JPH05128169A - Image retrieval device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain an image retrieval device capable of inputting a conditional expression for retrieval without using a keyboard by reading an image in which the retrieval conditional expression is described with a reading means and recognizing the retrieval conditional expression from the read image. CONSTITUTION:Plural images are stored in an optical disk 20 along with retrieval information corresponding to the respective images, and the image of a retrieval sheet C on which the retrieval conditional expression is described is read with a scanner device 18. The retrieval conditional expression is recognized by a character recognition part 29 from the read image and the image corresponding to the recognized retrieval conditional expression is retrieved from the optical disk 20. That is, the retrieval conditional expression written on paper can be read by means of the scanner device 18 provided in a general electronic filing device and the retrieval can be performed as if the expression was inputted through the keyboard. Thus, the scanner device 18 comprising the electronic filing device can be effectively used and a keyboard system can be constructed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image retrieving apparatus such as an image filing apparatus for registering and retrieving images.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, an image such as a large amount of documents is read by a scanner (two-dimensional scanning device), the read image is stored in an optical disk, and any stored image is searched and read out. Output it to an output device, eg C
2. Description of the Related Art An image filing device which outputs an RT display device or a recording device in a visible state has been put into practical use.

In such a device, a conditional expression for retrieval is input from a keyboard or is instructed from an external computer via a communication line. There were problems such as input errors due to input from the keyboard and investment in connecting an external computer. So without connecting an external computer,
Moreover, there has been a demand for a device that can input a conditional expression for a search without inputting from a keyboard.

[0004]

As described above, there is a demand for a device that can input a conditional expression for a search without using a keyboard. Therefore, a condition for searching without a keyboard can be used. An object is to provide an image search device capable of inputting a formula.

[0005]

An image retrieval apparatus of the present invention comprises a storage unit for storing a plurality of images together with retrieval information corresponding to each of these images, a reading unit for reading an image in which a retrieval conditional expression is described, It comprises a recognition means for recognizing the search condition expression from the image read by the reading means, and a search means for searching the storage means for an image corresponding to the search condition expression recognized by the recognition means.

[0006]

According to the present invention, a plurality of images are stored in the storage means together with the search information corresponding to each of these images, the image in which the search condition expression is written is read by the reading means, and the search condition expression is read from the read image. Is recognized, and an image corresponding to the recognized search condition expression is searched from the storage means.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of an image retrieval apparatus of the present invention, for example, an electronic filing apparatus. That is, the electronic filing device includes a control module 10, a memory module 12, an image processing module 14, a communication control module 16, a scanner device (reading means) 18, an optical disk (storage means) 20, and an optical disk device 22,
A CRT display device 24, a printer device 25, a magnetic disk 26 and a magnetic disk device 27, a character recognition unit (recognition means) 29, a system bus 30, and an image bus 32 are included.

The control module 10 includes a CPU 34 that performs various controls for image storage, retrieval, edit processing, and the like.
And the optical disk device 22, the magnetic disk device 27 and C
The interface circuit 36 connects the PU 34.

The memory module 12 is an image memory having a main memory 38 for storing various control programs for image storage, retrieval, editing, etc. and management information, and an image memory having a storage capacity corresponding to images of several pages of A4 size document. Page memory 40, a display memory 42 as a display interface, and a display controller 44. A buffer memory area 40a is provided in a part of the page memory 40. The page memory 40 is a memory that temporarily stores, for example, an image stored in the optical disc 20 or an image read from the optical disc 20.

The display memory 42 is for temporarily storing an image displayed by the CRT display device 24. In the display memory 42, an image actually displayed in the display window of the CRT display device 24, for example, an image from the page memory 40 or an image from the buffer memory 40a is enlarged, reduced, rotated, inserted or inserted. An image subjected to black-and-white reversal or the like is stored.

The image processing module 14 includes an enlarging / reducing circuit 46 for enlarging and reducing an image, a vertical / horizontal converting circuit 48 for rotating an image, and an encoding process for compressing an image (reducing redundancy). A compression / decompression circuit (CODEC) 50 for performing a decoding process for applying and decompressing (recovering reduced redundancy), a scanner interface 52 for the scanner device 18, a printer interface 54 for the printer device 25, and scaling. The internal bus 56 connects the circuit 46 and the vertical / horizontal conversion circuit 48, the compression / expansion circuit 50, the scanner interface 52, and the printer interface 54. The compression / decompression circuit 50 uses the MH (Modified Huffman) method, the MR (Modified Read) method, or the like to perform band compression,
Alternatively, band expansion is performed.

The communication control module 16 is, for example, an LA.
It is configured by a communication interface 58 such as a BCP (Bus Communication Processor) connected to the N.
Further, the communication control module 16 is connected to an external device such as a FCP (facsimile connection mechanism) or a personal computer through an interface, and a UCP (Universal Communication).
Processor) may be provided.

The character recognition unit 29 detects and cuts out image data (image data) read by the scanner device 18 for each character, and the detected and cut out character pattern and a character pattern stored in a dictionary (not shown). Character recognition is performed by comparison with.

The system bus 30 is a bus for control signals of various devices, and connects the control module 10 with the memory module 12, the image processing module 14, and the communication control module 16. The image bus 32 is an image bus, and connects the memory module 12, the image processing module 14, and the communication control module 16.

The scanner device 18 is, for example, a two-dimensional scanning device equipped with a document feeding device 18a, and a document (document) A, a definition sheet B, or a search sheet C sequentially supplied from the document feeding device 18a is irradiated with a laser beam. By dimensional scanning, an electric signal (image data) corresponding to the image on the document A, the definition sheet B, or the search sheet C is obtained.

The definition sheet B includes a cabinet name, a media designation sheet in which a binder name is written, and a search title. A title designation sheet, a cabinet name, a binder name, and a search title as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, a designated sheet for both media and title is prepared.

On the search sheet C, a search condition expression is described, and as shown in FIG. 4, "image search device" is described. The position in which the search condition expression is written may be a specified position or an arbitrary position.

The definition sheet B and the search sheet C have the contents indicating the type of each sheet at the end portion (upper right portion) thereof, respectively. For example, in the case of the definition sheet B, as shown in FIGS.
“File definition design sheet” and “title range” are described, and in the case of search sheet C, “search sheet” is described as shown in FIG. The original A is an original because no characters are written. The type may be indicated by a color or a number.

The optical disk device 22 is the scanner device 18
The images of the document A read in step 1 are sequentially stored in the optical disc 20. Also, the optical disc 20 is searched for an image corresponding to the search condition expression specified by the search sheet C. The CRT display device (cathode ray tube display device) 24 displays an image read by the scanner device 18 and an image retrieved from the optical disk 20.

The printer device 25 prints out (hard copy) the image read by the scanner device 18, the image retrieved from the optical disk 20, or the image displayed on the CRT display device 24.

The magnetic disk device 27 stores various control programs on the magnetic disk 26 mounted on the magnetic disk device 27, and stores the search code determined from the definition sheet B read by the scanner device 18 and the search code. Optical disc 2 on which the corresponding image is stored
The search data (search information) including the storage address on 0, the image size, and the like is stored.

The search data is managed by a document management table. The document management table includes a title management table 26a and page management as shown in FIGS. It is composed of a table 26b and a record management table 26c. As shown in FIG. 5A, the title management table 26a stores one document number corresponding to each search code (image name) composed of a plurality of search keys.
In the page management table 26b, as shown in FIG. 5B, record numbers are stored page by page of one document, and one record number is stored corresponding to each page. ing. As shown in FIG. 5C, the record management table 26c stores a storage address (storage start position) of an image on the optical disc 19 and a document size (image size) for each record number. The storage address is a logical address, and a physical track address and a physical sector address are calculated from this at the time of access. Next, the operation of image storage and retrieval processing in the electronic filing apparatus having such a configuration will be described. First, the image storage process will be described.

First, the operator prepares definition sheets B, ... For a plurality of documents storing images. That is,
Cabinet name on the designated sheet for both media and title,
Enter the confidential code, binder name, and search title for each page, and enter the search title for each page on the title designation sheet.

For example, now, a plurality of documents A ... Are placed on the tray (not shown) of the document feeder 18a of the scanner device 18 with the definition sheet B attached for each document. By this placement, the document feeding device 18a of the scanner device 18 starts to operate, the first definition sheet B is conveyed and read by the scanner device 18, and the read content is the scanner interface 52, the internal bus 56, the image. It is stored in the page memory 40 via the bus 32. That is, the image of the definition sheet B is two-dimensionally scanned by the scanner device 18 and photoelectrically converted, and the line information of the photoelectrically converted image is sequentially stored in the page memory 40.

The CPU 34 recognizes the stored contents of the end portion (upper right portion) of the image stored in the page memory 40 as the character recognition unit 29.
The recognition result is stored in the main memory 38. Further, the CPU 34 determines the type based on the recognition result stored in the main memory 38. In this case, the definition sheet B as a designated sheet for both media and title
It is determined that the image has been read. That is, it is determined that the designated sheet is a medium / title combination sheet as shown in FIG. 3 in which the cabinet name, the binder name, and the search title are described.

Based on this determination, the CPU 34 selects the image registration mode and is stored corresponding to the cabinet name storage area, confidential code storage area, binder name storage area, and search title storage area of the page memory 40. The respective contents are recognized by the character recognition unit 29, and the recognition result is stored in the main memory 38. Further, the CPU 34 determines the content of the recognition result stored in the main memory 38. As a result, the CPU 34 stores the determined cabinet name, confidential code, binder name, and each search title in the main memory 38.

Further, the CPU 34 has its cabinet name,
It is checked using the binder name whether or not the optical disk 20 set in the optical disk device 22 has a different cabinet name. If an optical disk 20 having a different cabinet name is set, another optical disk 20 is set. Guide using the CRT display device 24. When the cabinet name and the binder name are not given to the optical disc 20, the cabinet name and the binder name stored in the main memory 38 are given.

Then, the CPU 34 checks the validity of the search code for each page stored in the main memory 38, that is, the search keys of a plurality of items, in accordance with a predefined format. Further, the double registration is checked by comparing with the search code already registered in the optical disc 20. In this case, when the formats are different or the registration is double, the CRT display device 24 is used for guidance.

If the above conditions are satisfied, the CPU 34 causes the document feeder 1 of the scanner 18 to operate.
Document feeding is instructed to 8a. As a result, the document feeding device 18a conveys the document A of the first page of the first document,
It is read by the scanner device 18, and the read content is stored in the page memory 40 via the scanner interface 52, the internal bus 56, and the image bus 32.

That is, the image of the original A on the first page is two-dimensionally scanned and photoelectrically converted by the scanner device 18, and the line information of the photoelectrically converted image is stored in the page memory 40.
Are sequentially stored in. If it is determined that no character is stored from the stored content corresponding to the edge (right edge) of the image stored in the page memory 40, it is determined to be a document.

Then, the CPU 34 performs an encoding process by band-compressing the image of the page memory 40 for each line information in a compression / expansion circuit (CODEC) 50 by a well-known MR (Modified Read) method or the like. The image including the encoded search code is supplied to the optical disc device 22 and stored in the optical disc 20.

When the storage of the image containing the search code on the optical disk 20 is completed, the CPU 34 stores the physical track address where the image containing the search code is stored, the logical address determined from the physical sector address, the image length represented by the block length, The image attributes and the like are stored in the main memory 38 in association with the search code (search information) on the first page of the first document to create search data. Then, the CPU 34 supplies the search data for the first page of the first document stored in the main memory 38 to the magnetic disk device 27. As a result, the magnetic disk device 27 stores the supplied search data in the respective tables 26a to 26c in the magnetic disk 26.

Thereafter, the images of the second and subsequent pages of the original A are also stored in the optical disk 20 and their search data are stored in the magnetic disk 26, as in the case of the first page of the original A.

When it is determined that the definition sheet B is supplied, it is determined whether storage of another document (document switching) is performed, and the processing corresponding to the content of the definition sheet B is performed in the same manner as above. Next, a process of searching for an image stored on the optical disc 20 will be described.

For example, the retrieval sheet C is now placed on the tray (not shown) of the document feeder 18a of the scanner device 18. By this placement, the document feeding device 18a of the scanner device 18 starts to operate, the search sheet C is conveyed and read by the scanner device 18, and the read content is passed through the scanner interface 52, the internal bus 56, and the image bus 32. Stored in the page memory 40. That is, the image of the search sheet C is two-dimensionally scanned by the scanner device 18 and photoelectrically converted, and the line information of the photoelectrically converted image is sequentially stored in the page memory 40.

The CPU 34 recognizes the stored contents of the edge portion (upper right portion) of the image stored in the page memory 40 by the character recognition unit 29.
The recognition result is stored in the main memory 38. Further, the CPU 34 determines the type based on the recognition result stored in the main memory 38. In this case, it is determined that the image on the search sheet C has been read.

Based on this determination, the CPU 34 selects the image registration mode, further recognizes the characters stored in the other area of the page memory 40 (the area other than the upper right area) by the character recognition unit 29, and recognizes the character. Results in main memory 38
Remember. Further, the CPU 34 uses the main memory 38.
The recognition result stored in is determined as the search conditional expression. In this case, "image search device" is determined as the search condition expression.

The CPU 34 sequentially compares and compares the determined search condition expression "image search device" with the search code stored in the title management table 26a of the magnetic disk 26, and a search that matches the input search condition expression. It is sequentially checked whether the code is stored or not and the corresponding document number is extracted. As a result, the CPU 34 stores the extracted candidate document numbers in the main memory 38.

Then, the CPU 34 refers to the document number of the candidate in the main memory 38, reads the record number corresponding to the document number using the page management table 26b of the magnetic disk 26, and uses this read record number as the read record number. The corresponding logical address is read from the record management table 26c in the magnetic disk 26, the physical track address and the physical sector address corresponding to this address are calculated, and the image including the search code from the optical disk 20 is reproduced by these addresses. Is performed by the optical disk device 22.

Further, the CPU 34 supplies the search code of the first line supplied from the optical disk device 22 and the image (compression information) for each scanning line thereafter to the compression / expansion circuit 50, and performs band expansion processing to perform page expansion. The data is sequentially supplied to the memory 40.

The image stored in the page memory 40 is reduced by the enlargement / reduction circuit 46 and output to the display memory 42, and the image is stored in the display memory 42. Therefore, the display control unit 44 displays the stored contents of the display memory 42 on the CRT display device 24.

As another example, the image stored in the page memory 40 is the printer interface 5
It is output to the printer device 25 via the printer 4, and is printed out by the printer device 25.

As described above, a plurality of images are stored on the optical disk together with the search information corresponding to each of these images,
The image of the search sheet in which the search condition expression is written is read by the scanner device, the search condition expression is recognized by the character recognition unit 60 from the read image, and the image corresponding to the recognized search condition expression is read on the optical disc. It was made to search from.

That is, using the scanner device possessed by a general electronic filing device, the conditional expression for the search written on the paper is read, and the search can be performed as if it was input from the keyboard. It is the one. As a result, a conditional expression for search can be input without using the keyboard. Further, it is possible to effectively use the scanner device which is a device constituting the electronic filing device and to construct a keyboardless system.

In the above embodiment, the case where the database for storing the search data is a magnetic disk has been described. However, an area other than the area for storing the image on the optical disk may be used as the database for storing the search data. You can

Further, when the search condition expression is recognized, if there are a plurality of candidates in the recognition result, "?" Is added to the character, and another recognized character and its "?" Alternatively, the search may be performed using a search condition expression such as "○○? ○○". That is, the search may be performed by replacing the wildcard of the free word. Further, various conditions may be instructed using the mouse and the icon of the CRT display device.

[0048]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
An image search device capable of inputting a conditional expression for a search without using a keyboard can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of an electronic filing device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a definition sheet shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a definition sheet of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the search sheet of FIG.

5 is a diagram for explaining a storage example of a document management table stored in the magnetic disk of FIG. 1. FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

20 ... Optical disc, 18 ... Scanner device, 18a ... Original document feeding device, 22 ... Optical disc device, 23 ... Keyboard,
24 ... CRT display device, 25 ... printer device,
26 ... Magnetic disk, 27 ... Magnetic disk device, 34 ...
CPU, 38 ... Main memory, 40 ... Page memory, 5
2 ... Scanner interface, A ... manuscript, B ... definition sheet, C ... search sheet.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A storage unit for storing a plurality of images together with search information corresponding to each of these images, a reading unit for reading an image in which a search condition expression is described, and a search condition from the image read by the reading unit. An image search apparatus comprising: a recognition unit that recognizes an expression, and a search unit that searches the storage unit for an image corresponding to the search condition expression recognized by the recognition unit.