JP2006109092A - Image distribution system, its control method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image distribution system, its control method, and a program by which advertisement which a user desires is added to image data even in equipment such as a digital camera or a personal digital assistant whose performance is low and function is restricted. <P>SOLUTION: The image distribution system 100 has the digital camera 102, an advertisement proxy server 103a and a client 105 connected one another via a network 101, the digital camera 102 distributes the photographed image data 50A to the client 105 through relay of the advertisement proxy server 103a. An image distribution device sets one of a plurality of advertisements stored by the advertisement proxy server 103a according to user selection and the set advertisement is added to the image data 50A by the advertisement proxy server 103a. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image distribution system, a control method therefor, and a program, and in particular, an image taken by an image distribution device such as a digital camera is redistributed to an image display device after an image relay device adds an advertisement. The present invention relates to an image distribution system, a control method thereof, and a program.

  In recent years, with the spread of digital cameras with network connection functions and mobile terminals with image shooting functions, there is a demand for distributing images taken with these digital cameras and mobile terminals directly via the network. It is growing among general users.

On the other hand, as a technique for adding an advertisement to distribution data, a method for adding an advertisement to an HTML page (for example, see Patent Document 1), a method for adding an advertisement to image data (for example, see Patent Document 2), and e-mail A method for adding an advertisement has been conventionally known.
JP 2002-202931 A JP 2003-259327 A

  However, since the amount of data of images taken with digital cameras, portable terminals, etc. is enormous, even if a system for distributing such images is created, the user of this system bears the entire communication cost as an image distribution fee. In this case, there is a problem that the image distribution fee becomes very high.

  In addition, this problem can be solved by adding advertisements to images taken with digital cameras, portable terminals, etc., and refunding advertisement distribution fees to users. Digital cameras, portable terminals, etc. For devices with low performance and limited functions, it is difficult to immediately perform processing for adding advertisements to distribution data on the device.

  Further, in the above-described conventional method for adding advertisements to distribution data, an advertisement provided by an advertisement provider or an advertisement that is uniformly selected according to user information such as a user's age gender and preference is displayed on a digital camera or mobile phone. There is a problem that the user cannot select an advertisement that the user wants to add to the image because the image is added to the image captured by the terminal or the like.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an image distribution system that can add an advertisement desired by a user to image data even in an image distribution apparatus with low performance and limited functions such as a digital camera or a portable terminal, and a control method therefor And providing a program.

  In order to achieve the above object, an image distribution system according to claim 1 includes an image distribution device, an image relay device, and an image display device connected to each other via a network, and the image distribution device captures captured image data. In the image distribution system for distributing the image to the image display device via the relay of the image relay device, an advertisement storage means for storing a plurality of advertisements in the image relay device, and the plurality of advertisements stored in the image distribution device An advertisement setting means for setting one of the two according to user selection, and an adding means for adding the advertisement set by the image relay apparatus to image data photographed by the image distribution apparatus. .

  In order to achieve the above object, an image distribution system according to claim 2 includes an image distribution device, an image relay device, and an image display device connected to each other via a network, and the image distribution device captures captured image data. In the image distribution system for distributing the image to the image display device via the relay of the image relay device, an advertisement storage means for storing a plurality of advertisements in the image relay device, and the plurality of advertisements stored in the image display device An advertisement setting means for setting one of the two according to user selection, and an adding means for adding the advertisement set by the image relay apparatus to image data photographed by the image distribution apparatus. .

  In order to achieve the above object, a control method according to claim 14 includes an image distribution device, an image relay device, and an image display device connected to each other via a network, and the image distribution device stores captured image data. In a control method of an image distribution system that distributes to the image display device via a relay of the image relay device, an advertisement storage step of storing a plurality of advertisements in the image relay device, and a plurality of the plurality stored in the image distribution device An advertisement setting step of setting one of the advertisements according to user selection, and an adding step of adding the set advertisement by the image relay device to the image data photographed by the image distribution device. And

  In order to achieve the above object, a control method according to claim 15 includes an image distribution device, an image relay device, and an image display device connected to each other via a network, and the image distribution device stores captured image data. In a control method of an image distribution system that distributes to the image display device via a relay of the image relay device, an advertisement storage step of storing a plurality of advertisements in the image relay device, and a plurality of the plurality stored in the image display device An advertisement setting step of setting one of the advertisements according to user selection, and an adding step of adding the set advertisement by the image relay device to the image data photographed by the image distribution device. And

  In order to achieve the above object, a program according to claim 16 includes an image distribution device, an image relay device, and an image display device connected to each other via a network, and the image distribution device stores the captured image data in the image distribution device. In an image distribution control program of an image distribution system that distributes to an image display device via a relay of an image relay device, an advertisement storage module that stores a plurality of advertisements in the image relay device, and the image storage device that stores the advertisement The computer executes an advertisement setting module for setting one of a plurality of advertisements according to user selection, and an additional module for adding the advertisement set by the image relay apparatus to the image data taken by the image distribution apparatus. It is characterized by making it.

  In order to achieve the above object, a program according to claim 17 includes an image distribution device, an image relay device, and an image display device connected to each other via a network, and the image distribution device stores captured image data in the image distribution device. In an image distribution control program of an image distribution system that distributes to an image display device via a relay of an image relay device, an advertisement storage module that stores a plurality of advertisements in the image relay device, and the image storage device that stores the advertisement storage module The computer executes an advertisement setting module for setting one of a plurality of advertisements according to user selection, and an additional module for adding the advertisement set by the image relay apparatus to the image data taken by the image distribution apparatus. It is characterized by making it.

  According to the image distribution system according to claim 1, the control method according to claim 14, and the program according to claim 16, a plurality of advertisements are stored in the image relay device, an advertisement setting means, an advertisement setting step, or an advertisement setting module ( (Hereinafter simply referred to as “advertising setting means”), one of the plurality of advertisements stored in the image distribution apparatus is set according to the user selection by the image distribution apparatus, and the set advertisement is photographed by the image distribution apparatus in the image relay apparatus. Therefore, even in an image distribution apparatus with low performance and limited functions such as a digital camera or a portable terminal, an advertisement desired by the image distributor as a user is added to the distributor image data. Can do.

  According to the image distribution system according to claim 2, the control method according to claim 15, and the program according to claim 17, a plurality of advertisements are stored in the image relay device, and the image display device stores the advertisement in the image display device. Since one of a plurality of advertisements is set according to user selection, and the advertisement set above by the image relay apparatus is added to the image data photographed by the image distribution apparatus, performance such as a digital camera or a portable terminal is achieved. Even in a low-function image display device, an advertisement desired by an image recipient who is a user can be added to the distributor image data.

  According to the image distribution system of claim 3, the same advertisement as the plurality of advertisements is stored in association with the plurality of search conditions in another image relay apparatus, and one of the plurality of search conditions is stored in the advertisement setting means. Set according to user selection, extract advertisements that match the search conditions set by other image relay devices from the stored advertisements in association with the plurality of search conditions, and display the extracted advertisements as a list An advertisement list is created, and advertisements selected by the user from the advertisement list created by the advertisement setting means are set as the advertisements set above, so only the advertisements that meet a certain search condition, not all of the plurality of advertisements, are listed in the advertisement list. As an image distribution device or an image display device.

  According to the image delivery system of claim 4, since the plurality of search conditions include position information of the image delivery device, the advertisement desired by the user is surely added to the image data photographed by the image delivery device. Can do.

  According to the image delivery system of claim 5, since the plurality of search conditions include position information of the image display device, the advertisement desired by the user is surely added to the image data photographed by the image delivery device. Can do.

  According to the image delivery system of claim 6, since the plurality of search conditions include user information of the image delivery device, the advertisement desired by the user is surely added to the image data photographed by the image delivery device. be able to.

  According to the image delivery system of claim 7, since the plurality of search conditions include user information of the image display device, the advertisement desired by the user is surely added to the image data photographed by the image delivery device. be able to.

  According to the image delivery system of claim 8, the plurality of search conditions include shooting date / time information of an image taken by the image delivery device, so that different advertisements are provided depending on whether the shooting time is daytime or nighttime. Can be added to the image data photographed by the image distribution apparatus, or an advertisement suitable for the season of photographing can be added to the image data photographed by the image distribution apparatus.

  According to the image distribution system method of claim 9, the advertisement setting means associates the advertisement selected by the user from the created advertisement list and the search condition for the advertisement displayed in the advertisement list last time. When the search condition stored last time is the same as the search condition set this time by the user selection, the image data obtained by photographing the advertisement stored in association with the search condition by the image distribution device Since an advertisement to be added is set to an advertisement, it is possible to simplify the user operation when a search condition selected in the past by the user is selected again, and to display a plurality of images. It is possible to minimize the display frequency of the advertisement list with a large load on the memory.

  According to the image delivery system of claim 10, the image relay device stores the expiration date of each of the plurality of advertisements, extracts the expiration date of the set advertisement from the stored expiration date, and sets the advertisement When the expiration date extracted in (1) is before the current date, the search condition for the advertisement with the expiration date is extracted from the stored search condition, and the extracted search condition is retransmitted to another image relay apparatus. Therefore, it is possible to reliably hold the expiration date of the advertisement.

  According to the image distribution system of claim 11, the image relay apparatus stores the contact information of the provider of each of the plurality of advertisements, and the set advertisement provider from the stored provider contact information. The contact information of the above-mentioned advertisement is extracted, the delivery time of the set advertisement is stored, the advertisement delivery fee is periodically calculated according to the stored delivery time, and the bill notification of the calculated advertisement delivery fee is Since it is transmitted to the contact information of the extracted provider, it is possible to reliably charge the advertisement distribution fee during a certain period to the provider.

  According to the image distribution system of claim 12, the image relay apparatus stores the contact information of the distributor who has captured the image data to which the set advertisement is added by the image distribution apparatus. Since the refund advertisement delivery fee to the distributor is periodically calculated according to the delivery time, and the refund notice of the calculated refund advertisement delivery fee is sent to the stored distributor contact information, The advertisement distribution fee during a certain period can be refunded reliably.

  According to the image delivery system of claim 13, the image relay device stores the contact information of the recipient who received the image data to which the set advertisement is added by the image display device, and stores the stored contact information. Since the refund advertisement delivery fee to the recipient is calculated periodically according to the delivery time, and the refund notice of the calculated refund advertisement delivery fee is sent to the contact address of the stored recipient. The advertisement distribution fee during a certain period can be refunded reliably.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  In the following description, descriptions of operations and functions of the image distribution system and the image distribution apparatus that are already widely known will be omitted as appropriate.

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

  In FIG. 1, an image distribution system 100 includes a digital camera 102 (image distribution apparatus) that distributes image data 50A composed of a captured still image or moving image via a network 101, and an advertisement database 104a (advertisement) that holds a plurality of advertisements. Advertising proxy server 103a that redistributes the image data with advertisement 50B, which is obtained by adding one of a plurality of advertisements held in the advertisement database 104a to the image data 50A from the digital camera 102 via the network 101. (Image relay device) and a list database 104b that holds the same advertisement as the advertisement database 104a in association with various data shown in FIG. 7 to be described later, and displays a part of the advertisement held in the list database 104b. Create ad list data and create this ad An advertisement proxy server 103b (another image relay apparatus) that transmits browsing data to the digital camera 102 via the network 101, and a client 105 (an image display apparatus) that receives and displays the advertisement-attached image data 50B from the advertisement proxy server 103a. These are connected to each other via the network 101.

  The client 105 only needs to have means for receiving the advertisement-attached image data 50B from the network 101 and means for displaying the received advertisement-attached image data 50B. For example, the client 105 includes a PC, a PDA, a digital camera, or the like. The

  In FIG. 1, the data distributed from the digital camera 102 is the image data 50A. However, the data can be added by the advertisement proxy server 103a and is not particularly limited. For example, text data, still image data Any of the image data of a moving image may be sufficient.

  As shown in FIG. 7A, the advertisement database 104a held by the advertisement proxy server 103a includes advertisement name data 701 for recording the advertisement name for one advertisement and image data 50A as resource information of the advertisement. Resource information data 702 to be recorded, advertisement proxy data 703 to record data such as the name of the provider (advertisement proxy) of the advertisement and its contact information, distribution record data 704 to record distribution record information of the advertisement, and the advertisement And flag data 705 for recording a process end flag indicating that the advertisement distribution charge request process of FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 7B, the distribution record data 704 further includes a distributor who records information (for example, name, gender, age, location information, etc.) of the user of the digital camera 102 that distributes the image data 50A. To the client 105 of the information data 711, the receiver information data 712 that records information (for example, name, sex, age, location information, etc.) of the user of the client 105 that receives the image data with advertisement 50B, and the client 105 of the image data with advertisement 50B. Distribution start time data 713 for recording the distribution start time, and distribution end time data 714 for recording the distribution end time.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 7C, the list database 104b held by the advertisement proxy server 103b includes advertisement name data 721 for recording the advertisement name for one advertisement and image data as resource information of the advertisement. Resource information data 722 that records 50A, genre data 723 that records the genre of the advertisement, and places that are closely related to the advertisement (for example, places such as stations, airports, tourist spots, etc. for travel agency advertisements) Data 724, date / time information data 725 for storing date / time information such as shooting time and season of the image data 50A, and advertisement proxy name data 726 for recording the name of the advertisement provider (advertisement proxy).

  In this embodiment, the advertisement proxy server is composed of two advertisement proxy servers 103a and 103b. However, the advertisement proxy server 103a or the advertisement proxy server 103b has both the advertisement database 104a and the list database 104b. The above-described redistribution and advertisement list data creation / delivery may all be performed, or a plurality of advertisement proxy servers 103a and 103b may exist.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of the digital camera 102 in FIG.

  In FIG. 2, the digital camera 102 captures a subject and outputs a video signal, and a main storage device 202 mainly configured with a semiconductor memory to which a video signal output from the imaging unit 201 is input. A video signal from the image pickup unit 201 and a reproduction signal from the main storage device 202 are input, and an LCD output unit 203 that displays the video signal on a liquid crystal screen; And an image processing unit 205 that performs image processing such as capture processing and compression processing of an input video signal based on a control signal from a control unit 207 to be described later.

  The digital camera 102 also includes an input unit 206 that handles various user operation buttons and input from a touch panel, a CPU 208, and a program memory 209, and controls the components stored in the program memory 209. A control unit 207 that is operated by the control of the CPU 208 according to the procedure, an I / F unit 210 that records image data output from the image processing unit 205 and image data input from the control unit 207 in a removable medium 211, and a network 101, the image data output from the image processing unit 205 and the image data input from the control unit 207 are distributed as photographed images to the advertisement proxy servers 103a and 103b and the client 105, or connection requests from each of them. I / F that accepts And a 212.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a procedure of image distribution processing executed by the image distribution system 100 of FIG.

  In FIG. 3, first, when the digital camera 102 acquires image data 50A by moving image shooting (YES in step S301), the digital camera 102 distributes the image data 50A to the advertisement proxy server 103a via the network 101 (step S302).

  Next, when the advertisement proxy server 103a receives the image data 50A distributed in step S302 (YES in step S303), the advertisement proxy server 103a executes image data creation processing with an advertisement shown in FIG. The image data with advertisement 50B is created by adding one of the plurality of advertisements held in (Step S304), and the image data with advertisement 50B is redistributed to the client 105 via the network 101 (Step S305).

  When the client 105 receives the advertisement-attached image data 50B redistributed from the advertisement proxy server 103a (YES in step S306), the received advertisement-attached image data 50B is used as the advertisement-attached moving image display screen 600 (FIG. 6). Displayed above (step S307), the process is terminated. As shown in FIG. 6, the moving image display screen with advertisement 600 in step S <b> 307 displays image data with advertisement 50 </ b> B composed of image data 50 </ b> A and advertisement 510.

  In this process, the advertisement proxy server 103a is always connected to the client 105, but may be periodically connected to the client 105. In this case, until the advertisement proxy server 103a connects to the client 105, even if the process of step S304 ends, the process of step S303 to step S304 is repeated without proceeding to the process of step S305.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the moving image creation processing with advertisement in step S304 of FIG.

  4, first, the digital camera 102 displays the operation screen 500 (FIG. 5A) (step S401).

  The operation screen 500 includes a moving image display unit 501 that displays the image data 50A captured by the digital camera 102 in step S301, and a designation menu display unit 502 that displays selection conditions for advertisements displayed in the advertisement list data in a user-selectable manner. And an advertisement list acquisition button 503.

  The designation menu 502 includes a genre selection bar 502a for displaying a general selection of advertisement genres that the user wants to add to the image data 50A, such as travel, sports, cars, meals, and the like. In the case of an airport, a travel-related advertisement is displayed. In the case of a tourist spot, a photograph that displays a plurality of place names in a user-selectable manner so that advertisements suitable for the tourist spot are listed in the advertisement list data. Shooting of the image data 50A so that the location selection bar 502b and different advertisements can be used depending on whether the shooting time is daytime or nighttime, or an advertisement suitable for the shooting season can be added to the image data 50A. A shooting date and time selection bar 502c that displays the date and time in a user-selectable manner and an advertisement proxy server that transmits the advertisement list data in step S402 are displayed in a user-selectable manner. And a proxy selection bar 502d.

  The advertisement list acquisition button 503 sets a condition selected by the selection bars 502a to 502d as an advertisement extraction condition to be displayed in the advertisement list data when this button is selected by the user.

  Returning to FIG. 4, the digital camera 102 selects the user of the selection condition from each of the selection bars 502 a to 502 d of the operation screen 500 displayed in step S 401 (YES in step S 402), and then the user of the advertisement list acquisition button 503. When there is a selection (YES in step S403), an advertisement list transmission request is transmitted to the advertisement proxy server 103b via the network 101 (step S404). When the advertisement proxy server 103b receives this transmission request (YES in step S405), the advertisement proxy server 103b extracts image data of advertisements that meet the selection conditions selected by the users in the selection bars 502a to 502d from the list database 104b. Advertisement list data for displaying a list of the image data is created (step S406), and the advertisement list data is transmitted to the digital camera 102 via the network 101 (step S407). As a result, not all the image data of advertisements held in the list database 104b but only advertisements that meet a certain search condition can be displayed as an advertisement list on the digital camera 102, and the performance of the digital camera 102 is limited due to low performance. Even in such a case, the advertisement 501 desired by the distributor can be surely added to the image data 50A.

  The digital camera 102 determines whether or not the advertisement list data has been received from the advertisement proxy server 103b for a certain period after the advertisement list transmission request in step S404 has been made (step S408), and has not been received. When this happens, a warning message is displayed to notify the user of the digital camera 102 (step S409), and a selection bar is selected so that the selection condition previously selected by the user in step S402 cannot be selected by the advertisement proxy selection bar 502d of FIG. After the display is deleted from 502a to 502d (step S410), the processing after step S401 is repeated.

  On the other hand, when the advertisement list data is received as a result of the determination in step S408, the digital camera 102 displays an advertisement selection screen 504 (FIG. 5B) based on the advertisement list data (step S411).

  The advertisement selection screen 504 scrolls a condition display unit 504a that displays a user-selected condition, an advertisement display unit 504b that displays an advertisement that meets the user-selected condition, and an advertisement display unit 504b. Scroll buttons 504c, 504d, a preview button 504e for previewing a state where the selected advertisement is added to the image data 50A, and a decision to determine the advertisement selected by the user when the button is pressed as an advertisement to be added to the image data 50A A button 504f and a cancel button 504g for displaying the operation screen 500 again without determining an advertisement to be added to the image data 50A when the button is pressed are provided.

  In addition, when one of the advertisements displayed on the advertisement display unit 504b is selected, the digital camera 102 displays the outer frame thickly like a screen 510. As a result, the user can confirm which advertisement is recognized by the digital camera 102 as being selected by the user.

  Returning to FIG. 4, the digital camera 102 selects one of the advertisements displayed on the advertisement display unit 504b of the advertisement selection screen 504 displayed in step S411 (YES in step S412), and then presses the enter button 504f. It is determined whether or not a button has been pressed (step S413), and if the enter button 504f is not pressed and the cancel button 504g is pressed, the processing from step S401 onward is repeated.

  On the other hand, if the determination button 504f is pressed as a result of the determination in step S413, an advertisement to be added to the image data 50A is set to the advertisement (advertisement 510) selected by the user, and the image data is stored in the advertisement proxy server 103b. A request to add the advertisement (advertisement 510) set to 50A is transmitted to the advertisement proxy server 103a (step S414).

  When receiving the addition request (YES in step S415), the advertisement proxy server 103a extracts the image data of the advertisement 510 requested to be added from the advertisement database 104a, and the image data of the extracted advertisement is transmitted in step S302. The image data with advertisement 50B (FIG. 1) attached to the image data 50A is created (step S416), and this process ends.

  According to the processing of FIGS. 3 and 4, the digital camera 102 sets the advertisement 510 as an advertisement to be added to the image data 50A according to the user selection, and transmits an addition request to the advertisement proxy server 103a (step S414). When the proxy server 103a receives the addition request (YES in step S415), the proxy server 103a extracts the advertisement set by the digital camera 102 from the advertisement database 104a, and the extracted image is captured and distributed by the digital camera 102. Since it is added to the data 50A (step S416) and transmitted to the client 105 (step S305), even if the performance of the digital camera 102 is low and the functions are limited as in a normal digital camera, the digital camera 102 An image of the user's desired advertisement It can be added to over data 50A.

  4 is performed after the image data 50A captured in step S301 in FIG. 3 is transmitted to the advertisement proxy server 103a. Before the captured image data 50A is transmitted to the advertisement proxy server 103a, the process illustrated in FIG. An advertisement addition request may be made. Thereby, it is possible to minimize the period during which the advertisement proxy server 103 retains the image data 50A without adding an advertisement.

  4 may be performed by the client 105 (FIG. 11) (first modified example of the moving image creation process with an advertisement in FIG. 4).

  In the present embodiment, the advertisement list data is transmitted from the advertisement proxy server 103b (step S407) when a user is selected by various selection bars (YES in step S402), but is not limited to this. For example, when the user selection is not made, a list of advertisements determined in advance by the advertisement proxy server 103 may be acquired, and the digital camera 102 has a position detection function. May be configured such that a list corresponding to the current position of the digital camera 102 is selected from the locations stored in the location data 703 and a list of advertisements corresponding to the location is acquired. Furthermore, user information data for storing information (user information) such as the gender and age of the target user for each advertisement is provided in the list database 104b, and digital information is obtained from the user information stored in the user information data. You may comprise so that the thing corresponding to the sex, age, etc. of the user of the camera 102 may be selected, and the advertisement list corresponding to the user information may be acquired. As described above, by acquiring the advertisement list data based on the current position of the digital camera 102, the gender, age, etc. of the user of the digital camera 102, the image receiver or the image who is the user of the digital camera 102 or the client 105 is obtained. The advertisement desired by the distributor can be surely added to the image data 50A.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the advertisement distribution fee calculation process executed by the image system distribution system 100 of FIG.

  In this process, the initial setting of the process end flag recorded in the flag data 705 in FIG. 7A is all ON.

  In FIG. 8, first, when the advertisement proxy server 103a starts redistribution in step S305 in FIG. 3 (YES in step S801), the distribution start time data 713 in the distribution record data 704 (FIG. 7) is set with that time as the distribution start time. (B)) is written (step S802), and then the re-distribution started in step S801 is completed (YES in step S803), the distribution end time data 714 of the distribution record data 704 is set with the time as the distribution end time (FIG. 7). (B)) is written (step S804). Further, among the process end flags recorded in the flag data 705, the process end flag of the advertisement whose redistribution is started in step S801 is turned OFF.

  Next, the advertisement proxy server 103a determines whether or not the current date is the end of the month (step S805). If it is not the end of the month, the processing from step S801 is repeated, and if it is the end of the month, the flag data of FIG. The advertisement provided by one advertisement proxy in the advertisement proxy data 703 is extracted from the advertisements whose processing end flag recorded in 705 is OFF, and the total delivery time for one month of all the extracted advertisements is calculated. The distribution record data 704 is totaled (step S806). In step S805 of this process, it is determined whether or not the current date is the end of the month. However, the present invention is not limited to this as long as the processes after step S806 are periodically performed.

  Thereafter, the advertisement proxy server 103a calculates a value obtained by multiplying the advertisement distribution fee per unit time by the total time collected as the advertisement distribution fee of the one advertisement proxy (step S807), and After the location information is extracted from the advertisement proxy data 703 (step S808), a notification that the calculated advertisement distribution fee is charged is transmitted based on the extracted location information of the one advertisement proxy (step S809). The processing end flag of all advertisements provided by the one advertisement proxy is set to ON (step S810).

  The processes in steps S806 to S810 are performed for all advertisement proxies in the advertisement proxy data 705 (YES in step S811), and this process ends.

  According to FIG. 8, the image distribution system 100 can reliably charge the advertisement distribution fee during the period to the advertisement proxy that provided the advertisement of the image data with advertisement 50B distributed during the certain period.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the procedure of a first modification of the advertisement distribution fee calculation process of FIG.

  The process in FIG. 9 is basically the same as the process in FIG. 8, and the same steps as those in FIG. Only will be described.

  9, the advertisement proxy server 103a writes the advertisement distribution record for one month in the distribution record data 704 by the processing of steps S801 to S805 in FIG. 8, and then the process end flag recorded in the flag data 705 in FIG. Of the advertisements for which “OFF” is selected, one of the distribution record data 704 added to the image data captured by the digital camera 102 is extracted, and the total distribution time for one month of all the extracted advertisements is calculated. The distribution record data 704 is totaled (step S902).

  After that, the advertisement proxy server 103a calculates a refund advertisement distribution fee for the one distributor as a value obtained by multiplying the refund advertisement distribution fee per unit time by the aggregated total distribution time (step S903). The location information of the distributor is extracted from the distributor information data 711 of the distribution record data 704 (step S904), and a notification that the calculated refund advertisement distribution fee is refunded is the location of the one distributor extracted above. After transmission based on the information (step S905), an advertisement processing end flag for one distributor is turned ON (step S906).

  The processes in steps S902 to S906 are performed for all distributors in the distribution record data 704 (step S907), and this process ends.

  According to FIG. 9, the image distribution system 100 reliably refunds the refund advertisement distribution fee during the period to the distributor who captured the image data 50 </ b> A with the advertisement added during the certain period with the digital camera 102. Can do.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the second modification of the advertisement distribution fee calculation process of FIG.

  The process in FIG. 10 is basically the same as the process in FIG. 8, and the same steps as those in FIG. Only will be described.

  10, the advertisement proxy server 103a writes the advertisement distribution record for one month in the distribution record data 704 by the processing in steps S801 to S805 in FIG. 8, and then the process end flag recorded in the flag data 705 in FIG. Of the advertisements that are OFF, the one added to the image data received by one receiver in the distribution record data 704 is extracted, and the total distribution time for one month for all the extracted advertisements is distributed and recorded Data is collected from the data 704 (step S1002).

  Thereafter, the advertisement proxy server 103a calculates a value obtained by multiplying the refunded advertisement delivery fee per unit time by the aggregated total delivery time as the refunded advertisement delivery fee for the one recipient (step S1003), The location information of the recipient is extracted from the recipient information data 712 of the distribution record data 704 (step S1004), and the notification that the calculated refund advertisement delivery fee is refunded is the location of the one recipient extracted above. After transmission based on the information (step S1005), the advertisement processing end flag for one distributor is turned ON (step S1006). The processes in steps S1002 to S1006 are performed for all distributors in the distribution record data 704 (step S1007), and this process is terminated.

  According to FIG. 10, the image distribution system 100 can reliably refund the refund advertisement distribution fee during the period to the recipient who has received the image data with advertisement 50 </ b> B at the client 105 during a certain period.

  In the processing of FIGS. 8 to 10, the case where only one advertisement is added to the image data 50 </ b> A has been described, but two or more advertisements may be added.

  Hereinafter, a second modification of the advertisement-added image data creation process of FIG. 4 will be described.

  The configuration of this modification is basically the same as that of the image distribution system 100 described above. The same components are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted, and different components will be described below.

  In the digital camera 102, a new selection condition is selected by each of the selection bars 502a to 502d of the operation screen 500, and one request for adding an advertisement displayed in the advertisement list data created by the advertisement proxy server 103b is sent to the advertisement proxy server. It further has storage means (not shown) for storing the advertisement addition request and the selection condition in association with each other every time it is transmitted to 103a.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 15, the list database 104a held by the advertisement proxy server 102a further includes usage time limit data 706 for recording the usage time limit for one advertisement in addition to the data of FIG. 7A.

  12 and 13 are flowcharts showing the procedure of the second modified example of the moving image creation processing with advertisement of FIG.

  The processes in FIGS. 12 and 13 are basically the same as the processes in FIG. 4, the same steps as those in FIG. 4 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted. Only different parts will be described.

  In FIG. 12, first, the digital camera 102 displays the operation screen 500, and after the user is selected by the selection bars 502a to 502d on the screen, the user selects the advertisement list acquisition button 503 (step S401 to S403), the digital camera 102 determines whether or not the selection condition selected by the user in step S402 is stored in the storage means (not shown) in the digital camera 102 (step S1201), and is not stored. In this case, the advertisement list transmission request is transmitted to the advertisement proxy server 103b, and when advertisement list data is received from the advertisement proxy server 103b for a certain period thereafter (YES in steps S404 to S408), the advertisement list is sent. The advertisement selection screen 504 based on the data (FIG. 5B) is displayed (step S4). 1).

  Next, when one of the advertisements displayed on the advertisement display unit 504b of the advertisement selection screen 504 is selected by the user and the determination button 504f is pressed (steps S412 and S413), the advertisement selected by the user in step S412 And the selection condition selected by the user in step S402 are stored in the storage means (step S1202), and the addition request is transmitted to the advertisement proxy server 103a (step S414). Proceed to processing.

  On the other hand, as a result of the determination in step S1201, when the selection condition selected by the user in each of the selection bars 502a to 502d is stored in the storage unit, the advertisement associated with the stored selection condition is displayed. An additional request is called from the storage means, and the called additional request is transmitted to the advertisement proxy server 103a (step S414), and the process proceeds to step S415 and the subsequent steps.

  In step S415, when receiving the addition request from the digital camera 102, the advertisement proxy server 103a determines whether or not the advertisement for which the addition request has been made has expired (step S1205). A notification to that effect is transmitted to the digital camera 102 (step S1206). The determination processing in step S1205 is performed in the list database 104a (FIG. 15) held by the advertisement proxy server 103a, and from the expiration date data 706 that records the expiration date for each advertisement, When the calling expiration date is before the current date, it is determined that the usage expiration date has expired.

  Next, when the digital camera 102 receives the notification in step S1206 from the advertisement proxy server 103a (YES in step S1207), the digital camera 102 displays a warning message (FIG. 14) to that effect (step S1208). Thereby, when the expiration date of the advertisement is exceeded, the user can know the fact.

  Thereafter, the selection condition associated with the advertisement addition request whose usage period has expired is called from the storage means (step S1209), and the processing from step S404 in FIG. 12 is performed. As a result, even if an advertisement list request has been sent under the same conditions before, the advertisement list request will be made again if the advertisement expiration date for the selected advertisement has expired. Can be held.

  12 and 13, when the digital camera 102 sets the advertisement 501 to the advertisement to be added to the image data 50A, the digital camera 102 associates the advertisement list transmission request with the storage means and stores it in the storage means. When the search condition set in accordance with the selection is the search condition stored in the storage means, the advertisement associated with this search condition is set as the advertisement 501, so that when the previously added advertisement is selected again User operations can be simplified, and the frequency of displaying the advertisement selection screen 504 with a large load on the memory of the digital camera 102 for displaying a plurality of images can be minimized.

  12 is performed between the digital camera 102 and the advertisement proxy servers 103a and 103b, but is not limited to this, and is performed between the client 105 and the advertisement proxy servers 103a and 103b. Also good.

  The present invention can be achieved by supplying a software program that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments to a CPU in the image distribution system 100, and the CPU reads and executes the supplied program.

  In this case, the program is directly supplied from a storage medium storing the program, or downloaded from another computer or database (not shown) connected to the Internet, a commercial network, a local area network, or the like. Supplied.

  The form of the program may be in the form of object code, program code executed by an interpreter, script data supplied to an OS (operating system), and the like.

  The present invention can also be achieved by supplying a CPU with a storage medium storing a software program for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments, and reading and executing the program stored in the storage medium. can do.

  In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

  As a storage medium for storing the program code, for example, ROM, RAM, NV-RAM, floppy (registered trademark) disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, MO, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD -ROM, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, DVD + RW, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, and the like.

  The function of the above-described embodiment is not only by executing the program code read from the computer, but the OS or the like running on the computer performs part or all of the actual processing based on the instruction of the program code. Can also be realized.

It is a figure which shows roughly the structure of the image delivery system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of the digital camera in FIG. 1. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the image delivery process performed by the image delivery system of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the animation production | generation process with an advertisement of step S304 of FIG. It is a figure which shows the operation screen displayed with the digital camera or client in FIG. It is a figure which shows the image data display screen with an advertisement displayed with the client in FIG. It is a figure which shows the structure of the advertisement database and list database in FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the advertisement delivery charge calculation process performed by the image system delivery system of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the 1st modification of the advertisement delivery charge calculation process of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the 2nd modification of the advertisement delivery charge calculation process of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the 1st modification of the moving image preparation process with an advertisement of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the 2nd modification of the moving image preparation process with an advertisement of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the continuation of the procedure of the 2nd modification of the animation production | generation process with an advertisement of FIG. FIG. 14 is a diagram used for explaining a warning message displayed on the digital camera 102 in step S1208 of FIG. 13. It is a figure which shows the structure of the modification of the advertisement database in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

50A image data 50B image data with advertisement 100 image distribution system 101 network 102 digital camera 103a, 103b advertisement proxy server 104a advertisement database 104b list database 105 client

Claims (17)

An image distribution device, an image relay device, and an image display device connected to each other via a network, wherein the image distribution device distributes photographed image data to the image display device via a relay of the image relay device In the distribution system,
Advertisement storage means for storing a plurality of advertisements in the image relay device;
An advertisement setting means for setting one of the plurality of advertisements stored in the image distribution device according to a user selection;
An image distribution system comprising: an adding unit that adds the advertisement set by the image relay device to image data captured by the image distribution device. An image distribution device, an image relay device, and an image display device connected to each other via a network, wherein the image distribution device distributes photographed image data to the image display device via a relay of the image relay device In the distribution system,
Advertisement storage means for storing a plurality of advertisements in the image relay device;
An advertisement setting means for setting one of the plurality of advertisements stored in the image display device according to a user selection;
An image distribution system comprising: an adding unit that adds the advertisement set by the image relay device to image data captured by the image distribution device. The image distribution system further includes another image relay device that relays the image distribution device and the image display device,
Search condition storage means for storing the same advertisement as the plurality of advertisements in association with a plurality of search conditions in the other image relay device;
Search condition setting means for setting one of the plurality of search conditions according to user selection by the advertisement setting means;
An advertisement extracting means for extracting an advertisement that meets the set search condition in the other image relay device from an advertisement stored in association with the plurality of search conditions;
An advertisement list creating means for creating an advertisement list for displaying a list of the extracted advertisements in the other image relay device;
The image distribution system according to claim 1, wherein an advertisement selected by the user from the advertisement list created by the advertisement setting unit is the set advertisement.   The image distribution system according to claim 3, wherein the plurality of search conditions include position information of the image distribution apparatus.   The image distribution system according to claim 3, wherein the plurality of search conditions include position information of the image display device.   The image distribution system according to claim 3, wherein the plurality of search conditions include user information of the image distribution apparatus.   The image distribution system according to claim 3, wherein the plurality of search conditions include user information of the image display device.   4. The image delivery system according to claim 3, wherein the plurality of search conditions include shooting date / time information of an image taken by the image delivery device. The advertisement setting means includes
Previously, comprising a previously set advertisement storage means for associating and storing the advertisement selected by the user from the created advertisement list and the search conditions for advertisements listed in the advertisement list,
When the previously stored search condition is the same as the search condition set this time by the user selection, the advertisement stored in association with the search condition is added to the image data photographed by the image distribution device. The image distribution system according to any one of claims 3 to 8, wherein the image distribution system is set to an advertisement. The image relay device includes:
An expiration date storage means for storing an expiration date of each of the plurality of advertisements;
A use time limit extracting means for extracting the set use time limit of the advertisement from the stored use time limit,
The advertisement setting means includes
Search condition extraction means for extracting a search condition for the advertisement of the expiration date from the stored search condition when the expiration date extracted by the image relay device is before the current date;
10. The image distribution system according to claim 3, further comprising a search condition retransmission unit configured to retransmit the extracted search condition to the other image relay apparatus. The image relay device includes:
Advertisement provider contact storage means for storing a provider contact of each of the plurality of advertisements;
Provider contact extraction means for extracting a contact information of the set advertisement provider from the stored provider contact information;
Advertisement delivery time storage means for storing the set advertisement delivery time;
An advertisement distribution fee calculating means for periodically calculating an advertisement distribution fee according to the stored distribution time;
The image delivery according to any one of claims 3 to 10, further comprising billing notice transmission means for sending a billing notice of the calculated advertisement delivery fee to the contact information of the extracted provider. system. The image relay device includes:
Distributor contact storage means for storing the contact information of the distributor who captured the image data to which the set advertisement is added by the image distribution device;
A distributor refund advertisement distribution fee calculating means for periodically calculating a refund advertisement distribution fee to the distributor according to the stored distribution time;
12. The image distribution system according to claim 11, further comprising distributor return notification transmission means for transmitting a refund notification of the calculated refund advertisement distribution fee to the stored distributor contact information. The image relay device includes:
Recipient contact storage means for storing the contact information of the receiver who receives the image data to which the set advertisement is added by the image display device;
A recipient refund advertisement distribution fee calculating means for periodically calculating a refund advertisement distribution fee to the recipient according to the stored distribution time;
13. The image distribution system according to claim 11 or 12, further comprising: a receiver refund notification transmission unit that transmits a refund notification of the calculated refund advertisement distribution fee to the stored recipient contact information. An image distribution device, an image relay device, and an image display device connected to each other via a network, wherein the image distribution device distributes photographed image data to the image display device via a relay of the image relay device In the control method of the distribution system,
An advertisement storage step of storing a plurality of advertisements in the image relay device;
An advertisement setting step of setting one of the plurality of advertisements stored in the image distribution device according to a user selection;
A control method comprising: an adding step of adding the advertisement set by the image relay apparatus to image data photographed by the image distribution apparatus. An image distribution device, an image relay device, and an image display device connected to each other via a network, wherein the image distribution device distributes photographed image data to the image display device via a relay of the image relay device In the control method of the distribution system,
An advertisement storage step of storing a plurality of advertisements in the image relay device;
An advertisement setting step of setting one of the plurality of advertisements stored in the image display device according to a user selection;
A control method comprising: an adding step of adding the advertisement set by the image relay apparatus to image data photographed by the image distribution apparatus. An image distribution device, an image relay device, and an image display device connected to each other via a network, wherein the image distribution device distributes photographed image data to the image display device via a relay of the image relay device In the image distribution control program of the distribution system,
An advertisement storage module for storing a plurality of advertisements in the image relay device;
An advertisement setting module for setting one of the plurality of advertisements stored in the image distribution device according to a user selection;
A program that causes a computer to execute an additional module that adds the advertisement set by the image relay apparatus to image data captured by the image distribution apparatus. An image distribution device, an image relay device, and an image display device connected to each other via a network, wherein the image distribution device distributes photographed image data to the image display device via a relay of the image relay device In the image distribution control program of the distribution system,
An advertisement storage module for storing a plurality of advertisements in the image relay device;
An advertisement setting module configured to set one of the plurality of advertisements stored in the image display device according to a user selection;
A program that causes a computer to execute an additional module that adds the advertisement set by the image relay apparatus to image data captured by the image distribution apparatus.

Images