Abstract:
To enable images of game screens concerning a plurality of game programs to be systematically stored in a storage unit and a desired image to be swiftly displayed on a display unit in a later time, a game device of the present invention includes: a program executing unit for executing each of a plurality of game programs; an identification information acquiring unit for acquiring identification information on the game program during execution of the game program; an image acquiring unit for acquiring at least one image of a game screen generated during the execution of the game program; an image storing unit for storing the at least one image into the storage unit in association with the identification information; and a display control unit for reading the image stored in association with any one of the identification information from the storage unit based on a specification made by a user, and displaying the image on the display unit.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The present invention relates to a game device, an image processing method, and an information recording medium, and more particularly, to a save of an image of a game screen generated by a computer game program. 
         [0003]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0004]    There is known a so-called screenshot function that allows an image of a screen being generated by a computer program during execution of the program to be stored in storage means such as a hard disk drive or a memory device according to a user&#39;s instruction. With this function, the user performs a predetermined operation while viewing the displayed screen to thereby store the image of the screen in the memory device temporarily. After that, the user sets a file name, and specifies an arbitrary saving location on the hard disk drive to cause a file of the image stored in the memory device to be stored onto the hard disk drive. According to this function, the user can later view the image of the screen displayed during execution of the program (see EP 983,782 A). 
         [0005]    With the above-mentioned related art, in a case where various game programs are executed by a computer and images of screens generated by the respective game programs are stored in shared storage means, there occurs an inconvenience in viewing the images in a later time unless files of the images each have a file name set appropriately and a saving location specified appropriately. However, such tasks are generally cumbersome. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problem, and an object thereof is to provide a game device, an image processing method, and an information recording medium, which allow images of game screens concerning a plurality of game programs to be systematically stored in storage means and a desired image to be swiftly displayed on display means in a later time. 
         [0007]    In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, a game device according to the present invention includes: program executing means for executing each of a plurality of game programs; identification information acquiring means for acquiring identification information on one of the plurality of game programs during execution of the one of the plurality of game programs; image acquiring means for acquiring at least one image of a game screen generated during the execution of the one of the plurality of game programs; image storing means for storing the at least one image into storage means in association with the identification information; and display control means for reading one or more images stored in association with any one of the identification information from the storage means based on a specification made by a user, and displaying the images on display means. 
         [0008]    An image processing method according to the present invention includes: a program executing step of executing a game program; an identification information acquiring step of acquiring identification information on the game program during execution of the game program; an image acquiring step of acquiring at least one image of a game screen generated during the execution of the game program; an image storing step of storing the at least one image into storage means in association with the identification information; and a display control step of reading one or more images stored in association with any one of the identification information from the storage means based on a specification made by a user, and displaying the images on display means. 
         [0009]    A program according to the present invention causes a computer to function as: program executing means for executing a game program; identification information acquiring means for acquiring identification information on the game program during execution of the game program; image acquiring means for acquiring at least one image of a game screen generated during the execution of the game program; image storing means for storing the at least one image into storage means in association with the identification information; and display control means for reading one or more images stored in association with any one of the identification information from the storage means based on a specification made by a user, and displaying the images on display means. This program may be stored on a computer-readable information recording medium such as a CD-ROM or a DVD-ROM. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0010]    In the accompanying drawings: 
           [0011]      FIG. 1  is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of a game device according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0012]      FIGS. 2A to 2C  are diagrams showing examples of a screen of a display section; 
           [0013]      FIGS. 3A to 3D  are diagrams showing examples of the screen of the display section; 
           [0014]      FIG. 4  is a diagram showing a directory structure of a removable memory; 
           [0015]      FIG. 5  is a sequence diagram showing a processing of saving a screenshot image on the game device; and 
           [0016]      FIG. 6  is a flowchart showing a continuous acquisition processing for the screenshot image on the game device. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0017]    Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention are described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
         [0018]      FIG. 1  is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of a game device according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 1 , a game device  10  includes a CPU  12 , a ROM  13 , a RAM  14 , a display section  16 , an operation section  18 , a communication section  22 , a voice output section  24 , a removable memory  26 , and a removable disk  28 , constituting a computer game system with those components being connected to a bus  20  so as to exchange data with one another. The computer game system may be configured as, for example, a portable game device that is driven by a battery. 
         [0019]    Here, the ROM  13  (information recording medium) stores a program such as an operating system. The program of the operating system may be installed into the ROM  13  from another information recording medium such as the removable disk  28 . The RAM  14  is used as a work memory. The display section  16  is configured by including a display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) and a memory  16   a  for display, and displays a screen on the display device based on drawn image data within the memory (video RAM (VRAM))  16   a  for display. The operation section  18  includes a button and an arrow key, and is used by the user to perform various instructions with respect to the game device  10 . The communication section  22  is used by the game device  10  to perform data communication with another computer in a wired or wireless communication. The voice output section  24  is configured by including a speaker and a voice synthesis IC, and outputs a voice from the speaker in response to an instruction from the CPU  12 . The removable memory  26  represents a portable storage medium which is constituted of a semiconductor memory or the like and to/from which data is written/read. In this case, the removable memory  26  is used to store a so-called save data, which is data for indicating a situation of the game being played, or store a so-called screenshot image, which is an image of the game screen generated by the game program. The removable disk  28  represents a portable storage medium having a relatively large capacity, which is constituted of a semiconductor memory, a magneto-optical disk, or the like, and from which data is read. In this case, the game program is previously stored on the above-mentioned storage medium. By replacing the removable disk  28 , the user can cause the game device  10  to load and execute various game programs. The CPU  12  executes the operating system stored in the ROM  13  and the game program stored on the removable disk  28  to thereby control each section of the game device  10 . In particular, the CPU  12  executes the game program and the operating system to generate the image of the display screen and store the image in the memory  16   a  of the display section  16 . 
         [0020]    The operating system according to this embodiment is provided with a so-called screenshot program module which saves the image of the game screen being generated by the game program into the removable memory  26  in response to an instruction from the game program being executed. That is,  FIG. 2A  shows an example of the game screen displayed in the display section  16  during execution of the game program, and when a predetermined screenshot operation is performed during execution of the game program by the operation section  18 , the game program instructs the operating system to execute the screenshot operation. The screenshot program module included in the operating system copies an image that is stored in the memory  16   a  at the time instant to the removable memory  26 . At this time, a directory corresponding to the game program being currently executed has been created in the removable memory  26 , and the image (screenshot image) of the game screen is stored into the directory. 
         [0021]    After that, when the user uses the operation section  18  to perform an operation for terminating the game program, a menu screen by the operating system is displayed in the display section  16 .  FIGS. 2B ,  2 C, and  3 A to  3 C each show an example of the menu screen. On the menu screen, a plurality of category icons  30  indicating categories of functions provided to the game device  10  are displayed, and a horizontal-direction operation of the arrow key of the operation section  18  can move an arbitrary one of the category icons  30  to a predetermined position within the screen, while a vertical-direction operation of the arrow key allows a cursor  34  to specify an arbitrary one of icons  32  belonging to a category indicated by the category icon  30 . 
         [0022]    On the screen shown in  FIG. 2B , the category icon  30  indicating the execution of the game program (an image indicating an operation device for the game) is located in the predetermined position of the screen, and the cursor  34  specifies an arbitrary one of icons  32  belonging to the same category indicated by the category icon  30 . On the other hand, on the screen shown in  FIG. 2C , the category icon  30  indicating displaying of a photograph (an image indicating a camera) is located in the predetermined position of the screen, and the cursor  34  specifies the icon  32  (an image indicating a storage medium) that belongs to the same category and indicates the removable memory  26 . 
         [0023]    When the user operates the arrow key of the operation section  18  to cause transition from the screen of  FIG. 2B  to the screen of  FIG. 2C  and depresses a determination button of the operation section  18 , a screen of  FIG. 3A  is displayed. On this screen, folder icons  36  are displayed in a vertical direction for each game program whose screenshot image is saved. On each of the folder icons  36 , a title character string  38  of the game program corresponding to the folder icon  36  is displayed. One of the folder icons  36  is specified by the cursor  34 , and on its right side, the title character string  38  (here, “GAME B”) of the game program is displayed in a larger font size, under which the number of screenshot images saved from the game program (here, “4 images”) is displayed. If the operation section  18  is kept in this state without any operation for a predetermined period of time (for example, 2 to 3 seconds), a background image  40  is displayed. The background image  40  represents a picture that symbolizes the game program whose folder icon  36  is being currently specified by the cursor  34  and its title character string  38 . 
         [0024]    After an arbitrary one of the folder icons  36  is specified by the cursor  34  on a screen of  FIG. 3B , when the determination button of the operation section  18  is depressed, a screen of  FIG. 3C  is displayed. Displayed on the screen are thumbnails (reduced images)  42  of screenshot images stored in a folder corresponding to the specified folder icon  36 . One of the thumbnails  42  is specified by the cursor  34 , and on its right side an image name  43  (character string) is displayed. The image name  43  represents a part of a file name (i.e., the file name excluding an extension) of the screenshot image. When the user uses the cursor  34  to specify an arbitrary thumbnail  42  and depresses the determination button of the operation section  18 , the screenshot image is displayed in the display section  16  to fill the entire screen of the display section  16  as shown in  FIG. 3D . At this time, a comment character string  44  related to the screenshot image is superimposed at the lower left corner of the screenshot image. The comment character string  44  may be hidden by performing a predetermined operation on the operation section  18 . 
         [0025]      FIG. 4  shows a directory structure of the removable memory  26 . Under a root directory  50  of the removable memory  26 , a screenshot directory  51  is created, under which subdirectories  52  corresponding to the respective game programs are created. A name of each of the subdirectories  52  is set as an ID (identification information) of the game program. The operating system receives a notification of the ID in a case of receiving an instruction for the screenshot from a given game program. The operating system checks whether or not the subdirectory  52  of the notified ID has already been created under the screenshot directory  51 , and if the subdirectory  52  has been created, a newly acquired screenshot image is stored into the subdirectory  52 . If the subdirectory  52  has not been created yet, such a new subdirectory  52  as to have the ID as its directory name is created under the screenshot directory  51 . Then, the newly acquired screenshot image is stored into the newly created subdirectory  52 . 
         [0026]    Stored in each of the subdirectories  52  are files including a folder icon image  54 , the background image  40 , one or more screenshot images  56 , and the title character string  38 . The folder icon image  54  represents an icon image for displaying the folder icon  36 , and is copied from the removable disk  28 . The background image  40  represents an image displayed in the display section  16  in a case where the folder icon  36  whose folder icon image  54  is displayed is specified by the cursor  34  (see  FIGS. 3B and 3C ). The background image  40  is also copied from the removable disk  28 . The screenshot images  56  are copied by the operating system from the memory  16   a  of the display section  16 . The file name of each of the screenshot images  56  is specified by the game program, and has its part displayed as the image name  43  on the menu screen shown in  FIG. 3C . The title character string  38  represents a character string indicating a title of the game program, and is also specified by the game program. The title character string  38  is displayed on the menu screen shown in  FIG. 3A . 
         [0027]    Hereinafter, a description is made of an operation sequence of the game device  10  executing the screenshot operation. As shown in  FIG. 5 , during the execution of the game program, when the user uses the operation section  18  to perform a predetermined screenshot operation (S 101 ), the game program pauses the execution of the game program, and acquires data indicating a situation of the game being played at the timing (S 102 ). Examples of the data include a growth level of a game character, a position of the game character within a game space, and a current time of the game space. Then, the game program generates related information on the screenshot image (S 103 ). The related information contains (1) a specified image format (for example, JPEG or PNG) of the screenshot image, (2) the ID of the game program, (3) the title character string  38 , (4) a location where the folder icon image  54  is saved, (5) a location where the background image  40  is saved, (6) the file name of the screenshot image, and (7) the comment character string  44  with its display format. The display format includes information required when the comment character string  44  is superimposed on the screenshot image, which contains a font size, a font color, a background color, and a position of the superimposition within the screenshot image. The game program determines the font color, the background color, and the display position of the comment character string  44  based on the currently displayed contents of the screenshot image in order to prevent the screenshot image from becoming hard to recognize even if the comment character string  44  is superimposed thereon. Based on the information on the display format, the operating system then displays the screen of  FIG. 3D . 
         [0028]    Further, based on the data acquired in Step S 102 , the game program determines the comment character string  44  and the file name of the screenshot image. For example, if the data indicating the situation of the game is the data indicating the position of the game character operated by the user within the game space, a name of the spatial position is set as the file name of the screenshot image or as the comment character string  44 . If the data indicating the situation of the game is the data indicating an event that is currently being executed by the game program, a name of the event is set as the file name of the screenshot image or as the comment character string  44 . The game program passes the related information generated as described above to the operating system to issue a request that the screenshot image be saved. 
         [0029]    The operating system, which has received the request, displays in the display section  16  a screen for inquiring the user whether or not the screenshot image be really saved, and if the user uses the operation section  18  to issue such an instruction as not to save the image in response to the inquiry, the operating system instructs the game program to restart the game (S 104 ). Upon reception of the instruction, the game program restarts the execution of the game program (S 109 ). 
         [0030]    On the other hand, if the user issue such an instruction as to save the image, the operating system then checks whether or not the subdirectory  52  corresponding to the game program has already been created under the screenshot directory  51  within the removable memory  26  (S 105 ). To be specific, the operating system reads the ID of the game program from the related information passed by the game program, and checks whether or not the subdirectory  52  having the ID as its directory name exists under the screenshot directory  51 . If the subdirectory  52  as described above does not exist, the subdirectory  52  is created (S 106 ). At this time, based on the related information passed by the game program, the operating system reads the folder icon image  54  and the background image  40  from the removable disk  28 , and stores the folder icon image  54  and the background image  40  into the created subdirectory  52 . In addition, based on the related information, the file of the title character string  38  is also stored. 
         [0031]    Subsequently, the operating system copies an image (image of the game screen generated by the game program) stored in the memory  16   a  of the display section  16 , as the screenshot image  56 , to the subdirectory  52  whose directory name is set to the ID of the game program contained in the related information (S 107 ). Used at this time as the file name of the screenshot image  56  is the one contained in the related information passed by the game program. In addition, the image format is the one specified in the related information. Further, the comment character string  44  and its display format are saved as a part (meta information) of the image file of the screenshot image  56 . After that, the operating system monitors whether or not a predetermined return operation is performed through the operation section  18 , and if the operation is performed, the operating system instructs the game program to restart the game. Upon reception of the instruction, the game program restarts the execution of the game program (S 109 ). 
         [0032]    With this embodiment, on the operating system, in an environment that allows execution of the plurality of game programs supplied from the removable disk  28 , if the operating system is instructed to save the screenshot image during the execution of any one of the game programs, the screenshot image is saved in association with the identification information of the game program. Then, when the cursor  34  is used to specify an arbitrary folder icon  36 , thereby specifying the identification information of any one of the game programs, the screenshot image  56  stored in the subdirectory  52  associated with the identification information is read and displayed in the display section  16 . Accordingly, the user does not need to specify the location where the screenshot image is saved through input means such as a keyboard, which can improve convenience. Further, in this embodiment, the game program acquires a game situation of the game program being executed, and generates the related information on the screenshot image based on the game situation. Since a part of the related information is made to be displayed ( FIGS. 3C and 3D ), the user can immediately learn what kind of game situation the screenshot image has been acquired in. 
         [0033]    Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and various modifications can be made. For example, the screenshot image does not need to be a static image but may be a moving image. 
         [0034]    Further, as a part of the related information, the game program may include numerical value information indicating a position of a current game scene in a sequence. That is, the sequence in which the respective game screens are generated may be managed by the game program, and the numerical value information indicating positions in the sequence may be stored in the subdirectory  52  along with the screenshot image  56 . In this case, if the operating system sequentially displays the screenshot images in an order based on the numerical value information, it becomes easy for the user to recall the situation of the game played by the user himself/herself. 
         [0035]    Further, in a case where a new screenshot image for a given game program is saved into the removable memory  26 , the screenshot image  56  that is associated with the ID of the game program and further associated with the numerical value information indicating the position of the same game scene in the sequence may be deleted, if existing. This can prevent a large number of similar images from being stored in the removable memory  26  with overlaps. In a similar manner, the screenshot image  56  having the same file name as the one that has already been stored may be deleted. 
         [0036]    Further, the operating system may sequentially acquire the screenshot images at timings based on an execution situation of the game program and save the screenshot images in the removable memory  26 .  FIG. 6  shows a processing according to such a modified example as described above. If instructed for such continuous acquisition of the screenshot images, the operating system first displays in the display section  16  a screen for inquiring the user whether or not the screenshot image be really saved (S 201 ). If the user issues such an instruction as not to save the image in response to the inquiry, the operating system ends the processing related to the screenshot operation. On the other hand, if the user issues such an instruction as to save the screenshot image, the operating system then checks whether or not the subdirectory  52  corresponding to the game program has already been created under the screenshot directory  51  within the removable memory  26  (S 202 ), and if the subdirectory  52  as described above does not exist, the subdirectory  52  is created (S 203 ). The processings so far are the same as the processings of Steps S 104  to S 106  of  FIG. 5 . 
         [0037]    Subsequently, the operating system copies the image stored in the memory  16   a  of the display section  16 , as the screenshot image  56 , to the subdirectory  52  whose directory name is set to the ID of the game program contained in the related information (S 204 ). Then, until an instruction to end the continuous acquisition processing is received from the game program (S 205 ), the operating system waits for a timing of acquiring the next screenshot image, and if the timing is reached, the operating system repeats Step S 204  to newly acquire the screenshot image and save the screenshot image in the removable memory  26 . The timing is determined based on the execution situation of the game program. For example, by generating a motion difference between the images of the game screens stored in the memory  16   a  of the display section  16 , the timing at which the motion difference becomes large may be set as the timing of acquiring the next screenshot image. Alternatively, based on color information on the images of the game screens, the timing at which a color tone changes to a large extent may be set as the timing of acquiring the next screenshot image. This can prevent a large number of similar screenshot images from being saved with overlaps, thereby solving a conventional problem.