JP4137080B2 - Client image communication device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a client image communication apparatus that requests a search for a first image data file held in a server image communication apparatus.

  Conventionally, when a photograph taken with a film-type camera is exchanged with another person, the photograph is printed by looking at a photograph on which the film is printed, and printing the desired photograph.

  On the other hand, in recent years, with the widespread use of digital cameras, the number of cases where electronic image data created by a digital camera is exchanged instead of exchanging extra photographs is increasing.

  In particular, in the case of shooting with a digital camera, if it is only necessary to browse on a computer or the like without printing on paper or the like, it is possible to easily take a large amount because there is no cost for film and development.

  For example, when the purpose is to exchange image data, it is necessary to select a target image from a large number of captured images.

  For example, the captured image data may be transferred to a personal computer and viewed with an application for displaying the image. For example, when displaying on a small liquid crystal display equipped in the digital camera device, the personal computer is used. In this case, or when viewing a photograph in which a film is developed, the viewability is significantly reduced.

  In order to solve this problem, a method of searching or filtering a large number of images using a certain standard can be considered.

  For example, a search by time can be considered as one of the criteria.

  Some known digital camera devices have a known time generation function inside and can store the time of photographing in association with image data.

  For example, when a certain event (for example, a goal scene of an athletic meet) is photographed (image 1), an image (image 2) photographed from another angle of the same event may be desired.

  In this case, if the same event is shot, the shooting time of image 1 and the shooting time of image 2 may be the same or relatively close.

  However, there is a problem that there is no guarantee that the time held by the time generation function of each digital camera is the same when, for example, bringing a plurality of digital cameras and searching for images by time.

  Therefore, for example, even if an attempt is made to search for an image around 12:00 at around 14:00, an image in which a current time points to 15:00 with a digital camera and a time around 12:00 is recorded. Is actually an image taken around 11:00.

  That is, if the server and the client each have a clock, and the server clock is one hour ahead of the client clock, when the client tries to retrieve a 12 o'clock image, the server displays the 11 o'clock image. Search.

  For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-261975 is disclosed as an example of performing a search in consideration of the time difference.

  Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-261975 describes a program time written in a television program guide included in a teletext signal using a difference between the time information on the station side included in the header of the teletext signal and the time information on the receiver side. This is a method for correcting and displaying the time.

  However, in this system, it is necessary to transmit a list of contents held by the contents holding side to the requesting side. The list of contents includes data on contents different from those intended by the requesting side, and as a result, redundant information is communicated.

  For example, when the communication speed of the communication path for exchanging information is not high, there arises a problem that the communication time becomes long. In particular, when the device is driven by a battery or the like, it is a major disadvantage.

In view of the above problem, the image file search system according to the present invention is based on the first image data file and the second image data file held by the client image communication device, and is stored in the server image communication device. an image file search system for searching the third image data file, the client image communication apparatus, in association with the first time generating means, the first time that has been generated by the first time generating means, holding the first image data file, in association with second time generated by said first time generating means, a first holding means for holding the second image data file, the first Display means for displaying an image corresponding to the image data file including the second image data file and the second image data file; Selecting means for selecting a first image corresponding to the first image data file and a second image corresponding to the second image data file, and in response to the selection, Converting the first time associated with one image data file into a first relative time which is a relative time based on a first current time acquired from the first time generating means; The second time associated with the second image data file is converted into a second relative time which is a relative time based on the first current time acquired from the first time generating means . Yes and one of the conversion means, said first relative time and a second relative time, and transmitting means for transmitting to the server an image communication apparatus as a search condition for searching the third image data files and, the server image communication The apparatus includes: a second time generation unit; a second holding unit that holds the third image data file in association with the time generated by the second time generation unit; and the client image communication apparatus. A second conversion for converting the received first and second relative times into the third and fourth times based on the second current time acquired from the second time generation means, respectively. Means and search means for searching for the third image data file based on the converted third and fourth time ranges .

  As described above, among the image data files held in the server image communication apparatus, the image data file corresponding to the time associated with the image data file held in the client image communication apparatus is changed to the server image communication apparatus. Regardless of the difference between the current time and the time of the client image communication apparatus.

  Also, in the present invention, not all information related to the image held by the server is sent to the client, but only the search result based on the search condition desired by the user is communicated, so that the communication time can be reduced and the communication cost can be reduced. There is gain.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an image communication apparatus capable of realizing the image communication method according to the present invention.

  An input unit 101 in FIG. 1 is a device for inputting instructions and data from a user, and includes a keyboard and a pointing device. Note that examples of the pointing device include a mouse, a trackball, a trackpad, and a tablet. Alternatively, when this example is applied to, for example, a known digital camera device, it may be configured by buttons, a mode dial, or the like.

  The data storage unit 102 is a part that holds image data, and is usually configured by a hard disk, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a memory card, or the like. It is also possible to store programs and other data in the data storage unit 102.

  The communication unit 107 is a part that controls communication such as Ethernet (registered trademark) or a modem. The communication method is arbitrary and may be a well-known wired communication method such as USB, IEEE 1284, IEEE 1394, or a wireless communication method such as infrared or IEEE 802.11b. The communication unit 107 is a part of these communication path control devices.

  The display unit 103 is a device that displays an image such as a GUI (graphic user interface), and generally uses a CRT, a liquid crystal display, or the like.

  Reference numeral 104 denotes a CPU, which is involved in all the processes of the above-described components.

  The ROM 105 and the RAM 106 provide the CPU 104 with programs, data, work areas, and the like necessary for the processing of the CPU 104. In addition, a control program necessary for processing to be described later is stored in the data storage unit 102 or, if stored in the ROM 105, is once read into the RAM 106 and executed.

  The time generation unit 108 is a known time measuring unit that holds a value representing the time and updates the value representing the time every predetermined period (for example, every second). Further, the display unit 103 and the input unit 102 may be used so that the user can change the time.

  Alternatively, although not shown, a known image input unit such as a CCD may be provided so that an image is input and stored in the data storage unit 102.

  In addition to the above, there are various components of the system configuration, but the description is omitted because it is not the main point of the present invention.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an image communication system using an image communication system according to the present invention.

  FIG. 2 shows a state in which the image communication apparatuses 201 and 202 having the configuration shown in FIG.

  The communication path 203 is a cable having a physical shape in the case of a wired system such as Ethernet (registered trademark), modem, USB, IEEE 1284, IEEE 1394, etc., which is a known communication system, or infrared, IEEE 802.11b, etc. When wireless, it is a conceptual communication path. Although the invention according to the present invention does not depend on the type of communication path, FIG. 2 shows the communication path 203 for convenience of explanation.

  In addition, reference numeral 211 of the image communication apparatus 201 denotes a cross key, 212, and 213 buttons, which constitute the input unit 101 of FIG. The cross keys and buttons are merely examples, and the types and numbers thereof do not depend on the method according to the present invention, and do not limit the method according to the present invention.

  In this embodiment, a case where the user operates the image communication apparatus 201 and searches for an image stored in the image communication apparatus 202 will be described as an example. For convenience of explanation, the image communication apparatus 201 operated by the user is called a client, and the image communication apparatus 202 holding an image is also called a server.

  In the system according to the present invention, a display unit and an input unit are not essential on the server side, and may be omitted. In the case of FIG. 2, contrary to the description in the present embodiment, only an example of a configuration in which the image communication apparatus 201 can be a server and the image communication apparatus 202 can also be a client is shown.

  Each of the client 201 and the server 202 holds several image data files in the internal data storage unit 102. Further, it is assumed that each image is recorded in association with the image data file at the time when the image was generated in accordance with the time generation unit 108 in each device.

  For example, when the client 201 and the server 202 are digital camera devices, the image data is filed and stored in the data holding unit 102 at the time of shooting by the user, and the time is extracted from the time generation unit 108, and the image data file Store as a time stamp.

  When the user operates the GUI of the client 201 to instruct search and enters the search mode, the user performs the operation flow as shown in FIG.

  In the search mode, first, a time or a time range is designated in step S301. The designation of the time is performed by inputting a numerical value representing the time by a GUI from the display unit 103 and an instruction from the input unit 102.

  Further, by operating the cross key 211 of the input unit 101 or the like, the image in the data storage unit 102 of the client 201 or a list thereof is displayed on the display unit 103, and one or more images are selected from among them. The time or the time range is designated using the time associated with the selected image (for example, when the selected image is taken with a digital camera, the shooting time).

  An example of the time range is a time range from the oldest to the newest time among the images when a plurality of images are selected. Another example of the time range is a predetermined range before and after the time corresponding to the selected single image, or a predetermined time with the oldest time among the times corresponding to the selected multiple images. It is the range from the previous to a new one after a predetermined time.

  The time mentioned here may include date information in addition to the hour / minute / second information.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the relationship between the time and the time in the apparatus, and the time range. In FIG. 4, 451 represents an accurate time, for example, and 452 represents a time by the time generation unit 108 inside the client 201. It is assumed that there is a difference in time of | T ₀ −T ₁ | between 451 and 452.

In addition, 401 to 410 is means the image data file obtained by performing the shooting, so were taken from each _{T 1} to _t 1 _{~t 10} later time, the time stamp of each image data file, _{(T 1} + T ₁ ) to (T ₁ + t ₁₀ ).

  Now, when the user inputs the time of the image search range by numerical input, it is the time according to 451 or 452 in FIG. 4 or other time, for example, the time according to the wristwatch worn by the user. Is not clear.

For example, when the user designates an accurate time, that is, a time at 451, there is a deviation of | T ₀ −T ₁ | from the time stamp of each image file. Therefore, in order to designate the target time by the user, it is necessary for the user to calculate the time difference | T ₀ −T ₁ | by some method and then specify the time in consideration of the time difference. .

On the other hand, for example, when an image or a list thereof is displayed and the user selects an image, the time on 452 can be designated without explicitly presenting the time to the user. For example, FIG. 4 illustrates an example in which the time range (T ₁ + t ₄ ) to (T ₁ + t ₇ ) is specified on 452 with the image 404 as the start point and the image 407 as the end point.

  In another embodiment, in addition to the range specification by the above method, it is possible to specify to extend the range before and after the range.

For example, the user may have taken images 404, 405, 406, and 407 to record some event, such as a goal scene at an athletic meet. The user may not have recorded all of the events. That is, there may be a case where the start of shooting is delayed with respect to the event or the last part of the event cannot be shot. Therefore, in addition to the time range designation by the image photographed by the user, the user can further designate the front and rear offsets (Δt ₀ , Δt _{1 in} FIG. 4).

  FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a GUI for the time range specifying process, for example.

  Reference numerals 401 to 409 in 501 and 502 in FIG. 5 denote images, which correspond to 401 to 409 in FIG. Reference numerals 501 and 502 denote GUI screens displayed on the display unit 103.

  When the user designates a range, for example, a list of images is first displayed as in 501 and one of the images is designated as a starting point of the range. The user operates the input unit 101 to select an image. 501 in FIG. 5 illustrates a state where the image 404 is selected, for example.

  When the user designates the first image that is the starting point of the range, the GUI prompts the user to designate an image that is the end point of the range, as in 502. Similarly, the user operates the input unit 101 to select an image. For example, reference numeral 502 in FIG. 5 illustrates a state where the image 408 is selected.

  For example, in 502, there is no particular reason for prohibiting selection of the image 404 designated in 501. If 404 is specified in 502, the time range is simply 0.

  When the user designates the second image as the end point of the range in 502, the GUI further prompts the user to input the front and back offsets of the range designated in 501 and 502, as in 503. The user operates the input unit 101 to set a desired offset value. In the case of the example 503, a set button is further provided on the GUI, and the range designated by 501 to 503 is determined by operating the input unit 101 and selecting the set button 503S.

  The GUIs 501 to 503 are merely examples, and other expressions may be used. In 503, the offset value is input in minutes, but this may be another time unit such as time or second. Furthermore, this value may be set in advance or determined on the system side. In that case, the processing of 503 is redundant and may be omitted.

  For example, the specification of the time range in step S301 in FIG. 3 is realized by the sequence as described above.

  Next, the user operates the input unit 101 to instruct search (step S302). Here, a search for an image at a specified time or an image within a specified time range is instructed. For example, in the case of FIG. 2, the server 202 is requested to perform a search. The communication procedure of this part, processing on the server 202 side, and the like will be described later.

  Next, the client 201 receives the search result on the server 202 side, and presents the search result (step S303). Most simply, the identifier of the image on the server 202 side, for example, the image file name is displayed on the display unit 103. Alternatively, when there is no corresponding image on the server 202 side, a message such as “There was no corresponding image” is displayed to notify the user to that effect.

  In step S304, processing is distributed according to the search result received in step S303. If there is no corresponding image in the search result returned by the server 202, the process proceeds to step S309, and if not, the process proceeds to step S305.

  In step S305, an image actually received from the server 202 is designated. When the user makes a selection, the user operates the input unit 101 to select a desired one from the images displayed in step S303. Alternatively, all images may be automatically selected without user operation.

  In step S306, processing is distributed according to the user's selection in step S305. If the user selects one or more images, the process proceeds to step S307, where the image communication process is performed to acquire the selected image from the server 202, but the user has not selected any image. In that case, step S307 is skipped and the process proceeds to step S308.

  In step S308, it is determined whether or not the processing in steps S305 to S307 is performed again on the search result received in step S303. In this case, a message is displayed on the display unit 103, the user operates the input unit 101 to instruct whether or not to perform again, and the processing is distributed according to the instruction. If so, the process proceeds to step S303; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S309.

  Finally, in step S309, it is determined whether or not the search process is performed again, and the process branches. Similarly to step S308, a message is displayed and processing is distributed according to a user instruction. In the case of an instruction to perform a search process again, the process returns to step S301 to perform a search again. Otherwise, the search mode processing according to the flowchart of FIG. 3 ends.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the processing and communication flow of the client 201 and the server 202.

  Each of the client 201 and the server 202 performs the following operation under the control of the CPU 104 that is a computer. The RAM 106 is a storage medium that stores the program so as to be readable by the CPU 104. When this program is configured to be read from the floppy disk (not shown) or compact disk into the RAM 106, the floppy disk (registered trademark) disk or compact disk (not shown) can read the program by the CPU 104. Corresponds to the storage medium stored in Further, this program may be read into the RAM 106 via a communication medium such as the Internet.

First, the client 201 acquires the current time (T ₁ ) from the time generation unit 108 inside the client 201 (S601), and immediately transmits T ₁ to the server 202 (step S611).

Next, the server 202 acquires the current time (T ₂ ) from the time generation unit 108 in the server 202 in response to the time transmission from the client 201, and the time difference (T ₂ −T ₁ ) between the client 201 and the server 202. ) Is calculated and held (step S602). Also, an ACK is returned to the client 201 (S612).

The time difference (T ₂ −T ₁ ) actually includes the time required for communication between the client 201 and the server 202, but may be acceptable as an error if the communication is sufficiently fast. In addition, considering the time T ₀ required for this communication, (T ₂ −T ₁ −T ₀ ) is set as the time difference. This time T ₀ may be a fixed value. For consideration form the time T ₀ will be described later.

  The client 201 that has received the ACK then transmits the time or period (time range) to the server 202 as a search condition (S613). The time or period is specified by the user operating the client 201, for example, by the processing shown in FIG. 3 or the GUI shown in FIG. The timing at which the user designates the time or period may be after the ACK is received from the server 202 or may be performed before the process of step S601. That is, the time of the client 201 may be transmitted from the client 201 to the server 202 when the client 201 performs an operation for making a search request to the server 202. Regardless, the data may be transmitted from the client 201 to the server 202 at regular or random timing.

  The time or period specified here (that is, the time or period of the search condition transmitted from the client 201 to the server 202) is a value based on the time generator 108 inside the client 201.

  Receiving the search request, the server 202 corrects the time or period in the search request using the time difference calculated in S602 (S603).

  FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining this process.

  In FIG. 7, 201 and 202 are the same as the client 201 and server 202 of FIG.

In the example of FIG. 7, the server 202 has five image files 701 to 705, and the shooting times are associated with the images and recorded in the data storage unit 102 inside the server 202. Also, the time T ₁ on the client 201 side and the time T ₂ on the server 202 side in FIG. 7 are respectively April 11, 2001 17:05:20 and April 11, 2001 17:02:25. And

Current time _{T 1} of the client 201, the client 201 is transmitted to the server 202, server 202 the time difference _T d ₌ calculates the _(T 2 -T _1). In the case of the example in FIG. 7, a time difference of -2 minutes 55 seconds is obtained. Here, as a definition of the time difference, which is subtracted from T ₂ or T ₁ does not matter much. In the opposite case, addition and subtraction are simply switched in the time correction process described below.

  Next, the search condition period (time range) specified by the user on the client 201 side is from April 11, 2001 08:23:00 to April 11, 2001 11:18:00. To do.

This search condition is the time based on the time generation unit 108 inside the client 201, that is, the time on the client 201 side, and the time based on the time generation unit 108 inside the server 202, that is, the time on the server 202 side. Absent. On the other hand, the time associated with the images 701 to 705 held by the server 202 is the time on the server 202 side. Therefore, the time and period of this search condition are corrected using the previously calculated time difference _Td . That is, processing for adding _Td to this condition is performed.
Before correction: From April 11, 2001, 08:27:00 to April 11, 2001, 11:18:00 After correction: From April 11, 2001, 08:24:05 to April 11, 2001 Until 11:15:05 on the day As described in the above example, the time and period of the search condition are corrected in step S603.

  In step S604, an image is searched using the corrected search condition. For example, in the example of FIG. 7, since the corrected search condition is from April 11, 2001 at 08:24:05 to April 11, 2001 at 11:15:05, the images 702 and 703 are hit. That is, the server 202 performs a search in consideration of the time difference between the time of the server 202 and the time of the client 201. Further, the server 202 returns this search result to the client 201 (step S614). If the correction in step S603 is not performed, the search request from the client 201 corresponds to 703 and 704, which is different from the search result in step 604 in which the correction in step S603 was performed.

  The search result returned from the server 202 to the client 201 may be in any format including at least an identifier (for example, a file name) of the image of the search result.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a search result returned from the server 202 to the client 201.

  Reference numeral 801 denotes an example of the search result described with reference to FIG. Here, for example, the image file names are img0702. jpg, img0703. An example is shown as being jpg. In this example, the time associated with the image is given in addition to the identifier of the image. For example, “20010411082512” on the right side of Time: in the second row of 801 means that it is 8:25:12 on April 11, 2001.

802 is the same result as 801, but is an example in which the time associated with the search result image is corrected using the previously used _Td and returned. In the case of 802, the server 202 determines that img0702. The time associated with jpg is corrected using the time difference T _d (−2 minutes 55 seconds), and becomes “20010411082807”, that is, April 11, 2001, 8: 28: 7.

  Reference numeral 803 denotes an example in which the contents of 802 are described in the XML format. In 803, the image tag means an image of each search result, the identifier is stored as the handle attribute, and the associated time is stored as the value of the created attribute. The image-listing tag is used to group each image tag.

  In the above description, the time of the search condition is corrected. However, a list in which the times of the images 701 to 705 in FIG. Depending on the search condition, a time matching the search condition in the list can be searched, and the corresponding image can be used as the search result.

  The client 201 that has received the search result presents the search result to the user and makes a selection (step S605). This process corresponds to S303 to S305 in FIG.

  Further, based on the image selection, the client 201 transmits an image transmission request to the server 202 (S615). That is, the client 201 extracts the corresponding image identifier from the search result according to the selection, and transmits an image transmission request to the server 202 together with the image identifier.

  The server 202 receives the image transmission request, extracts the identifier of the image from the inside of the request, extracts the corresponding image from the data storage unit 102 based on the identifier, and transmits it to the client 101 (S616).

  As described above, even when the times of the client 201 and the server 202 do not match, the server 202 can search the server 202 for an image at a time desired by the user operating the client 201.

  In the present embodiment, an example of returning an image identifier and time as a search result has been described. However, for example, a user who operates a client using a thumbnail image can overview the search result image. This will further improve usability.

  To do this, the following should be done.

  The server side returns thumbnail image data of each image, and the client side presents the received thumbnail image to the user for selection.

  Alternatively, the client requests a thumbnail image from the server based on the identifier of each image of the received search result, presents a list of received thumbnail images, and causes the user to select.

  Alternatively, the server gives a thumbnail image identifier so as to correspond to the image identifier in the search result, and the client uses the thumbnail image identifier associated with each image in the search result to send the thumbnail image to the server. A thumbnail image may be obtained easily by requesting and presenting a list of received thumbnail images and allowing the user to select.

  In the above description, the time correction processing based on the time difference is all performed on the server side, but can be performed on the client side.

  Next, an example in which time correction processing is performed on the client side will be described.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the processing and communication flow of the client and server in this embodiment.

  Each of the client 201 and the server 202 performs the following operation under the control of the CPU 104 that is a computer. The RAM 106 is a storage medium that stores the program so as to be readable by the CPU 104. When this program is configured to be read from the floppy disk (not shown) or compact disk into the RAM 106, the floppy disk (registered trademark) disk or compact disk (not shown) can read the program by the CPU 104. Corresponds to the storage medium stored in Further, this program may be read into the RAM 106 via a communication medium such as the Internet.

  The client 201 (FIG. 2) first transmits a time request to the server 202 (FIG. 2) before starting the processing (step S911). This request may be transmitted when a search operation is performed on the client 201, or may be transmitted periodically or at a random timing regardless of the search operation on the client 201. .

The server 202 acquires the current time (T ₂ ) from the time generation unit 108 in response to a time transmission request from the client 201 (step S901), and immediately transmits it to the client 201 (step S912).

The client 201 that has received the time response from the server 202 acquires the current time (T ₁ ) from the time generation unit 108, and calculates the time difference between the client 201 and the server 202 (step S902). Similar to the embodiment of FIG. 6, this time difference may be obtained in consideration of the time T ₀ between the client 201 and the server 202.

  Further, the time or period (time range) specified by the user is internally converted using the calculated time difference (step S903), and a search request is transmitted to the server 202 using the converted time or period as a search condition. (Step S913). That is, the client 201 requests a search in consideration of the time difference between the time of the server 202 and the time of the client 201. When a search condition similar to that in the form of FIG. 7 is specified by the user, the search range is “from 8:27:00 to 11:18:00”, but the time difference (−2: 55) From “8: 24: 5 to 11: 15: 5”.

  The server 202 searches for an image based on the received conditions (step S904), and transmits the search result to the client 201 (step S914).

  The client 201 presents the search result to the user, designates a desired image based on the result (step S905), and sends a request for image transmission to the server 202 (step S915). At this time, when the server transmits time information associated with each image in addition to the image identifier as shown in FIG. 8, in a preferred embodiment, the client 201 uses the previously calculated time difference (−2 The time corresponding to the image is corrected and presented to the user from the display unit 103. In the above example, the time of the image 702 is 8:25:12, 8:28:07, and the time of the image 703 is 8:48:37, 8:51:32.

  The server 202 that has received the image transmission request from the client 201 extracts the corresponding image from the data storage unit 102 based on the identifier of the image written in the transmitted request, and transmits it to the client 101 (step S916).

  In the case of the present embodiment, since processing such as main time conversion is performed on the client side, the present invention can also be applied to cases where there are restrictions on server side resources such as CPU performance and ROM and RAM areas.

  Next, in step S602 in FIG. 6 and step S902 in FIG. 9, an example is shown in which the communication speed between the server and the client is sufficiently high and the communication time is sufficiently negligible, but this embodiment is not so. A form corresponding to the case will be described.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a communication time estimation method. FIG. 10 shows an example in which the communication time is estimated on the server side. However, when the communication time is estimated on the client side, the server and the client in FIG.

In the process in FIG. 10, the server first acquires the current time (T _s ) of the time generation unit 108 in step S1001. Next, a response is requested to the client (step S1011), and the requested client returns an ACK to the server (step S1012). The server that has received the ACK acquires the current time (T _E ) again (step S1002). The difference between the two times (T _E −T _s ) actually includes the processing time on the server side and the time on the client side, but the processing in steps S1001 and S1002 is sufficiently light, and communication between the server and the client is performed. By reducing the amount, it is possible to approximate the communication time required for one round trip between the server and the client.

If the communication speed between the server and the client is symmetric, the communication time from the server to the client or from the client to the server by dividing (T _E −T _s ) by 2 is obtained as step S602 in FIG. 6, step in FIG. Time correction processing is performed in consideration of the time difference described in S902.

  Further, even if the communication speed between the server and the client is asymmetric, it is obvious that the communication time can be similarly estimated by considering the speed ratio.

  Furthermore, the processing described with reference to FIG. 10 may be performed a plurality of times, and the accuracy of communication time estimation may be further increased by a statistical method such as averaging the results.

  The processing described with reference to FIG. 10 can be performed more accurately, for example, before or after S601 in FIG. 6 or after S602.

  In the case of FIG. 10, unlike FIG. 6, the server side starts communication on its own, but if necessary, the client transmits a request for starting the processing of FIG. May be configured to perform the processing shown in FIG. 10 in response to the request.

  As described above, by providing a process for estimating the communication time, a search intended by the user can be performed even when communication is not performed at high speed.

  The time value held by the time generation unit 108 of both the server and the client can be corrected by giving the time generation unit a time value.

In the case of such correction, for example, a time difference (T _after −T _before ) of time correction is calculated from a time value (T _before ) _before correction and a time value (T _after ) used for correction at the time correction, and the data storage unit 102 The time value associated with each image is corrected. By providing such processing, processing can be performed without contradiction.

  In this way, even when the user changes the time of the apparatus, it is possible to perform a search intended by the user without contradiction.

  In the form of FIG. 9, the client 201 acquires the time of the server 202 and corrects the time included in the search condition. However, instead of calculating the time difference between the server and the client, the search condition is set to the relative time. A form in which the search is correctly executed will be described with reference to FIG.

  Each of the client 201 and the server 202 performs the following operation under the control of the CPU 104 that is a computer. The RAM 106 is a storage medium that stores the program so as to be readable by the CPU 104. When this program is configured to be read from the floppy disk (not shown) or compact disk into the RAM 106, the floppy disk (registered trademark) disk or compact disk (not shown) can read the program by the CPU 104. Corresponds to the storage medium stored in Further, this program may be read into the RAM 106 via a communication medium such as the Internet.

First, the client 201 acquires the current time (T ₁ ) of the time generation unit 108 (step S1101). Subsequently, the time or duration user specified into a relative time to the current time by using the time _{T 1} (step S1102), and transmits to the server 202 (step S1111).

Upon receiving the search request based on the relative time, the server 202 first obtains the current time (T ₂ ) of the time generation unit 108 of the server 202 (step S1103), and is given by the search request using the time T _2. The search condition based on the relative time is converted into a normal time, and the image is searched (step S1104).

  Here, with reference to FIG. 7, when the server 202 stores the time of the image data 701 to 705 as a relative time with reference to the time generation unit 108 of the server 202, the server 202 It is not necessary to convert the time from relative time to normal time for the search.

  The search result is returned from the server 202 to the client 201 (step S1112). The client 201 presents and selects the search result list to the user (step S1105), and issues a request for image transmission to the server according to the selection result (step S1113). In response to the client's request for image transmission, the server retrieves the image from the data storage unit 102 and returns it to the client (step S1114).

Search If results to include the time, in a preferred embodiment, the search results of the time associated with the image using the T ₂ at the server 202 side is converted into relative time back to the client 201, receiving the results client returns to the normal time data using T _1.

  In the present embodiment, all the processes in steps S1101 to S1105 in FIG. 11 need to be performed for each search, so that the communication process for calculating the time difference between the server and the client can be omitted.

It is a figure which shows the structural example of the image communication apparatus which comprises the image communication system by this invention. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the image communication system by this invention. It is a figure which shows the flow of a user operation process by the client side in the image communication system in 1st embodiment by this invention. It is a conceptual diagram explaining the relationship between time and the time in an apparatus, and the time range. It is a schematic diagram which shows the example of GUI of a time range designation | designated process. It is a figure showing the flow of a process and communication of a client and a server. It is a figure explaining the example of the time correction process by the side of a server. It is a figure which shows the example of a search result. It is a figure which shows the flow of a user operation process by the client side in the image communication system in 2nd embodiment by this invention. It is a figure which shows the communication procedure for the communication time estimation between a client and a server. It is a figure which shows the flow of a process of the user operation by the client side in the image communication system in other embodiment by this invention.

Explanation of symbols

201 client 202 server

Claims (1)

An image file search system for searching for a third image data file held in a server image communication apparatus based on a first image data file and a second image data file held by a client image communication apparatus. And
The client image communication device includes:
First time generating means;
In association with the first time that has been generated by the first time generating means, the first image data file held in, in association with the second time generated by the first time generating means, said First holding means for holding a second image data file ;
Display means for displaying an image according to an image data file including the first image data file and the second image data file;
A selection means for selecting a first image corresponding to the first image data file and a second image corresponding to the second image data file among the displayed images;
In response to the selection, the first time associated with the first image data file is a first relative time based on a first current time acquired from the first time generating means. The second time associated with the second image data file is a relative time based on the first current time acquired from the first time generating means. First conversion means for converting to a relative time of 2 ;
Said first relative time and a second relative time, wherein a transmission unit configured to transmit to the server the image communication apparatus as a search condition for searching the third image data files,
The server image communication device includes:
Second time generating means;
Second holding means for holding the third image data file in association with the time generated by the second time generating means;
The first and second relative times received from the client image communication device are set to the third and fourth times based on the second current time acquired from the second time generating means, respectively. A second conversion means for converting;
An image file search system comprising: search means for searching for the third image data file based on the converted third and fourth time ranges .

Images