JPH096584A - Image display device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To instantly recognize the relation of an image to be desired to be seen most and an other image by changing the location of the other image so as not to overlap the desired image with the other image when the desired image is moved to the prescribed location a display surface and rewriting a memory for display. CONSTITUTION: A memory 8 for reference stores the location of the window displayed on an image display device 11 when each image data is written in a memory 3 for display. When an image to be desired to be seen most is moved to the prescribed location of a display surface, the location of an other image is changed so as to prevent the part overlapping with the other image when the part exists by referring to the data within the memory 8 for reference, and the memory 3 for display is rewritten. Therefore, each image is displayed in a state that no overlappings exist. Thus, the relation of the image to be desired to be seen most and the other image can be instantly recognized, and when the image to be desired to be seen most of other images is designated, an exact image can be indicated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image display device, and more particularly to an image display device capable of simultaneously displaying a plurality of images on its display surface in a multi-window display mode.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An image display device of this type displays a plurality of selected images on the same display surface, which makes it easy to grasp the relationship between the images.

In this case, the respective images displayed on the display surface are partially overlapped with each other and are displayed so as to overlap each other, and the most desired image can be displayed again in front of the screen by the designation. It is like this.

The most desired image can be designated based on the attribute information of the selected image displayed at a fixed position on the display surface by operating the mouse, for example, and the designated image is displayed. It can be displayed at a predetermined position on the surface.

[0005]

However, in the image display device thus configured, even if the most desired image is displayed forward with respect to another image, the other image still has a part thereof. It has been pointed out that the relationship with these images cannot be immediately grasped because they are exposed and overlapped behind them.

Then, in order to recognize the entire image of each selected image, each image must be sequentially displayed again in front of the other images, which is a problem in that the work is complicated. It has been done.

The present invention has been made under such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image display device capable of immediately grasping the relationship between the most desired image and other images. is there.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Among the inventions disclosed in the present application, the outline of a representative one will be briefly described.
It is as follows.

Means 1. A plurality of pieces of image information that are sequentially selected are simultaneously displayed on a display surface of a display device in a multi-window display form, and the display is performed by an image display device that is made via a display memory. A reference memory in which each position of the window of the image is written is provided, and when the most desired image is moved to a predetermined position on the display surface, the data in the reference memory is referred to and a portion overlapping with another image is displayed. In some cases, there is provided means for changing the position of another image so as to prevent the overlap, and rewriting the display memory.

Means 2. In the structure shown in the means 1, when the position of another image is changed to rewrite the display memory, the other image is reduced.

[0011]

The image display device constructed as shown in the means 1 is provided with the reference memory for writing the respective positions of the windows of the respective images to be displayed, and the most desired image is located at a predetermined position on the display surface. When there is a portion that overlaps with another image by referring to the data in the reference memory when the image is moved, the position of the other image is changed so that the portion does not overlap. Will be displayed without any overlap.

Therefore, it becomes possible to immediately grasp the relationship between the image most desired to be viewed and another image. This has an effect of being able to point out an accurate image when designating the image most desired to be viewed among other images.

Since the image display apparatus constructed as shown in the means 2 displays the other image different from the most desired image in a reduced size, all the images are displayed on the display surface having a limited area. Each can be displayed as an overall picture.

[0014]

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of an image workstation to which the image display device according to the present invention is applied.

The image workstation 1 stores medical image data of a patient obtained by using various types of medical image inspection devices, and reads out the medical image data as necessary to an image display device. It can be displayed.

As shown in the figure, in order to temporarily store various kinds of medical image data collected in advance, a storage device 2 such as a magnetic disk device and image data read from the storage device 2 are temporarily stored. Display memory 3 of
An image display device 4 such as a CRT that reads image data from the display memory 3 to display various medical images, a main memory 5 in which data for controlling the operation of each of the above-described components is written, and Central processing unit (CPU) 6 that controls the decoding and execution of instructions from main memory 5.
A high-speed arithmetic circuit 7 for moving the window at high speed; a reference memory 8 for storing the position of the window displayed on the image display device 4 when writing each image data in the display memory 3; A keyboard 9 and a mouse 13 as input devices, a controller 10 that controls the operations of the keyboard 9 and the mouse 13, and an interface 11 that communicates with other external devices are provided. In the figure, reference numeral 12 indicates a data bus.

1 and 2 are explanatory views showing the relationship between the display memory 3 and the reference memory 8 of the image display device.

First, in FIG. 1, there is a selection memory 14 corresponding to the main memory 5, and this selection memory 14
Attribute information such as a medical image ID is stored in the. Note that this attribute information is a concept that includes information such as the image creation date, the image type, and the number of images in addition to the ID. This attribute information is displayed on the image display device 4 via the display memory 3 with its display position fixed.

For example, the image selection window data is written from the selection memory 14 to the display memory 3, and the position of the image selection window 16 is set to (0, 0), (x1,
0), (0y, 1), and (x1, y1) are fixed, the destination point T is set to (0, Y1), and the window size when further reducing the window is, for example, 256 × 25.
Set to 6.

The image memory 15 corresponding to the storage device 2 has a plurality of image memories such as the first image I ₁ , the second image I ₂ , the third image I ₃ , the fourth image I ₄ , and so on. The image data consisting of is stored.

Image data or image selection window data is stored in the display memory 3 in which an image corresponding to the image displayed on the image display device 4 is stored in advance. The display memory 3 is provided with a reference memory 8 having the same size as that of the display memory 3 and the coordinates of which correspond to each other.

That is, the image selection window data is written from the selection memory 14 to the display memory 3 and displayed on the image display device 4. From the displayed image selection window 16, the image ID is displayed in the arrow portion pointed by the mouse. Images I corresponding to three image IDs 1 are sequentially selected (clicked).
₁ , the data of the image I ₂ corresponding to the image ID ₂ and the image I ₃ corresponding to the image ID ₃ are respectively written in the display memory 3, and the image corresponding to the information written in the display memory 3 is displayed on the image display device 4 Is displayed on the display surface of.

Then, separately from the display memory 3,
A reference memory 8 having the same size as that of the coordinates 1: 1 is provided. The reference memory 8 includes the images I ₁ stored in the display memory 3,
Data concerning the storage locations of I ₂ and I ₃ are stored in association with each other.

That is, in the case of the image I ₁ , the coordinates (x2, y2), (x3, y) corresponding to the square of the window are set.
3), (x4, y4), (x5, y5) stores information indicating the window frame of the image I ₁ , and in the case of the image I ₂ , the coordinates (x6, y6) corresponding to the square of the window,
Information indicating the window frame of the image I ₂ is stored in (x7, y7), (x8, y8), and (x9, y9). In the case of the image I ₃ , the coordinates (t1, s) corresponding to the square of the window are stored.
1) Information indicating the window frame of the image I ₃ is stored in (t2, s2) (t3, s3) (t4, s4).

Next, the case of moving the window displaying the image I ₃ corresponding to the image ID ₃ will be described with reference to FIG.

The window 17 displayed by the mouse 13 is moved to the position (t1 ', s) at the center of the display screen, for example.
1 ') (t2', s2 ') (t3', s3 ') (t
4 ', s4').

During the movement, the controller 10
The image I ₁ 19 and the image I ₂ 20 in the display memory 3 are erased, the position information relating to the image I _{3 in} the image reference memory 8 is erased, and the erased information is rewritten and written. It is like this.

In this case, by referring to and comparing the position information of the reference memory 8, those images I ₁ , I ₂ ,
It can be seen that there is a regional overlap with I ₃ . It should be noted that the reference and comparison for determining the overlapping portion can be easily performed only by the above-mentioned position coordinates of the images I ₁ , I ₂ , and I ₃ .

Therefore, for example, the image data ID No.
Image I ₁ written in the reference memory 8 in ascending order (or in alphabetical order) so that its position coordinates (x3, y3) overlap (0, Y), and the size is set as the initial value. The data is reduced and written in the display memory 3. Similarly, the image I ₂ is converted into its position coordinates (x7, y
7) is moved so as to overlap (lx, Y), and is reduced to the size set as the initial value and written in the display memory 3.

Next, the processing procedure in the controller 10 of the above-described multi-window display method will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, in step 1, the destination point T (x, y) is set in the display memory 3. In step 2, the window information for image selection is written in the reference memory 8 and the position is fixed.

Then, in step 3, the size after image window reduction is set. In step 4, the displayed image ID is written in the display memory 3 by sequentially selecting the images I ₁ , I ₂ , ..., Ix using the arrow portion pointed to by the mouse.

Further, in step 5, the image information is read from the display memory 3 and displayed on the image processing device 4. In step 6, the image window It is selected from the displayed images I ₁ , I ₂ , ..., Ix and moved to the center of the display screen.

Further, in step 7, it is checked whether the selected image window It has been reduced. If it has been reduced, in step 8, the original image window size is restored and the reduction flag is set to 0. If not reduced, the process proceeds to step 9.

Then, in step 9, the position information relating to the image It in the reference memory 8 is erased, and the information other than It is erased in the display memory 3.

Further, in step 10, the image I after movement is moved.
The information of t is written in the display memory 3. Step 11
Then, the reference memory 8 is referred to. In step 12, it is determined whether there is an overlapping portion. If there is an overlapping portion, in step 10, the information in the reference memory 8 is changed so that there is no overlapping portion, and then the information is written in the display memory 3 and after the change is made. The position information of is written in the reference memory 8. Step 15
Then, the reduction flag is set to 1.

If there is no overlapping portion, the position information of the moving destination is written in the reference memory 8 in step 14.
In step 16, the display memory 3 is read to display the image data information as a window on the image display device 4.

Then, the above steps 6 to 16
By repeating the above, the multi-window display of the image display device 4 is performed.

According to the image display device 4 shown in the above embodiment, the reference memory 8 for writing the respective positions of the windows of the respective images to be displayed is provided, and the most desired image is the predetermined position on the display surface. When there is a portion that overlaps with another image by referring to the data in the reference memory 8 when the image is moved to, the position of the other image is changed so as not to overlap. , The images are displayed without any overlap.

Therefore, the relationship between the most desired image and another image can be immediately grasped. This has an effect of being able to point out an accurate image when designating the image most desired to be viewed among other images.

Since the image display device 4 configured as shown in the means 2 displays the other image different from the most desired image in a reduced size, all the images are displayed on the display surface having a limited area. Can be displayed as a whole image.

In the present invention, step 1 shown in FIG.
Needless to say, the setting of the point of moving the image window in is not limited as in the embodiment and may be another point.

Further, the size after reduction of the image window in step 3 shown in FIG. 4 is not limited to that in the embodiment, and it goes without saying that it may be another size.

[0044]

As is apparent from the above description,
According to the image display device of the present invention, it is possible to immediately grasp the relationship between the image that is most desired to be viewed and another image.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an operation of an embodiment of an image display device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the operation of an embodiment of the image display device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an image display device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of the operation of a controller incorporated in the image display device according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Image Workstation 2 Storage Device 3 Display Memory 4 CRT 5 Main Memory 6 CPU (Central Processing Unit) 7 High Speed Computing Circuit 8 Reference Memory 9 Keyboard 10 Controller 13 Mouse 14 Selection Memory 15 Image Memory 16 Image Selection Window I image

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of pieces of image information that are sequentially selected are simultaneously displayed on a display surface of a display device in a multi-window display form, and the display is performed through a display memory in an image display device. , A reference memory in which the respective positions of the windows of each image to be displayed are written is provided, and when the most desired image is moved to a predetermined position on the display surface, the data in the reference memory is referred to for other An image display device, comprising means for changing the position of another image so as not to overlap the image and rewriting the display memory when there is a portion overlapping the image. 2. The image display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the position of another image is changed to rewrite the display memory, the other image is reduced.