IMAGE CONTROL APPARATUS, SERVER AND CONTROL METHOD THEREFOR

• US 20120154418A1
• Filed: 01/20/2012
• Published: 06/21/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Ayutthaya Limited (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Ayutthaya Limited (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Mikawa, Chiaki
• Granted Patent: US 9,007,397 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/581
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3682 output of POI information on a road map G01C21/3614, G01C21/3685 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/045 Zooming at least part of an image, i.e. enlarging it or shrinking it
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/12 Overlay of images, i.e. displayed pixel being the result of switching between the corresponding input pixels
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/022 Centralised management of display operation, e.g. in a server instead of locally
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/14 Display of multiple viewports

Abstract

An image control apparatus wherein an acquisition unit acquires position information from attribute information of the image, a setting unit sets a display scale of a map when displaying the image on the map, and a generation unit generates display data for displaying the map and the image on a display device using the acquired position information and the set display scale, when the set display scale is lower than a predetermined display scale, the generation unit generates display data in which the image is laid out at a position corresponding to the position information on the map, and when the display scale is higher than the predetermined display scale, the generation unit generates display data in which the image and the map are laid out without laying out the image on the map.

Claims

1. An image control apparatus, comprising:

an acquisition unit configured to acquire position information from attribute information of the image;

a setting unit configured to set a display scale of a map when displaying the image on the map; and

a generation unit configured to generate display data for displaying the map and the image on a display device using the position information acquired by said acquisition unit and the display scale set by said setting unit,

wherein when the display scale of the map set by said setting unit is lower than a predetermined display scale, said generation unit generates display data in which the image is laid out at a position corresponding to the position information on the map, and when the display scale of the map is higher than the predetermined display scale, said generation unit generates display data in which the image and the map are laid out without laying out the image on the map.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display scale of the map changes in accordance with an administrative area.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein restriction information designating the largest scale of the map on which the image may be displayed is set to each image file, and

said generation unit generates the display data by comparing the restriction information set in each image file and the user designated display scale of the map.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the display scale of the map is higher than the predetermined display scale, said generation unit generates display data in which the image is laid out outside the display area of the map without laying out the image on the map.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the display scale set by said setting unit is equal or lower than the predetermined display scale, said generation unit generates display data in which the center of the image is shifted from the position corresponding to the position information acquired by said acquisition unit.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image is image data received from an image capturing apparatus, and the position information is shooting location information of the image.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the image data contains information which permit to lay out the image at the position corresponding to the position information on the map.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising distribution unit for distributing the display data generated by said generation unit to an information processing apparatus having display device.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said distribution unit distributes the display data from which the position information of the image to be included in the display data is deleted.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said image control apparatus acquires map data from a server which provides map data by designating a display accuracy of the map.

11. A control method of a display control apparatus, comprising:

an acquisition step of acquiring position information from attribute information of the image;

a setting step of setting a display scale of a map when displaying the image on the map; and

a generation step of generating display data for displaying the map and the image on a display device using the position information acquired by said acquisition step and the display scale set by said setting step,

wherein when the display scale of the map set by said setting step is lower than a predetermined display scale, in said generation step display data in which the image is laid out at a position corresponding to the position information on the map is generated, and when the display scale of the map is higher than the predetermined display scale, display data in which the image and the map are laid out without laying out the image on the map is generated.

12. A server which generates display data in which image is laid out on a map and provides the generated display data to a client via a network, comprising:

a storage unit configured to store image and attribute information of the image;

an acquisition unit configured to acquire position information associated with the image from the attribute information stored in said storage unit;

a reception unit configured to receive a designation of a map scale when the image is displayed; and

a generation unit configured to generate display data of the map and image using the position information acquired by said acquisition unit and the map scale received by said reception unit,

wherein when the map scale received by said reception unit is smaller than a predetermined map scale, the display data is data in which the image is laid out at a position corresponding to the position information on the map, and when the map scale is larger than the predetermined map scale, the display data is data in which the image is not laid out at the position corresponding to the position information on the map.

13. The server according to claim 12, wherein when the map scale is larger than the predetermined map scale, said generation unit generates display data in which the image is laid out outside the display area of the map without laying out the image on the map.

14. The server according to claim 12, further comprising a communication unit configured to communicate with the client and transmit the display data generated by said generation unit to the client, wherein said communication unit transmits the display data from which the position information of the image to be included in the display data is deleted.

15. The server according to claim 12, wherein said server acquires map data from a server which provides map data by designating a map scale, and

said generation unit generates display data by combining the map data acquired from the server and image data stored in said storage unit and transmits the generated display data to the client.

16. A control method of a server which generates display data in which image is laid out on a map and provides the generated display data to a client via a network, the method comprising:

a storage step of storing image and attribute information of the image;

an acquisition step of acquiring position information associated with the image from the attribute information stored in said storage step;

a reception step of receiving a designation of a map scale when the image is displayed; and

a generation step of generating display data of the map and image using the position information acquired by said acquisition step and the map scale received by said reception step,

wherein when the map scale received by said reception step is smaller than a predetermined map scale, the display data is data in which the image is laid out at a position corresponding to the position information on the map, and when the map scale is larger than the predetermined map scale, the display data is data in which the image is not laid out at the position corresponding to the position information on the map.