Image reproduction apparatus and image reproduction method

Abstract

An object of this invention is to simplify an operation of reproducing, on a single window, pieces of image information of different image capturing apparatuses or pieces of image information captured at different times. A display apparatus manages a camera apparatus ( 1 ) serving as the image capturing source of image information to be reproduced in each image region in association with a plurality of image regions on a single window. The display apparatus manages whether the image information to be reproduced in each image region is recorded image information or image information which is currently being captured. On the basis of the pieces of management information, the display apparatus acquires image information from a desired one of camera apparatuses and recording apparatuses and reproduces the pieces of acquired image information on the plurality of image regions.

1 . An image reproduction controlling apparatus for control a reproduction of an image, comprising: 
 a reading unit adapted to read out, from a storage device to store layout information, layout information that associates position information of a region to be laid out on a screen, an image capturing apparatus which captures an image to be reproduced on the region, and image capturing time information of the image to be reproduced; and    a control unit adapted to control a reproduction of an image corresponding to the region laid out on the screen on the basis of the layout information read out by said reading unit.    
   
   
       2 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein in case that image to be reproduced is a recorded image in an image recording apparatus, the layout information contains image capturing time information of the image captured by the image capturing apparatus.  
   
   
       3 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein in case that a change in a state around the image capturing apparatus is detected by a detection unit, the layout information contains, as the image capturing time information of the image to be reproduced, one of a detection time and a predetermined time ago from the detection time.  
   
   
       4 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein in case that an image to be reproduced is a current image, said control unit acquires a live image from the image capturing apparatus.  
   
   
       5 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein said control unit controls a display of a menu window to select a desired one of a plurality of pieces of layout information stored in the storage device.  
   
   
       6 . The apparatus according to  claim 2 , further comprising a creating unit adapted to create the layout information on the basis of a degree of association to the image capturing apparatus whose ambient state change is detected by a sensor.  
   
   
       7 . An image reproduction controlling method of an image reproduction controlling apparatus for controlling a reproduction of an image, comprising steps of: 
 reading out, from a storage device to store layout information, layout information that associates position information of a region to be laid out on a screen, an image capturing apparatus which captures an image to be reproduced on the region, and image capturing time information of the image to be reproduced; and    controlling a reproduction of an image corresponding to the region laid out on the screen on the basis of the layout information read out in the reading step.    
   
   
       8 . The method according to  claim 7 , wherein in case that image information to be reproduced is a recorded image in an image recording apparatus, the layout information contains image capturing time information of the image captured by the image capturing apparatus.  
   
   
       9 . The method according to  claim 7 , wherein in case that a change in a state around the image capturing apparatus is detected by a detection Unit, the layout information contains, as the image capturing time information of the image to be reproduced, one of a detection time and a predetermined time ago from the detection time.  
   
   
       10 . The method according to  claim 7 , wherein in the display control step, in case that an image to be reproduced is a current image, a live image is acquired from the image capturing apparatus.  
   
   
       11 . The method according to  claim 7 , wherein in the display control step, a menu window to select a desired one of a plurality of pieces of layout information stored in the storage device is displayed.  
   
   
       12 . The method according to  claim 9 , further comprising a step of creating the layout information on the basis of a degree of association to the image capturing apparatus for which a sensor transmits a notification of a change in ambient state.  
   
   
       13 . A program which is stored in a computer-readable medium and causes a computer to execute an image reproduction controlling method of an image reproduction controlling apparatus for controlling a reproduction of an image, the image reproduction controlling method comprising steps of: 
 reading out, from a storage device to store layout information, layout information that associates position information of a region to be laid out on a screen, an image capturing apparatus which captures an image to be reproduced on the region, and image capturing time information of the image to be reproduced; and    controlling a reproduction of an image corresponding to the region laid out on the screen on the basis of the layout information read out in the reading step.    
   
   
       14 . A computer-readable medium which records a program of  claim 13.