JPS63177266A - Picture filing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To display a list of plural header pictures at a high speed by reading these header pictures out of a memory medium for original pictures and storing them in a memory medium having a high reading speed. CONSTITUTION:A main control part 101 stores an original picture in an optical disk part 107 for digital recording and then stores the memory address of original picture data. Then the part 101 gives a header picture production instruction to a header picture producing part 109a and reads the produced header pictures out of the part 107 to store them in an optical disk part 110 having a high reading speed for analog recording. When a retrieving command is received, the part 101 gives a header picture reading instruction to an optical disk interface part 111 together with a data storing address. Then plural header pictures which are read out of the part 110 and reproduced at a header picture reproducing part 109b are stored in a picture memory part 103 and then displayed in a list at a picture display part 104.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to an image file device that handles image data in a file device that performs registration and search processing.

Conventional technology Document searches using current document file devices using optical disks involve storing key keywords of the document along with the document at the time of document registration, and creating an index (heading) based on the keywords at the time of search. , the document desired by the user is read out from the optical disc.

In recent years, image file devices that store image data on optical disks or hard disks have been put into practical use, and various search methods are being studied. There is a method of storing keywords as information and creating an index using the keywords at the time of search to select desired image data. Another method is to use the image itself as an index created from keywords, and this method is much more effective than the former method in retrieving redundant image data. At this time, the image quality of the headline image should be at least such that the image can be recognized, and it is desirable to simultaneously display multiple images obtained by keyword analysis and select the desired image from among them. It is necessary that the cost of the storage medium is low and that reading out a plurality of headline images is fast.

However, with conventional devices, this was not always sufficient. For example, FIG. 7 shows a conventional image file registration and retrieval device as described above, in which the index image data is also stored in the same storage medium as the original image. The conventional example shown in FIG. 7 will be briefly described below.

In FIG. 7, an image input from an image input device 71 is stored in an image memory 72, and when a user inputs a command to register from a command input device 74, the input image is first used as an original image by an optical disk interface device 8o. The data is stored in the optical disk device 79 via the.

Next, the screen designating device 76 specifies a region that will be the core of the headline image, the image processing device 78 creates a headline image based on it, and stores it in the same optical disk device 79. At the same time, a file management table is created and updated, which describes the correspondence between the original image file and the index image file, and the relationship with other index image files, and is stored in the magnetic disk device 81. When searching for images, a plurality of index images are first extracted from the optical disk device 79 based on the stored file management table and displayed on the image display device 73. If there is an image desired by the user among the displayed headline images, an access request is input from the command input device 74 or the image processing device 6 via the command processing device 76, and the original image corresponding to the headline image is displayed. The image is read out from the disk device 79 and displayed on the entire display device. Note that 77 is a central processing unit that controls each of the above sections.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, in the above-mentioned conventional apparatus, the headline image is also stored on the same optical disk as the original image, so the cost of the storage medium per image increases accordingly. Digital recording type optical discs are used in consideration of the image quality, but the data readout speed of digital recording type optical discs is slow, and for large amounts of data such as images, it takes time to read out one image. This method requires a considerable amount of time, and it takes time to read out a plurality of index images one after another and display them as a list, resulting in problems such as poor operability.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is capable of displaying a plurality of images on a display as an index when a user searches for an image, efficiently storing the index image, and further displaying a plurality of index images. The purpose of the present invention is to provide an image file device that can perform image processing at high speed.

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention provides means for inputting images, means for inputting image registration commands and search commands, and means for interpreting the commands and performing registration processing and search processing. , means for creating a headline image from the original image at the time of registration, and an image memory for storing the input image or a plurality of headline images;
a first storage medium that stores the input image as an original image; a second storage medium that stores the index image and is capable of reading data at least faster than the first storage medium; , a configuration comprising means for reproducing the index image from the second storage medium, means for storing management information of the original image and index images, and means for displaying the original image or a plurality of index images. It has become.

Operation The present invention has the above-described configuration, and has two storage systems: a first storage medium that emphasizes image quality, and a second storage medium that has lower image quality than the first storage medium but has a faster readout speed and better storage efficiency. By having the medium, the original image can be stored in the first storage medium and the index image can be stored in the second storage medium, and a plurality of index images can be displayed at high speed during an image search.

EXAMPLES Hereinafter, examples of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an image file device according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which an optical disk using a digital recording method is used to store original images as a storage medium, and an analog recording method is used to store index images. This is the case when an optical disc of 1 is used.

Digital recording type optical disks, which are used in current document file systems and the like to store original images, have slow input/output speeds, but are capable of storing the image quality of input images without deterioration. Furthermore, analog recording type optical discs used in still image file systems and the like used to store index images can store video signals and can be read and displayed simultaneously.

In FIG. 1, 101 is a main control unit that controls the following units to perform registration and search processing according to the flows shown in FIGS. 3a and 3s, 102 is an image input unit, and 103 stores image data. 104 is an image display section for displaying data in the image memory; 106 is a command input section for accepting commands from the user; 105
is a command processing unit that interprets input commands, and the command processing unit 106 and command input unit 106 can be in the form of, for example, a personal computer.

An optical disk unit (digital recording) 107 uses a digital recording type optical disk as a storage medium, and is used in this embodiment to store original image data and file management information. 108 is an optical disc interface unit that controls the optical disc unit 107 when storing or reading data from an optical disc; 109 is a headline image processing unit that creates and reproduces a headline image; The header image generating unit 109& is configured to create a header image of a specified size, and the header image reproducing unit 1o9b is to reproduce the original header image from data stored on an optical disk (analog recording) K, which will be described later. 110 is an optical disk unit (analog recording) for storing index images using an analog recording type optical disk as a storage medium; 111;
is an optical disc interface unit that controls the optical disc unit 110 when storing or reading analog data from the optical disc.

FIG. 2 shows an internal block diagram of the headline image creation section 109& and the headline image reproduction section 109b of the headline image processing section 109.

First, in the headline image creation unit 109&, 2011L
2021 is a buffer memory section for storing the index image; 203a is a buffer memory section 20 for writing the index image onto an optical disk (analog recording);
a read control unit 20 that controls data read of 2a;
Reference numeral 4 denotes a D/M converter that converts digital image data read from the buffer memory into an analog video signal. Here, the configuration of the buffer memory section (memory size, etc.) and the readout control section are determined by a data format that can be stored on an analog recording optical disc.

Further, in the headline image reproduction unit 109b, 201 b
202b is an enlargement/reduction unit that matches the size of the stored index image when displayed; 202b is a buffer memory unit that temporarily stores the index image read from the optical disk; 203
2 b is a write control unit that performs write control when data read from the optical disk is stored in the buffer memory unit;
05 is a MU/D conversion unit that converts an analog video signal read from an analog recording optical disc into digital data. In the headline image processing unit shown in FIG. 2, the same buffer memory units 2022L and 202b may be used together.

FIG. 3a is a diagram showing an algorithm of the main control unit 101 during registration processing. Briefly explaining FIG. 3 below, the main control unit 101 receives the registration command and instructs the optical disk interface unit 108 to start writing the original image and to transfer image data in order to store the original image. The image data is stored in the optical disk unit 107 for digital recording. After storing the data, the main control unit 101
receives the address in which the data was previously stored from the optical disk interface section 1o8, and temporarily sends it to the main control section 1.
Stored in 01. Next, an instruction to create a headline image is output to the headline image creation unit 109a, and in order to store the created headline image in the optical disk unit 11o for analog recording, writing of data for the headline image to the optical disk interface unit 111 is started. and data transfer instructions. After storing the headline image, the main control section 101 receives the storage address of the previous data from the optical disk interface section 111, and temporarily stores this in the main control section 101. Next, the main control unit 101 creates a file management table of registered images from the stored storage addresses of the original images and the storage addresses of the index images. Details regarding the file management table will be described later. In order to store this file management table at a predetermined address in the optical disc (digital recording), the main control unit 1o1 instructs the optical disc interface unit 108 to start writing the file management table and to transfer data. The file management table is stored, and the registration process ends.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the search processing algorithm of the main control unit 101. To explain the figure, the main control unit 101 that receives the search command first outputs to the optical disk interface unit 108 a data storage address in the optical disk along with an instruction to start reading out the file management information. Then, in order to read the index image based on the read file management information, the main control section 101 outputs a command to read the index image and the data storage address to the optical disk interface section 111.

Next, an instruction is given to transfer data from the optical disk, a storage address of the image memory section 103 for storing the index image to be reproduced by the index image reproduction section 109b is set, and the index image is written into the image memory.

The main control unit 101 repeats the above series of processes until the image memory for the display screen is written with the headline image,
Once written to the memory, the command enters a state of waiting for a command from the command input unit 106. When the main control unit 101 receives the command "heat the corresponding image", the main control unit 101 changes the image number of the headline image to be read in order to display the next plurality of headline images, and returns to the previous process.

If the main control unit 1o1 still receives the command “corresponding image exists” from the command input unit 106, the main control unit 1o1 selects the specified image number from the storage address of the original image stored in the main control unit 1o1 at the time of displaying the headline image. , outputs an instruction to start reading original image data and a data storage address to the optical disk interface section 108. Next, data transfer from the optical disk (digital recording) is instructed, the original image is written in the image memory unit 103, and the search process is completed.

Regarding the image file device of this embodiment configured as described above, operations during registration processing and search processing will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

First, the user inputs an image from the image input unit 102,
This is stored in the image memory unit 103, and the image display unit 104
Transfer data to and display images.

When registering an image, a registration command is received from the command input unit 106, the command processing unit 105 interprets the command, and requests the main control unit 101 to perform registration processing.

The main control unit 101 that has received the registration process stores the original image in the digital recording optical disk unit 107 according to the algorithm shown in Figure 3B as described above, then creates a headline image and stores it in the analog recording. The information is stored in the optical disk unit 110.

At this time, regarding the creation and storage of the headline image, in FIG.
Read out to 1L. This enlargement/reduction unit 2011L changes the size of the original image to the size of the index image to be stored, and temporarily stores this in the buffer memory unit 202&. Here, the size of the index image to be stored is, for example, if the analog recording optical disc on which the index image is stored is one that stores an NTSC system analog video signal, and the memory size is a size corresponding to that. That is, the buffer memory section 2021L is configured with a memory size suitable for an NTSC analog video signal. Further, the enlarging/reducing unit 201a that changes the original image size to the index image size performs a reduction operation if the original image is larger than the index image size, and an enlargement operation if it is smaller. Next, in response to the heading image storage instruction, the readout control unit 2031L causes the buffer memory unit 2
The data of 021L is read and controlled at a frequency compatible with the NTSC system, and is output to the D/MU converter 204.

The D/MU conversion unit 204 converts the digital data into an analog video signal, outputs the NTSC video signal, and stores it on an analog recording optical disc.

Next, the main control unit 101 creates a file management table from the storage addresses in the optical disc of each of the stored original images and index images, and stores this in the optical disc unit 10.
7 to be memorized. In this embodiment, the file management table is created based on the image number as shown in FIG. 4, and the file management table is also stored on the same optical disk as the original image data. It is assumed that data is stored starting from a predetermined optical disc address, and the addresses are managed and stored in correspondence with image numbers.

When searching for an image, a search command is received from the command input unit 106, the command processing unit 106 interprets the command, and requests the main control unit 101 to perform a search process.

The main control unit 101 that received the search command executes the third search command described above.
According to the algorithm shown in the figure, the file management table is first read from the digital recording optical disk section 107, and based on this, the index image is read from the analog optical disk section 110.

Regarding the reading of the headline image, in FIG. 2, in response to an instruction to reproduce the headline image, the analog video signal of the headline image is taken out from the analog recording optical disk section 11o, and the analog video signal of the headline image is taken out from the M/D converter in the headline image reproduction section 109b. 2os
K is input. The system/D converter 205 converts the input analog video signal into digital data and stores it in the buffer memory 202b while the write controller 203b controls data writing. Next, in order to store this index image data in the image memory section 103 at the specified size, the index image data in the buffer memory section 202b is changed to an appropriate size by the enlarging/reducing section 201b, and then stored in the image memory section 103. Output.

Assuming that the display search for index images is performed by dividing the display screen into four as shown in FIG. 6, the main control unit 1o1 repeats the above process until four index images are retrieved.

In addition, the headline image reproducing unit 109b displays 1/2 of the display screen.
The headline image is reproduced and displayed at an image size of X1/2.

When the headline image is extracted as shown in FIG. 6, the user instructs the next image from the command input unit 105 if the desired image is not found, and the next registered headline image is displayed on the display screen.

At this time, if there are four or fewer index images to be registered next, the last index image is displayed and the index image search ends. If there is a desired image, enter the desired image number among the numbers M, B, C, and D corresponding to each position as shown in Figure 6, and follow the steps in Figure 3 above. Display the original image corresponding to the specified heading image.

The method of specifying the desired image on the image display unit 104 is as shown in FIG.
, 0. In addition to the method of predetermining D and having the user input it, the command processing unit 106 may be provided with a pointing device (such as a mouse), a cursor may be displayed on the display screen, and the command may be controlled by the pointing device. There are methods such as specifying a desired image. By using the latter method, the user can specify the desired image while looking only at the display screen, and a system with a good man-machine interface can be constructed.

FIG. 6 shows a case where, in the image file device of the present invention, a digital recording type optical disk is used as the storage medium to store the original image, and a digital or analog recording type videotape is used to store the index image. .

In FIG. 6, main control unit 1o11 image input unit 1o21
Image memory unit 1039 Image display unit 104° Command processing unit 1o5. Command input section 1o6° optical disc (digital recording method) 107. Optical disk interface section 1
08. The headline image processing section 109 is the same as that in the embodiment shown in FIG. 601 is a videotape section (digital recording method or analog recording method) for storing index images; 602 is a videotape interface section that controls the videotape section 601 when storing signals on the videotape.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 6, compared to the embodiment shown in Fig. 1, the recording medium for storing the index image has been changed from an analog recording optical disc to a videotape (digital recording or analog recording). The processing content is the same as the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 described above. Briefly explained below, at the time of registration, after storing the original image on the optical disk, a headline image is created, and the headline image creation unit 109a
An analog video signal (for example, NTSC system) is output to the videotape interface unit 602 and stored in the videotape unit 601. The file management table is created from the original image storage address in the optical disk and the index image storage address in the videotape, and is stored in the optical disk unit 107, as in the embodiment shown in FIG.

At the time of search, the file management table is read from the optical disk section 107, the index image is read from the videotape section 601 based on the storage address of the index image, and is stored in the image memory section 103.

Through this series of processing, when the display screen's worth of headline images are read out, the presence or absence of the desired image is input from the command input unit 106. If the desired image is not found, the next registered index image is read out. If a desired image is found, the original image is read out from the optical disk unit 107 based on the original image storage address in the file management table.

According to the two embodiments described above, by storing the original image on a digital recording type optical disk and storing the headline image on an analog recording type optical disk or videotape with a fast readout speed, it is possible to create a plurality of headline images. Image search processing performed by displaying images can be performed at high speed without the user having to wait for a long time.

In addition, when an analog recording type optical disk is used to store the headline image in the first embodiment, the reading speed of the optical disk is constant even if it is read randomly, since random access is possible for reading the optical disk. I can do it. Therefore, the processing time remains the same even if the images are not read out sequentially during the search. When a videotape is used to store the headline images in the second embodiment, since the videotape recording is sequential, the time required to search for the corresponding image will vary depending on the image. When reading index images sequentially, once the first image is searched, image search time is not required for the next image.

Analog recording type optical disks, video tapes, etc. used to store headline images can store much larger numbers of images than conventional digital recording type optical disks, which reduces the cost of the headline image storage medium. You can make it cheaper.

Note that in the two embodiments described above, the search process is performed by reading out the images in the order of the registered image numbers. However, when searching, narrow down the desired images to a few from among the registered images based on this.
A method such as displaying a headline image of this image may also be used.

According to this method, up to a certain level of searching, keyword searches are performed in the same way as conventional document file devices, and after narrowing down to a few desired images, the images are displayed as an index and the search process is performed using the index images. Can be done.

As described in detail, the present invention has the following effects, and its practical effects are significant.

(1) By storing headline images in a storage medium with a fast readout speed, it is possible to quickly display a list of multiple headline images, which was a problem in the past, when searching for images, improving operability. can do.

(2) By using analog recording type optical discs or video tapes as storage media for storing headline images,
A large amount of index images can be stored, and the cost of storing index images per image can be reduced.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an image file device according to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the internal configuration of the heading image processing section in FIG. 1, and FIGS. 3 a and b is a flowchart showing the algorithm for image registration and search in the main control unit in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a format diagram of the image file management table in this embodiment.
FIG. 6 is a screen diagram showing a display screen of a headline image during an image search in this embodiment, FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an image file device according to a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a screen diagram showing a conventional image file system. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a file device. 1o1... Main control unit, 102... Image input unit, 103... Image memory unit, 104...
...Image display section, 105...Command processing section, 106...Command input section, 107...
...Digital recording type optical disc section, 108...
...Optical disk interface section, 109...;
... Header image processing section, 110 ... Analog recording system optical disk section, 111 ... Optical disk interface section, 6o1 ... Digital recording or analog recording system videotape Department, 602・
...Video tape interface section. Name of agent: Patent attorney Toshio Nakao and 1 other person No. 1
Figure 2 Optical disk interface section Optical disk interface 31! !
(Figure 4, Figure 5, Figure 6)

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) a means for inputting an image; a means for inputting an image registration command and a search command; a means for interpreting the command and performing a registration process and a check process; means for creating an image; an image memory for storing the input image or a plurality of index images; a first storage medium for storing the input image as an original image; and at least the first storage medium for storing the index image. a second storage medium capable of reading data at a higher speed than the storage medium; means for reproducing the index image from the second storage medium during the search; and storing management information of the original image and the index image. and means for displaying the original image or a plurality of index images. (2) The image file device according to claim 1, wherein the first storage medium is an optical disk using a digital recording method, and the second storage medium is an optical disk using an analog recording method. (3) Claim 1, characterized in that the first recording medium is an optical disc using a digital recording method, and the second recording medium is a videotape using an analog recording method or a digital recording method. image file device.