JP2001109877A - Device and method for image display, and medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily find and display desirable contents among contents resent on recording media and in hierarchical folders. SOLUTION: Images to be registered in a catalog are selected out of images present in a desirable folder in hierarchical directory structure, reduced images of the selected images are generated, and a gathered image is generated from those reduced images. When an image is displayed in an image display area 26 in a window 20, the gathered image 29 is displayed together with a thumbnail image 28 and a folder mark image 27.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an image display apparatus, a method, and a medium for easily displaying an image generated by, for example, a digital camera or a digital video camera and recorded on a recording medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an information processing system such as a personal computer, for example, a hierarchical directory structure is used, and various files are arranged in folders of each hierarchy, thereby facilitating management of the various files. I have to.

In recent years, with the spread of digital cameras and digital video cameras, digitized image data has become easily available. The image data is usually stored in a recording medium as an image data file.

Incidentally, it is not uncommon that the number of images generated by a digital camera or a digital video camera reaches several hundreds. The data of the hundreds of images is rarely stored in one place in one recording device. In many cases, the data is dispersedly stored in a plurality of recording media or stored in a large-capacity recording device. It will be distributed and stored in multiple folders.

Here, as one of image search techniques for searching for an arbitrary image from a plurality of images distributed and stored as described above, a thumbnail image obtained by reducing an original image is conventionally used for each image. There is a method in which images can be saved in advance under media or folders, and when searching for images, any image can be searched by displaying and browsing thumbnail images stored in each media or folder. Exists.

[0006]

However, in the above-described conventional image search method, when a desired image (content) is searched for from a plurality of images (contents) existing in a plurality of media, for example, the plurality of images are searched for. It is necessary to sequentially display and browse the individual thumbnail images corresponding to each of the media, and therefore, trouble such as exchange of media is required, and there is a disadvantage that it takes a long time to search.

Further, in the conventional image search method, only information in one folder can be displayed as a thumbnail image at a time. Therefore, a desired image can be obtained from a plurality of images (contents) existing in a hierarchical folder. When searching for an image (content), it is necessary to search the target image (content) by sequentially tracing the hierarchical folders, and a long time is required for the search.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and for example, from a plurality of contents existing in a plurality of recording media or a hierarchical folder,
It is an object of the present invention to provide an image display device, an image display method, and a medium capable of easily finding and displaying desired content.

[0009]

An image display apparatus according to the present invention is an image display apparatus for displaying, as an image, contents existing in a hierarchical directory structure. A reduced image generating means for generating a reduced image of a content existing in a second layer one or more layers lower than the first layer, and a display means for displaying the reduced image as the content of the first layer. By having the above, the above-mentioned problem is solved.

An image display method according to the present invention is an image display method for displaying contents existing in a hierarchical directory structure as an image. One image is displayed at the highest level or at a first level lower than the highest level. The above-described problem is solved by generating a reduced image of the content existing in the second hierarchy lower than the layer and displaying the reduced image as the content of the first hierarchy.

[0011] The medium of the present invention provides a medium in a second layer which is at least one layer lower than the highest layer or a first layer lower than the highest layer among contents existing in a hierarchical directory structure. A step of generating a reduced image of the content existing in the first layer and a step of displaying the reduced image as the content of the first hierarchy. Solve the problem.

That is, according to the present invention, the reduced images of the contents in the lower hierarchy are displayed as the contents of the upper hierarchy, so that the contents of each hierarchy of the hierarchical directory structure are sequentially displayed for each hierarchy. Without doing this, it is possible to easily see the contents of the lower hierarchy from the upper hierarchy side.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic system configuration example of an image display device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a key 1 is operated by a user, and a catalog name, folder name, recording condition,
Search conditions, display conditions, printing conditions, and the like are input. The input information from the key 1 is input to the recording control unit 6, the search control unit 7,
It is sent to the display control unit 8 and the print control unit 9.

The disk drive 2 has a mechanism for attaching and detaching a disk recording medium such as an optical disk or a magnetic disk, and reproduces image information and the like from the disk recording medium which is a removable medium under the control of the recording control unit 6. I do. However, when the disk recording medium is a recordable medium, the disk drive 2 also records image information and the like on the disk recording medium. In addition, as removable media,
For example, there is a card-shaped or stick-shaped medium having a built-in semiconductor memory. In this case, although not shown, the image display device according to the present embodiment includes image information for the medium having the built-in semiconductor memory. A drive for recording and reproducing the data and the like will be provided.

The hard disk drive 3 records or reproduces image information or the like on a built-in hard disk under the control of the recording control unit 6.

The monitor 4 is controlled by the display controller 8
An image corresponding to the image information, a collective image, a dialog image, and various setting images and text corresponding to the input information from the key 1 are displayed.

The printer 5 prints an image, a group image, or the like according to image information as needed (by a request from a user) under the control of the print control unit 9.

The reduction / expansion control section 11 includes thumbnail images of a plurality of images and images representing folders (hereinafter, referred to as folders) stored in a disk recording medium mounted on the disk drive 2 and a hard disk of the hard disk drive 2. (Referred to as a folder mark image). Further, the reduction / expansion control unit 11 sets, as a group image, a reduced image of each image or folder grouped as described later among a plurality of images and folders recorded in the disk recording medium and the hard disk. Generate it and send it to the recording control unit 6. Further, the reduction / expansion control unit 11
For example, when an instruction to reduce or enlarge an image to be displayed or printed is given by the user via the key 1 as described later, an image, a thumbnail image, a folder mark image, a group image, and the like corresponding to the image information are reduced. Alternatively, it is enlarged and sent to the display control unit 8 or the print control unit 9.

Here, the group generated by the reduction / expansion control section 11 is composed of all images or one or more arbitrarily selected images in one or more folders in a disk recording medium or a hard disk. The folder includes each folder having a hierarchical structure, and all the images recorded on the disk recording medium or the hard disk can be included in one folder. Furthermore, the group image is an image that is composed of reduced images of all images or a part of images existing in a folder, and that facilitates checking and searching for images existing in each folder. When all or a part of the images recorded on the individual disk recording media are reduced to generate an aggregate image, the aggregate image can be used as an index image of the individual disk recording medium.

The recording control unit 6 controls the disk drive 2 based on the recording conditions input from the key 1 by the user.
The recording / reproducing operation of the image information in the hard disk drive 3 is controlled. Further, the recording control unit 6 generates an identification code of each reduced image constituting the set image and an identification code of the set image (group identification code) in association with each other. The identification code of the image is recorded on a recordable disk recording medium mounted on the disk drive 2 or the hard disk of the hard disk drive 3 together with the thumbnail image and the group image generated by the reduction / expansion control unit 11.

The search information storage unit 10 stores the identification code of the reduced image generated by the recording control unit 6 and the identification code of the group as search information. The search information is also recorded on the hard disk.

The search control unit 7 reads out search information from the search information storage unit 10 or the hard disk according to the search condition input from the key 1 by the user, and based on the search information, reads the disk drive 2 and the hard disk drive 3 Controls the operation at the time of searching for image information from.

The display control unit 8 controls the display operation of the monitor 4 based on display conditions input from the key 1 by the user.

The print control unit 9 controls a printing operation of the printer 5 based on printing conditions input from the key 1 by a user. When printing a thumbnail image or a group image, the print control unit 9 uses the file name of the original image of the thumbnail
Alternatively, the identification code of the reduced image forming the set image and the identification code of the set image can be printed by the printer 5 as a label on the set image.

Here, when the image display device of the present embodiment is realized by a personal computer, the key 1 corresponds to a keyboard or a mouse, the monitor 4 is an externally connected or built-in monitor, and the printer 5 is a An externally connected printer. The disk drive 2 is connected to an externally connected or built-in CD-ROM drive or CD-R.
/ RW drive, floppy disk drive, DVD-
Equivalent to ROM drive, DVD-RAM drive, etc.
The hard disk of the hard disk drive 3 has an OS
And application programs. Various control units such as the recording control unit 6, the search control unit 7, the display control unit 8, the print control unit 9, and the reduction / expansion control unit 11 can be individually provided as, for example, a hardware configuration. When the image display device of the present embodiment is a personal computer, the image display device can be realized by operating, for example, a CPU (central processing unit) based on an application program for performing these various controls. Further, the search information storage unit 10 corresponds to, for example, a partial storage area of the RAM.

Hereinafter, the flow of processing by the image management application program for operating the personal computer as the image display device of the present embodiment and an example of a display screen on the monitor 4 will be described. The processing up to displaying the group image based on the information in the database will be described.

FIG. 2 shows a flow of processing from generation of a set image to registration in a database. FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 show examples of images (image management application window 20) displayed on the monitor 4 by the image management application program. Further, FIG.
An example of a dialog for registering a catalog to be described later is shown.

In FIG. 2, when the user operates, for example, a mouse as the key 1 and clicks, for example, a shortcut icon of the image management application displayed on the monitor 4, the image management application program is started, When the process of generating a group image and registering it in the database is started, an image management application window 20 as shown in FIG.

In the image management application window 20, for example, "file", "edit", "display", "movie / sound", "search / registration" are displayed.
An operation menu item such as “Back”, “Forward”, and “Up”; a folder display area 21 for displaying a hierarchical structure of a folder in which image information is recorded in a disk recording medium or a hard disk; It is displayed in a collection display area 22 for displaying the contents of the collection by the user, a device designation area for designating a device, an image display area 26 for displaying original images, thumbnail images, group images, and the like, and an image display area 26. A navigator area 24 for displaying the arrangement and display position of each image, and a type narrowing-down area (an area 37 in FIG. 10 described later) for narrowing down the format of the image displayed on the image display area 26 and the format at the time of reproducing the sound. Is provided. Further, the image management application window 20 includes an operation for performing an operation of enlarging / reducing each image displayed in the image display area 26 from, for example, 12.5% to 800% while performing image resolution conversion. A bar 25 is also provided.

When the image management application window 20 is displayed on the monitor 4 and a group image is generated, an image is generated based on input information from a mouse (key 1) operated by a user. Is selected from a plurality of folders in which is stored. That is, in the image display device according to the present embodiment, as the process of step S21, a desired display is performed from the folder display area 21 in the image management application window 20 based on input information from the key 1 operated by the user, for example. Folder is selected. When a folder is selected, a thumbnail image 28 of an image existing in the selected folder and a folder mark image 27 representing a further lower layer are displayed on the image display area 26.

Next, in the image display device of the present embodiment,
As the process of step S22, the thumbnail image 2 displayed on the image display area 26 based on the input information from the mouse (key 1) operated by the user.
8 and the folder mark image 27, an image to be registered as a group image is selected. As a method for selecting an image displayed on the image display area 26, for example, a thumbnail image 28 on the image display area 26 is selected.
And the folder mark images 27 can be selected by individually clicking the mouse, or a method of selecting all the thumbnail images 28 and the folder mark images 27 within a range arbitrarily designated by dragging the mouse cursor can be considered.

Here, as the image to be registered,
For example, when any four thumbnail images are selected from the plurality of thumbnail images 28 displayed in the image display area 26 of FIG. 3, the image display area 26 of the image management application window 20 is displayed, for example, as shown in FIG.
As shown in the figure, the selected four thumbnail images 3
0 to 33 are displayed. Although the example of FIG. 4 shows a display example in which only the thumbnail image is selected,
When the folder mark image 27 is selected at the same time, the folder mark image 27 is also displayed in the image display area 26 of FIG.
Displayed above.

Next, in this embodiment, in order to register the image selected as described above, the menu item "search / registration" in the above operation menu items is operated by the mouse (key 1) operation by the user. When selected, the image management application window 20 displays a “search / registration” pull-down menu 40 as shown in FIG. The “search / registration” pull-down menu 40 includes “search”, “advanced search”, “catalog search”,
Menu items such as “register as catalog” and “catalog list display” are provided. In the image management application program according to the present embodiment, the “register as a catalog” is performed by a mouse (key 1) operation by the user.
Is designated, the selected image is registered as a catalog. That is, step S
In a state in which an image to be registered is selected at 22, the pull-down menu 4 of the above “search / registration”
When “register as a catalog” is instructed from 0, the image display device according to the present embodiment generates reduced images of the selected images in the process of step S23, and further generates the reduced images of the selected images in the process of step S24. A group image (for example, a group image 29 in FIG. 9 described later) in which the reduced images are grouped is generated.

Next, when a group image registered as a catalog is generated as described above, the image display device of the present embodiment displays the catalog registration as shown in FIG. A dialog 50 is displayed.
The user is required to input a catalog name on the catalog registration dialog 50. That is, the catalog registration dialog 5 shown in FIG.
0, a catalog name input area 51 that can be arbitrarily set by the user, a display area 54 for displaying a folder name representing a folder of the catalog when the set image is registered as a catalog, Is provided, there is provided a display area 53 for displaying a catalog ID as identification information of the catalog.

When an arbitrary catalog name is input by the user into the catalog name display area 51 of the catalog registration dialog 50, the image display device of the present embodiment
As the process of step S26, a catalog ID is created as unique identification information for the catalog in which the set image is registered. This uniquely created catalog ID is shown in FIG.
Is displayed in the display area 53 of the catalog registration dialogue 50 of FIG.

When the catalog ID is created in step S26, the image display device of the present embodiment stores the catalog ID, catalog name, and folder name as search information in the search information storage unit 10 in step S27. And
Also, the search information and the group image are registered (recorded) on a hard disk as a database.

After the catalog registration of the group images is completed as described above, when displaying the group images registered in the catalog based on information recorded in a database, for example, the image display of the present embodiment is performed. FIG. 7 shows a processing flow in the apparatus.

In FIG. 7, when the user operates the mouse (key 1) to select a desired folder from the folder display area 21 of the image management application window 20, the image display device according to the present embodiment executes step S31. In the process of (1), data included in the selected folder is searched based on search information in the database, and data to be displayed in the folder is extracted.

Next, the image display device determines whether or not each of the extracted data is a folder as the process of step S32. If it is determined in step S32 that the data is not a folder, that is, if it is determined that the data is file data such as the thumbnail image 28, the image display device performs an image display process as shown in FIG. The data of the file (that is, the thumbnail image 28) is displayed in the area 26, and the process proceeds to the next data. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S32 that the folder is the folder, that is, if it is determined that the folder is the folder represented by the folder mark image 27 or the folder of the group image registered in the catalog, the process of the image display device is as follows. The process moves to step S33.

When the image display device proceeds to the process of step S33, it determines whether or not the folder is registered in a catalog. If it is determined in step S33 that the folder is not registered in the catalog, that is, if it is determined that the folder is folder data corresponding to the folder mark image 27, the image display device performs step S36.
As shown in FIG. 8, the image display area 26
Then, the folder mark image 27 is displayed, and the process proceeds to the next data. On the other hand, when it is determined in step S33 that the catalog is registered, that is, when it is determined that the set image has been registered in the catalog, the process of the image display device proceeds to the process of step S34.

At step S34, the image display device displays a set image 29 composed of the reduced images registered in the catalog on the image display area 26 as shown in FIG. Move on to processing.

By performing the above-mentioned processing, the folder mark image 27 and the collection mark are displayed on the image display area 26 of the image management application window 20 as data included in the folder selected on the folder display area 21. The image 29, the thumbnail image 28, and the like are displayed.

In the example shown in FIG. 8, the set image 29
As an example, an example is shown in which an aggregated image consisting only of reduced images of the thumbnail images 30 to 33 selected in FIGS. 4 and 5 is displayed. In the present embodiment, not only thumbnail images but also folder mark images are displayed. Alternatively, a group image registered separately can be registered in a catalog as one group image. FIG. 9 shows an example in which a thumbnail image, a folder mark image, and a group image registered separately are registered in the catalog as one group image, and a group image 38 is displayed on the image display area 26. .

Further, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 10, the type narrowing down area 37 on the image management application window 20 makes it possible to narrow down the format of an image displayed on the image display area 26. I have. That is, in the type narrowing down area 37, for example, a still image format such as Bitmap, JPEG, TIFF, a moving image format such as MPEG, AVI, QuickTime, a folder when only a folder is displayed, and the like are displayed. By selecting, it is possible to narrow down the format and the like of the image displayed on the image display area 26.

Note that the image management application program of the present embodiment can handle the moving image format as described above, and therefore, the thumbnail images and the group images are not only still images but also moving images (or images constituting the moving images). There may be. Further, the image management application program according to the present embodiment can handle not only image files but also audio files. In the case of handling audio files, a mark image imitating a musical note, for example, is displayed in the image display area 26 as an image similar to the thumbnail image or the folder mark image. , MI
A sound format such as DI is also displayed at the same time. Therefore, if a desired sound format is selected in the type narrowing-down area 37, it is possible to search only an audio file of the desired sound format.

As described above, according to the image display device of the embodiment of the present invention, for example, when displaying a list of images on a personal computer, the “grouped reduced images” included in the folder are displayed. Displaying a group image makes it possible to easily search for a target image from, for example, a hierarchical folder structure.

That is, conventionally, folders are successively opened to search for a target image existing in the folder, and only images in one folder can be displayed at a time. For this reason, it took time and effort to search for a target image. However, according to the image display device of the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. By displaying the reduced image obtained by reducing the image of the part as a group image, it is possible to easily find the target image visually from the hierarchical folder structure.

The image display device according to the present embodiment is configured so that the image displayed in the image display area 26 can be enlarged or reduced by the operation bar 25. By simply enlarging each image displayed in, you can see the images in the folder below the folder created hierarchically at once, without moving between folders as in the past,
It is possible to easily find the target image visually.

The image display apparatus according to the present embodiment described above only shows an example in which image data supplied from a digital camera, a digital video camera or the like is fetched into a personal computer and displayed. You may apply to a camera main body.

The medium used to install the image monitoring application program for realizing the above-described series of processing in a personal computer and to make it executable by the personal computer is, for example, a floppy disk, a CD-ROM. RO
Not only package media such as M and DVD-ROM, but also a semiconductor memory or a magnetic disk in which a program is temporarily or permanently stored may be realized, and further, a local area network, the Internet,
Wired and wireless communication media such as digital satellite broadcasting, and various communication interfaces such as a router and a modem for transferring or receiving a program provided through these communication media may be realized. Means a broad concept including all these media.

[0053]

As is apparent from the above description, in the image display apparatus, method and medium according to the present invention, the reduced image of the content in the lower hierarchy is displayed as the content in the upper hierarchy, thereby forming a hierarchical structure. Even if the contents of each layer of the directory structure are not displayed in order for each layer, the contents of the lower layer can be easily viewed from the upper layer side. Therefore, according to the present invention, for example, from a plurality of recording media and a plurality of contents existing in a hierarchical folder, it is not necessary to go back and forth through a plurality of folder hierarchies in order to search for a desired content.
It is possible to easily find and display desired content.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block circuit diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an image display device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of processing from generation of a set image to registration of a database.

FIG. 3 is a display example of an image management application window, showing an example in which a folder mark image and a thumbnail image are displayed in an image display area.

FIG. 4 is a display example of an image management application window in which a thumbnail image selected to be registered as a group image is displayed in an image display area.

FIG. 5 is a display example of an image management application window, showing an example in which registration of a selected thumbnail image is registered as a catalog.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display example of a catalog registration dialog.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a processing flow when displaying a group image registered in a catalog based on information in a database.

FIG. 8 is a display example of an image management application window, showing an example in which a group image is displayed in an image display area simultaneously with another thumbnail image and the like.

FIG. 9 is a display example of an image management application window, and is a diagram illustrating a display example when another group image is used as a reduced image of the group image.

FIG. 10 is a display example of an image management application window, showing a display example in which a type narrowing-down area for narrowing down a format is displayed.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 key, 2 disk drive, 3 hard disk drive, 4 monitor, 5 printer, 6 recording control unit, 7 search control unit, 8 display control unit, 9
Print control unit, 10 search information storage unit, 11 reduction / expansion control unit, 20 image management application window, 21 folder display area, 22 collection display area, 24 navigator area, 25
Enlargement / reduction operation bar, 26 image display area, 2
7 Folder mark image, 28, 30-33 thumbnail image, 29, 38 Group image, 37 Refinement area, 40 Search / registration pull-down menu,
50 Catalog registration dialog, 51 Catalog name input area, 52 Registration button, 53 Catalog I
D display area, 54 Folder name display area

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An image display device for displaying content existing in a hierarchical directory structure as an image, wherein a second layer which is one or more layers lower than a first layer lower than the highest level or the highest level. An image display device comprising: a reduced image generating unit configured to generate a reduced image of a content existing in the first hierarchy; and a display unit configured to display the reduced image as the content of the first hierarchy. 2. A selection means for selecting an arbitrary content from a plurality of contents existing in the second hierarchy, and a set image for generating a set image obtained by collecting reduced images generated from the selected content The image display device according to claim 1, further comprising: a generation unit, wherein the display unit displays the set image as the content of the first hierarchy. 3. The image display device according to claim 2, further comprising: identification information generating means for generating identification information of the set image; and storage means for storing the set image and the identification information. 4. An image display method for displaying contents existing in a hierarchical directory structure as an image, wherein a second layer which is one or more layers lower than a first layer lower than the highest level or the highest level. Generating a reduced image of the content existing in the first hierarchy, and displaying the reduced image as the content of the first hierarchy. 5. A method of selecting an arbitrary content from a plurality of contents existing in the second hierarchy, generating an aggregate image in which reduced images generated from the selected content are aggregated, The image display method according to claim 4, wherein the group image is displayed as hierarchical content. 6. The image display method according to claim 5, further comprising: generating identification information of the set image, and storing the set image and the identification information. 7. Among contents existing in a hierarchical directory structure, contents existing in a second hierarchy one or more lower than the highest hierarchy or a first hierarchy lower than the highest hierarchy. A medium for causing an information processing apparatus to execute a program, comprising: a step of generating a reduced image; and a step of displaying the reduced image as content of the first hierarchy.