JP2000112798A - Method for picture filing, device therefor and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make it possible to transfer data from a medium such as a memory card to other medium without confusing a correspondence relation between picture data and order information. SOLUTION: Order information and picture data are read from a single or plural memory cards where the order information and the picture data are stored and the contents are stored in an order picture file of a structured file format. A stream of an order storage stores the order information for each memory card, streams of storage 1, 2... of a picture storage store the picture data for each memory card. The order information has information of the stream where corresponding picture data are stored attached.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of transferring image data taken by a digital camera or the like from a storage means such as a memory card storing order information relating to the image data to another storage means. The present invention relates to an image filing method and apparatus for storing, and a computer-readable recording medium that records a program for causing a computer to execute the image filing method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A digital camera stores photographed photographs as digital image data in a built-in memory of the camera or a memory card. When ordering photographed photographs as print images, a user inserts the memory card into the memory card. The lab reads the image data from the memory card and prints it.

[0003] On the other hand, when ordering a print, conventionally, the order is made by entering the name, address, print job such as the frame number and the number of pictures to be printed, the size of the print job, etc. on the order form. With digitization in the field of photo services in recent years, it has been proposed to transfer order information representing the above-mentioned order contents to a laboratory as digital data. In this case, the user needs to store the order information in addition to the digital image data on the memory card, and print the digital image data in the laboratory in accordance with the order information read from the memory card. For this reason, there has been proposed a printer that reads information about a print job from a memory card and performs printing in accordance with this information (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-8 / 1994).
No. 537), and printing is performed by such a printer in the laboratory.

However, in a lab, it is necessary to process orders from a plurality of users, and it is very complicated to handle a memory card brought in for each user. The stored memory card may be damaged. For this reason, it is conceivable that image data and order information are copied from a memory card brought in by a user to another medium and print processing is performed collectively.

[0005] However, image data stored in a memory card of a digital camera is stored in the memory card with a file name including, for example, a photographing number so as to be distinguished from each other. It is just a name to identify the file in memory. Therefore, when the image data is transferred to another medium as described above, the name must be changed so that the file name is not duplicated in the medium. For this reason, when transferring from a memory card to another medium, a file name including property information at the time of shooting included in image data and specific information for specifying the image data is automatically determined, and the file name is determined. A filing method has been proposed in which data is copied to another medium as a file name in another medium (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-1).
87953). This allows other media to
It is possible to prevent the file names of the image data copied from the memory card from being duplicated.

[0006]

However, if the file name of the image data is changed when the order information is stored in the memory card, it becomes difficult to associate the order information with the image data. Also, since the order information and the image data are stored as separate files on another medium to which the memory card file has been transferred, the file is lost during the processing, and the order information and the image data are lost. May not be able to be correlated. Further, since a plurality of order information and image data are stored in another medium, if a process such as copying the data to a printer during the printing process is performed, the corresponding relationship is confused. There is a possibility that printing according to the order information cannot be performed. In particular, if data from a previous process remains in the printer's built-in memory, even if the file name is changed when transferring to another medium, the file name and the file name are stored in the printer's built-in memory. If the same data remains,
When data is read from another memory to the printer internal memory, the file name is duplicated.

[0007] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an image filing method capable of transferring data from a medium such as a memory card to another medium without disrupting the correspondence between image data and order information. It is an object of the present invention to provide a computer-readable recording medium that records a program for causing a computer to execute the image filing method and the apparatus.

[0008]

According to the image filing method of the present invention, a single or a plurality of image data stored in a single or a plurality of first storage means and order information relating to the image data are stored in a second storage. An image filing method for storing the image data and the order information from the first storage means, associating the order information with the image data, and creating a structured storage file having a hierarchical structure. The image data is stored to create one order image file, and the order image file is stored in the second storage means.

Here, the “structured storage file having a hierarchical structure” means that a plurality of applications of different types
Is used when working with two files,
One file has a hierarchical structure like a directory structure in a conventional file system, and each component can be operated by a separate application. The stream is one element in the structured storage, and the storage stores the stream (corresponding to a conventional directory function).
Structured storage is widely known as a technique used in COM (Component Object Model) proposed by Microsoft Corporation, and therefore detailed description is omitted.

The "second storage means" includes M
In the case where, for example, an order image file is directly transferred to a printer, it includes not only media such as O, ZIP, and CD-R but also a built-in memory provided in the printer.

In the image filing method according to the present invention, it is preferable that the order image file is created for each order.

Here, the "order unit" is a unit for which a certain user requests printing at a time.

[0013] The order image file has an order storage for storing the order information and an image storage for storing the image data for each of the first storage means. Preferably, each storage means has a stream for storing the order information.

An image filing apparatus according to the present invention is an image filing apparatus for storing single or plural image data stored in a single or plural first storage means and order information relating to the image data in a second storage means. An apparatus, comprising: a data reading unit that reads the image data and the order information from the first storage unit; and stores the order information and the image data in a structured storage file having a hierarchical structure in association with each other. And a storage means for storing the order image file in the second storage means.

In the image filing apparatus according to the present invention, it is preferable that the file creating means is means for creating the order image file in order units.

Further, the file creation means has an order storage in which the order image file stores the order information, and an image storage for storing the image data for each of the first storage means. Is preferably a means for creating the order image file such that each of the first storage means has a stream for storing the order information.

The program for causing a computer to execute the image filing method according to the present invention is as follows.
The program may be provided by being recorded on a computer-readable recording medium.

[0018]

According to the present invention, a single or a plurality of first
The image data and order information stored in the storage means of
Since one order image file is stored in the structured storage file and this order image file is stored in the second storage means, only a single order image file is stored in the second storage means. The Rukoto. Therefore, if the order information and the image data are associated with each other in the order image file, the correspondence between the order information and the image data will not be confused, and the image according to the order information can be printed accurately.

In particular, even when there are a plurality of first storage means, by storing the image data in different storages for each storage means, the file names of the image data stored in each storage means may be duplicated. Also, there is no need to change the file name.

In the case where a plurality of orders are received and the order image file is stored in the second storage means, information on a reception shop, a print delivery destination, or information on an orderer who has received the order is stored for each order received. Although it is necessary to store the information in an image file, by creating an order image file for each order, such information can be collectively stored in the order image file, so that print processing can be performed efficiently.

[0021]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of a printing system including an image filing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the print system according to the present embodiment is a system that exchanges data between a laboratory 1 and a printer 2 to perform printing. The lab 1 is provided with an image filing apparatus according to the present embodiment. The image filing apparatus is a memory card 3 storing single or plural image data obtained by a digital camera of a customer and order information.
Data reading means 4 for reading data from the memory, and file creating means 5 for creating an order image file F from the image data read by the data reading means 4 and the order information.
And

Here, the memory card 3 includes, for example, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7, image data having file names of 0001.jpg, 0002.jpg, and 0003.jpg and order information having a file name of order.ord are stored. Also, order.
The contents of ord are specifically as shown in FIG. Here, the file names of the image data stored in the memory card 3 are sequentially assigned in the order of acquisition. The memory card 3 may be plural or single.

The file creation means 5 stores the image data and the order information read from the memory card 3 in an order image file F in a structured storage file format. This structured storage file format includes Microsoft
Structured Storage by OLE is a typical example, and FIG. 4 shows a specific structure thereof. As shown in FIG. 4, the order image file F is stored under the root storage.
It has an order storage for storing order information and an image storage for storing image data. The order storage is configured by a stream for storing order information for each memory card 3. Furthermore, storages 1, 2,... For storing image data for each memory card 3 are provided below the image storage, and each of the storages 1, 2,. For example, in each stream of the order storage, the file name is changed in the order in which the order information for each memory card 3 is read (order1.or
d, order2.ord) is stored. Each of the storages 1, 2,... In the image storage stores image data for each memory card 3. For example, the stream of storage 1 stores image data (0001.jpg, 0002.jpg, 0003.jpg) stored in a certain memory card 3, and the stream of storage 2 stores image data stored in another memory card. Data (0001.jpg) is stored.

Here, the order information stored in the order storage of the order image file F is different from the order information stored in the memory card 3 by the storage in which the image data corresponding to the order information is stored. The information shown is added. For example, when the order information and the image data stored in the memory card 3 are as shown in FIG. 2, the order information has a file name from order.ord to order1.order.
ord and information indicating the corresponding image data (for example, information indicating that the corresponding image data is stored in 0001.jpg, 0002.jpg, 0003.jpg of storage 1 in the image storage) is added. Is done.

It should be noted that the order image file F may be provided with a stream containing information on the laboratory that has received the order, print delivery destination information, or information on the orderer.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the present embodiment. First, the order information and the image data stored in the memory card 3 are read by the data reading means 4 (step S1). In the next step S2, it is determined whether or not the order information and image data have been read from all the memory cards 3. If step S2 is denied, steps S1 and S1 are performed until the order information and image data are read from all the memory cards 3. Step S2 is repeated. If step S2 is affirmative, the file creation means 5
To create an order image file F (step S
3).

The order information stored in the order storage of the order image file F has its file name changed to order1.ord, order2.ord... In order of reading from the memory card 3, and the image data is further stored in the memory card 3. Are stored in the storages 1, 2,.

The order image file F created in this way is written on a medium and stored in the printer 2 offline.
Or transferred directly to the printer 2 online (step S4). Printer 2
In, print processing is executed to obtain a print image based on the contents of the order image file F (step S).
5).

As described above, in the present embodiment, the image data and the order information stored in one or a plurality of memory cards 3 are combined into one order image file F having a structured storage file format. If the order information and the image data are associated with each other in the order image file F, the correspondence between the order information and the image data will not be confused, and the image according to the order information can be printed accurately.

In particular, even when there are a plurality of memory cards 3, by storing the image data in different storages for each memory card 3, the file names of the image data stored in each memory card 3 may be duplicated. Also,
There is no need to change the file name.

In the case where a plurality of orders are received and the order image file is stored, information on a reception shop that has received the order,
It is necessary to store the print delivery destination information or the information about the orderer in the order image file F for each received order. By creating the order image file F for each order, the information is collectively stored in the order image file F. Since the data can be stored in the file F, the print processing can be performed efficiently.

In the above embodiment, the case where the content of the order information is print has been described. However, an order for writing image data to a medium such as a CD-R, a print order for a T-shirt, etc., Any order may be used as long as it is an order related to image processing or image processing, such as an order for processing for image quality improvement (automatic density correction, color correction, etc.) and return to the customer.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing a configuration of a printing system including an image filing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing contents of order information and image data stored in a memory card.

FIG. 3 shows the contents of order information.

FIG. 4 shows the contents of an order image file.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating processing performed in the embodiment;

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Lab 2 Printer 3 Memory card 4 Data reading means 5 File creation means

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. An image filing method for storing single or plural image data stored in a single or plural first storage means and order information relating to the image data in a second storage means, wherein: Reading the image data and the order information from the first storage means, associating the order information with the image data, storing the image data and the order data in a structured storage file having a hierarchical structure, and creating one order image file; An image filing method, wherein the order image file is stored in the second storage means. 2. The image filing method according to claim 1, wherein the order image file is created for each order. 3. The order image file includes an order storage for storing the order information, and an image storage for storing the image data for each of the first storage units. 3. The image filing method according to claim 1, further comprising a stream for storing the order information for each storage unit. 4. An image filing apparatus for storing single or plural image data stored in a single or plural first storage means and order information relating to the image data in a second storage means, wherein: A data reading means for reading the image data and the order information from a first storage means; an order image file stored in a structured storage file having a hierarchical structure in which the order information and the image data are associated with each other; An image filing apparatus, comprising: a file creating unit that creates a file; and a storage unit that stores the order image file in the second storage unit. 5. The image filing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said file creating means is means for creating said order image file in order units. 6. An order storage in which the order image file stores the order information, wherein the file creation means includes:
An image storage for storing the image data for each of the first storage means; and the order image file so that the order storage has a stream for storing the order information for each of the first storage means. The image filing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the image filing apparatus is a unit for creating a filing image. 7. A computer executes an image filing method for storing single or plural image data stored in a single or plural first storage means and order information relating to the image data in a second storage means. A program for reading the image data and the order information from the first storage means, and associating the order information with the image data. Computer-readable storage medium storing a structured image file having a hierarchical structure to create one order image file; and storing the order image file in the second storage means. Possible recording medium. 8. The computer-readable recording medium according to claim 7, wherein the step of creating the order image file is a step of creating the order image file in order units. 9. The order image file includes an order storage for storing the order information, and an image storage for storing the image data for each of the first storage units. 9. The computer-readable recording medium according to claim 7, further comprising a stream for storing the order information for each storage unit.