Shooting location identification device

Abstract

To provide a shooting location identification device capable of easily finding a subject shot at a necessary location.SOLUTION: A shooting location identification device 100 comprises: an additional information creation unit 120 which creates additional information associated with a location where a copyrighted work or a reproduction of a copyrighted work is exhibited; a determination unit 124 which determines whether the additional information appears in a publicly disclosed subject; and an identification unit 125 which identifies the shooting location of the subject on the basis of the additional information appearing in the subject when the determination unit 124 determines that the additional information appears in the subject.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a shooting location identification device, and more particularly to a shooting location identification device that can easily find photographs taken at a desired location from among publicly available photographs. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, there has been an increase in cases where people who visit places such as restaurants, shops, and museums take photos of the place and post them on websites. Some people associated with the place welcome this behavior, considering the advertising effect. On the other hand, there are also people associated with the place who dislike this behavior from the perspective of protecting privacy and preventing imitation.

[0003] In recent years, with the rapid spread of social networking services (SNS) and information sharing over the Internet, privacy protection and prevention of imitation have become increasingly important issues. In particular, high-end restaurants and other establishments that require members to stay in their homes often have unique interiors and atmospheres designed to provide a comfortable, closed-off space for a small number of customers. If the interiors of such establishments were to be made public online without permission, this could raise safety concerns about customers being photographed, infringement of their privacy, or even lead to the imitation of the establishment's unique features by others.

[0004] To prevent the above problems, traditionally, those involved with places such as stores and museums have taken measures such as informing visitors that photography is prohibited in the area, or searching websites for unauthorized photographs of prohibited areas and requesting that any such photographs be taken off the Internet.

[0005] In addition, Patent Document 1 listed below discloses a photography control system that includes an image acquisition means for acquiring images taken with a rented camera, a condition acquisition means for acquiring the conditions under which photography can be performed with the camera, an image extraction means for extracting images that satisfy the photography conditions acquired by the condition acquisition means from the images acquired by the image acquisition means, and an output means for outputting the images extracted by the image extraction means. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0006] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2020-197786 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] However, even if photographs of desired locations (including locations where photography is prohibited) were published on a website, it was not easy to find such photographs among the many published photographs. This was because it was difficult to accurately identify the location from the photographs. As a result, it took a considerable amount of time and effort for the relevant parties to find photographs of desired locations. In cases where the desired location was a location where photography was prohibited, it was not possible to effectively prevent unauthorized photography in such locations.

[0008] Furthermore, if a malicious person takes a photograph using a camera other than the one that was lent to the person, the technology of Patent Document 1 would not be able to detect the photographed object.

[0009] The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a photographing location identification device that can easily find photographed objects taken at required locations. [Means for solving the problem]

[0010] A photographing location identification device according to one aspect of the present invention comprises an additional information creation means for creating additional information associated with an exhibition location where a work or a copy of a work is exhibited, a determination means for determining whether additional information appears in a photograph that has been made public, and an identification means for identifying the photographing location of the photograph based on the additional information appearing in the photograph when the determination means determines that additional information appears in the photograph.

[0011] In the above-mentioned shooting location identification device, preferably, the additional information is further associated with the exhibition period during which the copyrighted work or a copy of the copyrighted work is exhibited, and the identification means further identifies the time when the photographed object was taken based on the additional information reflected in the photographed object.

[0012] In the above-mentioned filming location identification device, preferably, the additional information is coded information that identifies the copyrighted work, and the device further includes a storage means for storing a correspondence between the information that identifies the copyrighted work and the exhibition location, and the identification means identifies the filming location of the photographed object based on the correspondence stored in the storage means.

[0013] In the above-mentioned photography location identifying device, the additional information is preferably coded information about the exhibition location.

[0014] Preferably, the above-mentioned filming location identification device further comprises a request receiving means for receiving a request for the exhibition of a work or a copy of a work, and a location receiving means for receiving input regarding the exhibition location when the request is received by the request receiving means, and the additional information creation means creates additional information associated with the exhibition location received by the location receiving means. [Effects of the Invention]

[0015] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a photography location identification device that can easily find an object photographed at a desired location. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0016] [Figure 1]1 is a conceptual diagram showing the configuration of a shooting location identification system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the shooting location identifying device 100. [Figure 3] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a shooting location identifying device 100. [Figure 4] 1 is a diagram schematically showing a work table 151 stored in a storage unit 126 of a shooting location identifying device 100. FIG. [Figure 5] 10 is a diagram schematically showing a management table 152 stored in a storage unit 126 of the shooting location identifying device 100. FIG. [Figure 6] 1 is a diagram illustrating a method by which a photography location identification system determines an exhibition location according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 7] FIG. 1 is a first diagram schematically showing a screen of a website of the filming location identifying device 100 displayed on the right holder terminal 300 or the exhibition applicant terminal 400 in one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 8] FIG. 2 is a second diagram schematically illustrating a screen of the website of the filming location identifying device 100 displayed on the right holder terminal 300 or the exhibition applicant terminal 400 in one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 9] 10 is a flowchart showing a process for determining an exhibition location for copies of a copyrighted work, which is executed by the filming location identifying device 100 in one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 10] FIG. 1 is a first diagram illustrating a method for finding an object photographed at a required location in an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 11] FIG. 2 is a second diagram illustrating a method for finding an object photographed at a required location in an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 12] FIG. 10 is a third diagram illustrating a method for finding an object photographed at a required location in an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 13] FIG. 4 is a fourth diagram illustrating a method for finding an object photographed at a required location in an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 14]FIG. 5 is a fifth diagram illustrating a method for finding an object photographed at a required location in an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 15] 10 is a flowchart showing a process executed by the shooting location identification device 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention to find an object photographed at a required location. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0017] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0018] (Configuration of the filming location identification system)

[0019] FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing the configuration of a photography location identification system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0020] Referring to FIG. 1, the filming location identification system 1 in this embodiment is a system that finds, from among publicly available filmed objects, those that have been taken at a required location. The filmed objects are, for example, videos or photographs. In the filming location identification system 1, exhibits are exhibited in advance in required locations, such as places where photography is prohibited. The exhibits are copyrighted works to which additional information has been added, or copies of those works. The filming location identification system 1 acquires the publicly available filmed objects and identifies the filming locations based on the additional information shown in the filmed objects.

[0021] The filming location identifying system 1 comprises a filming location identifying device 100, a plurality of right holder terminals 300, and a plurality of exhibitor terminals 400. The filming location identifying device 100, each of the plurality of right holder terminals 300, and each of the plurality of exhibitor terminals 400 are interconnected via a network 200 and communicate with each other.

[0022] The shooting location identification device 100 is a device that identifies the shooting location of a published photograph, and is used by the administrator of the shooting location identification system 1. The rights holder terminal 300 is a terminal used by the rights holder. A rights holder is a person who has the authority to permit the exhibition of a copyrighted work or a copy of that work, and is typically the author. The exhibition hopeful terminal 400 is a terminal used by a person who wishes to exhibit. A person who wishes to exhibit is a person who wishes to exhibit a copyrighted work or a copy of that work at a place associated with them (in other words, a person who wishes to find a photograph taken at a place associated with them).

[0023] The network 200 may be a wired or wireless LAN (Local Area Network) or WAN (Wide Area Network). Various devices are connected to the network 200 using the TCP / IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol) protocol. The devices connected to the network 200 can exchange various types of data with each other.

[0024] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the shooting location identifying device 100. As shown in FIG.

[0025] 2, unless otherwise specified, each of the plurality of right holder terminals 300 and the plurality of exhibition applicant terminals 400 has the same hardware configuration as that of the filming location identification device 100.

[0026] The shooting location identification device 100 is made up of a computer such as a PC or a smartphone, and includes a control unit 101, a display unit 102, an operation unit 103, a network interface 104, a storage device 105, and a printing unit 106. The control unit 101, the display unit 102, the operation unit 103, the network interface 104, the storage device 105, and the printing unit 106 are all interconnected via a bus or the like.

[0027] The control unit 101 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 111, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 112, and a RAM (Random Access Memory) 113. The CPU 111 controls the entire device. The CPU 111 executes a control program stored in the ROM 112. This allows various functions of the shooting location identification device 100 to be realized.

[0028] The ROM 112 is, for example, a flash ROM. The ROM 112 stores various programs executed by the CPU 111 and various fixed data. The ROM 112 may be non-rewritable.

[0029] The RAM 113 is the main memory of the CPU 111. The RAM 113 is used to temporarily store data and the like required when the CPU 111 executes a control program.

[0030] The display unit 102 is made up of a monitor or the like and displays various information.

[0031] The operation unit 103 is made up of a keyboard, a mouse, etc., and accepts various inputs. However, if the shooting location identification device 100 is made up of a smartphone or the like, a software keyboard may be used as the keyboard, and the mouse may be omitted.

[0032] The network interface 104 communicates with other devices according to instructions from the control unit 101 using a communication protocol such as TCP / IP.

[0033] The storage device 105 is, for example, a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid state drive (SSD), and stores programs and various data.

[0034] The printing unit 106 prints various types of information under the control of the control unit 101.

[0035] FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the shooting location identifying device 100. As shown in FIG.

[0036] Referring to Figure 3, the shooting location identification device 100 includes an additional information creation unit 120 (an example of an additional information creation means), a copy creation unit 121, a video acquisition unit 122, a processing unit 123, a discrimination unit 124 (an example of a discrimination means), an identification unit 125 (an example of an identification means), a memory unit 126, a notification unit 127, a request receiving unit 128 (an example of a request receiving means), an exhibition request receiving unit 129 (an example of a request receiving means), and a location receiving unit 130 (an example of a location receiving means).

[0037] The additional information creating unit 120 creates additional information associated with an exhibition location where the work or a copy of the work is exhibited. This additional information may be further associated with an exhibition period during which the work or a copy of the work is exhibited.

[0038] The copy creating unit 121 adds additional information to the image of the copyrighted work, and creates an exhibit by printing the image of the copyrighted work with the additional information added.

[0039] The video acquisition unit 122 acquires the released photographed material.

[0040] The processing unit 123 processes the photographed object acquired by the video acquisition unit 122 as necessary.

[0041] The determination unit 124 searches for additional information from the photographed object acquired by the video acquisition unit 122, and determines whether or not the additional information is captured in the photographed object.

[0042] When the determination unit 124 determines that additional information is captured on the photographed object, the determination unit 125 determines the location where the photographed object was captured based on the additional information captured on the photographed object. The determination unit 125 may further determine the time when the photographed object was captured based on the additional information captured on the photographed object.

[0043] The storage unit 126 stores a copyrighted work table 151 (FIG. 4) and a management table 152 (FIG. 5), etc. The storage unit 126 may also store information about the website of the filming location identification device 100 to be displayed on the rights holder terminal 300 and the exhibition applicant terminal 400. The storage unit 126 changes the contents of the copyrighted work table 151 and the management table 152 when necessary.

[0044] When the notification unit 127 extracts additional information from the photographed object, it notifies the user of the identified shooting location based on the additional information. The notification may be displayed on the display unit 102 of the shooting location identifying device 100, or may be sent to another terminal such as the rights holder terminal 300 or the exhibitor terminal 400.

[0045] The request receiving unit 128 receives a request for the exhibition of a copyrighted work or a copy of a copyrighted work, and necessary information about the copyrighted work, from the rights holder terminal 300 or the like.

[0046] When the request receiving unit 128 receives the request, the exhibition request receiving unit 129 receives a request to exhibit the work or a copy of the work from the exhibitor terminal 400 or the like.

[0047] When the exhibition request receiving unit 129 receives a request to exhibit a work or a copy of the work, the location receiving unit 130 receives input regarding information necessary for the exhibition, such as the exhibition location. The additional information creating unit 120 may create additional information associated with the location received by the location receiving unit 130.

[0048] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a schematic diagram of the copyrighted work table 151 stored in the storage unit 126 of the filming location identifying device 100. As shown in FIG.

[0049] 4, copyrighted work table 151 is a table in which copyrighted work information 1511, which is information about copyrighted works, is registered. Copyrighted work information 1511 is created for each copyrighted work. The copyrighted work or a copy of the copyrighted work indicated by copyrighted work information 1511 is a candidate for exhibition in a required location. Copyrighted work information 1511 is added, deleted, or changed as needed by operation of filming location identification device 100 or an administrator.

[0050] The copyrighted work information 1511 includes information such as a copyrighted work ID, an image of the copyrighted work, the name and contact information of the rights holder of the copyrighted work, a desired royalty amount, and an administrative ID. The copyrighted work ID is information that identifies the copyrighted work. The image of the copyrighted work may be used to create copies of the copyrighted work. The desired royalty amount is the amount that the rights holder desires to pay in exchange for permission to exhibit the work or a copy of the work. Permission to exhibit the work or a copy of the work may be limited to a certain period of time. In this case, the desired royalty amount per unit period (here, one month) is entered in the desired royalty amount field. The administrative ID is information that identifies the correspondence between the work and the exhibition location. As in the copyrighted work information 1511 with the work ID "2003" in Figure 4, if no one has yet expressed an interest in exhibiting the work or a copy of the work, the administrative ID field is left blank.

[0051] FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically showing the management table 152 stored in the storage unit 126 of the shooting location identifying device 100. As shown in FIG.

[0052] 5, management table 152 is a table in which management information 1521, which is information for managing the correspondence between works and exhibition locations, is registered. Management information 1521 is created for each work. Management information 1521 is added, deleted, or changed as needed by operation of shooting location identification device 100 or an administrator.

[0053] The management information 1521 includes information such as the management ID, the work ID, the name and contact information of the exhibitor, the exhibition location, the exhibition period, the usage fee, and an information disclosure flag. The exhibition location is the location where the work or a copy of the work is exhibited. The exhibition period is the period during which the exhibition of the work or a copy of the work is permitted. If the rights holder permits the exhibition of the work or a copy of the work indefinitely, the exhibition period need not be specified. The usage fee is the fee paid by the exhibitor to the administrator of the filming location identification system in return for permission to exhibit the work or a copy of the work. The usage fee included in the management information 1521 may be an amount that includes the desired usage fee included in the work information 1511, plus the management fee received by the administrator of the filming location identification system. The information disclosure flag indicates whether the exhibitor has permitted the disclosure of the exhibition location information to third parties. If permission is granted, "True" is entered, and if permission is not granted, "False" is entered. The information disclosure flag may be included, if necessary, in management information 1521. Furthermore, management information 1521 may further include a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) indicating the location where the information is saved, a password required to view the information, and the like.

[0054] The royalties included in the management information 1521 may be used to calculate the convertible value of the copyright of a work in the event that the right holder suffers damage due to the release of the filmed material.

[0055] (How to decide on the exhibition location)

[0056] Next, a method for determining an exhibition location will be described.

[0057] FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a method in which the photography location identification system determines an exhibition location in one embodiment of the present invention.

[0058] Referring to FIG. 6, each of multiple rights holders P1 uses their own rights holder terminal 300 to request the filming location identification device 100 to exhibit a copyrighted work to which they own the rights or a copy of that work. The filming location identification device 100 accepts these requests (process PR1). The type of copyrighted work is arbitrary, and may be a painting, sculpture, film, poem, or photograph. When making these requests, the rights holder P1 also inputs necessary information about the copyrighted work, such as an image of the work, the name and contact information of the rights holder, and the desired royalty amount. The filming location identification device 100 further accepts the input of this information from the rights holder terminal 300.

[0059] When the shooting location identifying device 100 receives the request, it registers each of the multiple copyrighted works for which the request was received on the website of the shooting location identifying device 100. Each of the multiple exhibitors P2 uses the exhibitor terminal 400 that he or she owns to make a website viewing request to the shooting location identifying device 100, and the website of the shooting location identifying device 100 is displayed on the exhibitor terminal 400. When the viewing request is received from the exhibitor terminal 400, the shooting location identifying device 100 transmits website information to the exhibitor terminal 400.

[0060] Each of the multiple exhibitors P2 selects a specific work from the multiple works displayed on the website on his / her own exhibitor terminal 400, and requests the shooting location identifying device 100 to exhibit that work or a copy of that work. The shooting location identifying device 100 accepts this exhibition request (process PR2). When making this exhibition request, each of the multiple exhibitors P2 also inputs information necessary for the exhibition, such as the desired exhibition period, the exhibitor's name and contact information, and the exhibition location. The shooting location identifying device 100 further accepts this input of information from the exhibitor terminal 400.

[0061] 7 and 8 are diagrams showing the screens of the website of the filming location identifying device 100 displayed on the right holder terminal 300 or the exhibition applicant terminal 400 in one embodiment of the present invention.

[0062] 7 and 8, when the shooting location identifying device 100 receives a request to view the website of the shooting location identifying device 100 from a terminal such as the rights holder terminal 300 or the exhibitor terminal 400, the shooting location identifying device 100 displays a home screen SC1 shown in FIG. 7(a) on the terminal. The home screen SC1 includes buttons BT1 and BT2. Button BT1 is pressed by a rights holder to request the exhibit of a copyrighted work to which the rights holder holds the copyright or a copy of that work. Button BT2 is pressed by an exhibitor to select a copyrighted work or a copy of that work to exhibit.

[0063] When the right holder terminal 300 accepts the pressing of button BT1, the filming location identification device 100 displays the input screen SC2 shown in FIG. 7(b) on the terminal. The input screen SC2 is a screen for accepting requests to exhibit copies of copyrighted works, and includes messages prompting the user to enter information in each field and press the registration button, boxes BX1, BX2, BX3, and BX4, and button BT3. Each of boxes BX1, BX2, BX3, and BX4 accepts the input of an image of the copyrighted work, the name of the rights holder, the rights holder's contact information, and the desired royalty amount, respectively. Button BT3 is a registration button for registering the copyrighted work. When the filming location identification device 100 accepts the pressing of button BT3, it assigns a new copyrighted work ID to the copyrighted work, creates new copyrighted work information based on the content entered on input screen SC2, and registers the information in the copyrighted work table.

[0064] When the exhibition applicant terminal 400 receives a press of button BT2, the shooting location identification device 100 receives a request to view an image of the copyrighted work from the exhibition applicant terminal 400 and displays the input screen SC3 shown in FIG. 8(a) on the exhibition applicant terminal 400. The input screen SC3 is a screen for accepting the selection of a copyrighted work to be exhibited from among multiple copyrighted works, and includes a message prompting the selection of a work, information about each of the multiple copyrighted works, and a button BT4 to be pressed to select each copyrighted work. The information about the copyrighted work includes information such as the copyrighted work ID, an image of the copyrighted work, the name of the rights holder, and usage fees. The information about the copyrighted work is created based on the copyrighted work information 1511 registered in the copyrighted work table.

[0065] When the exhibition applicant terminal 400 receives a press of any button BT4, the shooting location identifying device 100 displays an input screen SC4 shown in FIG. 8(b) on the exhibition applicant terminal 400. The input screen SC4 is a screen for accepting input of information necessary for the exhibition, such as the exhibition location. The input screen SC4 includes a message prompting the user to enter information in each field and press the send button, information about the selected work, boxes BX5, BX6, BX7, and BX8, and a button BT5. Each of boxes BX5, BX6, BX7, and BX8 accepts input of the desired exhibition period (here, the start date of the exhibition period and the number of months for the exhibition), the name of the person seeking exhibition, the contact information of the person seeking exhibition, and the address of the exhibition location. The button BT5 is a send button for sending the entered information. When the exhibition applicant terminal 400 receives a press of button BT5, the shooting location identifying device 100 assigns a new management ID to the work, creates new management information based on the information entered on the input screen SC4, and registers the information in the management table. The filming location identifying device 100 also adds the assigned management ID to the management ID column of the related work information 1511 (FIG. 4). This determines the exhibition location for the selected work or a copy of the work, and a contract for exhibiting the work or a copy of the work is concluded between the rights holder and the person wishing to exhibit. When creating the management information 1521, the filming location identifying device 100 may notify the contact information of each of the rights holder and the person wishing to exhibit that a contract for exhibiting the work or a copy of the work has been concluded.

[0066] 9 is a flowchart showing the process of determining an exhibition location of a copy of a copyrighted work, which is executed by the shooting location identification device 100 in one embodiment of the present invention. This flowchart may be realized by the CPU 111 executing a program stored in the ROM 112, for example.

[0067] Referring to Figure 9, when the shooting location identification device 100 receives a request to view a website, it displays a home screen on a terminal such as the rights holder terminal 300 or the exhibitor terminal 400 (S1), and determines whether a request to exhibit the work and input of necessary information have been received from the terminal (S2).

[0068] If it is determined in step S2 that a request for exhibition of a copyrighted work and input of necessary information have been received (YES in S2), copyrighted work information is created based on the received information, the created copyrighted work information is registered in the copyrighted work table (S3), and the process proceeds to step S5. If it is determined in step S2 that a request for exhibition of a copyrighted work and input of necessary information have not been received (NO in S2), the filming location identification device 100 proceeds to process step S5.

[0069] In step S5, the filming location identifying device 100 determines whether or not a request to view an image of a copyrighted work has been received from a terminal (S5).

[0070] In step S5, if it is determined that a request to view an image of a copyrighted work has been received from the terminal (YES in S5), the shooting location identifying device 100 creates a screen for receiving the selection of a copyrighted work based on the copyrighted work table and displays it on the terminal that made the viewing request (S7). Next, the shooting location identifying device 100 determines whether the selection of a copyrighted work has been received (S9).

[0071] In step S9, if it is determined that the selection of the copyrighted work has been accepted (YES in S9), the shooting location identification device 100 displays a screen on the terminal for accepting input of the exhibition location, etc. (S11), and determines whether or not input of the exhibition location, etc. has been accepted (S13).

[0072] If it is determined in step S13 that input of the exhibition location and the like has been accepted (YES in S13), the shooting location identifying device 100 creates management information based on the input information and registers it in the management table (S15). Next, the shooting location identifying device 100 notifies the contact points of the rights holder and the person wishing to exhibit that a contract for installation of a copy of the copyrighted work has been concluded (S17), and proceeds to the processing of step S101 in Fig. 15. The processing from step S101 onwards will be described later.

[0073] If it is determined in step S5 that a request to view an image of a copyrighted work will not be accepted from the terminal (NO in S5), if it is determined in step S9 that a selection of a copyrighted work will not be accepted (NO in S9), or if it is determined in step S13 that an input of an exhibition location, etc. will not be accepted (NO in S13), the shooting location identification device 100 proceeds to processing in step S1.

[0074] The method for determining the exhibition location is arbitrary. The exhibition location may be determined by the selection of a work by the person wishing to exhibit, as described above, or may be determined by the administrator of the filming location identification system. Specifically, the administrator of the filming location identification system may obtain permission in advance to exhibit each of a plurality of works or a copy thereof, and may exhibit a copy of any of the permitted works in the required exhibition location without accepting a selection of a work from the person wishing to exhibit.

[0075] (How to find photos taken in the desired location)

[0076] Next, a method for finding an object photographed at a desired location will be described.

[0077] 10 to 14 are diagrams illustrating a method for finding an object photographed at a required location in one embodiment of the present invention.

[0078] Referring to FIG. 10, at the necessary timing after registering new management information 1521 in management table 152, shooting location identification device 100 creates additional information IF associated with the exhibition location of the work or a copy of the work.

[0079] The additional information IF may be a coded version of information that identifies the copyrighted work of the new management information 1521 (here, the management ID "0001"), as shown in FIG. 10(a).

[0080] Furthermore, as shown in Figure 10(b), the additional information IF may be coded (encoded, symbolized, etc.) information about the exhibition location of the work or a copy of the work (here, the exhibition location is "Restaurant Nishikojiya, Nishikojiya, Ota-ku, Tokyo"). When the additional information IF is coded information about the exhibition location of the work or a copy of the work, the additional information IF may further code management information other than the exhibition location, such as the name of the person wishing to exhibit, contact information for the person wishing to exhibit, or the name of the author, or may further code author information, such as the name of the author.

[0081] 10(c), the additional information IF may be coded with information identifying the copyrighted work in the new management information 1521 (here, the management ID "0001"), a URL describing the contents of the new management information 1521, and a warning message about infringement of the copyright holder's rights (here, "The display of this copyrighted work may infringe the copyright holder's rights"). When access to the URL included in the additional information IF is received from a third-party terminal, if the information disclosure flag in the management information 1521 is "True," the shooting location identification device 100 may transmit the management information 1521 to the terminal. If the information disclosure flag is "False," the shooting location identification device 100 may request the terminal to enter a password, and if the password is correct, transmit the management information 1521 to the terminal. This allows a person wishing to exhibit the photograph to later consent to the photographing and use the photographed material for advertising purposes, even if a third party unintentionally photographs the photograph. After giving permission for photography, the person wishing to exhibit the work may replace the additional information IF with new information to deal with other new photographs.

[0082] In this embodiment, a two-dimensional code is shown as the additional information IF. The additional information IF may be a code such as a barcode or a two-dimensional code (QR Code (registered trademark), etc.), or may be steganography or a digital watermark. The additional information may be either visible to the naked eye or invisible to the naked eye. Furthermore, the additional information IF may be an administrative ID written in characters that can be deciphered by OCR (Optical Character Recognition) processing.

[0083] Furthermore, in order to be able to extract the additional information IF from a photograph even if the copyrighted work or a copy of that work has been blurred, it is preferable to make the additional information IF coarse-grained or readable even when the pixelation of the additional information IF is coarse. Blurring the copyrighted work or a copy of that work in a photograph is often a violation of copyright and neighboring rights. Therefore, if a blurred copyrighted work or a copy of that work appears in a photograph, the copyright holder of that work may be able to demand that the photograph be stopped from being made public and / or compensation for damages suffered.

[0084] Next, the shooting location identification device 100 adds the created additional information IF to the image IM of the copyrighted work related to the new management information, as shown in Fig. 10(d). In this case, the image IM of the copyrighted work is an image of a painting (especially a painting by a young artist who is not well known).

[0085] 11 and 12, next, the shooting location identifying device 100 creates an exhibit CP by, for example, printing an image IM of the copyrighted work to which the additional information IF has been added. The exhibit CP may also be created by manually adding (for example, pasting) the additional information IF to a copy of the copyrighted work or the actual copyrighted work by an administrator of the shooting location identifying system or a person wishing to exhibit the work, without using the shooting location identifying device 100.

[0086] The exhibit CP is then displayed in a required location PL by the administrator of the photography location identification system, the exhibitor, or the like. The required location PL is the location where the exhibitor wants to find the photographed object. The required location PL is any location, and is typically a store or art museum where the exhibitor wants to prohibit photography.

[0087] The exhibit CP may be created in any form based on the copyrighted work or an image thereof to which the additional information IF has been added. As an example, the exhibit CP may be a printout printed by a photography location identification device 100 or the like, as shown in Figure 12(a). In this example, menus are set up on counters and tables in a store, and printouts or photographs of images of the copyrighted work to which the additional information IF has been added are pasted on the covers of these menus.

[0088] 12(b), the exhibit CP may be a consumable item printed based on an image of a copyrighted work to which additional information IF has been added by a device other than the shooting location identification device 100. In this example, a placemat, a chopstick holder, and a hand towel bag, which are consumable items, are placed on a desk in the location PL. Each of these items has an image of the copyrighted work to which additional information IF has been added printed.

[0089] Furthermore, the exhibit CP may be digitally displayed in a required location, as shown in Fig. 12(c). In this case, a display is provided in a required location, and an image of the copyrighted work to which additional information IF has been added is digitally displayed on this display. The image of the copyrighted work used to create the exhibit CP may be transmitted from the shooting location identification device 100 to the terminal 400 for the exhibit applicant, etc.

[0090] When temporarily permitting photography at a required location PL, an exhibitor may cover the additional information IF attached to the exhibit CP with a printed material or any other printed material that displays other additional information including information indicating that photography is permitted, or may replace the exhibit CP with one that does not include the additional information. This prevents the additional information IF from being reflected in the photographed object. This prevents photographed objects that are permitted to be photographed from being found among the photographed objects that have been made public from being included.

[0091] The same work or copies thereof may be exhibited at multiple different exhibition locations. Also, multiple different works or copies thereof may be exhibited at one exhibition location. When multiple different works or copies thereof are exhibited at one exhibition location, the same additional information may be added to each of the multiple works or copies thereof.

[0092] If an exhibition period is specified in the management information, when the exhibition period has passed, the shooting location identifying device 100 may notify at least one of the display unit 102 of the shooting location identifying device 100, the rights holder terminal 300, and the exhibitor terminal 400 of the end of the exhibition period. This allows the administrator of the shooting location identifying system, the rights holder, or the exhibitor, etc., to remove the exhibit based on the notification, making it easier to manage the exhibition.

[0093] Furthermore, after each exhibition period, the administrator of the filming location identification system, the rights holder, or the person wishing to exhibit may exchange the work or a copy of the work to be exhibited at the required location PL for another work or a copy of the work.

[0094] Referring to FIG. 13, after creating the additional information IF, the shooting location identifying device 100 searches for photographs that have been shot at a required location from among the published photographs, using the following method.

[0095] First, the shooting location identification device 100 sequentially acquires arbitrary shot objects MV1 from among a plurality of shot objects MVs published on a website WB such as that shown in Fig. 13(a), as shown in Fig. 13(b). The website WB from which the shot objects MVs are acquired is, for example, a website (e.g., YouTube (registered trademark)) of a video sharing service (a service that allows an unspecified number of users to share and view videos uploaded by an unspecified number of users to a server on the Internet).

[0096] 14, the shooting location identifying device 100 then processes the acquired photographed object MV1 in order to search for additional information, if necessary. Then, the shooting location identifying device 100 searches for additional information from the photographed object MV1.

[0097] As an example of a method for searching for additional information, the shooting location identification device 100 may use image processing analysis software such as OpenCV (registered trademark) to sequentially select multiple video frames FL constituting a photographed object MV1 as shown in Fig. 14(a) one by one, and apply an additional information IF detection algorithm to the selected video frames FL to search for additional information IF from the video frames FL as shown in Fig. 14(b). Alternatively, the shooting location identification device 100 may train an object detection model such as YOLO (You Only Look Once) or Faster R-CN to search for additional information from the photographed object MV1.

[0098] After the search, the shooting location identifying device 100 determines whether or not additional information is captured on the photographed object. If it is determined that additional information is captured on the photographed object, the shooting location identifying device 100 identifies the shooting location of the photographed object (here, an exhibition location called "Restaurant Nishikojiya," Nishikojiya, Ota-ku, Tokyo) based on the additional information IF, as shown in FIG. 14(c). The shooting location identifying device 100 may further identify the shooting period of the photographed object (here, January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024) based on the additional information IF.

[0099] For example, if the additional information IF is a coded version of information that identifies a copyrighted work (as shown in FIG. 10(a) or 10(c)), the shooting location identifying device 100 obtains the information that identifies the copyrighted work by decoding the additional information IF. The shooting location identifying device 100 refers to the management table 152 and identifies management information 1521 based on the information that identifies the copyrighted work. The shooting location identifying device 100 identifies the exhibition location and exhibition period included in the identified management information 1521 as the shooting location and shooting time of the photographed object, respectively.

[0100] Furthermore, if the additional information IF is coded information on the exhibition location and exhibition period of copies of the copyrighted work (as shown in FIG. 10(b)), the shooting location identifying device 100 obtains the information on the exhibition location and exhibition period of copies of the copyrighted work by decoding the additional information IF without referring to the management table 152. The shooting location identifying device 100 identifies the obtained exhibition location and exhibition period as the shooting location and shooting time of the photographed object, respectively.

[0101] As is clear from the frame FL shown in Figure 14(b), the main subject of the photographed object MV1 is food FD, and little information about the surroundings of the food FD can be obtained from the photographed object MV1. Conventionally, it has been difficult to visually identify the photographed location of such an object MV1. According to this embodiment, the photographed location of the object MV1 can be identified based on the additional information IF that is reflected in the background of the food FD in the photographed object MV1.

[0102] The shooting location identification device 100 may notify the administrator of the shooting location identification system or related persons wishing to exhibit the photograph of the photograph for which additional information has been found and the shooting location thereof, by displaying a warning message on the display unit 102 of the device itself or by sending a warning message to the contact information of related persons wishing to exhibit the photograph.

[0103] By using the above method, photographs taken at a desired location can be found from among the published photographs.

[0104] 15 is a flowchart showing a process for finding an object photographed at a required location, which is executed by the photography location identification device 100 in one embodiment of the present invention. This flowchart may be realized by the CPU 111 executing a program stored in the ROM 112.

[0105] 15, the shooting location identifying device 100 creates additional information associated with the exhibition location of the new management information (S101) and adds it to the image of the copyrighted work related to the new management information (S102). Next, the shooting location identifying device 100 creates an exhibit by printing the image of the copyrighted work with the additional information added (S103). The exhibit is exhibited in a desired location by the administrator of the shooting location identifying system or a person wishing to exhibit.

[0106] Next, the shooting location identifying device 100 acquires any one of a plurality of photographed objects published on a website or the like (S105), and processes the acquired photographed object as necessary (S107). Next, the shooting location identifying device 100 searches for additional information from the photographed object (S109), and determines whether the additional information is captured in the photographed object (S111).

[0107] If it is determined in step S111 that additional information is included in the photographed object (YES in S111), the photographing location identifying device 100 identifies the photographing location of the photographed object based on the additional information (S113). Next, the photographing location identifying device 100 notifies the display unit 102 of the photographing location identifying device 100, the rights holder terminal 300, the exhibit applicant terminal 400, etc. of the photographed object for which additional information was found and its photographing location (S115), and proceeds to the processing of step S117.

[0108] In step S111, if it is determined that additional information is not included in the photographed object (NO in S111), the photographing location identifying device 100 proceeds to the process of step S117.

[0109] In step S117, the shooting location identifying device 100 determines whether the current date is past the exhibition period of the new management information (S117).

[0110] In step S117, if it is determined that the current date is not past the exhibition period of the new management information (NO in S117), the filming location identifying device 100 proceeds to the process of step S105.

[0111] In step S117, if it is determined that the current date has passed the exhibition period of the new management information (YES in S117), the shooting location identification device 100 notifies the display unit 102 of the shooting location identification device 100, the rights holder terminal 300, the exhibition applicant terminal 400, etc. of the end of the exhibition period (S119), and terminates the processing.

[0112] [Effects of the embodiment]

[0113] In the above-described embodiment, an exhibit is displayed in a necessary location, such as a location where photography is prohibited. The exhibit is a copyrighted work or a copy thereof to which additional information has been added. The additional information is associated with the display location. This increases the likelihood that the additional information will appear in photographs taken in necessary locations. According to the above-described embodiment, if additional information appears in a published photograph, the photographing location of the photograph can be identified based on the additional information, making it easy to find photographs taken in necessary locations. If the necessary location is a location where photography is prohibited, unauthorized photography in the necessary location can be effectively prevented.

[0114] Furthermore, publishing footage of copyrighted material without the permission of the copyright holder is often a copyright infringement. Therefore, if a copyrighted work or a copy of that work is found in a photograph, the copyright holder may be able to stop the publication of the footage based on that fact, or may be able to claim compensation for damages and royalties for any damages incurred as a result of the publication of the footage. The possibility of such claims serves as a deterrent to unauthorized photography.

[0115] (others)

[0116] The shooting location identification device in the above-described embodiment may be used not only to discover photographs taken in locations where photography is prohibited, but also to check how many photographs taken at a certain location have been uploaded to websites by people involved with that location (more specifically, how much the topic of that location has spread and attracted attention on the Internet).

[0117] The above-described embodiments and modifications can be combined as appropriate.

[0118] The above-described embodiments should be considered to be illustrative in all respects and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the claims, not by the above description, and is intended to include all modifications within the meaning and scope of the claims. [Explanation of symbols]

[0119] 1. Filming location identification system 100 Shooting location identification device 101 Control section 102 Display section 103 Operation section 104 Network Interface 105 Storage device 106 Printing Department 111 CPU(Central Processing Unit) 112 ROM (Read Only Memory) 113 RAM (Random Access Memory) 120 Additional Information Creation Department 121 Reproduction Department 122 Video Acquisition Unit 123 Processing Department 124 Discrimination part 125 Specific part 126 Storage section 127 Notification Department 128 Request Reception Department 129 Exhibition Request Reception 130 Location Reception 151 Copyright Table 152 Management Table 200 Network 300 Rights holder terminal 400 Terminals for exhibitors 1511 Copyright information 1521 Management information BT1, BT2, BT3, BT4, BT5 buttons BX1, BX2, BX3, BX4, BX5, BX6, BX7, BX8 Box CP exhibits FD Foods FL Frame IF additional information IM Copyrighted Images MV,MV1 footage P1 Rights holder P2 Exhibition applicant PL Exhibition Location PR1,PR2 processing SC1 Home Screen SC2, SC3, SC4 input screen WB website

Claims

1. additional information creating means for creating additional information associated with an exhibition location where the copyrighted work or a copy of the copyrighted work is exhibited; a determination means for determining whether the additional information is included in the published photograph; and a specifying means for specifying the shooting location of the photographed object based on the additional information reflected in the photographed object when the determining means determines that the additional information is reflected in the photographed object.

2. the additional information is further associated with an exhibition period during which the copyrighted work or a copy of the copyrighted work is exhibited; 2. The photographing location identifying device according to claim 1, wherein said identifying means further identifies a time when said photographed object was photographed based on said additional information reflected in said photographed object.

3. The additional information is coded information that identifies the copyrighted work, further comprising a storage means for storing a correspondence between information identifying the copyrighted work and the exhibition location; 2. The photographing location identifying device according to claim 1, wherein said identifying means identifies the photographing location of said photographed object further based on said correspondence relationship stored in said storage means.

4. 2. The photography location identifying device according to claim 1, wherein the additional information is information about the exhibition location coded.

5. a request receiving means for receiving a request to exhibit the copyrighted work or a copy of the copyrighted work; a location receiving means for receiving an input regarding the exhibition location when the request is received by the request receiving means, 2. The photography location identifying device according to claim 1, wherein said additional information creating means creates said additional information associated with said exhibition location accepted by said location accepting means.

Images