JP2009147889A - Image management system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technology with which production of pictorial letters can be easily selected/disposed on a mobile terminal for each of parts and the produced pictorial symbol can be easily inserted into a document to be used for a part of user's own document or information. <P>SOLUTION: An image server includes an image ID, image parts or image arrangement information of a portrait is stored in association with each other using the image ID and further, a still picture in a single file in a state where the image parts are combined, is also created. In a mobile phone terminal, when a portrait is created freely using the arrangement of image parts by using "Flash"(brand) and uploaded to the server, a still picture in a single file can be downloaded from the server. A user can use the still picture for representing his/her own information as a pictorial symbol or an icon and in addition, since the still picture is managed by the image ID, the still picture is decomposed again into an aggregate group of parts of "Flash"(brand) on the server to modify the portrait image on the mobile phone terminal. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for creating a portrait or a pictograph displayed on a mobile terminal.

  With mobile terminals such as mobile phones, as the processing speed of the central processing unit has been dramatically increased, various display techniques have become possible.

  For example, as for pictograms used in e-mail, high-speed communication using a mobile terminal has become possible, and as a result, it has become possible to exchange pictogram data itself across the boundaries of carriers (mobile phone operators).

For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-223731 (Patent Document 1) as a prior art relating to a pictographic transmission / reception technique provides a portable information terminal system capable of reproducing a pictograph arbitrarily created by a transmission side on the reception side. Therefore, on the transmission side, first, based on the user's operation received by the input unit, a dot matrix image created by the user is generated, and the generated image is displayed on the display unit. Further, the control unit on the transmission side generates bitmap data of the generated image and color information indicating the color of the generated image, and the generated bitmap data, the generated color information, and user input information indicating user input And are transmitted to the portable information terminal. When the received information includes user input information, the control unit of the mobile information terminal on the receiving side can associate the image indicated by the bitmap data associated with the user input information with the user input information. The color is displayed on the display unit in the color indicated by the color information.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-223731

  However, in this technique, the user on the transmission side must generate a pictograph by specifying a color for each dot matrix. Generating these pictograms on a mobile terminal is troublesome on a numeric keypad mobile terminal. If you want to create pictograms prepared in advance by a carrier or site, or if you want to make your own, you can use paint software on a personal computer. After the pictograms created using this were transferred to the mobile terminal on the transmission side, a document using pictograms was created and transmitted to the mobile terminal on the reception side.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is possible to easily select and place pictograms for each part on a mobile terminal, and to easily insert the generated pictograms into a document. It is a technical problem to provide a technique that can be used for a part of one's own document or information.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present invention employs the following means.

A first aspect of the present invention is an image management system that includes a server connected to a mobile terminal via a network, and manages image data generated by combining image parts downloaded from the server by operating the mobile terminal with the server. The server includes an image database for registering image data generated by combining image parts and the image parts in association with the image ID, and managing the image database, and combining the image parts. A conversion control unit that converts the generated image data into a single image file, and the mobile terminal is arranged by combining the image part and the image part from the server via the network. Download an image processing program for generating image data and download the image processing program A terminal control unit for controlling the activation of the program, a memory for registering the image part and the image processing program, a display unit for displaying the image part and the image data, and an arrangement position of the displayed image part The portable terminal downloads the image parts and the image processing program from the server to the memory via the network, and the terminal control unit of the portable terminal downloads the image processing program. When activated, the position of the image part displayed on the display unit is determined by the operation of the operation unit of the operator, and the terminal control unit of the mobile terminal transmits the combination information of the image part to the server via the network Then, the conversion control unit of the server that has received the combination information of the image parts associates the combination information of the image parts with the image ID. An image database is registered, and an image displayed as a combination of image parts based on the combination information of the image parts is converted into a single image file and associated with the image ID. The portable terminal that has transmitted and received the single image file stores the image file in the memory, and in advance, when inputting characters using the image file as a pictogram, the memory of the portable terminal This is an image management system that can be displayed on the display unit together with the character data stored in.

  According to this system, for example, by combining image parts using a flash program on the mobile terminal side and associating image data such as a portrait with an image ID in the image database of the server, a single image file can be seamlessly combined. Can be managed.

  Therefore, the portrait data generated by using the flash program on the portable terminal can be converted into a single image file by the server and downloaded to the portable terminal again, and this portrait image file can be used as a pictogram. In addition, if you want to change this image file, such as wearing a pair of glasses as a caricature or raising a wrinkle, you can access the server and download it to the mobile terminal as image part combination information based on the image ID Then, it is possible to easily make corrections / changes based on the portrait created on the portable terminal using the flash program again.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, the operation unit of the mobile terminal is composed of numeric keys including symbols, and the numeric keys are matrix keys arranged in 4 rows × 3 columns and arranged in the 2nd row and the 2nd column. The decision function is assigned to the numeric key, the up arrow function is assigned to the numeric key arranged in the first row and the second column, and the down arrow function is assigned to the third row and the second column. In addition, in the third, the number key in the first row, first column or the third row, first column is assigned a rotation function for displaying the image part in a position rotated counterclockwise. The number key in the third row and the third column is assigned with a rotation function for displaying the image part at a position rotated clockwise.

  In short, paying attention to the number key arrangement of the mobile terminal, assign the decision function to the number key “5” arranged in the center, assign the up arrow function to the number key “2” arranged above the “5”, By assigning the numeric key “8” arranged at the lower part of “5” to the down arrow function, it is possible for the operator (user) to grasp the arrangement operation of the image parts conceptually from the arrangement relationship of the numeric keys. Become.

  According to the present invention, generation of image data can be easily selected and arranged for each part on a portable terminal, and the generated pictogram can be easily inserted into a document to be part of its own document or information. Can be used.

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

  FIG. 1 shows the concept of this embodiment. As shown in the figure, the image data in this embodiment is a caricature, and the image parts are, for example, face, eyes, nose, hair, etc., and these parts data are registered in the database of the server in advance.

  In this embodiment, a portrait image combining image parts created by a flash program of a mobile terminal (mobile phone terminal) is generated by a server by managing the combination of image parts by image ID. The feature is that it can be seamlessly linked with a still image file image.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the server used in this embodiment is a general-purpose network server, and a large-scale storage connected by a bus (BUS) with a central processing unit (CPU) and a main memory (MM) as the center. It has a hard disk device (HD) as a device, a keyboard (KBD) as an input device, and a display device (DISP). In addition to an operating system (OS), the hard disk device (HD) has a server program (processing program) for causing it to function as a server, a user data table, and the like.

  An image database is constructed in the hard disk device (HD), and an image ID is assigned to each portrait data (image data) generated by the user in the mobile phone device. The image ID and the portrait data are stored in the hard disk device (HD). A plurality of constituent image parts and a single image file (JPEG, GIF, PNG, etc.) generated from the portrait data composed of the plurality of image parts are registered in association with each other.

  The database may be built in the hard disk device (HD) of the server, or may be built in an external database server.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a procedure for converting the portrait data generated on the mobile phone terminal into a single image file by the server. The procedure will be described below.

  First, by a user operation, a terminal control unit (CPU) of a mobile phone terminal starts a browser program stored in a memory, specifies a server address (URL), and from a database stored in the address, A caricature generation program (caricature maker) and part data (image parts) are downloaded to the memory of the mobile phone terminal via the network.

  Next, the portrait generation program stored in the memory is activated. This caricature generation program is a program generated by flash (trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated), and is reproduced by a flash player added in the browser program.

  In this caricature generation program, as shown in FIG. 2, on the basic image of the caricature arranged at the center of the screen, a dynamic icon arranged on the right side is selected with a numeric key, so that the hair, eyebrows, eyes, nose You can select image parts such as mouths and place them on the basic image using the numeric keys.

  In this embodiment, each function is assigned to the numeric keys arranged on the mobile phone terminal.

In the caricature generation in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the screen configuration mainly determines image parts, determines image part patterns (size and color), switches to detailed mode, saves data, etc. There are modes and detailed modes for performing movement, rotation, enlargement / reduction, expansion / contraction, color change, and the like of designated image parts.

  In the present embodiment, the numeric keys of the mobile phone terminal are matrix keys arranged in 4 rows × 3 columns as shown in FIG. 5, and “1”, “2”, “3” in the first row from the upper left. “4”, “5”, “6” in the second row, “7”, “8”, “9” in the third row, “*”, “9”, “#” in the fourth row, respectively Has been placed.

  In the main mode, the “OK” function is assigned to the numeric key arranged in the second row and the second column, that is, “5”, and the up arrow function “is assigned to the numeric key arranged in the first row and the second column, that is,“ 2 ”. ↑ ”is assigned, and the down arrow function“ ↓ ”is assigned to the numeric key arranged in the third row and the second column, that is,“ 8 ”. As shown in the figure, “mode switching” is assigned to “0”.

  In this mode, the icon for selecting the image part shown on the right side of the screen is moved up and down with the numeric keys “2” and “8” and determined with “5”.

  The image parts determined here (for example, “eyebrows”) can be arranged on the basic image in the detailed mode shown in FIG. 6.

  In the detailed mode, since an image part (for example, “eyebrows”) has already been selected, it is possible to perform an operation of placing the image part (eyebrows) on the basic image of the face that has already been completed.

  In this mode, “part switching” is assigned to “1”, and the type of image parts (for example, “eyebrows”, “eyes”, “nose”) can be switched to another. . “3” is assigned “color change”, and the color of the image part (for example, the color of “eyebrows”) can be changed. Further, “Rotation” (counterclockwise) is assigned to “7”, (Clockwise) is assigned to “9”, and the image part (for example, “eyebrows”) is rotated by a predetermined angle. Be able to. Thereby, for example, the eyebrows can be lifted or a blurred expression can be obtained.

  Furthermore, “reduction” and “enlargement” functions are assigned to “*” and “#”, respectively, so that the size of image parts (for example, “eyebrows”) can be reduced or enlarged.

  Further, “mode switching” is assigned to “0”, and it is possible to return to the above-described main mode (state of FIG. 5).

  In this way, a portrait can be easily created by assigning functions to change the arrangement of image parts, attributes of image parts, and arrangement positions so that the user can easily do it in accordance with the arrangement state of the numeric keys of the mobile phone terminal. Can be created.

  The caricature data in the combined state of the image parts generated in this way is transmitted from the mobile phone terminal to the server via the network.

The main controller (CPU) of the server activates a save program (material save program) stored in the hard disk device (HD) and registers the received portrait data in a database (material database). At this time, an image ID (material ID) is assigned to the portrait data, and is registered in the database in association with the parameter values (or the respective image part IDs) of the image parts constituting the portrait data. At this time, the arrangement information of each image part is also registered in the database in association with the image ID.

  Next, when the still image generation program is started, the main control device (CPU) of the server functions as a conversion control unit, and the flash synthesis program stored in the hard disk device (HD) is started. The flash composition program reads out image part parameters from a database (material database) based on the material ID of the caricature data, reads out image part data corresponding to the parameters from the caricature part group database (swf), and performs a caricature flash. (Composed of swf files) is generated. Thus, since the image parts of the portrait data generated by the user are managed by the material ID, the portrait data generated by the user can be easily regenerated by reading out the material ID.

  Next, the still image generation program read into the central control unit (CPU) generates a single still image file (JPEG, GIF, PNG, etc.) from the regenerated portrait flash data (swf file). The still image file generated in this way is also registered in the database in association with the material ID.

  Since the still image file thus completed is a single image file, it can be downloaded to the user's mobile phone terminal via the network and displayed as an image file. It is also possible to send the image file thus completed to other users as attachment data attached to an e-mail.

  Furthermore, by reducing the image file, it can be used as an icon or a pictograph. For example, an image file of the portrait data can be used as a pictograph by inserting it into an e-mail transmitted from a mobile phone terminal. In this case, the mail itself can be used as a part of a so-called decoration mail (decoration mail) which is transmitted as an image file, or can be registered in the external character area and used as an external character of a normal character.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the portrait data generated by the user can be generally used for e-mails, blogs, and the like as pictographs and icons representing the user.

  On the other hand, based on the portrait data composed of a single file, the image parts can be rearranged and changed again as a portrait.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 3, when the portrait data (still image file) is displayed on the mobile phone terminal and it is desired to change the portrait data, the image ID attached to the portrait data (this is the image file). May be embedded in the file name or may be included in the file name).

  In the server, the server is searched based on the received image ID, the parameters of the image parts constituting the portrait data are read out, and downloaded to the mobile phone terminal.

  On the mobile phone terminal, restart the caricature generation program (flash), and select the dynamic icon located on the right side of the basic image of the caricature located in the center of the screen with the numeric keys. Re-selecting image parts such as eyes, nose, mouth, etc., and rearranging these image parts on the basic image using the same numeric keys, may recreate the caricature data.

If this function is used, the caricature data created once is registered in the database in which the respective image parts and the arrangement information are associated with the image ID, so even if converted to a still image file, the image part is used with the image ID as a key. Therefore, the user himself / herself or a different user can change the caricature or generate another caricature based on the caricature.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used in a business field in which an image is easily generated by combining image parts on a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone.

Explanatory drawing which shows embodiment of this invention The figure for demonstrating the production | generation procedure of the portrait data and still image of embodiment The figure for demonstrating the procedure which changes and recreates a portrait by reconverting from a still image into portrait data in embodiment The figure for demonstrating the screen of the main mode and detailed mode at the time of portrait generation in embodiment The figure for demonstrating the function allocation of the number key of the mobile telephone terminal in the main mode The figure for demonstrating the function assignment of the number key of the cellular phone terminal in the detailed mode The block diagram which shows the structure of the server in embodiment.

Claims (3)

An image management system comprising a server connected to a mobile terminal via a network, and managing image data generated by combining image parts downloaded from the server by operating the mobile terminal with the server,
The server includes an image database for registering image data generated by combining an image part and the image part in association with the image ID;
The image database is managed, and has a conversion control unit that converts image data generated by combining the image parts into a single image file,
A terminal that downloads the image part and an image processing program for generating image data by combining the image part and arranging the image part from the server via the network, and controls the activation of the image processing program. A control unit; a memory for registering the image parts and an image processing program; a display unit for displaying the image parts and image data; and an operation unit for determining an arrangement position of the displayed image parts. Have
The portable terminal downloads image parts and an image processing program from the server to a memory via a network,
The terminal control unit of the portable terminal activates the image processing program, determines the position of the image part displayed on the display unit by operating the operation unit of the operator,
The terminal control unit of the mobile terminal transmits the combination information of the image parts to a server via a network,
The conversion control unit of the server that has received the combination information of the image parts registers the combination information of the image parts in the image database in association with the image ID, and uses the combination of image parts based on the combination information of the image parts. Convert the displayed image into a single image file and associate it with the image ID, and send it to the mobile terminal via a network.
The mobile terminal that has received the single image file stores the image file in the memory and stores the image file in advance in the memory of the mobile terminal by an operation from the operation unit when inputting characters as pictographs. Image management system that can be displayed on the display unit together with the character data. The operation unit of the mobile terminal is composed of numeric keys including symbols,
The numeric keys are matrix keys arranged in 4 rows × 3 columns, and the decision function is assigned to the numeric keys arranged in the second row and the second column, and the up arrow is added to the numeric keys arranged in the first row and the second column. 2. The image management system according to claim 1, wherein a function is assigned and a down arrow function is assigned to the third row and the second column.   In addition to the above, the number key in the first row, first column or third row, first column is assigned a rotation function for displaying the image part at a position rotated counterclockwise, and the first row, third column or third row, third row. 3. The image management system according to claim 2, wherein a rotation function for displaying the image part at a position obtained by rotating the image part in a clockwise direction is assigned to the numeric key in the column.

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