JP2007304735A - File management device and file management method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize a file management technology capable of browsing a focused hierarchy and also acquiring information on a lower hierarchy and the hierarchy in a sibling relationship and grasping a relative position on a time axis in which an image file is managed. <P>SOLUTION: The device has a means to create a group having the hierarchical structure from a plurality of the image files based on photographed time and date information added to the image file; a means to set up, with respect to a drawing area having the time axis, a range of the time axis and a reference value for extracting the group to be displayed on the above drawing area from a plurality of the groups; a means to extract the group to be drawn in the drawing area from the plurality of groups based on the reference value; a means to divide the drawing area according to the group extracted by the reference value with respect to the drawing area where the range of the time axis is set up; and a means to draw the reduced image of the image file belonging to the group corresponding to each of the divided areas in each of the divided areas, respectively. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for managing image files and the like so that they can be browsed and searched by a computer.

  In order for a user to manage a large number of files with good visibility, a method of hierarchically storing files is widely used, and file management on a computer (hereinafter referred to as a PC) is also performed by this method. This technique is also applied to the management of image files taken with a digital camera. That is, image files shot with a digital camera and stored in a PC are stored in folders having an arbitrary hierarchical structure, and managed by assigning easy-to-understand names to each folder.

  As a method of executing such folder classification on a PC, Patent Document 1 discloses that when image files are arranged in time series based on shooting date and time, and the interval between shooting date and time of previous and next image files exceeds a certain threshold. A method has been proposed in which the subsequent files are grouped separately.

  For image files grouped by folders or the like, a method is generally used in which text data indicating file names and file attributes are displayed in a list, such as file display by a PC. In addition, the thumbnail of the image file in the folder is displayed on the folder icon, such as Explorer (registered trademark) with a thumbnail display function installed in an OS such as Windows XP (registered trademark) or Zoom Browser (registered trademark). A method of displaying on is also proposed.

In addition, as a method not using thumbnails, Patent Document 2 discloses that a histogram is created with the number of sheets as the vertical axis and the index (shooting date and time) used as a group creation reference as the horizontal axis. A method of browsing the group by selecting with is also proposed.
JP 2003-141130 A JP 2001-134578 A

  In the above-described method of managing image files hierarchically using folders, when a user searches for a desired image, the user first moves from the folder name to the folder where the corresponding image is considered, and displays the thumbnails in the folder as an overview. A general method is to check and sequentially browse the images in the folder with a viewer.

  With the widespread use of digital cameras, which do not require development and can easily take a large number of photos, for example, when traveling with a friend on a group trip, etc. You will get as many photos as you can't. Furthermore, when many event photos are accumulated after a certain period of time, the number of photos is not a ratio of the number of photos of the previous negatives.

  It is not realistic to print and manage all such a large amount of images accumulated for a long period of time with an album, but it is generally managed electronically with a PC HDD or media. However, when electronically managing such a large number of images using the folder management method described above, the task of classifying folders in an appropriate appropriate hierarchical structure and setting an appropriate name for each folder is There is a problem that it is very annoying.

  In addition, as an example of automatically performing folder classification, there is an example in which data is automatically saved in a folder with a date name at the time of transfer to a PC performed by many digital cameras. However, there is a problem that the folder division by date is not necessarily convenient for the user.

  The second problem is that when classifying image files in a hierarchical manner, the user can know the outline of the folder mainly by using a list of names assigned to the folder, rather than knowing from the extremely rare information. The visual characteristic of is not utilized at all in file management. This problem has been solved to some extent in Explorer (registered trademark) and Zoom Browser (registered trademark) equipped with a thumbnail display function attached to an OS such as Windows XP (registered trademark). However, since the generation of the original folder is generated by conventional file management work, it cannot be said that the folder structure is suitable for displaying thumbnails of images belonging to the folder. It cannot be said that it is displayed.

  The third problem is that when a folder is expanded based on the folder name, information other than the contents in the folder is not displayed on the screen. For this reason, it is difficult for the user to grasp the relative positional relationship of the currently deployed folder. Once the wrong folder is opened, the user notices the mistake and returns to the appropriate hierarchy, opening the correct folder. It is difficult to correct the search properly.

  The fourth problem is that when a large number of images are taken and stored, the image files that are meaningful to the user are stored in a folder with a name that does not have any special feature, so that they are stored as images that are never seen again. It is a waste of capacity.

  It is considered that the above-described problems can be summarized by the fact that in the conventional image file management using folders, the way of holding file data is discrete and not continuous. It is thought that the above-mentioned problem is caused by weak connection between the upper hierarchy and the lower hierarchy, and the sibling relation.

  In order to solve the above problems, a file management apparatus according to the present invention includes a means for creating a group having a hierarchical structure from a plurality of image files based on shooting date and time information added to an image file, and a drawing having a time axis. Means for setting a range of the time axis and a reference value for extracting a group for display in the drawing area from a plurality of groups, and a plurality of groups based on the reference value A means for extracting a group to be drawn in the drawing area; a means for dividing the drawing area according to the group extracted by the reference value for the drawing area for which the range of the time axis is set; and Means for rendering a reduced image of an image file belonging to a group corresponding to each divided area in the divided area;

  Further, the file management method of the present invention includes a step of creating a group having a hierarchical structure from a plurality of image files based on shooting date and time information added to the image file, and a time axis for the drawing area having the time axis. And a reference value for extracting a group to be displayed in the drawing area from a plurality of groups, and a group for drawing from the plurality of groups to the drawing area based on the reference value Each of the divided areas into the divided areas, and a step of dividing the drawing area according to the group extracted by the reference value for the drawing area in which the time axis range is set Drawing a reduced image of an image file belonging to a group corresponding to the region.

  According to the present invention, the user can acquire information on a lower hierarchy or a sibling hierarchy at the same time as browsing the target hierarchy, and the relative position on the time axis on which the image file is managed is always set. I can grasp. For this reason, the problem described above, that is, the risk that it becomes difficult to search for an image if the appropriate hierarchy creation is neglected, the risk of getting lost on the road when the folder is mistakenly expanded, and the risk of generating isolated data can be solved.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  The embodiment described below is an example as means for realizing the present invention, and should be appropriately modified or changed according to the configuration and various conditions of the apparatus to which the present invention is applied. It is not limited to the embodiment.

[Description of system configuration]
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an example of a file management system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  The PC 101 is a personal use computer that loads an image file into a memory and executes a program for realizing a file management function according to the present invention. Hereinafter, this application is called an image file management program.

  The image input device 102 converts an optical image, which is image information, into an electrical signal, performs predetermined image processing on the electrical signal, and captures the imaging date and time obtained from the built-in clock to the electrical signal subjected to the image processing. It has a function of adding and saving information as an image file. Examples of the image input device 102 include a digital still camera that captures a subject and stores the captured image as a still image file. However, any device that can generate an image file to which shooting date / time information is added can be a digital video camera. It can also be applied to cameras and scanners.

  In the following description, it is assumed that shooting date / time information is added to an image file.

The data transfer interface 103 is an interface for transferring image data input by the image input device 102 to the PC 101.
Examples of the data transfer interface 103 include a wired communication interface represented by USB (Universal Serial Bus) and IEEE1394, and a wireless communication interface represented by IrDA (Infrared Data Association) and Bluetooth (registered trademark). Can be mentioned.

  The PC 101 is connected to the image input device 102 via the data transfer interface 103 as necessary, and can receive an image file to which shooting date / time information is added.

  The PC 101 can acquire an image file not only from the image input device 102 but also from various resources existing on the Internet 104 as necessary. The photo site 105 has a DB (Data Base) 106 that holds image files, and provides a service for sharing image files with many users connected on the Internet 104. The PC 101 can also download image files from the photo site 105 as appropriate.

  Further, the PC 101 acquires an image file from another PC 107 connected to the Internet 104 by using a communication means such as an e-mail or directly from a storage medium such as a flash memory without using a network. An image file can also be acquired.

  In the present embodiment, the case where the Internet 104 is used as a communication infrastructure is shown as an example, but instead of the Internet 107, a LAN (Local Area Network), a WAN (Wide Area Network), or the like may be used.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the PC 101 as an information processing apparatus that executes the image file management program of the present embodiment.

  In FIG. 2, reference numeral 201 denotes a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) as a display. The display screen includes, for example, a rectangular drawing area drawn by the file management program of the present embodiment, in addition to the document, figure, and image being edited. Is displayed.

  Reference numeral 202 denotes a video random access memory (VRAM) that stores image data to be displayed on the display screen of the CRT 201. The image data generated in the VRAM 202 is transferred to the CRT 201 according to a predetermined rule, and the image data is displayed on the CRT 201.

  A bit move unit (BMU) 203 controls data transfer between memories (for example, the VRAM 202 and another memory) and data transfer between the memory and each I / O device (for example, the network interface 211). .

  Reference numeral 204 denotes a keyboard having various keys for the user to instruct input of character string data and the like.

  Reference numeral 205 denotes a pointing device, which is used, for example, by the user to set drawing conditions of an image file management program displayed on the screen of the CRT 201 and to select a display image.

  Reference numeral 206 denotes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) that controls each device connected to the CPU based on a control program stored in a ROM (Read Only Memory) 207, a hard disk, or a floppy (registered trademark) disk.

  A ROM 207 holds data such as various control programs.

  Reference numeral 208 denotes a RAM (Random Access Memory), which has a work area for the CPU 206, a data save area for error processing, a control program load area, and the like.

  Reference numeral 209 denotes a hard disk (HDD), which can store each control program executed as an information processing apparatus and contents. For example, the hard disk 209 of the PC 101 stores an OS, a web browser, an image file, an image file management program, and the like.

  A floppy (registered trademark) disk drive (FDD) 210 controls access to the floppy (registered trademark) disk.

  Reference numeral 211 denotes a network interface (Net-I / F), which realizes communication with other PCs, printers, and the like via the Internet 104. The CPU bus 212 is for enabling mutual communication between devices, and includes an address bus, a data bus, and a control bus.

  Here, in the system and hardware configuration described above, the image file management program stored in the hard disk 209 on the PC 101 is started up in a state where the user can access a large number of image files to be managed, and Browse and search.

  The functions realized by the image file management program of this embodiment will be specifically described below.

  First, a main screen (UI screen) displayed by the image file management program of this embodiment will be described.

  FIG. 3 shows an example of a main screen displayed by the image file management program of this embodiment.

  In FIG. 3, reference numeral 301 denotes a rectangular drawing area for displaying thumbnails of image files to be presented to the user. The rectangular drawing area is obtained by cutting out a portion that is actually displayed on the screen by a viewing parameter from a belt-like plane (hereinafter referred to as an image map) having an absolute time axis on the horizontal axis.

  The time (milliseconds) on the image map at the left end of the cut out rectangular drawing area is called an absolute position. Based on the absolute position and the scale value (millisecond / pixel) of the rectangular drawing area, a range in which the rectangular drawing area is cut out from the image map is uniquely determined.

  The file management program always presents thumbnails to the user using this rectangular drawing area. If the pointer is placed on the rectangular drawing area and dragged in the horizontal direction, the image map can be moved on the time axis of the image map in any direction (that is, the absolute position can be updated). The scale value is set by a scale slider bar described later.

  Reference numeral 302 denotes a boundary line that divides the rectangular drawing area into several areas. The number and position of the boundary lines 302 are determined based on the results of clustering processing of image files, which will be described later, and browsing parameters. The area divided by the boundary line 302 is associated with a group of image files 1: 1. The

  Reference numeral 303 denotes thumbnails of image files belonging to a group corresponding to each rectangular drawing area divided by the boundary line 302, and is arranged in the rectangular drawing area with a size determined by processing to be described later.

  If the image cannot be displayed within the rectangular drawing area even with the minimum size determined as described later, 304 indicates to the user and how many other image files could not be displayed. Icon.

  Reference numeral 305 denotes a scale slider bar that determines a scale value (milliseconds / pixel) on the time axis of the rectangular drawing area. The scale slider bar is linked to the mouse wheel rotation as well as the mouse drag operation. Since the rectangular drawing area corresponds to a long-term display exceeding 10 years to a short-term display of 1 minute or less, the scale of the slider bar is logarithmically mapped to the scale value.

  Reference numeral 306 denotes a distance slider bar for setting a distance value (time) for cutting a tree diagram (also referred to as a tree diagram, a system diagram, or a dendrogram) obtained by clustering processing described later. The distance value determines the cluster of images actually displayed in the rectangular drawing area and the position of the boundary line 302 corresponding to the cluster. The scale of the distance slider bar 306 is logarithmically mapped with the distance value so that this distance value can correspond from several years to several minutes.

  Reference numeral 307 denotes a scale indicating the position of the rectangular drawing area on the image map. The scale value is determined by the aforementioned drag operation of the rectangular drawing area, and the scale interval is determined by the scale value indicated by the scale slider bar.

  Reference numeral 308 denotes an event display window for displaying event information of the image element displayed in the rectangular drawing area. Instead of displaying all the event information of the displayed image element on the rectangular drawing area, it is determined according to the cutting distance of the tree diagram set by the user with the distance slider bar 306.

  Reference numeral 309 denotes a thumbnail partially missing due to a rectangular drawing area cut-out process described later.

  The main screen of the file management program described above is an example, and the present invention can be realized even if it is replaced with a screen of another design as long as information and operability equivalent to the above contents can be realized. It is. In addition, the above-described contents are the minimum necessary configuration for carrying out the present invention, and further convenience for the user is expected by arranging additional information and UI (user interface).

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing file search processing by the image file management program of this embodiment.

  In FIG. 4, when the user starts an image file management program on the PC 101 and starts searching for an image, first, in S402, the user inputs the path of the root folder in which the image file to be searched is stored. FIG. 5 is an example of a sub-window for inputting the path of the root folder. The image file management program is not limited to the setting of a single root folder path as long as a plurality of management target image file paths can be obtained, and may be a path array of individual files to be searched, and files are stored. A path arrangement of a plurality of folders may be used. In addition, it is troublesome to prompt the user to enter the path each time the search is performed, so it is possible to omit the input from the next search by saving the value once entered on the disk as the default value. Is possible.

  In step S403, clustering processing is performed on all image files set as management targets with the difference in shooting date / time of each image file as a dissimilarity. Clustering is roughly classified into a hierarchical method (hierarchical) and a partitioning optimization method (partitioning-optimization). In this embodiment, a hierarchical method is used. Details of the specific clustering process will be described later. Since the result of this clustering process does not change as long as the search target files are the same, it is possible to reduce the initial calculation cost of the program by storing the result on the disk.

  In S404, initial values of browsing parameters necessary for displaying a list of thumbnails in the rectangular drawing area drawn in S405 are set. The viewing parameters are used to cut out and display the rectangular drawing area 301 from the image map described in FIG. 3, and the absolute position (milliseconds), the scale value (milliseconds / pixel), and the group used for displaying thumbnails are displayed. Consists of the cutting distance (milliseconds) of the dendrogram to be determined.

  When the first file search is performed, a value with the largest scale is set as an initial value (for example, the absolute position is January 1, 1970, 0 hours, 0 minutes, 0 seconds, GMT [Greenwich Mean Time]). , Set the scale value to the maximum value of the scale slider bar). Then, after the second time, the last value set by the previous user is stored on the disk, and the value is loaded and set to the initial value.

  In S405, a rectangular drawing area is drawn from the clustering result obtained in S403, the viewing parameters set in S404 or S407 described later, and the image file information obtained in S402. Details of the drawing process will be described later.

  In S406, the user browses the drawing result in S405 and confirms whether there is a desired image.

  If there is no desired image in S406, the viewing parameters reset based on the information browsed by the user are acquired (S407). When the user uses the image file management program not for searching but for browsing, the user browses the target image by repeating resetting of the viewing parameters and browsing of the rectangular drawing area.

  If there is a desired image in S406, the user ends the search process, and performs a desired arbitrary process such as opening the file or copying the file path to the clipboard.

  Next, the clustering process in S403 will be described in detail.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the clustering process for N image files.

  In FIG. 6, when the process is started, each image file is first defined as one cluster in S602.

  In S603, the dissimilarity is calculated for all the combinations of cluster elements defined above. In the present embodiment, the Euclidean distance of the shooting date and time, which is a one-dimensional value, is set as the dissimilarity. The smaller the distance, the more similar the two elements.

  In S604, the dissimilarities obtained in S603 are compared, and the pair with the highest similarity is merged into one cluster, and the shooting date / time of the new cluster formed by merging is set as the shooting date / time center of the original element. . Information on the new cluster, that is, reference to the two child cluster information, the shooting date and time defined in the cluster, and the coupling distance when merging are stored in the memory.

  In step S605, it is confirmed whether the current number of clusters is one. If there is one, the process ends. If there is more than one, S603 and subsequent steps are repeated until the number of clusters becomes one.

  FIG. 8 shows, for reference, the result of clustering processing of eight image files A to H having the shooting date and time shown in FIG. 7, and illustrates a state in which the image file and the shooting date and time of the cluster are plotted on the time axis. is doing. FIG. 9 illustrates the shooting date and time defined for each cluster obtained by the centroid calculation, and FIG. 10 illustrates a tree diagram with the coupling distance between the clusters as the vertical axis. Here, for the sake of simplicity, the accuracy of the shooting date and time is assumed to be the date.

  For each cluster, two child clusters, a shooting date and time, and a coupling distance are defined. For example, in the cluster {A, B, C} of FIG. 9, the child clusters are {A, B} and C, the shooting date and time is February 26, 2004, and the combined distance is 70 days (May 3 and 2004). (Difference on February 26).

  In the present embodiment, the centroid method is adopted as the definition of the dissimilarity between clusters because the cutting distance of a tree diagram, which will be described later, and the coupling distance between the clusters easily match intuitively. However, various definition methods such as the shortest distance method, the longest distance method, and the median method have been proposed as the definition method, and the present invention can be implemented by any method. The user may be able to change the definition method each time, or a better method obtained through experience may be set. It should be noted that the center of gravity method employed in the present embodiment is only an example.

  Next, the drawing process of the rectangular drawing area in S405 will be described.

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a drawing process of a rectangular drawing area.

  In FIG. 11, in step S1102, the scale interval is determined from the scale value set by the scale slider bar 305. The scale interval is determined by preparing a conversion table that associates the scale value range with the scale interval in advance. The scale interval is set to a value (10 minutes, 1 hour, 3 hours, 1 day, 1 month, etc.) that is easy for the user to recognize and has good separation.

  In step S1103, the scale 307 existing in the display range of the rectangular drawing area is drawn at the above-described scale interval.

  In step S1104, the tree diagram obtained by the previous clustering is cut at the cutting distance set by the distance slider bar 306, and the display cluster is set in order from the cluster having the longest distance below this cutting plane.

  FIG. 12 shows display clusters when the tree diagram is cut at a certain cutting distance 1201, and the display clusters are 1202, 1203, 1204.

  In the loop process in S1105, a thumbnail drawing process of the image file possessed by each display cluster determined in S1104 is performed.

  In step S1106, a boundary line 302 is drawn that secures a time range in which the time axis on the image map is divided and distributed to the display clusters. The position of the boundary line 302 is the midpoint of the shooting date and time of the image files closest to the adjacent partner cluster of each other cluster.

  FIG. 13 shows three display clusters {A, B, C}, {D, E, F, G}, {} generated by clustering the eight image files shown in FIG. An example in which the position of the boundary line is defined for H} is shown.

  In FIG. 13, reference numeral 1301 denotes a boundary line between clusters {A, B, C} and {D, E, F, G}, and is defined by a midpoint between C and D. Reference numeral 1302 denotes a boundary line between the clusters {D, E, F, G} and {H}, which is defined by a midpoint between G and H.

  In the present embodiment, the position of the boundary line is the midpoint of the two points at the end of each cluster, but this is only an example, and the line segment connecting the centers of gravity of the two clusters is represented by the ratio of the number of elements. It should be noted that the present invention can be implemented by various boundary line definition methods such as using internally dividing points.

  Here, for the sake of organization, FIG. 14 shows how the rectangular drawing area 301 is cut out from the image map using the browsing parameters described so far.

  In FIG. 14, reference numeral 1401 denotes an image map extending in a band shape in the time axis direction, and 1402 denotes a rectangular drawing area that is cut out and displayed on the main screen. The value on the time axis of the left end 1403 of the rectangular drawing area is an absolute position. The absolute time R (1404) at the right end of the rectangular drawing area is given by the following equation from the absolute position P, the scale value S, and the number of horizontal pixels W of the rectangular drawing area.

R = P + SW
Reference numerals 1405, 1406, 1407, and 1408 are boundary lines for allocating the image map area to the clusters A to E, and their positions are determined by the method described above. As a result, for example, the rectangular drawing area allocated to the cluster D on the image map is an area 1413 sandwiched between the boundary lines 1407 and 1408.

  Reference numerals 1409, 1410, 1411, and 1412 are drawing areas allocated to the clusters A, B, C, and D, respectively, on the rectangular drawing area. In the illustrated example, the cluster E is not displayed in the rectangular drawing area. In addition, the clusters A and D are not displayed in the rectangular drawing area allocated by the boundary lines, but are displayed in a state where a part thereof is missing. For example, in cluster D, a cluster of 1412 which is a part of the rectangular drawing area 1413 assigned by the boundary line on the image map is displayed in the rectangular drawing area.

  It should be noted here that the thumbnails displayed in the rectangular drawing area are part of all the thumbnails arranged on the image map, and the omission of the image 309 shown in FIG. 3 occurs in this way. If the user wants to view this missing portion, the absolute position may be moved by enlarging the scale with the scale slider bar 305 or by dragging on the rectangular drawing area. When executing the image file management program, thumbnails are also arranged in areas not displayed on the screen. Here, it is strongly desired to devise a memory saving method such as limiting the reading of image data to only the portion that affects the rectangular drawing area displayed on the screen. However, the details thereof are not directly related to the present invention, and are therefore described. Is omitted.

  1414 shows a state in which the rectangular drawing area in which the drawing range, the scale, and the boundary line are determined as described above is actually displayed on the screen.

  Returning to the description of FIG. 11, in S <b> 1107, the display size of the thumbnail is determined from the area of each rectangular drawing area allocated to the cluster by the boundary line and the number of images of the display cluster. When the drawing area per thumbnail is large, the thumbnail is drawn with a large size, and when the drawing area per sheet is small, the thumbnail is drawn with a small size. This thumbnail size has, as a constant, a maximum size up to the area of the rectangular drawing area and a minimum size up to a practical size that allows the user to visually confirm the contents. The details of the size determination algorithm are not directly related to the present invention, and thus the description thereof is omitted.

  If the cluster drawing area is small, all thumbnails may not be arranged in the cluster drawing area even with the minimum thumbnail size determined in S1107.

  In step S1108, the maximum number of images that can be drawn in the cluster drawing area with the minimum thumbnail size is compared with the number of images belonging to the cluster.

  If all the thumbnails cannot be arranged, in S1109, there is a thumbnail that could not be drawn, and an icon 304 indicating the number of the thumbnails is drawn in the cluster drawing area. If the area of the cluster drawing area is too small, the icon 304 may not be displayed. In this case, appropriate exception measures are taken. For example, a warning prompting the user to increase the distance value with the distance slider bar 306 may be displayed outside the cluster drawing area, or the icon 304 may be displayed outside the cluster drawing area using an interface with a scroll bar or pop-up icon. Conceivable. Note that the details are not directly related to the present invention, and thus the description thereof is omitted.

  In S1110, when one or more thumbnails can be displayed in the rectangular drawing area and all images belonging to the cluster cannot be displayed, an image to be displayed in the cluster drawing area is selected from all the images belonging to the cluster. Details of this selection process will be described later.

  In S1111, all the images belonging to the cluster or thumbnails of the images extracted in S1110 are drawn in the cluster drawing area.

  As described above, the processing from S1106 to S1111 is performed for all the display clusters, and drawing is completed by cutting out and displaying the rectangular drawing area from the image map as shown in FIG.

  In S1112, if event information is defined in the image file drawn in the rectangular drawing area, event information to be displayed on the screen is extracted from them. This event information selection extraction process will be described later.

  In S1113, the event information selected and extracted in S1112 is displayed on the event display window 308.

  Hereinafter, an image selection and extraction process that can accurately represent the outline of the cluster from the hierarchical structure information of the cluster and that the selected image is less likely to change even when the setting of the distance slider bar is changed will be described.

  FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing a process of selectively extracting an image list L having the number of elements N (≠ 1) from a cluster C having N or more images.

  In FIG. 15, when the process is started, the image list L to be extracted is initialized to 0 in S1502.

  In S1503, the representative image of cluster C is extracted and added to the image list L. This cluster representative image extraction process will be described later.

  In step S1504, cluster I is initialized with cluster C, and thereafter, processing is performed on I.

  In step S1505, it is confirmed whether the number of elements (= 1) in the current image list L is equal to N. That is, it is confirmed whether N is 1. If it is 1, the current image array L is ended as an extracted image. If N is not 1, the process proceeds to S1506.

  In step S1506, the number of images held by the two child clusters I and IL and IR are compared.

  If the number of images held by the IL is greater than or equal to the number of images held by the IR, the process advances to step S1507 to add the IR representative image to the image list L.

  If the number of images held by the IL is smaller than the number of images held by the IR, the process advances to step S1508 to add the IL representative image to the image list L.

  In step S1509, it is confirmed whether the number of elements in the current image list L has reached N. If the number has been reached, the image list L is ended as an extracted image. If the number of elements in the image list L has not reached N, the process proceeds to S1510.

  In S1510, among the clusters belonging to cluster C, the cluster having the next largest coupling distance after I is overwritten on I. The coupling distance is stored in the memory as cluster information in S604 of FIG. For the updated new cluster I, the processing from S1506 is repeated until the number of elements in the image list L reaches N.

  Next, processing for determining a representative image from the cluster C in S1503, S1507, and S1508 will be described.

  FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing processing for determining a representative image from the cluster C.

  In FIG. 16, when the process is started, the cluster I is initialized with the target cluster C in S1602.

  In step S1603, it is confirmed whether the number of images held by the cluster I is one. When the number of images is 1, that is, when the cluster I is a terminal node (leaf) in the tree diagram, the process proceeds to S1607 and the image is determined as a representative image. When the current cluster I is not the terminal, the process proceeds to S1604.

  In step S1604, the number of images held by the child clusters IL and IR of the cluster I are compared.

  If the number of images possessed by the IL is greater than or equal to the number of images possessed by the IR, the process proceeds to S1605, I is updated with IL, and the process proceeds to S1603 after the update, and repeats until I becomes a terminal node and a representative image is determined.

  If the number of images possessed by IL is smaller than the number of images possessed by IR, the process proceeds to S1606, I is updated by IR, and the process proceeds to S1603 after the update, and repeats until I becomes a terminal node and a representative image is determined.

  The process of selecting and extracting an arbitrary number N of images from the images of a certain cluster C has been described above with reference to FIGS. 15 and 16. For reference, FIG. 17 shows a dendrogram when four image files are selected and extracted from the cluster having the eight image files shown in FIG. 7 as elements. In the illustrated example, image files A, D, F, and H are extracted. The number at the bottom of each file represents the order of addition to the image list L in the above flow.

  Next, the process of extracting event information of an image displayed in the rectangular drawing area in S1113 will be described. Here, the event information is information associated with each image file and indicating to which event the image file belongs. The event information is added and set by the user to serve as an index for organizing image files. Before this event information extraction process, an event information setting process by the user will be described.

  The user sets an appropriate viewing parameter while viewing thumbnails displayed in the rectangular drawing area on the main screen of the image file management program, and cuts out images of events that have been collected over time as one cluster. When the user wants to add an event name in an image belonging to the cluster, the pointer is placed in the area allocated to the cluster in the rectangular drawing area, the left click is pressed, and “set event name” is selected from the submenu. FIG. 18 illustrates a case where an event that is a main screen is cut out and a submenu is selected.

  It is assumed that the user appropriately sets the viewing parameters so that the photograph taken during the school excursion just fits in the rectangular drawing area 1801. If the user wants to set the event name “school trip” to all the photos in this area 1801, the user displays the submenu by left clicking and selects the event name setting 1802.

  When selected, a sub-window 1901 shown in FIG. 19 is displayed. When an event name is input in the edit box 1902 and an enter button 1903 is pressed, event information registration processing is performed.

  The event information includes an ID, an event name, a representative date and time, a belonging image file list, a start date and time, an end date and time, and a coupling distance. The ID is a number assigned by a serial number every time an event is set, and is a number for uniquely identifying the event. The representative date and time is an absolute time (millisecond) representing the date and time when the event was performed, and is the shooting date and time defined for the cluster selected at the time of event setting. The belonging image file list is a path of all image files belonging to the cluster. The start date / time is the earliest shooting date / time in the image file of the cluster, and the end date / time is the latest date / time. The bond distance is a distance defined for the cluster. Once the event information is registered, it is stored independently of the cluster information. Therefore, even if an image file to be managed later is deleted or added, the configuration of the cluster is not affected. However, when an image file registered in certain event information is deleted, it is necessary to update the image file list of the event information to which the file belongs. At that time, if the element of the image file list becomes empty due to the update, it is necessary to delete the event information itself.

  Next, when there are many files with event information set as described above, when drawing a rectangular drawing area, appropriate event information is selected and extracted, and only useful information for the user is extracted. The display process will be described.

  First, a process for selecting and extracting events to be displayed from the drawing range of the current rectangular drawing area when ten events (ID: 1 to 10) have been registered will be described.

  FIG. 20 shows events from ID1 to ID10 and the current drawing area of the rectangular drawing area on a plane with time as the horizontal axis and distance value as the vertical axis.

  Reference numeral 2001 denotes event information A (ID = 1). 2002 indicates the start date and time of event information A, 2003 indicates the end date and time of event A, 2004 indicates the representative date and time of event A, and the position on the vertical axis of 2001 indicates the combined distance of event A. Similarly, events B to J are shown in 2005 to 2013.

  Now, suppose that the user is displaying the rectangular drawing area 301 on the main screen in the range of the line segment indicated by 2014 in the situation where the events A to J are set as described above. The position on the vertical axis 2014 indicates the distance value set by the user with the distance slider bar 306.

  First, a list of events having an overlap with the area 2015 indicating the drawing range of the current rectangular drawing area on the plane of FIG. 20 and having a joining distance smaller than the distance value currently set by the user is joined. Select in order of increasing distance. As a result, events 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 are obtained as a list.

  Next, the number of events to be displayed on the main screen is acquired from the list for the number of events (assumed to be a preset constant). According to such a procedure, four events are extracted in this example, and 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 are extracted.

  In this embodiment, the event registration is performed in units of clusters. However, in the present invention, if the start date / time, end date / time, representative date / time, and distance value can be defined as event information, the user manually selects an image file and sets each value. Needless to say, it can be realized even if it is input.

  In the present embodiment, the number of events is previously set as a constant as a method for selecting and extracting an event. In the present embodiment, the event is extracted by using a distance value of the event. Therefore, the present invention can also be realized by a method of focusing on only the distance value and selecting all within the distance range from the setting of the current distance slider bar, or a method incorporating both the number and the distance. Needless to say.

  Next, the event information drawing process of S1114 will be described.

  FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing event information drawing processing. FIG. 22 illustrates a screen on which the event information 2106, 2107, 2108, and 2109 determined in the above example are drawn.

  In FIG. 21, the drawing process is executed for all event information by the loop process in S2102.

  In S2103, if the representative date and time of the event is included in the drawing range of the current rectangular drawing area, the process proceeds to S2105, and the event display window is displayed at the place indicated by the representative date and time of the event information on the horizontal axis of the rectangular drawing area. Draw. In the above example, event C and event E are drawn as 2201 and 2202 in FIG.

  If the event representative date / time is not included in the current drawing range of the rectangular drawing area, the process advances to step S2104 to check in which direction the event representative date / time protrudes from the drawing range of the rectangular drawing area. If it protrudes to the left, the event display window is drawn at a predetermined position at the lower left of the rectangular drawing area in S2106. In the previous example, the event D is drawn as 2203 in FIG. If it protrudes to the right, an event display window is drawn at a predetermined position at the lower right of the rectangular drawing area in S2107. In the previous example, the event F is drawn as 2204 in FIG.

[Other Embodiments]
The present invention includes a case where the computer program for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments is achieved by supplying the system or apparatus directly or remotely. In that case, a computer such as a system reads and executes the computer program.

  Therefore, in order to realize the functional processing of the present invention with a computer, the computer program itself installed in the computer also implements the present invention.

  In that case, as long as it has the function of a program, it may be in the form of object code, a program executed by an interpreter, script data supplied to the OS, or the like.

  Examples of the recording medium (storage medium) for supplying the program include a flexible disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, and a magneto-optical disk. In addition, there are MO, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM, DVD (DVD-ROM, DVD-R) and the like.

  As another program supply method, a client computer browser can be used to connect to a homepage on the Internet, and the computer program itself of the present invention can be downloaded from the homepage. It can also be supplied by downloading a compressed file including an automatic installation function to a recording medium such as a hard disk. It can also be realized by dividing the computer program constituting the program of the present invention into a plurality of files and downloading each file from a different homepage. That is, a WWW server that allows a plurality of users to download a program file for realizing the functional processing of the present invention on a computer is also included in the present invention.

  In addition, the program of the present invention is encrypted, stored in a storage medium such as a CD-ROM, distributed to users, and a user who satisfies predetermined conditions downloads key information for decryption from a homepage via the Internet. You can also. In this case, the downloaded key information is used to execute the encrypted program and install it on the computer.

  In addition to the functions of the above-described embodiments being realized by the computer executing the read program, the OS or the like operating on the computer based on the instruction of the program may be a part of the actual processing. Alternatively, it can be realized by performing all of them.

  Furthermore, after the program read from the recording medium is written in the memory of a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the CPU of the board or the like performs a part of the actual processing. Alternatively, it can be realized by performing all of them.

It is a schematic structure figure showing an example of a file management system of an embodiment concerning the present invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the information processing apparatus which performs the image file management program of this embodiment. It is a figure which illustrates the main screen displayed by the image file management program of this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the file search process by the image file management program of this embodiment. It is a figure which illustrates the sub screen which sets the path | route of the management root folder for designating the management object file by this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the clustering process by this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the list of the sample image file for demonstrating the specific example of the clustering process by this embodiment, and its imaging | photography date. It is the figure which plotted on the time-axis the cluster produced | generated by the clustering process of this embodiment, and imaging | photography date. It is a list of clusters and shooting dates and times generated by the clustering process of the present embodiment. It is a figure which illustrates the dendrogram produced | generated by the clustering process of this embodiment It is a flowchart which shows the drawing process of the rectangular drawing area | region displayed on the main screen by the image file management program of this embodiment. It is a figure which shows a display cluster when the tree diagram shown in FIG. 10 is cut | disconnected by a certain cutting distance. It is a figure which shows the position of the boundary line which divides | segments a rectangular drawing area | region by this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the image map of this embodiment, and a rectangular drawing area. It is a flowchart which shows the process which selectively extracts the image list L of the number N of elements (≠ 1) from the cluster C which has N or more images by this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the process which extracts one representative image from a certain cluster C by this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example which selected and extracted 4 elements from 8 elements which a certain cluster has by this embodiment. It is a figure which illustrates the submenu screen for setting the event name by this embodiment. It is a figure which illustrates the sub screen for inputting the event name by this embodiment. It is a figure explaining the procedure which selects the event information displayed from the drawing range of the rectangular drawing area drawn by this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the drawing process of the event information by this embodiment. It is a figure which illustrates the screen which drawn the event information by this embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

101 PC
102 Image Input Device 103 Data Transfer Interface 104 Internet 105 Photo Site 107 DB
107 Other PC
201 CRT
202 VRAM
203 bit move unit 204 keyboard 205 pointing device 206 CPU
207 ROM
208 RAM
209 Hard disk 210 Floppy (registered trademark) disk drive 211 Network interface 301 Rectangular drawing area 302 Boundary line 303 Thumbnail 304 Icon 305 Scale slider bar 306 Distance slider bar 307 Scale 308 Event display window 309 Thumbnail

Claims (16)

Means for creating a group having a hierarchical structure from a plurality of image files based on the shooting date and time information added to the image files;
Means for setting, for a drawing area having a time axis, a range of the time axis and a reference value for extracting a group for display in the drawing area from a plurality of groups;
Means for extracting a group to be drawn in a drawing area from the plurality of groups based on the reference value;
Means for dividing the drawing area according to the group extracted by the reference value for the drawing area for which the range of the time axis is set;
A file management apparatus comprising: means for drawing a reduced image of an image file belonging to a group corresponding to each divided area in each divided area.   The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for determining a size of a reduced image to be displayed in the divided area from the area of each divided area and the number of image files belonging to the group corresponding to the divided area. File management device.   Means for selectively extracting and drawing reduced images of some image files from among image files belonging to a group arranged in the divided area when all the reduced images of the determined size cannot be drawn in the divided area; The file management apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:   When not all the reduced images of the determined size can be drawn in the divided area, it further comprises a symbol indicating that there is an undrawn image file, and means for drawing the number of undrawn image files The file management apparatus according to claim 3.   5. The apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising means for rendering a reduced image of the image file by changing a scale of a divided area in which the image file is arranged when an image file not drawn is present. The file management device described in 1. Means for registering attribute information related to an image file belonging to a group drawn in each of the divided areas;
Means for extracting attribute information from an image file of a reduced image drawn in each of the divided areas;
Means for determining whether to draw the extracted attribute information;
The file management apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a unit that determines a drawing position of the attribute information based on the attribute information.   The file management apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the attribute information includes a degree of approximation of shooting date / time between groups, a representative date / time, a start date / time, an end date / time, and an identification number. Creating a group having a hierarchical structure from a plurality of image files based on the shooting date and time information added to the image files;
For a drawing area having a time axis, a step of setting a range of the time axis and a reference value for extracting a group to be displayed in the drawing area from a plurality of groups;
Extracting a group to be drawn in a drawing area from the plurality of groups based on the reference value;
Dividing the drawing area according to the group extracted by the reference value for the drawing area in which the range of the time axis is set;
And a step of drawing a reduced image of an image file belonging to a group corresponding to each divided area in each divided area.   9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising a step of determining a size of a reduced image to be displayed in the divided area from the area of each divided area and the number of image files belonging to a group corresponding to the divided area. File management method.   If all the reduced images of the determined size cannot be drawn in the divided area, a step of selectively extracting and drawing reduced images of some of the image files belonging to the group arranged in the divided area and drawing 10. The file management method according to claim 9, further comprising:   When not all the reduced images of the determined size can be drawn in the divided area, the method further comprises a step of drawing a symbol indicating that an undrawn image file exists and the number of undrawn image files The file management method according to claim 10.   12. The method according to claim 10, further comprising a step of drawing a reduced image of the image file by changing a scale of a divided area in which the image file is arranged when there is an image file that is not drawn. File management method described in 1. Registering attribute information related to image files belonging to a group drawn in each of the divided areas;
Extracting attribute information from an image file of a reduced image drawn in each of the divided regions;
Determining whether to draw the extracted attribute information;
The file management method according to claim 8, further comprising: determining a drawing position of the attribute information based on the attribute information.   14. The file management method according to claim 13, wherein the attribute information includes a degree of approximation of shooting date / time between groups, a representative date / time, a start date / time, an end date / time, and an identification number.   The program for making a computer perform the file management method of any one of Claims 8 thru | or 14.   A computer-readable storage medium storing the program according to claim 15.