JPS63174181A - Image information transfer method for image filing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable to reduce the cost of a whole system by providing an information processing means with an image accumulation means side, transferring image information in a size, a resolution and an encoding system required by an image utilization means and transferring the image information without waste. CONSTITUTION:A retrieval command is issued from a work station 6 to a file server 16. This command is transmitted to the CPU 22 of a control device 15 in the server 16. The corresponding image data is read out from an optical disk deck 14 and stored in an image memory 26 by the CPU 22. Then the image information is read out from the memory 26, returned to raw image information by a decoding circuit 27, converted to the specified size and resolution by an image information conversion circuit 28 and encoded in the specified system by an encoding circuit 29. The operated image information is transferred from a network interface part 31 to the station 6 through a selector 30. In the station 6, the received image information is temporarily stored in the image memory, read out again, returned to the raw image information by the decoding circuit and displayed on a display, for example.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] Industrial Application Field This invention is an image file system that stores a large amount of image information such as documents and drawings on a recording medium such as an optical disk, and reproduces and utilizes the information as appropriate. This invention relates to an image information transfer method.

2. Description of the Related Art An image file system in which a file server (image storage means) and various workstations, facsimile communication devices, etc. are connected via a network is known. The workstation can not only register image information read from a document with a scanner on a file server, but also display image information retrieved from the file server on a display or print it with a printer. In a facsimile communication device, image information sent from another facsimile device can be registered in a file server, and image information retrieved from the file server can be transmitted to another facsimile device.

Image information whose data amount has been reduced by encoding it using a predetermined method is registered in the file server.

When image information is transferred from a file server to a workstation or a facsimile communication device, the image information reproduced from the recording medium is transferred as is (in the encoded information format described above).

An image utilization device (workstation, facsimile communication device, etc.) that receives image information from a file server performs a process of converting the size, resolution, and encoding method of the image information according to its usage format. For example 85
The required preprocessing (size and resolution conversion processing) is different between outputting with a printer for A1 size and outputting using a printer for A1 size. In addition, in the case of facsimile communication, the size and size of image information vary depending on the type of communication line and destination device.
It will be necessary to change the resolution and encoding method O Problems that the invention aims to solve The manuscripts registered on the file server come in various sizes, and there are several types of scanners available to read the manuscripts, from B size to A1 size. There is. The resolution of the scanner is matched to that of the printer, and is approximately 8 to 16 dots/-. This is a typical display resolution of 4 to 8.
higher than dat/a.

Transferring high-resolution image information from a file server to a workstation, where it is reduced in resolution before being displayed on the display, is transferring more image information than necessary and wastes transfer time. You will be spending money. This waste becomes even worse when the size of the image information is large.

This problem leads to the problem that image information is transferred one after another from a file server to a workstation for display, and the process of searching for a necessary image, such as so-called page turning, cannot be sufficiently accelerated.

Each device that receives image information from the file server has a page memory that buffers the transferred image information, and is capable of handling the highest resolution and largest size image information (the one with the largest amount of information). A large amount of memory must be prepared, which may be wasted compared to the amount of information that is actually used effectively.

The above is the same for facsimile communication devices; the size, resolution, and encoding method of image information are converted to match the functions of the recipient, so not all of the information transferred from the file server is effective. It's not going to be used.

This invention was made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and its purpose is to eliminate waste when transferring image information from image storage means to image utilization means, and also to reduce the hardware cost of the entire system. An object of the present invention is to provide an image information transfer method for an image file system that can perform the following steps.

Means for Solving the Problems Therefore, in the present invention, an information processing means for reading the stored image information and converting its size, resolution, and encoding method is provided on the side of the image storage means. The usage means specifies the size, resolution, and encoding method of the image information to be transferred, and the image storage means sends out the image information with the specified size, resolution, and encoding method. did.

Function: Since the image information having the size, resolution, and encoding method required by the image utilization means is transferred from the image storage means to the image utilization means, there is no waste during transfer, and the image utilization means receives the information. The captured image information can be directly used.

Embodiment FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of an image file system to which the present invention is applied. This system includes two workstations 6.10, a facsimile communication device 13,
A file server 16 and a search server 19 are connected to a transmission line of the network.

The workstation 6 includes an image display 1 for displaying image information, a keyboard 2, an image scanner 3 for reading image information from a document, and an image printer 4 for printing out image information, and controls these. It consists of a control device 5 for Similarly, the workstation 10 consists of an image display 7, a keyboard 8 and a control device 9.

The facsimile communication device 13 is connected to other facsimile devices 11 via the public telephone network 12.

The file server 16 includes an optical disk deck 1 that records/reproduces information on and from a plurality of optical disks stored therein.
4 and a control device 15 for controlling it.

The search server 19 is used for registering keywords given to each image information in the file server 16.
The image forming apparatus is comprised of a hard disk device 17 and a control device 18 that controls the disk device 17 and searches for corresponding image information based on keywords.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the configuration of the control device 15 in the file server 16. This control device 15 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 22 that controls the entire device, and a CPU 2
RO stores the programs necessary to operate 2.
M23, a RAM 24 for storing information and data necessary for operating the CPU 22, an interface unit 5 for connecting with the optical disk deck 14, and an image memory 26 for temporarily storing image information. , a decoding circuit 27 for returning encoded image information to raw image information, an image information conversion circuit for converting the size and resolution of the raw image information, and a circuit for encoding the raw image information. It consists of an encoding circuit 4, an image information selector 30 for controlling the flow of processing of image information, and an interface section 31- for connecting to a network.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the configuration of the control device 5 in the workstation 6. As shown in FIG. This control device 5 includes a CPU 32 that controls the entire device, a ROM 33 that stores programs necessary to operate the CPU 32, and a CPU 32 that controls the entire device.
RAM 34 for storing information and data necessary to operate 22, display 1 and keyboard 2
Thereafter, there is an interface section 36 for connecting to the image scanner 3 and the image printer 4, an encoding circuit 37 for encoding the raw image information read by the scanner 3, and an encoding circuit 37 for encoding the raw image information read by the scanner 3. Between the decoding circuit for restoring image information to raw image information and the image memory 39 for temporarily storing image information
and an interface unit 40 for connection to a network.

FIG. 4 shows the contents of a command when extracting image information from the file server 16. This command is executed on workstation 6 or 10 or facsimile communication device 1.
3 to the file server 16.

In FIG. 4, "address" indicates an address on the network, including the address of the destination to which this command is sent and the address of the user himself.

The "processing number" is a number that is sequentially assigned to each command by the side that issues the command. The command is, for example, an instruction such as search or registration. "Optical disk number" indicates the number of the optical disk containing the image information to be extracted among the plurality of optical disks in the file server 16, "File number" indicates the number of the file in the optical disk, and "Document "Number" indicates the number of the document within the file, and "Page Number" indicates the number of the page within the document. Image information to be retrieved is specified using these optical disk numbers, file numbers, document numbers, and page numbers.

In addition, "required image size" indicates the size of the image when transferring image information (for example, A4 or B4, etc.), and "required resolution" similarly indicates the resolution at the time of transfer (for example, 8 dots/
mm, 16 dot/a, etc.), and the "required encoding method" indicates the encoding method of the information at the time of transfer. A request is made to the file server 16 to specify the size, resolution, and encoding method.

FIG. 5 shows the content of the response to the above command. When the file server 16 completes processing, this response is sent to the device that issued the command (workstation 6 or 10, or facsimile communication device 13), and then Transfer the requested image information to.

In FIG. 5, the "address" is the same as the address of the command, and the "processing number" corresponds to the processing number of the command and is the same number. The "completion status" indicates that the processing for the command has been completed.

In addition, "transfer image size", "transfer resolution", and "transfer encoding method" indicate the size, resolution, and encoding method of the image information to be transferred after this response, and usually the size, resolution, and encoding method requested by the above command. The resolution and encoding method will be the same.

However, for example, if the requested image size is specified as "as registered on the optical disc", the transferred image size will be the registered image size. Furthermore, "Registered image size"
"Registered resolution" and "Registered encoding method" indicate the size, resolution, and encoding method with which the requested image information is registered on the optical disc.

Next, the flow of operations when retrieving image information from the file server 16 to the workstation 6 will be explained.

First, the search command shown in FIG. 4 is issued from the workstation 6 to the file server 16. File server 1
In the control device 15 of No. 6, the network interface section 31 receives and transmits the above command to the CPU 22. The oCPU 22 reads out the corresponding image information from the optical disk deck 14 through the optical disk deck interface section 5 according to the contents of the command. and stored in the image memory 26. Next, the image information is read from the image memo 'J 26, returned to raw image information by the decoding circuit, converted to the specified size and resolution by the image information conversion circuit, and then converted to the specified size and resolution by the encoding circuit. The image information after processing is encoded using the method specified by , and the processed image information is transferred to the network interface section 31 and the workstation 6 through the selector I. In the workstation 6, the transferred image information is temporarily stored in the image memory 39 through the network interface 40, and
Further, it is read out and returned to the raw image information addressed to the decoding circuit, and displayed on the display 1, for example.

An example of conversion processing in the image information conversion circuit is shown in FIG. In this example, the resolution is converted from 8 dots/a to 4 dots/m without changing the image size. n indicates the number of dots of image information in the main scanning direction, and l indicates the number of dots in the sub-scanning direction. The dots marked with ○ are taken out and output from the conversion circuit.

Effects of the Invention As explained in detail above, the present invention transfers image information from the image storage means to the image utilization means according to the size, resolution, and encoding method specified by the image utilization means, so that it is easy to use in practice. The amount of information that can be effectively used can be transferred, and the waste of transferring more information than necessary as in the conventional method can be eliminated.

Further, it is not necessary to provide the maximum capacity page memory for all image utilization means, and it is possible to use a memory capacity appropriate to the usage type. Similarly, 1. Certain types of image utilization means do not need to be provided with size or resolution conversion circuits. As a result, hardware design can be made more rationally, leading to lower system costs.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of an image file system to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing an example of a control device for a file server, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of a control device for a workstation. A schematic block diagram showing the configuration,
Figure 4 is a conceptual diagram showing the contents of a command when retrieving image information from a file server, Figure 5 is a conceptual diagram showing the contents of a response to the same command, and Figure 6 is a conceptual diagram showing the contents of a response to the same command. FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing an example. 6.10...Works, Chee7yon, 13...Facsimile communication equipment, 16...File server, Dan/
...Name of transmission line agent: Patent attorney Toshio Nakao and one other person-J Figure 4 Figure 5

Claims (1)

[Claims] In an image file system having an image storage means for storing a large amount of image information, and an image utilization means for extracting and using arbitrary image information from the image storage means via a communication means, the stored image information is read out. The image storage means is provided with an information processing means for converting the size, resolution, and encoding method of the image information to be transferred from the image utilization means. , and the image storage means sends out image information of the specified size, resolution, and encoding method.