Transmission device, transmission method, reception device, reception method, and transmission/reception system

A transmission method including an information reception step of receiving, from an external device via a network, cutting-out-target-region information items for a predetermined number of cameras selected from a plurality of cameras, the plurality of cameras performing imaging in a manner that adjacent ones of captured images overlap with each other,

• the transmission method further comprising
• an image-data transmission step of causing an image-data transmission unit
• to cut out, on the basis of the cutting-out-target-region information items for the predetermined number of cameras, data items of images of cutting-out-target regions from corresponding ones of data items of the images captured by the plurality of cameras, and
• to transmit the data items of the images of the cutting-out-target regions to the external device via the network.

A transmission device, comprising:

• a plurality of cameras that perform imaging in a manner that adjacent ones of captured images overlap with each other;
• and
• a plurality of adapters provided to correspond respectively to the plurality of cameras,
• the plurality of adapters respectively including
• storage units that store data items of the images captured by imaging with corresponding ones of the plurality of cameras,
• information reception units that receive, from an external device via a network, cutting-out-target-region information items for the corresponding ones of the plurality of cameras, and
• image-data transmission units that
• cut out, on the basis of the cutting-out-target-region information items, data items of images of cutting-out-target regions from corresponding ones of the data items of the captured images, the data items of the captured images being stored in the storage units, and
• transmit the data items of the images of the cutting-out-target regions to the external device via the network.

A transmission device, comprising

• a plurality of cameras that perform imaging in a manner that adjacent ones of captured images overlap with each other,
• the plurality of cameras respectively including
• information reception units that receive cutting-out-target-region information items from an external device via a network, and
• image-data transmission units that
• cut out, on the basis of the cutting-out-target-region information items, data items of images of cutting-out-target regions from data items of the captured images, and
• transmit the data items of the images of the cutting-out-target regions to the external device via the network.

A transmission device, comprising

• a plurality of servers provided to correspond respectively to a plurality of cameras that perform imaging in a manner that adjacent ones of captured images overlap with each other,
• the plurality of servers respectively including
• storage units that store data items of the images captured by imaging with corresponding ones of the plurality of cameras,
• information reception units that receive, from an external device via a network, cutting-out-target-region information items for the corresponding ones of the plurality of cameras, and
• image-data transmission units that
• cut out, on the basis of the cutting-out-target-region information items, data items of images of cutting-out-target regions from the data items of the captured images, the data items of the captured images being stored in the storage units, and
• transmit the data items of the images of the cutting-out-target regions to the external device via the network.

A reception device, comprising:

• a cutting-out-target-region determination unit that
• sets a display region in a composite image formed of images captured by imaging with a plurality of cameras in a manner that adjacent ones of the captured images overlap with each other, and
• determines regions in images captured by a predetermined number of cameras as cutting-out-target regions, the regions in the captured images including at least regions that overlap with the display region;
• an information transmission unit that transmits cutting-out-target-region information items for the predetermined number of cameras to an external device via a network;
• an image-data reception unit that receives, from the external device via the network, data items of images of the cutting-out-target regions from the predetermined number of cameras;
• and
• an image-data processing unit that executes a stitching process on the received data items of the images of the cutting-out-target regions from the predetermined number of cameras to generate a data item of an image in the composite image, the image in the composite image corresponding to the display region.

A reception method, comprising:

• a cutting-out-target-region determination step of
• setting a display region in a composite image formed of images captured by imaging with a plurality of cameras in a manner that adjacent ones of the captured images overlap with each other, and
• determining regions in images captured by a predetermined number of cameras as cutting-out-target regions, the regions in the captured images including at least regions that overlap with the display region;
• an information transmission step of transmitting cutting-out-target-region information items for the predetermined number of cameras to an external device via a network;
• an image-data reception step of causing an image-data reception unit to receive, from the external device, data items of images of the cutting-out-target regions from the predetermined number of cameras;
• and
• an image-data processing step of executing a stitching process on the data items of the images of the cutting-out-target regions from the predetermined number of cameras to generate a data item of an image in the composite image, the image in the composite image corresponding to the display region.

A transmission/reception system, comprising:

• a transmission device;
• and
• a reception device connected to the transmission device via a network,
• the transmission device including
• a storage unit that stores data items of images captured by imaging with a plurality of cameras in a manner that adjacent ones of the captured images overlap with each other,
• an information reception unit that receives, from the reception device via the network, cutting-out-target-region information items for a predetermined number of cameras selected from the plurality of cameras, and
• an image-data transmission unit that
• cuts out, on the basis of the cutting-out-target-region information items for the predetermined number of cameras, data items of images of cutting-out-target regions from corresponding ones of the data items of the images captured by the plurality of cameras, the data items of the captured images being stored in the storage unit, and
• transmits the data items of the images of the cutting-out-target regions to the reception device via the network,
• the reception device including
• a cutting-out-target-region determination unit that
• sets a display region in a composite image formed of the images captured by the plurality of cameras, and
• determines regions in images captured by the predetermined number of cameras as the cutting-out-target regions, the regions in the captured images including at least regions that overlap with the display region,
• an information transmission unit that transmits the cutting-out-target-region information items for the predetermined number of cameras to the transmission device via the network,
• an image-data reception unit that receives, from the transmission device via the network, the data items of the images of the cutting-out-target regions from the predetermined number of cameras, and
• an image-data processing unit that executes a stitching process on the received data items of the images of the cutting-out-target regions from the predetermined number of cameras to generate a data item of an image in the composite image, the image in the composite image corresponding to the display region.

A transmission device, comprising:

• a storage unit that stores data items of images captured by imaging with a plurality of cameras in a manner that adjacent ones of the captured images overlap with each other;
• an information reception unit that receives, from an external device via a network, cutting-out-target-region information items for a predetermined number of cameras selected from the plurality of cameras;
• an image-data cutting-out unit that cuts out, on the basis of the cutting-out-target-region information items for the predetermined number of cameras, data items of images of cutting-out-target regions from corresponding ones of the data items of the images captured by the plurality of cameras, the data items of the captured images being stored in the storage unit;
• an image-data processing unit that executes a stitching process on the data items of the images of the cutting-out-target regions from the predetermined number of cameras to generate a data item of an image in a composite image;
• and
• an image-data transmission unit that transmits the data item of the image in the composite image to the external device via the network.

A reception device, comprising:

• a cutting-out-target-region determination unit that
• sets a display region in a composite image formed of images captured by imaging with a plurality of cameras in a manner that adjacent ones of the captured images overlap with each other, and
• determines regions in images captured by a predetermined number of cameras as cutting-out-target regions, the regions in the captured images including at least regions that overlap with the display region;
• an information transmission unit that transmits cutting-out-target-region information items for the predetermined number of cameras to an external device via a network;
• and
• an image-data reception unit that receives, from the external device via the network, a data item of an image in the composite image, the image in the composite image having been generated by execution of a stitching process on data items of images of the cutting-out-target regions from the predetermined number of cameras.