Method and apparatus for moving image conversion, method and apparatus for moving image transmission, and programs therefor

• US 20050021642A1
• Filed: 04/21/2004
• Published: 01/27/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Nonaka, Shunichiro
• Granted Patent: US 7,647,428 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/116 Details of conversion of file system types or formats
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/066 Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication

Abstract

Even if an email attached with a moving image is sent to a terminal that is not capable of moving image display, pseudo moving image display can be carried out in high quality on the terminal. An email reception unit receives the email, and a model judgment unit judges the model of the terminal as a destination of the email. If the destination terminal cannot display the moving image, a moving image conversion unit generates a multimedia image data in a multimedia format from moving image data representing the moving image. An image attaching unit attaches the moving mage data or the multimedia image data to main content of the email, and an email transmission unit sends the image-attached email to the destination terminal.

Claims

1. An email relay apparatus for sending an email attached with a moving image to a terminal as a destination of the email, the email relay apparatus comprising:

model judgment means for judging a model of the terminal; and

moving image conversion means for converting the moving image into a multimedia image in a multimedia format in the case where the model of the terminal is not capable of moving image display but enables multimedia image display, whereby

the email relay apparatus sends the multimedia image instead of the moving image to the terminal.

2. The email relay apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the moving image conversion means comprises:

sampling means for sampling frames from the moving image; and

multimedia image generation means for generating the multimedia image by compressing the frames according to a compression method considering two-dimensional redundancy.

3. The email relay apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the multimedia image generation means generates the multimedia image in such a manner that the multimedia image can be displayed on a display device of the terminal in accordance with a characteristic of the display device.

4. The email relay apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the multimedia image generation means comprises:

size change means for enlarging or reducing the frames according to the characteristic of the display device;

frame compression means for compressing the frames by the compression method considering two-dimensional redundancy so that a data size of the multimedia image can be dealt with by the display device; and

format compilation means for generating the multimedia image by compiling the frames compressed by the frame compression means into the multimedia format.

5. The email relay apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the frame compression means repeats changing of a compression ratio of the frames and/or thinning of the frames until the data size of the multimedia image becomes the data size that can be dealt with by the display device in the case where the multimedia image does not have the data size that can be dealt with by the display device.

6. The email relay apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the terminal as the destination is a mobile terminal.

7. An email relay method for sending an email attached with a moving image to a terminal as a destination of the email, the email relay method comprising the steps of:

judging a model of the terminal;

converting the moving image into a multimedia image in a multimedia format in the case where the model of the terminal is not capable of moving image display but enables multimedia image display; and

sending the multimedia image instead of the moving image to the terminal.

8. A program causing a computer to execute an email relay method for sending an email attached with a moving image to a terminal as a destination of the email, the program comprising the steps of:

judging a model of the terminal;

converting the moving image into a multimedia image in a multimedia format in the case where the model of the terminal is not capable of moving image display but enables multimedia image display; and

sending the multimedia image instead of the moving image to the terminal.

9. An email relay apparatus for sending an email attached with a moving image to a terminal as a destination of the email, the email relay apparatus comprising:

model judgment means for judging a model of the terminal; and

reduced-color moving image conversion means for converting the moving image into a reduced-color moving image in the case where the model is incapable of moving image display but capable of reduced-color moving image display, whereby

the email relay apparatus sends the reduced-color moving image instead of the moving image to the terminal.

10. The email relay apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the reduced-color moving image conversion means comprises:

reference frame generation means for generating a reference frame that represents frames comprising the moving image;

palette data generation means for generating a palette data set including a predetermined number of colors from the reference frame;

frame sampling means for sampling, from the frames, reduced-color moving image generation frames to be used for generating the reduced-color moving image;

color reduction processing means for converting the reduced-color moving image generation frames into reduced-color moving image frames according to the palette data set; and

frame compilation means for compiling the reduced-color moving image from the reduced-color moving image frames.

11. The email relay apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the reference frame generation means generates the reference frame from all or a part of the frames comprising the moving image.

12. An email relay method for sending an email attached with a moving image to a terminal as a destination of the email, the email relay method comprising the steps of:

judging a model of the terminal;

converting the moving image into a reduced-color moving image in the case where the model is not capable of moving image display but is capable of reduced-color moving image display; and

sending the reduced-color moving image instead of the moving image to the terminal.

13. A program causing a computer to execute an email relay method for sending an email attached with a moving image to a terminal as a destination of the email, the program comprising the steps of:

judging a model of the terminal;

converting the moving image into a reduced-color moving image in the case where the model is not capable of moving image display but is capable of reduced-color moving image display; and

sending the reduced-color moving image instead of the moving image to the terminal.