KR20050109847A - System for providing image of electronic publication - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to providing an image of an electronic publication. In particular, in providing an offline medium such as a magazine or a newspaper online, the present invention is to provide various conveniences to a user who uses the electronic publication service instead of merely providing a paper service. It's about technology.

The present invention converts electronic publication image files of various formats into a predetermined image format, and converts them into a plurality of hierarchical images to have the same resolution for each magnification, and the converted hierarchical images are divided into a plurality of cells to be processed. Includes a database for storing publication images,

An electronic publication image providing system, comprising: an electronic publication image providing server that is accessible to a plurality of client terminals, provides a plug-in type image viewer program to a connected client terminal, and services the electronic publication images stored in the database. In the electronic publication image providing server is:

An electronic publication image providing unit which provides, in a streaming manner, image pages of an electronic publication requested from a connected client terminal among a plurality of serviced electronic publications;

And a visual index processor for providing reduced images of all image pages included in the electronic publication provided by the electronic publication image providing unit in response to the client terminal request.

Description

System for providing image publications

The present invention relates to providing an image of an electronic publication. In particular, in providing an offline medium such as a magazine or a newspaper online, the present invention is to provide various conveniences to a user who uses the electronic publication service instead of merely providing a paper service. It's about technology.

In general, electronic publication images are converted to digital media for off-line publishing media (newspapers, advertisements, catalogs, etc.) through specific software and hardware, and then supplied online through an electronic publishing system.

A general electronic publishing system can be divided into a text based system and an image based system. Text-based systems install a viewer on the client that reads text in the simplest way, and reads the text content through the viewer. Some systems contain only simple text, while others use HTML or XML markup languages to serve multimedia content together. Image-based system is suitable for providing online contents which need to provide original contents such as photographs, various colors and fonts, such as magazines, educational materials and catalogs online.

In the case of a text-based system, only the content of the original can be provided, and there is a disadvantage in that it does not provide visual meaning such as the original color, edit layout, font, and font size. In addition, in the case of image-based systems, the amount of content increases exponentially than text-based systems, so even in domestic environments with high-speed networks, high-quality contents cannot be serviced due to hardware and network speed limitations.

In other words, the quality of the content is relatively lower than that of the printed material because the service is performed at a resolution of 1/5 to 1/6 of the print medium. In addition, when the contents are produced in high resolution, there is a problem that the zooming and viewing speed is slow, which causes obstacles to the expansion and dissemination of electronic publishing contents.

In order to solve this problem, Patent Application Publication No. 2003-0092955 filed and published by the present applicant describes a method for real-time service of high quality digital images to client terminals connected through the Internet.

Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-0092955 has a high-resolution streaming video format (hereinafter referred to as IPQ format) to enable high-quality digital image service in real time without interruption. IPQ provides the ability to zoom in, zoom out, and pan high-resolution computer images at ultra-fast speeds, while also providing the same resolution regardless of the magnification that varies with image zoom. Since the technology for IPQ is a technology known by the applicant, detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The e-publishing system provided through the IPQ format is a system based on streaming e-book contents that can accommodate the advantages of the image-based system described above and provide high-quality contents similar to printed matters regardless of the performance of the network and client systems. . However, since the current electronic publishing system supports only a simple paper service, users using such a service may feel monotonous and feel inconvenient than using an actual offline publication.

The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide various functions so that users who use the electronic publication provided online can view the electronic publication more conveniently.

An electronic publication image providing server according to an aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object is accessible with a plurality of client terminals, and transmits an image viewer program to the connected client terminals. The image viewer program provided by the electronic publication image providing server is a program for viewing the above-described IPQ file.

When a specific electronic publication is selected at the client terminal among various electronic publications serviced by the server, images of the selected electronic publication are transmitted page by page. Accordingly, the client terminal user can view the electronic image in the IPQ format online.

When the server receives a request for index information on an electronic publication from a client terminal, it provides thumbnail images of all image pages included in the electronic publication. Accordingly, the client terminal user can easily know the page information through the visual index image rather than the text index such as offline.

The foregoing and further aspects of the present invention will become more apparent through the preferred embodiments described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail to enable those skilled in the art to easily understand and reproduce the present invention.

1 is a schematic network diagram of an electronic publication image providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The electronic publication image providing server according to the present invention is preferably connectable with a plurality of client terminals via the Internet. The electronic publication images serviced by the electronic publication image providing server are image data in the IPQ format described above. The electronic publication image providing server converts files having a plurality of formats such as PDF, JPG, TIF, PNG, and TGA into an IPQ format, which is a high resolution streaming video format, or receives and stores a file in the IPQ format converted by a separate device.

The IPQ format is converted from a file having a plurality of format formats described above, and converted into a plurality of hierarchical images having the same resolution for each magnification, and each hierarchical image is divided into a plurality of cells. Since the IPQ format is a known technique as described above, a detailed description thereof will be omitted. The electronic publication image providing server serves the client terminals to which the image data of the IPQ format is connected.

2 is a block diagram schematically illustrating an electronic publication image providing server according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. As shown, electronic publication image files of various formats are converted into a predetermined image format, and are converted into a plurality of hierarchical images to have the same resolution by magnification, and each converted hierarchical image is divided into a plurality of cells and processed. A database 100 for storing electronic publication images,

Provides an image of the plug-in image viewer program to the client terminal 200 to be connected to the plurality of client terminals 200 and to provide an electronic publication image for servicing the images of the electronic publication stored in the database 110. An electronic publication image providing system comprising a server (100), wherein the server (100) provides a streaming method for providing image pages of an electronic publication requested from a client terminal (200) to be connected among a plurality of serviced electronic publications. The electronic publication image providing unit 130 and the visual index processing unit 140 providing reduced images of all image pages included in the electronic publication provided by the electronic publishing image providing unit 130 according to a request of the client terminal 200. It includes.

The electronic publication image providing server 100 includes a database 110, a viewer program providing unit 110, an electronic publication image providing unit 130, a visual index processing unit 140, a search term processing unit 150, and a scrap. It includes a processor 160. The database 110 stores a plurality of electronic publications including image data in IPQ format format consisting of tens to hundreds of pages converted to IPQ format format. The format of the IPQ format is described in detail in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-0092955 filed and published by the present applicant as described above, and thus the description thereof is omitted.

The database 110 stores a plurality of electronic publications. Preferably, the metadata of the book, such as the author's name, book name, and publisher, is added and stored. These metadata can be used when looking for a specific electronic publication. For reference, meta data is defined as data for data. Meta data has an index for finding data, for example, path information of data stored in a database.

A plurality of data stored in the database each has metadata, and the data can be found by using metadata when searching data on a computer. For example, when you find something in a book that you want to find, the computer uses metadata to search for that data, just as you can easily find it using the table of contents in front of the book or the index behind the book.

The viewer program provider 120 provides the client terminal 200 with a dedicated viewer program of the IPQ format image. Preferably, the dedicated viewer program is installed in the client terminal 200 by a plug-in method. The plug-in method is connected to a web browser to execute various types of data and express the results. The viewer program providing unit 120 transmits a dedicated viewer program of the IPQ format image through the communication unit 170 to the client terminal 200 which is connected to the server 100 and logged in for the first time.

The client terminal 200 receives a dedicated image viewer program transmitted through the Internet network and automatically downloads it to a temporary storage space. The client terminal 200 displays a message asking whether to install the program on the display device, and if the user agrees to the installation, reads from the temporary storage space and installs the program.

The electronic publication image providing unit 130 preferably provides a list of various electronic publications serving the client terminal 200. Upon receiving selection information of a specific electronic publication from the client terminal 200, the electronic publication image providing unit 130 reads out image data of the electronic publication from the database 110. Preferably the image data of the electronic publication is data that has been paged and processed to make it feel like an offline medium.

When a specific image page is requested from the client terminal 200, the electronic publication image providing unit 130 transmits the requested image page data through the communication unit 170 in a streaming manner. The client terminal 200 receives an image page transmitted from the server 100 through an internet network and displays the image page on a screen through a dedicated viewer program.

When the user of the client terminal 200 requests various functions such as moving to the first page of the electronic publication, moving to the next page, moving to the previous page, moving to the last page, and jumping to a specific page by using various functions provided by the dedicated program, The electronic publication image providing unit 130 receives the request and provides the corresponding function.

The electronic publication image providing unit 130 according to an additional aspect of the present invention serves image pages for the electronic publication serving the client terminal 200 in a two page mode view. In addition, when the user of the client terminal 200 requests a page movement using a function provided by a dedicated program in the two-page mode view, the electronic publication image providing unit 130 may visually feel a three-dimensional page turning effect and page. Provides a sound effect that goes beyond.

In general, since the publications provided offline are provided to view two pages, the electronic publication image providing unit 130 provides an image page in a two page mode view so that the same effect can be felt online. In addition, the electronic publication image providing unit 130 provides a visual effect as if the actual page is turned when the page moves, and provides an effect sound for this. As a result, users who use electronic publications online can feel as if they are viewing a real book.

The visual index processing unit 140 preferably first reduces all image pages for each electronic publication, processes them as one data, and stores them in the database 110. When the client terminal 200 requests index information of a specific electronic publication, the visual index processing unit 140 reads out data consisting of all reduced images of the electronic publication from a database and communicates with the client terminal 200 through the communication unit 170. To send. The client terminal 200 receives data through the Internet network and displays all reduced images on the screen through a dedicated viewer program.

3 is a diagram showing that index information provided by the visual index processing unit 140 is provided as a visual index according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Accordingly, the user of the client terminal 200 can easily know the specific page information through the thumbnail index of all visual pages, not the index of the text format provided in the conventional offline publication.

According to an additional aspect of the present invention, when the user of the client terminal 200 selects one reduced image from the index of visual reduced images, the visual index processing unit 140 displays the original image page corresponding to the selected reduced image in the database 110. Read from and provide.

The visual index processing unit 140 preferably matches and stores information about each of the reduced images and information about an original image page which is not reduced. Therefore, when one reduced image is selected, the visual index processing unit 140 provides an original image page through corresponding matching information. Accordingly, the user of the client terminal 200 can easily move to the corresponding page by selecting the reduced image of the desired page from the reduced image index.

The electronic publication image providing server 100 according to an additional aspect of the present invention further includes a search word processor 150. When the user of the client terminal 200 inputs a specific search word, the search word processing unit 150 reads out and provides all image pages related to the search word in the electronic publication serviced by the client terminal 200.

For example, when the client terminal 200 receives a car catalog publication among electronic publications, and the terminal user inputs a search term BMW, the search term processing unit 150 displays all image pages with the word BMW in the car catalog. To provide.

In a preferred embodiment, the search word processor 150 may provide all image pages related to the search word in a mosaic view format. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating that a mosaic view is provided and displayed on a screen. As shown, it can be seen that the specific pages searched by the search word are arranged in a matrix of horizontal and vertical columns in a mosaic view format.

According to an exemplary embodiment, when the search word processor 150 provides image pages related to a search word in a mosaic view format, the search word processing unit 150 reduces the page size in proportion to the number of related image pages. The user of the client terminal 200 may view an image page using a reduction / enlargement function in a state in which the page is reduced in a mosaic view format.

The electronic publication image providing server 100 according to an additional aspect of the present invention further includes a scrap processing unit 160. When the user of the client terminal 200 selects a certain area on a specific image page (for example, by dragging with a mouse), the scrap processor 160 analyzes coordinate values of the selected certain area and together with the corresponding electronic publication and page information. Save the analyzed coordinate data.

For example, in an electronic newspaper, a user of the client terminal 200 may store only a desired article portion of a specific page. Of course, as described above, the partial image is not stored, but coordinate data thereof is stored, so that it does not occupy additional space of the storage device. In addition, like scrapping off-line media and storing them separately, you can create your own content place because you save only the parts you want online.

According to an exemplary aspect, the scrap processing unit 160 matches and stores the metadata input by the user of the client terminal 200 with the above-described coordinate data. The metadata is preferably information data for distinguishing the scraped data so that the user of the client terminal 200 can easily remember the scraped portion thereof.

For example, when scraping a property article, the user of the client terminal 200 inputs the metadata “real estate article” to distinguish it, and the scrap processor 160 matches the input metadata with the corresponding coordinate data. Save it. Accordingly, the user of the client terminal 200 can easily access the scraped data through the metadata input by the client terminal 200.

As described above, the present invention provides various functions so that users who use the electronic publication provided online can use the electronic publication more conveniently.

On the other hand, the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings, which are merely exemplary, and those skilled in the art will understand that various modifications and equivalent other embodiments are possible therefrom. Therefore, the true technical protection scope of the present invention should be defined only by the appended claims.

1 is a network diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a block diagram schematically showing a server according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a diagram illustrating that index information provided by a system is provided as a visual index according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a diagram illustrating that image pages provided in a system are provided in a mosaic view form according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

100: electronic publication image providing server

110: database 120: viewer program provider

130: electronic publication image providing unit 140: visual index processing unit

150: query processing unit 160: scrap processing unit

170: communication unit

200: client terminal

Claims (8)

Electronic publication image files of various formats are converted into a predetermined image format, and are converted into a plurality of hierarchical images to have the same resolution by magnification, and each converted hierarchical image is divided into a plurality of cells to store the converted electronic publication images. Database, An electronic publication image providing system, comprising: an electronic publication image providing server that is accessible to a plurality of client terminals, provides a plug-in type image viewer program to a connected client terminal, and services the electronic publication images stored in the database. In the electronic publication image providing server is: An electronic publication image providing unit which provides, in a streaming manner, image pages of an electronic publication requested from a connected client terminal among a plurality of serviced electronic publications; And a visual index processor for providing thumbnail images of all image pages included in the electronic publication provided by the electronic publication image providing unit in response to the request of the client terminal. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic publication image provider comprises: Image pages for the corresponding electronic publications requested from the client terminal are serviced in a two page mode view, and a three-dimensional page turning and sound effects thereof are provided when the page moves due to the client terminal request in the provided two page mode view. Electronic publication image providing system. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the visual index processing unit: And an image page corresponding to a reduced image selected from among thumbnail images of all image pages from a client terminal. The server of claim 3, wherein the electronic publication image providing server comprises: A search word processor to read and provide relevant image pages with respect to a search word input from the client terminal; Electronic publication image providing system further comprises. The method of claim 4, wherein the search word processor: And providing the related image pages in a mosaic view format. The method according to claim 5, wherein the search word processor: And reduce the page in proportion to the number of the related image pages and provide the printed image in a mosaic view format. The method according to claim 1 or 4, wherein the electronic publication image providing server: A scrap processing unit for storing coordinate data and corresponding page information of a predetermined area designated from the client terminal among serviced image pages; Electronic publication image providing system further comprises. The method of claim 7, wherein the scrap processing unit: And store the meta data input by the user from the client terminal in correspondence with the coordinate data.