Server, screen transmitting method, and program storage medium

• US 8,213,730 B2
• Filed: 03/17/2009
• Issued: 07/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Yamaguchi, Shogo, Murai, Shinya, Kawazoe, Hiroshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Do, Anh Hong
• Application Number:
  US12/382,492
• Publication Number:
  US 20100054618A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,204 Days
• Field of Search: 382/232, 382/239, 715/243, 715/246, 715/272
• US Class Current: 382/239
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/12 Selection from among a plurality of transforms or standards, e.g. selection between discrete cosine transform [DCT] and sub-band transform or selection between H.263 and H.264
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/136 Incoming video signal characteristics or properties
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/17 the unit being an image region, e.g. an object
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/46 Embedding additional information in the video signal during the compression process H04N19/517, H04N19/68, H04N19/70 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/507 using conditional replenishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/60 using transform coding

Abstract

A server includes a generating unit which generates image data in a partial region of a displayed image on the screen; a type identifying unit configured to identify a type of a GUI component included in the region of the generated image data; a storage which stores compression property information for each GUI component type; a compression scheme deciding unit which decides a compression scheme based on compression property information corresponding to the GUI component type identified; a compression unit which compresses the generated image data with a decided compression scheme; a transmission unit which transmits the compressed data to the client terminal; an update frequency deciding unit which decides a update frequency of the compression property information in the storage for each type of the GUI component; and an updating unit which updates the compression property information with the update frequency decided for each type of the GUI component.

Claims

1. A server that compresses image data in at least a partial region of a displayed image on a screen including graphical user interface (GUI) components of plural types and transmits compressed data to a client terminal, the server comprising:

an image data generating unit configured to generate image data in at least a partial region of a displayed image on the screen;

a type identifying unit configured to identify a type of a GUI component included in the region of the generated image data;

a first storage configured to store compression property information of image data for each type of GUI component;

a compression scheme deciding unit configured to decide a compression scheme based on compression property information corresponding to the GUI component type identified by the type identifying unit;

a compression unit configured to compress the generated image data with a decided compression scheme to generate compressed data;

a transmission unit configured to transmit the compressed data to the client terminal;

an update frequency deciding unit configured to decide an update frequency of the compression property information corresponding to each type of the GUI component in the first storage; and

an updating unit configured to update the compression property information corresponding to the update frequency decided for each type of the GUI component.

2. The server according to claim 1, wherein the update frequency deciding unit decides the update frequency in accordance with a characteristic of a displayed image for each type of the GUI component.

3. The server according to claim 1, further comprising a second storage, wherein

the compression scheme deciding unit decides a compression scheme from among a plurality of compression schemes based on the compression property information corresponding to the GUI component type identified by the type identifying unit,

the update frequency deciding unit compresses the generated image data with each of the compression schemes and calculates compression ratios by the compression schemes,

the second storage stores a compression scheme providing a highest compression ratio among calculated compression ratios, for each type of the GUI component, and

the update frequency deciding unit decides the update frequency based on a history of compression schemes stored in the second storage, for each type of the GUI component.

4. The server according to claim 3, wherein

the update frequency deciding unit decides the update frequency based on ratios at which the compression schemes appear in the history, for each type of the GUI component.

5. The server according to claim 3, wherein

the update frequency deciding unit decides the update frequency based on a change number to a different compression scheme in the history, for each type of the GUI component.

6. The server according to claim 3, wherein

the update frequency deciding unit decides the update frequency based on the number of times a same compression scheme appears in succession tracing back from a last compression scheme in the history, for each type of the GUI component.

7. The server according to claim 1, further comprising a second storage, wherein

the compression scheme deciding unit decides a compression scheme from among a plurality of compression schemes based on the compression property information corresponding to the GUI component type identified by the type identifying unit, and

the update frequency deciding unit compresses the generated image data with each of the compression schemes and calculates compression ratios by the compression schemes,

the second storage stores the calculated compression ratios by the compression schemes, for each type of the GUI component, and

the update frequency deciding unit decides the update frequency based on a history of compression ratios by the compression schemes, for each type of the GUI component.

8. The server according to claim 7, wherein

the update frequency deciding unit

calculates a difference between maximum and minimum values of the compression ratio for each of the compression schemes in the history, for each type of the GUI component and

decides the update frequency based on whether the difference calculated for each of the compression schemes is equal to or greater than a first threshold, for each type of the GUI component.

9. The server according to claim 7, wherein

the second storage stores the calculated compression ratios in association with a calculation time, for each type of the GUI component, and

the update frequency deciding unit

identifies data having the calculation time since which a predetermined time period has not elapsed yet, in the history, for each type of the GUI component and

decides the update frequency by using only data identified in the history, for each type of the GUI component.

10. The server according to claim 1, wherein

the update frequency is an update time interval.

11. The server according to claim 1, further comprising

a cumulative area calculating unit configured to calculate, for each type of the GUI component, a cumulative area of the generated image data or a proportion of the cumulative area to a region occupied by the GUI component type on the screen, wherein

the updating unit updates the compression property information when the cumulative area or the proportion of the cumulative area has exceeded a second threshold, for each type of the GUI component and

the update frequency deciding unit decides the second threshold value as the update frequency, for each type of the GUI component.

12. A screen transmitting method in which a server compresses image data in at least a partial region of a displayed image on a screen including graphical user interface (GUI) components of plural types and transmits compressed data to a client terminal, the method comprising:

generating, by the server, image data in at least a partial region of a displayed image on the screen;

identifying, by the server, a type of a GUI component included in the region of the generated image data;

reading out, by the server, compression property information corresponding to an identified GUI component type from a first storage which stores compression property information of image data for each type of GUI component and deciding a compression scheme based on the compression property information read out;

compressing, by the server, the generated image data with a decided compression scheme to generate compressed data;

transmitting, by the server, the compressed data to the client terminal;

deciding, by the server, an update frequency of the compression property information corresponding to each type of the GUI component in the first storage; and

updating, by the server, the compression property information corresponding to each of the GUI component types with the update frequency decided for each of the GUI component types.

13. A non-transitory storage medium storing a computer program for causing a computer, which compresses image data in at least a partial region of a displayed image on a screen including graphical user interface (GUI) components of plural types and transmits compressed data to a client terminal, to perform steps comprising:

generating image data in at least a partial region of a displayed image on the screen;

identifying a type of a GUI component included in the region of the generated image data;

reading out compression property information corresponding to an identified GUI component type from a first storage which stores compression property information of image data for each type of GUI component and deciding a compression scheme based on the compression property information read out;

compressing the generated image data with a decided compression scheme to generate compressed data;

transmitting the compressed data to the client terminal;

deciding an update frequency of the compression property information corresponding to each type of the GUI component in the first storage; and

updating the compression property information corresponding to the update frequency decided for each type of the GUI component.