JPS6074764A - Picture retrieval system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the transmission efficiency by storing a picture data in a storage device while making distinction between data on specific scanning lines skipped at each prescribed interval and data on other subordinate scanning lines. CONSTITUTION:In displaying all pictures as to a picture data desired to be retrieved, the retrieval personnel designates all the pictures as to the said picture data from an input device 6 of a terminal device 4. A processing unit 2 reads all records relating to the picture data from a storage device 3 and transmits them to the device 4. In this case, the specific scanning line record and the subordinate scanning line record are transmitted alternately, sequentially and continuously. When the retrieval personnel designates an outline picture as the picture data, the unit 2 selects only the specific line record among the picture records read from the device 3 and trasnmits the record to the device 4 sequentially, allowing to decrease the transmission time.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to an image retrieval system for storing and retrieving image information.

[Background of the invention]

There is an image search system that stores a large amount of image data in a central computer and searches for necessary images by giving commands from a terminal device. Note that the term "image data" here refers to a certain amount of binary image data (for example, image data for one A4 sheet) composed of a plurality of scanning lines.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of such an image search system, in which the processing device 2 is a computer, and the image input device 1 is a processing device 2.
The storage device 5 is connected to the processing device 2, the storage device 5 is connected to the processing device 2, a storage device such as a magnetic disk device is connected to the storage device, and the terminal device 4 is connected to the transmission path 8.
This is a terminal device connected to the processing device 2 via. The display device 5 is a display device connected to the terminal control device 7 and displays image data, and the input device 6 is an input device such as a keyboard that gives search commands to the processing device 2.

To explain the operation of the image retrieval system shown in FIG. 1, first, original image data is input from the image input device 1 to the processing device 2 by line scanning, and the processing device 2 stores this image data in a predetermined order in a storage device. accumulate. Next, based on the search designation input from the terminal device 4, the processing device 2 retrieves desired image data from the storage device 5 and transmits it to the terminal device 4 via the transmission path 8. The terminal device 4 that received this image data displays it on the display device 5.

By the way, there is no problem if there is only one image data that matches the search condition commanded from the terminal device 4 (for example, a collection of image data that can be displayed on both sides of the display device 5 at once). , when there is a plurality of image data (for example, multiple double-sided images) that match the search conditions, and you want to display these image data one after another on the display device 5 and select only the desired image data after checking the contents. There is.

In some conventional image search systems,
In such a case, the entire contents of these image data (hereinafter referred to as the entire image 5) are displayed as they are on the display device 5.

Therefore, it takes time to transmit the image data on the transmission path B, and therefore, the system takes time to search for images.

In another system, the amount of information is reduced for the entire image, and only the outline of the image (hereinafter referred to as the outline image) is transmitted. A method for creating a rough image from all images includes, for example, reducing the number of image lines per unit length (line density) for all images in processing device @2.
There is a method to create images with coarse density. Another method is to reduce the entire image in the processing device 2 and send the reduced image to the terminal device 4 as a rough image.

However, in the former case, linear density conversion must be performed, and in the latter case, reduction processing must be performed.
There is a drawback that the processing time of the processing device 2 is required. Furthermore, when the searcher on the terminal device 4 side who received this schematic image finds a desired schematic image, he requests the processing device 2 for all the corresponding images. At this time, processing device 2&end, terminal device 4
Since the entire image has to be transmitted anew towards h', there is a problem in that the transmission h' of the desired outline image is not effectively utilized.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention solves the above problems and provides an image retrieval system with improved transmission efficiency using a simple method.

[Summary of the invention]

The present invention includes a computer equipped with a storage device storing a plurality of fixed image data ht, and a computer connected to the computer via a transmission path, and this image data is displayed over a plurality of display lines. and a terminal device equipped with a display device, in which a computer retrieves desired image data from the storage device and transmits it to the terminal device in response to a request from the terminal device, and the terminal device &1 receives the desired image data. Further, an image retrieval system is assumed in which each scan line of image data is displayed on a display device so as to correspond to a display line.

In such a system, the present invention is such that the image data in the storage device is divided and stored at fixed line intervals into specific scanning lines and other dependent scanning lines, and the image data is stored in a terminal device. When there is a request for image 11Z data from Go 1, the computer first selects only a specific scanning line of the desired image data and transmits it to the terminal device.
The terminal device displays the received specific scan lines on the display device at the same constant line spacing as above.
Then, the computer automatically or in accordance with a request from the terminal device transmits the remaining dependent scan lines for the same desired image data to the control device, and the terminal device automatically or in accordance with a request from the terminal device transmits the remaining dependent scan lines to the device for displaying the particular scan line. The image retrieval system is characterized by displaying received dependent scan lines on a display device as respective corresponding display lines.

As an example of the above-mentioned specific scanning line and dependent scanning line that are transmitted to the terminal device through the transmission path, the former is assumed to be one-dimensional compression-encoded information, and the latter is two-dimensional compression-encoded information. You can also use it as

[Embodiments of the invention]

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

The configuration of the image search system is as shown in FIG.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the image input device 1. As shown in FIG.

The document on which the image is drawn is line-scanned by the scanner 13. The analog image signal output from the scanner 15 is converted into a white/black digital image signal by the binarization circuit 14 and stored in the memory 15. A constant number of continuous scanning lines is preset in the controller 11 as a line constant.

In this embodiment, the line constant is set to 4 below. Among these four scanning lines, the first scanning line is called a specific scanning line. The remaining three scanning lines are called secondary scanning lines. In other words, counting from the first scan line of the entire image,
The (4n-1-1)th line is the specific scanning line. However, n is an integer of n≧00. Also, the scanning line from (4n+2)th to (4n+4)th is (4n+4)th.
+1) is a dependent scan line of the specific scan line.

The memory 15 is a storage mechanism in which image data of scanning lines corresponding to a line constant is stored, and the counter 12 is a counter that counts the number of scanning lines within the line constant.

The controller 11 first sets the line constant 4 to the counter 12.
Set to . Each time the scanner 16 completes one line of scanning, the controller 11 decrements the value of the counter 12 by one. Scanner 1! When i completes scanning one line, storage of this scanning line in memory 15 is completed.

Among the image data stored in the memory 15, the first scanning line is a specific scanning line, followed by three subordinate scanning lines.

The encoding circuit 16 is a mechanism that reads the scanning line in the memory 15, compresses and encodes it, and converts it into a data format to be described later. The encoding circuit 16 is configured so that the content of the counter 12 is 0.
Each time, it is driven by the controller 11 to first encode only a particular scan line in the memory 15. The controller 11 transfers the encoded image data to the processing device 2 through one input/output operation via the transfer circuit 17.
Transfer to. Next, the encoding circuit collectively encodes the remaining three dependent scanning lines, and the controller 11 encodes the remaining three dependent scanning lines as one.
The data is transferred to the processing device 2 through the input/output operations. After that, the controller 11 sets the line constant 4 in the counter 12 and repeats the above operation again.

In this embodiment, it is assumed that the code W116 is compressed and encoded using the well-known scaling method employed in the Group 3 facsimile machine 1CG1). In other words, among the consecutive scan lines of a book, the first scan line is one-dimensional compression encoded, and the remaining (K-1) scan lines are two-dimensional compression encoded using the previous scan line as the reference line. There is. The parameter is 2IJ·4, and in this embodiment, K='4.

In this embodiment, in the GW machine compression encoding system, the one-dimensional compression encoding line is used as a specific scanning line, and the two-dimensional compression encoding line is used as a dependent scanning line. The code is northbound 11i.
It is assumed that s16 has a built-in memory of sufficient capacity to store reference lines required when performing two-dimensional compression encoding.

It should be noted that the encoding method for the code Hokukai 1!316 may be a method other than the above, but the specific scanning line must be independent of the dependent scanning line and must be able to be decoded without referring to the latter.

Next, the data format of the data transferred from the transfer circuit 17 to the processing device ii2 will be explained using FIG.

The image data 101 is grooved with a plurality of scanning lines as described above. Line #C4n+1) is a specific scanning line, from line #(40+2) to line #(4n+4).
) are dependent scanning lines. That is, the memory 15 stores (40+1) to (4n+4) of the original image data 101.
) scan lines are stored.

There are two types of data formats of the data to be transferred: a specific scan line record 102 and a dependent scan line record 10602. The specific scan line record 102 includes a data section D that contains compression-encoded image information of a specific scan line, and a line count section L that contains the number of scan lines of the image data.
, a line constant section N containing the aforementioned line constant, an identification code section F containing an identification code for identifying whether the image information in the data section is a specific scan line or a dependent scan line, and the number of bytes of the entire record. Byte count section C that contains
It consists of Dependent Yu, Iy v −x −F 103
f7) f'? l"l f@5"A'! , , is basically the same as the specific scanning line record 102, but differs in the number of lines of image information contained in the data section.

The number of scanning lines included in the specific scanning line record 102 is always one in this embodiment. The number of scanning lines included in the dependent scanning line record 105 varies depending on the line constant, and is three in this embodiment. Note that the number of dependent scanning line records corresponding to the last dependent scanning line of the original image data may be less than six.

Note that the image information included in the data portion has a variable length for each bit, so the last bit may not end at a byte boundary. In this case, for example, a time fill code of arbitrary bit length is inserted into the image data and byte boundary alignment is performed, as permitted by the compression encoding system of facsimile AM machines.

Each scanning line record sent from the transfer circuit 17 to the processing device 2 is stored in the storage device 3 record by record. Each record is sequentially stored in the terminal device B in variable length record format.

Since each record will be read out again for image search processing to be described later, it is desirable that the files in the storage device 5 be organized in an organization convenient for searching, such as a sequential organization with an index.

The image search operation will be explained below. When displaying all images for image data to be searched, the searcher specifies all images for the image data from the input device 6 of the terminal device 40, and the processing device 2 retrieves all records related to the image data from the storage device @3. This is read out and transmitted to the terminal device 4. In this case, the specific scan line record and the dependent scan line record are alternately and sequentially transmitted.

When the searcher specifies a general image of the image data from the input device 6, the processing device 2 selects only the above-mentioned specific scanning line record from among the image records read out from the storage device @6, and sequentially sends it to the terminal device 4. The data is transmitted to the display device 5 of.

Selection of a specific scanning line record can be easily performed using the identification code section F of each record. If you want to transmit only specific scan line records in this way,
The transmission time can be reduced compared to the case where records relating to all images are transmitted.

After viewing a general image, a searcher may wish to view all images of the image. In this case, when a predetermined command is given through the input device 6, the processing device 2 transmits only the remaining dependent scan line records that were not transmitted when transmitting the general image. As a result, the display device 5 displays the dependent scan line so as to fill the gap between the specific scan lines that are already being displayed. Since the specific scanning line record is not transmitted again, the transmission path 8 can be used effectively.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of the display device 5. As shown in FIG. The image record transmitted from the processing device 2 to the display device 5 via the terminal control device 7 is first stored in the memory 51. The controller 50 stores the above-mentioned line count section, line constant section N, identification code section F, among the image records in the memory 51.
Read and store byte current part C. Next, the controller 50 instructs the decoding circuit 52 to decode the data portion of the image record in the memory 51. Decoding circuit 5
2 decodes the contents of the data portion into a white/black binary digital signal and writes this into the full dot memory. −
However, the display circuit 56 always reads out the full dot memory 54 and outputs it to the reflex display type display section 57. It is assumed that the display section has a display capacity sufficient to display a plurality of display lines and display all images. It is also assumed that this display line corresponds one-to-one to each scanning line.

The method of displaying the image signal in the full dot memory 54 is well known. The address generation circuit 53 controls the write address based on the output data of the decoding circuit 52, and the write operation is performed during the interval when the display circuit 56 reads out the full dot memory 54.

It is assumed that the processing device 2 instructs the initialization of the full address generation circuit 53 and the full dot memory 54 at an appropriate time, but the details thereof will be omitted since they are not directly related to the present invention.

The address generation circuit 56 always points to the address corresponding to the beginning of the next line in the full dot memory 54 when the decoding circuit 52 completes decoding one line and writing to the full dot memory 54.

However, if a specific scanning line record is transmitted to the memory 51 again after the specific scanning line record, the controller 50 updates the write address in the address generation circuit 53 before decoding. That is, an address is specified that is advanced by the number of lines subtracted by one from the line constant so that the specific scanning line is displayed as discrete display lines at constant line intervals.

Furthermore, when a subordinate scan line record is transmitted again after the prompt scan line record, the write address is similarly advanced by one line before decoding. Thereby, the dependent scanning lines are displayed as corresponding display lines so as to jump into the specific scanning lines and fill in the space between the specific scanning lines.

The decoding circuit 52 uses the previous line in the full dot memory 54 as a reference line for decoding the two-dimensional compressed encoded data. In this embodiment, the two-dimensional compression encoded dependent scanning line can be decoded without any problem because the reference line always exists in the full dot memory 54 at the time of decoding.

The terminal control device 7 is a part that controls the display device 5 and the input device 6, and also sends and receives data to and from the processing device 2 through the transmission path 8, and its functions are well known. , since it is not directly related to the present invention, detailed explanation will be omitted.

According to this embodiment, the schematic images can be displayed one after another at high speed, and furthermore, the display of the gold image after displaying the schematic images can also be speeded up.

In this embodiment, nothing is displayed in the display lines between specific scanning lines in the schematic image display, but these display lines may be filled in by displaying the same content as the immediately preceding specific scanning line. . In this case, the schematic image becomes more visible.

Another operating method of this embodiment is a method in which, when displaying image data that matches the search conditions, first the corresponding outline image is displayed, and then all images corresponding to this outline image are displayed. You can also do this. In this case, the searcher needs an overview of the image data. This has the effect of quickly recognizing the image of the abbreviation.

If the searcher looks at the summary images and thinks that displaying all the images is not necessary, the searcher may be able to cancel the transmission of all the images and move on to displaying the next summary image. The details relate to how to use the search command and are not directly related to the present invention, so detailed explanation will be omitted.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, an image retrieval system with good transmission efficiency can be obtained using a simple method.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the image search system, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the image input device 1, FIG. 3 is a diagram explaining the correspondence between the data formats of the original image and compressed image data, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of the display device 5. As shown in FIG. 1... Image input device, 2... Processing device, 3...
Storage device, 5...Display device, 101...Original image data, 102...In record for predetermined scanning 103...
- Subordinate M scan line record. Figure 1; Figure f'3

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. One image data is a piece of data consisting of multiple scan lines depending on the scan line at the time of input, and a computer equipped with a storage device storing a plurality of pieces of the image data. , is connected to the computer via a transmission path, and the image data is spread over multiple display lines.
and a terminal device equipped with a display device for displaying images, and in response to a request from the terminal device, the computer retrieves the desired image data from the storage device and transmits it to the terminal device, and the terminal device receives the image data. In the image retrieval system, the image data in the storage device is displayed on the display device such that the scan lines corresponding to the display lines correspond to the display lines, and the image data in the storage device is divided into specific scan lines and other scan lines at regular intervals. When there is a request for the image quality data, the computer first selects only the specific scan line for the desired image data and then displays the image data. and the terminal device causes the received specific scanning line to be displayed on the display device as discrete corresponding display lines with the same constant line spacing, and then the computer automatically or transmitting the remaining dependent scan lines of the same desired image data to the terminal device according to the request;
The image retrieval system is characterized in that the terminal device causes the display device that is displaying the specific scanning line to display received dependent scanning lines as corresponding display lines. 2. The information in the specific scanning line that the computer transmits to the terminal device through the transmission path is one-dimensional compression encoded, and the information in the dependent scanning line that is also transmitted is two-dimensional compression encoded. An image retrieval system according to claim 1, characterized in that: