in each distributed image processing device (step 40).
3) It is possible to inquire each distributed image processing apparatus about its processing capability (step 404). If the processing capability of each distributed image processing apparatus is confirmed, the processing speed per unit time for the image area image data is calculated (step 4).
05) Check whether the processing time of each image area is equal.

If the processing time of each image area is not equal, for example, if the processing time of image area B is twice or more than that of image area A (step 406), image area B is replaced with image area B. The block is further divided so as to be shorter than the processing time of A (step 407). Since each image data of the divided image area A is originally the same image area, when this is divided,
The number of divided image processing devices that perform the same processing is required by the number of divisions. Here, for the sake of convenience, it is assumed that it is guaranteed by the inquiry in step 404.

Next, the processing order is determined by comparing the processing times of the substantially equalized image area image data (step 408). On the other hand, position (coordinate) information of each image area image data with respect to the original image data provided from the initiator, and configuration information such as the ID of each image area image data are notified to the image composition processing apparatus (step 409).

If there is image area image data which is not processed according to the request from the initiator or original image data which is not regarded as an image area when the image area is separated (step 410), these image area The unprocessed data is immediately transferred to the image synthesis processing device (step 4).
11). On the other hand, the image area data to be subjected to the image processing is transferred to each distributed image processing apparatus in accordance with the determined processing order (Step 412).

[0065]

As described in detail above, claim 1 of the present invention
The image processing system according to the present invention is configured such that an image processing control device including a built-in image dividing unit and an image processing procedure divides an image to be processed into divided images to be processed and allocates the divided images to any of the distributed image processing devices. Therefore, the image processing system alone can create an image processing procedure and execute distributed image processing without depending on external scheduling.

Further, each component of the image processing system,
For example, since an image processing control device, a distributed image processing device, and an image synthesis processing device are connected via a network,
Expansion, replacement, and disconnection of each device can be easily performed.

In the image processing system according to a second aspect of the present invention, in the configuration according to the first aspect, the image dividing means converts the image to be processed into an image area based on at least one of a characteristic of the image and a type of the image. Because of the configuration of separation, each divided image to be processed can be assigned to a distributed image processing apparatus having a suitable function, and the efficiency of image processing can be improved.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, an image processing requesting device for requesting image processing and a processed image requesting device for transmitting completed image processing data are connected to a network. Therefore, the image processing request device does not need to execute the division of the original image, so that the load on the image processing request device can be reduced and the image processing request device can be simplified. further,
There is an effect that extension, replacement, and disconnection of each device can be easily performed.

An image processing system according to a fourth aspect of the present invention is the image processing system according to the third aspect, wherein the arbitrary characteristic processing area is any one of a character area, a photograph area, a person area, and a background area. Therefore, by dividing the original image into each of the characteristic processing regions into one of a character region, a photograph region, a person region, and a background region, a function suitable for each characteristic processing region image is provided. It is possible to allocate to a distributed image processing apparatus, and it is possible to further improve the efficiency of image processing.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the image processing system according to the first to fourth aspects, the image processing control device includes a processing capability detecting means for detecting the processing capability of the distributed image processing device via a network. Since it is provided and configured, the processing capability of the distributed image processing device can be easily detected by the image processing control device, and an efficient image processing procedure can be created.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing system according to the first to fourth aspects, wherein each distributed image processing apparatus is notified of its own processing capability to an image processing control device via a network. Since the notification unit is provided, the processing capability of each distributed image processing apparatus is notified to the image processing control apparatus, and based on this information, a more efficient image processing procedure can be created.

Since the image processing system according to claim 7 of the present invention has a configuration in which the transfer order of image area data having different processing times is variable, the difference in output time due to the processing time difference between the distributed image processing apparatuses is eliminated. , It is possible to end the processing at the same time. Therefore, the total processing speed from separation to synthesis can be improved.

Since the image processing system according to the eighth aspect of the present invention is configured by dividing data having a long processing time, the processing time itself of each image processing thread can be made uniform, and therefore, from separation to synthesis. Can be improved in total processing speed.

The image processing system according to the ninth aspect of the present invention has a configuration in which data that does not require processing is directly sent to the image synthesizing side without any processing. The transfer procedure and time can be eliminated, so that the total image processing speed can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of an image processing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a relationship between components of the image processing system illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a procedure of a communication sequence of the image processing system shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the principle of another embodiment of the image processing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of another principle in another embodiment of the image processing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a procedure of a communication sequence of another embodiment of the image processing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an operation of the image processing system shown in FIG. 6;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Network 2 Image processing request device 2a Host computer 2b Facsimile 2c Scanner 3 Image processing control device 5a-5n Distributed image processing device 6 Processed image request device 6a Host computer 6b Printer 6c Storage device 7 Image synthesis processing device 21 Image processing request information 22 Image Configuration Information 23 Processing Capacity Confirmation Information 23A Processing Capacity Information 24 Image Area Image Processing Request Information 25 Processed Image Area Data 26 Composite Image Data

Claims (9)

[Claims] An image processing control device connected to a network and a plurality of distributed image processing devices connected to a network.
The image processing control device 3 divides the processed image given from the image processing requesting device 2 through the network 1 into a plurality of regions, And an image processing procedure for allocating each of the divided processed images to any of the plurality of distributed image processing apparatuses 5a to 5n. 3
The image synthesis processing device 7 executes the processing of the divided processed image allocated from
An image processing system characterized in that the processing results obtained by combining are combined into a processed image. 2. The image processing system according to claim 1, wherein said image dividing means is configured to separate the image area of the processing target image based on at least one of a characteristic of the image and a type of the image. 3. An image processing request device for requesting image processing via a network, and an original image related to image processing requested from the image processing request device is divided into a plurality of characteristic processing regions, An image processing control device for creating an image processing procedure through the image processing control device, and the data of the characteristic processing region divided by the image processing control device are respectively fetched, and image processing of the characteristic processing region is performed based on the image processing procedure. A plurality of distributed image processing apparatuses each of which executes the image processing of each characteristic processing area executed by the plurality of distributed image processing apparatuses, and an image synthesis processing apparatus which inertates the image processing requested by the image processing request device And a processed image request device to which the data of the completed image processing is transmitted from the image synthesis processing device, The image processing system characterized by being continued. 4. The image processing system according to claim 3, wherein the arbitrary characteristic processing area is configured by any one of a character area, a photograph area, a person area, and a background area. 5. The image processing control device according to claim 1, further comprising a processing capability detecting unit configured to detect a processing capability of the distributed image processing device via the network. Image processing system. 6. The distributed image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a processing capacity reporting unit for reporting the processing capacity of the distributed image processing apparatus to the image processing control apparatus via the network. 5. The image processing system according to 4. 7. The image processing control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, of the divided image to be processed or the image area separated image, an image having a long time required for image processing is replaced with the dispersed image prior to transmission of an image having a short time required for image processing. The image processing system according to claim 1, further comprising a unit that transmits the image data to the processing device. 8. The image processing control device, wherein the divided image to be processed or the image area separated image, which has a long time for image processing, is divided and transmitted to at least one distributed image processing device. The image processing system according to claim 1, further comprising: 9. The image processing control device further comprises means for sending, to the image synthesizing processing device, an image which does not require image processing among the divided image to be processed or the image area separated image without processing. 9. The image processing system according to claim 1, wherein: