Image communication system and method

Abstract

In a system in which an editing server and a plurality of client computers are capable of communicating with one another, an edited image can be generated by the plurality of client computers. When image data is transmitted from the image server to the client computer, the resolution of image data to be transmitted is reduced in correspondence with the resolution of a monitor display device connected to the client computer. Further, the number of colors of an image represented by the image data is decreased in correspondence with the number of colors which can be displayed on the monitor display device. The data quantity of the image data to be transmitted is reduced, so that time required to transmit the image data is shortened. A client computer and a main image server are connected to each other. A user image to be synthesized on a template image is read in the client computer. Image data representing the template image used for the image synthesis and image data representing a mask image are transmitted from the main image server to the client computer. In the client computer, image synthesis processing is performed. Image data representing an area required for image synthesis of the user image used for the image synthesis is extracted. The extracted user image data and synthesis information required for the synthesis are transmitted from the client computer to the main image server. In the main image server, a composite image is printed.