JP2000305946A - Information retrieving device, information retrieving method and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily grasp in what kind of distribution information of a retrieved result exists for each value of a matching degree at a glance. SOLUTION: The retrieved result is displayed on a retrieved result display area 703. Rectangles such as 704 and 705 indicate retrieved and obtained images. Images to completely satisfy the retrieval condition are displayed on a matched area 706. A scale of the matching degree of 0.9 is indicated by 707 and a scale of the matching degree of 0.8 is indicated by 708. The image with higher degree to satisfy the retrieval condition is displayed nearer to the center of the retrieved result display area 703 and the image with lower degree to satisfy the retrieval condition is displayed farther away from the center of the retrieved result display area 703. Images with image IDs of '56', '76', '85' are similar to one another and indicate a fact that one group is formed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information search apparatus, an information search method, and a storage medium. More specifically, the present invention relates to a search condition input unit for inputting search conditions, and information for storing individual information to be searched. An information search device including a storage unit and a screen display unit that displays information obtained by searching each information stored in the information storage unit using search conditions; an information search method applied to the information search device; And a storage medium storing a program for executing the information search method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a method of searching for information and displaying search results, search conditions are compared with information to be searched, and the degree to which the information to be searched satisfies the search conditions, that is, the degree of matching is determined. There is a method of outputting information satisfying a search condition as a search result in descending order of the degree. At the time of output,
In order to notify a search operator of the degree to which information of each search result satisfies a search condition, a corresponding degree of matching is displayed as a numerical value together with the information of the search result.

[0003]

However, when the degree of coincidence is displayed as a numerical value together with the information of the search result, the degree of coincidence with respect to the displayed search result information can be accurately determined, but the degree of each search result over the entire search result is determined. It was not possible to grasp at a glance whether the degree of matching was such a degree, and it was difficult to grasp whether or not a favorable search result was obtained for the inputted search condition.

In order to solve such a problem, for example, as disclosed in JP-A-08-339375,
By displaying search result information in a two-dimensional or three-dimensional space, and displaying search results with higher matching closer to the origin of the space, it is easier to visually grasp the distribution of search results from the viewpoint of matching. An approach has been taken.

[0005] However, only by such a method,
Since no metric is shown for spatial coordinate values,
It was difficult to grasp the value of the degree of coincidence of each search result.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and provides an information retrieval system capable of easily ascertaining at a glance the distribution of information of a retrieval result with respect to each value of a degree of coincidence. It is an object to provide an apparatus, an information search method, and a storage medium.

[0007]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a search condition input unit for inputting search conditions, and information for storing individual information to be searched. In an information search device including a storage unit and a screen display unit that displays information obtained by searching each information stored in the information storage unit using search conditions, the individual information stored in the information storage unit And a search condition input from the search condition condition input unit, respectively, and a match score calculating unit that obtains a match score that is a degree at which the individual information satisfies the search condition; and information that satisfies the search condition. A display position for displaying on the screen display unit, a search result display means for determining the display position on the screen display unit based on the degree of coincidence of the information, and indicating a spatial change of the degree of coincidence in an easily understandable manner. For And having a matching degree index display means for displaying an indicator on the screen display unit.

Further, according to the present invention, a search condition input unit for inputting a search condition, an information storage unit for storing individual information to be searched, and the information storage unit An information retrieval method applied to an information retrieval apparatus comprising: a screen display unit for displaying information obtained by retrieving each piece of information under a retrieval condition, wherein the individual information stored in the information storage unit and the retrieval condition condition Comparing the search conditions input from the input unit with each other, and calculating the degree of coincidence, which is a degree at which the individual information satisfies the search conditions; and displaying the information satisfying the search conditions on the screen display unit. A search result display step of determining a display position at the time of display based on the degree of coincidence of the information and displaying the result on the screen display unit; and a finger for visually indicating a spatial change in the degree of coincidence. The and having a degree of matching index display step of displaying on the screen display unit.

Further, according to the invention of claim 13,
A search condition input unit for inputting search conditions, an information storage unit for storing individual information to be searched, and information obtained by searching each information stored in the information storage unit with the search condition is displayed. A computer-readable storage medium storing an information search method applied to an information search apparatus including a screen display unit, the information search method comprising: A matching degree calculating step of comparing each of the search conditions input from the search condition condition input unit to obtain a match degree that is a degree at which the individual information satisfies the search condition; A search result display step of determining a display position to be displayed on the screen display unit based on the degree of coincidence of the information and displaying the result on the screen display unit; And having a degree of matching index display step of displaying an indicator for indicating clarity visually on the screen display unit of.

[0010]

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

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an outline of an embodiment of an information retrieval apparatus according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, search conditions are input to a control unit 102 from an input unit 101 including a keyboard having character keys, function keys, and the like. Control unit 102
Is composed of a microprocessor, and compares individual information of the search target stored in the information storage unit 107 of the storage unit 106 with the input search condition (query). Matching degree calculation unit 1
In step 03, the degree of coincidence between each piece of information and the query is calculated according to the importance of each condition of the query, and when the search result display unit 104 displays information that satisfies all or some of the search conditions, The display position of the information is obtained from the degree of coincidence, and the information is output to the display unit 108 and displayed. Further, in the coincidence index display section 105, an index indicating a change in the coincidence in a visually easy-to-understand manner is displayed on the display section 10.
8 for display.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of an embodiment of an information search device according to the present invention.

Reference numeral 201 denotes a CPU (central control unit);
Is a ROM (read only memory), 203 is a RAM (read and write memory as needed), 204 is a CD-ROM drive, 205 is a CD-ROM, 206 is an HD (hard disk) drive, 207 is a keyboard, 208 is a display, and 209 is a mouse , 210 is a printer, 21
1 is a control bus.

The control procedure program 401 shown in FIG. 4 is stored in the ROM 202.

The RAM 203 has an information search program 603, an image database 604, coincidence area data 605, coincidence image data 606, and radius increment data 6 shown in FIG.
07, arrangement angle data 608, similar image buffer 60
9, similar image information 610, distribution information 611, group information 612, screen information 613, and the like.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing that a program or the like is supplied from a CD-ROM 205 as a recording medium to the computer system 300 via a CD-ROM drive 204.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a storage configuration in the recording medium CD-ROM 205. The CD-ROM 205 includes an information search program 501, an image database 502 as related data, a matching area data 503,
The matching image data 504, the radius increment data 505, and the arrangement angle data 506 are stored.

FIG. 6 shows a program stored in the CD-ROM 205 and various related data stored in the RAM 20.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a memory map in a state where the memory map has been loaded into an executable state. In the executable state, the information search program 603, the image database 604, the matching area data 605, the matching image data 606, and the radius increment data 6
07, the similar image buffer 6 as a memory used by the information search program 603, in addition to the arrangement angle data 608.
09, similar image information 610, distribution information 611, group information 612, and screen information 613 are secured and initialized.

FIG. 7 shows the structure of a screen displayed on the display 208 by the information search program 603, and shows the screen structure of the first search result when a query search is performed.

In FIG. 7, reference numeral 701 denotes a query box for inputting a query.
"apple" is input. 702
Is a search button for instructing execution of a search. When the search button 702 is clicked using the mouse 209, the image database 604 is searched by the query stored in the query box 701.
It is displayed in a search result display area indicated by reference numeral 703. The search result display area 703 is a square area of 600 dots vertically and 600 dots horizontally. Squares such as 704 and 705 indicate the images obtained by the search. The size of each square image is displayed by 60 dots vertically and 80 dots horizontally. 7 to 9, an actual image is not shown in a square for convenience of explanation. Also, like image 704,
The number such as “ID: 23” in the square is the image 704
Indicates that the image ID is “23”.

A hatched circle area 706 is a matching area for displaying an image that completely satisfies the search conditions. The image displayed in the matching area 706 is an image that completely satisfies the search condition. Dashed circles 707 and 708 are scales for indicating the degree of satisfying the search condition. In the present embodiment, the degree of satisfying the search condition is represented by the similarity. When the condition is completely satisfied, the similarity becomes 1.0, and when the condition is not satisfied at all, the similarity becomes 0. Reference numeral 707 denotes a scale having a similarity of 0.9, and reference numeral 708 denotes a scale having a similarity of 0.8. The matching area 706 indicates that the similarity is 1.0. In the present embodiment, an image is displayed at every 0.1 degree of similarity. As can be seen, in the search result display area 703, as the distance from the center increases,
The degree of similarity decreases. That is, an image having a higher degree of satisfying the search condition is displayed closer to the center of the search result display area 703, and an image having a lower degree of satisfying the search condition is displayed farther from the center of the search result display area 703.

Image IDs "56", "76", "85"
Are superimposed little by little. this is,
These images are similar to each other, indicating that they form one group. The image 705 and the image 711 are connected by a straight line indicated by 710. This straight line 710 is called a group connection line. Even if they do not overlap, the images connected by the group connection lines are similar, indicating that one group is formed. In each group, a straight line always extends from one image toward the center of the search result display area 703. This straight line is called a representative line. An image having a representative line is referred to as a representative image. For example, the image 711 is a representative image and has a representative line 709.

The representative image indicates that the similarity is the highest in the group. In each group, the center distance between the representative image and the other images indicates the similarity with the representative image. When the degree of similarity with the representative image is high, the group connection lines are not displayed as in the case of the images with the image IDs “56”, “76”, and “85”, and the images are displayed in an overlapping manner. In addition, as shown in the image 704,
Even if one image does not form a group, it is regarded as forming a group, and a representative line is displayed.

Reference numeral 712 denotes a previous screen button for displaying an image having a higher similarity than the image displayed in the search result display area 703 when the image exists.
FIG. 7 shows the search result display area 703 displayed first when a search is performed based on the query “red apple”. Therefore, there is no image having a higher similarity than the image displayed here. Instead, the triangle in the previous screen button 712 is displayed as a white background. Reference numeral 713 denotes a next screen button for displaying an image having a lower similarity than the image displayed in the search result display area 703 when the image exists. In FIG. 7, since there is an image having a lower similarity, the triangle in the next screen button 713 is displayed as a black background.

FIG. 8 shows the display 20 shown in FIG.
8 is a diagram illustrating a screen of the display 208 after a next screen button 713 is clicked using the mouse 209 on the display screen of FIG.

Reference numerals 801, 802, and 803 are scales indicating the similarities of 0.8, 0.7, and 0.6, respectively. Scale 8
The distance between 02 and the scale 803 is smaller than the distance between the scales 801 and 802 because there is no image to be displayed between the two scales. The intervals between the scales inside the scale 801 and the size of the matching area 706 are smaller than those in FIG. 7 so that no image is displayed inside the scale 801. Here, since there may be an image with a high similarity that is not displayed in the search result display area 703 in FIG. 8, the triangle in the previous screen button 712 is displayed as a black background, but the search result display area in FIG. Since there cannot be an image of low similarity that is not displayed in 703, the triangle in the next screen button 713 is displayed as a white background.

FIG. 9 shows the display 20 shown in FIG.
8 is a diagram showing a screen of the display 208 after clicking an image 711 using the mouse 209 on the display screen 8. FIG.

Clicking on image 711 in search result display area 703 shown in FIG.
An image similar to the image 711 is searched, and the search result is displayed in the search result display area 703. At this time, since there is no query corresponding to the search result, the query box 7
01 is cleared. Then, in the matching area 706, the image 711 that is the basis of the search is displayed. At this time, the image 711 is displayed in a double frame in order to distinguish it from the case where the search is performed by the query. Also, the interval between the scales is shown in FIG.
Compared to the screen, it is narrower.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the structure of the image database 604 written in the RAM 203. The image database 604 stores one or more items in association with the image ID and the name and description of the image file to which the image ID is assigned, and stores a plurality of items. For example, in the figure, as one item, an image ID
"0" and the image file "00000000.jpg"
And an explanatory note “a redpple” are stored in association with each other. The image ID is stored in the image database 60
4 is a number for identifying the image stored in
Numbers are assigned to images in ascending order from 0 in the order stored in the image database 604. Therefore, the maximum value of the image ID stored in the image database 604 matches the value obtained by subtracting 1 from the number of images stored in the image database 604. The image file is information indicating a storage location of a file of image data registered in the image database 604. Accordingly, an image can be displayed on the display 208 by obtaining image data from the image file. The explanation sentence is a sentence describing the corresponding image, and the information search program 603
Searches for a desired image from the image database 604 using this description. Each item is sorted in ascending order by image ID.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the structure of the matching area data 605 written in the RAM 203. The matching area data 605 stores data for determining the size of the matching area 706 according to the number of images displayed in the matching area 706. The matching area data 605 is
As shown in FIG. 11, it is a one-dimensional array, and the subscripts 0, 1, 2, 3,... Of the array correspond to the number of images to be displayed in the matching area 706 and are stored as elements of the array. .., The matched area 7
Indicates the number of dots with a radius of 06. The value stored as an element of the array indicates that the image displayed in the matching area 706 is
It is determined in advance that the images can be displayed without overlapping each other. From FIG. 11, for example, when there are 0 images to be displayed in the matching area 706, the matching area 7
The radius of 06 is 30 dots, and if it is one, it is 60
It can be seen that two dots are 90 dots and three dots are 120 dots.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing the structure of the coincident image data 606 written in the RAM 203. In the coincidence image data 606, for an image having a similarity of 1.0 to be displayed in the coincidence area 706, the center coordinates of the image to be displayed correspond to the number of images displayed in the coincidence area 706. Is stored. That is, when displaying one image in the matching area 706, one coordinate is stored, when displaying two images, two coordinates are stored, and when displaying three images, three coordinates are stored. Is done. The coordinates are stored with the origin at the center of the matching area 706, the x-axis in the horizontal direction to the right of the screen, and the y-axis in the vertical direction above. The coordinates of each image are determined in advance so that the images displayed in the matching area 706 do not overlap each other. For example, in FIG. 12, when displaying one image in the matching area 706, the coordinates (0, 0) are displayed, and when displaying two images, the coordinates (0, 35) and (0, -35) are displayed. When three images are displayed at the position of, coordinates (0, 35), (45,-
35) and (-45, -35) are determined to display each image.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the configuration of the radius increment data 607 written in the RAM 203. The radius increment data 607 is used to determine the interval between graduations such as 707 and 708. The interval between the scales is determined by the number of images displayed between the two scales. Therefore, the radius increment data 607 stores a plurality of interval data of the scales corresponding to the number of images displayed between the scales, and the data is sorted in ascending order according to the number of images. The increment of the radius between the target graduation and the graduation whose similarity is 0.1 larger than the graduation is represented by the number of dots and stored as the graduation interval. For example, in FIG. 13, when the number of images is 0, 30
A scale with a larger dot radius is displayed. If the number of images is 1 or more and 4 or less, a scale with a 60 dot radius is displayed and the image is 5 or more and 10 or less. Indicates that it is sufficient to display a scale with a large 90 dot radius.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a configuration of the arrangement angle data 608 in which an area is secured in the RAM 203. The arrangement angle data 608 is used to determine the position of the representative image displayed in the search result display area 703. The arrangement angle data 608 defines the angle at which the representative image is to be displayed, with the angle in the horizontal right direction from the center of the search result display area 703 being 0 degree. The array angle data 608 is 1
This is a dimensional array in which the display angles of the representative images are stored from the top of the array according to the order in which the representative images are displayed. For example, as shown in FIG. 14, the representative image displayed first is displayed in the direction of 90 degrees, the second is displayed in the direction of 270 degrees, the third is displayed in the direction of 180 degrees, and the fourth is displayed in the direction of 0 degrees.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a configuration of the similar image buffer 609 having an area secured in the RAM 203. The similar image buffer 609 stores an image ID and a similarity of an image obtained as a result of searching the image database 604 in association with each other. Here, they are stored in descending order according to the similarity. The similarity is 1.0 as described above.
From 0.0 to 0.0, and a larger value means higher similarity, indicating that 1.0 completely matches. For example, in FIG. 15, the image IDs “0”, “45”
It can be seen that three images of “6” and “789” were searched with the similarity of 1.0, and the image of image ID “123” was searched with the similarity of 0.952.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a configuration of the similar image information 610 in which an area is secured in the RAM 203. The similarities of all the images stored in the image database 604 with other images are calculated, and the obtained similarities are stored as a similar image list in association with each image. Each similar image list has an image ID as shown in FIG.
The image IDs are stored in ascending order of the image ID from the similar image list for “0”. The structure of each similar image list is shown in FIG.
Is exactly the same as the structure of the similar image buffer 609 shown in FIG.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing the structure of the distribution information 611 in which an area is secured in the RAM 203. Distribution information 61
Numeral 1 is for storing the distribution of the number of images to be displayed between each scale when displaying the search result.
For example, (T101) shown in FIG.
“Ple” indicates distribution information when a search is performed using the query, and (T102) indicates distribution information when an image similar to the image ID “999” is searched. From (T101), there are three images having a similarity of 1.0, and the similarity is 1.
It can be seen that there are 5 images that are smaller than 0 and 0.9 or more, and there are 8 images with similarities smaller than 0.9 and 0.8 or more.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing the structure of the group information 612 having an area secured in the RAM 203. The group information 612 is used to group images into groups. The image stored in the group information 612 stores an image other than the representative image. The image ID, the image ID of the representative image of the group to which the image belongs, and the similarity between the image and the representative image are associated. Stored. For example,
As illustrated in FIG. 18, the image with the image ID “345” belongs to a group represented by the image ID “876”,
The similarity between the image with the image ID “345” and the representative image with the image ID “876” is 0.928. Group information 6
12 are stored in ascending order by the representative image ID.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing the structure of screen information 613 having an area secured in the RAM 203. Screen information 61
Numeral 3 is for storing information of each screen to be displayed in the search result display area 703 with respect to the search result. From this screen information 613, the number of screens required to display all the search results, The range of the image to be displayed on each screen, the scale layout of each screen, and the like can be obtained. In FIG. 19, (T201) and (T202) respectively show screen information 613 when a search is performed using “red apple” as a query, and screen information 613 when a picture similar to the image ID “999” is searched. . The screen information 613 stores, for each screen, a subscript of an array of distribution information 611 indicating an image to start displaying, and a scale width of a scale in association with each other. In the “scale width” column, the width from the matching area 706, that is, the radius of the scale having the similarity of 1.0, and the width between adjacent scales, that is, the difference between the radii, are sequentially stored in the number of dots. "-1" is stored for the scale not displayed next to the screen. For example, from (T201), it can be seen that the first screen starts displaying an image corresponding to the order 0 of the array of the distribution information 611 (FIG. 17), that is, an image having a similarity of 1.0. In the first screen, the size of the radius of the matching area 706 is 120 dots, and the scale of the similarity 0.9 is the matching area 7.
It can be seen that the radius is larger by 90 dots than 06, the scale of similarity 0.8 is larger by 90 dots than the scale of similarity 0.9, and the scale after similarity 0.7 is not displayed. Further, it can be seen that the next screen starts display from an image corresponding to the order 3 of the array of the distribution information 611, that is, an image smaller than the similarity 0.8. Also,
On the screen, the size of the radius of the matching area 706 is 3
A scale with 0 dots and a similarity of 0.9 has a radius larger by 30 dots than the matching area 706, and a scale with a similarity of 0.8 has a radius larger by 30 dots than a scale with a similarity of 0.9. The graduation of 0.7 has a radius 90 dots larger than the graduation of similarity 0.8, the graduation of 0.6 has a radius 30 dots larger than the graduation of 0.7, and has a similarity of 0.5. It can be seen that the radius is larger by 90 dots than the scale of the similarity 0.6, and the scale after the similarity 0.4 is not displayed.

Next, the processing contents of the information search program 501 will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the information search program 501.

First, the information retrieval program 501 stored in the CD-ROM 205 and the image database 502 of the related data, the matching area data 503, the radius increment data 505, and the arrangement angle data 506 are stored in the CD-R.
Loaded into the RAM 203 via the OM drive 204,
Further, similar image buffers 609,.
Similar image information 610, distribution information 611, group information 6
12. Reserve an area for the screen information 613 (step S1
01).

Next, the control is transferred to the information search program 501, and the information search program 501 performs initialization necessary for performing a search (step S102). That is,
The image database 604 is searched using each of all the images stored in the image database 604, and the result obtained by the search is stored in the similar image information 610. Details of this processing will be described later with reference to FIG.

Next, in step S103, the processing branches according to the event that occurs. That is, when an event that a character key is pressed using the keyboard 207 occurs, the process branches to step S104. If an event occurs that the OK button 702 shown in FIG. 7 is clicked using the mouse 209, the process proceeds to step S105.
Branch to If an event occurs that an image such as 704 or 705 in FIG. 7 is clicked using the mouse 209, the process branches to step S106. If an event occurs that the next screen button 712 shown in FIG. 7 is clicked using the mouse 209, the process branches to step S107. If the event that the previous screen button 713 shown in FIG. 7 is clicked using the mouse 209 occurs, the process branches to step S108.

Step S104 is processing when a query is input. Based on the character key pressed in step S103, a query box 701 shown in FIG.
To display characters. Upon completion of the processing, step S103 is performed.
Proceed to. Step S105 is processing in a case where an instruction to perform a search using the query displayed in the query box 701 is issued. In step S105, the process branches depending on whether a query has been input to the query box 701. That is, if there is a character in the query box 701, an image can be searched using a query. Therefore, the process proceeds to step S109 to perform a search using the query. If there are no characters in the query box 701,
Since the search cannot be performed using the query, the process proceeds to step S110, and the search is performed using the image selected at random.

Step S106 is a process in the case where an instruction to perform a search using the specified specific image is issued. An image ID corresponding to the clicked image is obtained and stored in the comparison source ID area. The comparison source ID area is RAM2
03. Upon completion of the processing, step S11 is performed.
Proceed to 1.

Step S107 is a process performed when an instruction to display the next screen is displayed on the screen displaying the search result. Details of this processing will be described later with reference to FIG.

Step S108 is a process performed when an instruction to display the previous screen is displayed on the screen displaying the search results. Details of this processing will be described later with reference to FIG.

In step S109, the query box 70
This is a process of searching the image database 604 using the character string stored in the display unit 1 and displaying the search result on the display 208. Details of this processing will be described later with reference to FIG. Upon completion of the process, the process advances to step S103.

Step S110 is performed in the image database 6
04, an image is selected at random, and the image ID of the selected image is stored in the comparison source ID area. The comparison source ID area is secured in the RAM 203. Upon completion of the process, the process advances to step S111.

Step S111 is a process for displaying an image similar to the image selected in step S106 or step S110 on the display 208. A similar image has already been obtained in step S106 or step S110.
In, since the image is stored in the similar image buffer 609, the process of searching for a similar image is not particularly performed. Details of this processing will be described later with reference to FIG. Upon completion of the process, the process advances to step S103.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing in detail the processing procedure of the search initialization in step S102. In this processing, various necessary initializations are performed. Also, by using each of all the images stored in the image database 604,
A similar image is searched, and the search result is referred to as similar image information 6
Stored in 10. Hereinafter, the details of this process will be described.

In step S201, various initialization processes are performed. That is, the initialization of information such as the similar image buffer 609, the similar image information 610, the distribution information 611, the group information 612, and the screen information 613 whose areas are secured in the RAM 203 is performed. Further, other initialization is performed as necessary. Upon completion of the process, the process advances to step S202.

In step S202, the initial value 0 is stored in the comparison source ID area for storing the comparison source image ID. The comparison source ID area is secured in the RAM 203.
Upon completion of the process, the process advances to step S203.

In step S203, a description of the comparison source image is stored in the query buffer in order to search for an image similar to the comparison source image. That is, a description corresponding to the comparison source ID is obtained from the image database 604 and copied to the query buffer. The query buffer is
Allocated in the RAM 203. Upon completion of the process, the process advances to step S204.

In step S204, an initial value 0 is stored in a comparison destination ID area for storing a comparison destination image ID. The comparison destination ID area is secured in the RAM 203.
Upon completion of the processing, the process advances to step S205.

In step S205, the degree of similarity between the image indicated by the comparison source ID and the image indicated by the comparison destination ID is calculated. The calculation of the similarity is based on the comparison source ID.
And the description of the image corresponding to the comparison destination ID. The description of the image corresponding to the comparison source ID is stored in the query buffer. Comparison destination ID
Can be obtained from the image database 604. Since the method of obtaining the similarity between two sentences is generally performed in the field of information retrieval, a detailed description is not provided here, but the maximum value of the similarity is set to 1.0 and the minimum value is set to the minimum value. Is normalized so that becomes 0.0. When the similarity is obtained, the process proceeds to step S206.

In step S206, it is determined whether the image indicated by the comparison destination ID can be stored in the similar image buffer 609. If the similar image buffer 609 is not full, it is determined that the image can be stored unconditionally. When the similar image buffer 609 is full, the similarity value of the item indicated at the end of the similar image buffer 609 and
The value of the similarity calculated in step S205 is compared, and if the value of the similarity calculated in step S205 is larger, it is determined that the data can be stored. It is determined that the data cannot be stored unless it is larger. If it is determined that it can be stored, step S
The process proceeds to step S207, and if it is determined that the image cannot be stored, the process proceeds to step S208.

Step S207 is processing for storing the comparison destination ID in the similar image buffer 609 in association with the similarity calculated in step S205. Each item in the similar image buffer 609 is stored in descending order according to the similarity. When the similar image buffer 609 is full, the last item in the similar image buffer 609 is discarded. Upon completion of the processing, the process advances to step S208.

In step S208, the value of the comparison destination ID is set to 1
This is a process of counting up only by one and changing the comparison destination image to the next image in the image database 604. Upon completion of the processing, the process advances to step S209.

In step S209, the image database 6
It is determined whether or not all the images in 04 have been compared as comparison source images. If the value of the comparison destination ID is larger than the value of the last image ID stored in the image database 604, it means that all the images have been compared.
Proceed to step S210. Otherwise, step S
Go to 205.

Step S 210 is processing for counting up the value of the comparison source ID by 1 and moving the comparison source image to the next image in the image database 604. Upon completion of the process, the process advances to step S211.

Step S211 corresponds to the image database 6
It is determined whether similar images have been obtained for all the images in 04. If the value of the comparison source ID is larger than the value of the last image ID stored in the image database 604, it means that all the images have been processed, and the search initialization processing in step S102 is performed. finish. Otherwise, the process proceeds to step S203.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart showing in detail the query search processing procedure in step S109 (FIG. 20). In this processing, the image database 604 is searched using the query stored in the query box 701, and the search result is displayed on the display 208. Hereinafter, the details of this process will be described.

In step S301, the character string stored in the query box 701 is copied to a query buffer. The query buffer is secured in the RAM 203. Upon completion of the processing, the process advances to step S302.

In step S302, an initial value 0 is stored in a comparison destination ID area for storing a comparison destination image ID. The comparison destination ID area is secured in the RAM 203.
Upon completion of the processing, the process advances to step S303.

In step S303, the similarity between the character string stored in the query buffer and the description of the image corresponding to the comparison destination ID is calculated. The description of the image corresponding to the comparison destination ID can be obtained from the image database 604. The technique for finding the similarity between two sentences is
Since it is generally performed in the field of information retrieval, a detailed description is not given here, but normalization is performed so that the maximum value of the similarity becomes 1.0 and the minimum value becomes 0.0. Do. When the similarity is obtained, the process proceeds to step S304.

In step S 304, it is determined whether the image indicated by the comparison destination ID can be stored in the similar image buffer 609. If the similar image buffer 609 is not full, it is determined that the image can be stored unconditionally. When the similar image buffer 609 is full, the value of the similarity of the last item indicated in the similar image buffer 609 and
The value of the similarity calculated in step S303 is compared, and if the value of the similarity calculated in step S303 is larger, it is determined that the data can be stored. It is determined that the data cannot be stored unless it is larger. If it is determined that it can be stored, step S
The process proceeds to step S305, and if it is determined that the image cannot be stored, the process proceeds to step S306.

Step S305 is processing for storing the comparison destination ID in the similar image buffer 609 in association with the similarity calculated in step S303. Each item in the similar image buffer 609 is stored in descending order according to the similarity. If the similar image buffer 609 is full,
The last item in the similar image buffer 609 is discarded.
Upon completion of the processing, the process advances to step S306.

In step S306, the value of the comparison destination ID is set to 1
This is a process of counting up only, and moving the comparison destination image to the next image in the image database 604. Upon completion of the processing, the process advances to step S307.

In step S307, it is determined whether all the images in the image database 604 have been compared based on the query. If the value of the comparison destination ID is the image database 60
If the value is larger than the value of the last image ID stored in the image No. 4, all images have been compared, and the process proceeds to step S308. Otherwise, step S303
Proceed to.

In step 308, the similar image buffer 60
9 is a process of determining a screen configuration for displaying the search result from the search results stored in the search result 9 and outputting information of the determined screen configuration to the screen information 613. Details of this processing will be described later with reference to FIG. Upon completion of the process, the process advances to step S309.

Step S309 is processing for substituting 0 into the screen number area to display the first screen of the search result. The screen number area is secured in the RAM 203.
Upon completion of the process, the process advances to step S310.

In step S310, the search result is displayed on the display 2 based on the screen configuration stored in the screen information 613 and the search result stored in the similar image buffer 609.
08. Details of this processing will be described later with reference to FIG. Upon completion of the processing, step S109 is performed.
The query search process of FIG. 20 ends.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart showing in detail the procedure of the similarity search in step S111 (FIG. 20). In this processing, an image similar to the image stored in the comparison source ID area is obtained from the similar image information 610, and the similar image is displayed on the display 208. Hereinafter, the details of this process will be described.

In step S 401, the character string stored in the query buffer is cleared, the query box 701 is cleared, and the state is displayed on the display 208. Upon completion of the processing, the flow advances to step 402.

Step S 402 is similar to the similar image information 610.
, A similar image list for the image ID stored in the comparison source ID area is obtained, and the contents of the similar image list are copied to the similar image buffer 609. Upon completion of the process, the process advances to step S403.

In step 403, the similar image buffer 60
9 is a process of determining a screen configuration for displaying the search result from the search results stored in the search result 9 and outputting information of the determined screen configuration to the screen information 613. Details of this processing will be described later with reference to FIG. Upon completion of the process, the process advances to step S404.

Step S404 is processing for substituting 0 into the screen number area to display the first screen of the search result. The screen number area is secured in the RAM 203.
Upon completion of the processing, the process advances to step S405.

In step S 405, the search result is displayed on the display 2 based on the screen configuration stored in the screen information 613 and the search result stored in the similar image buffer 609.
08. Details of this processing will be described later with reference to FIG. Upon completion of the processing, step S111 is performed.
The similarity search process (FIG. 20) ends.

FIG. 24 is a flowchart showing in detail the processing procedure for displaying the next screen in step S107 (FIG. 20). This process is a process of displaying the next screen on the search result screen displayed on the display 208.
Hereinafter, the details of this process will be described.

In step S501, it is determined whether or not the next screen exists. If an item corresponding to the value obtained by adding 1 to the value stored in the screen number area exists in the screen information 613, it is determined that the next screen exists, and the process proceeds to step S502. If it does not exist in the screen information 613, it is determined that the next screen does not exist, and the process of displaying the next screen in step 107 (FIG. 20) ends. Whether or not an item corresponding to a value obtained by adding 1 to the value stored in the screen number area exists in the screen information 613 can be determined by whether or not the display start value of the corresponding item is −1. If it is -1, it is determined that it does not exist, and if it is not -1, it is determined that it exists.

In step S502, 1 is added to the value of the screen number area in order to display the screen next to the currently displayed screen. When the processing is completed, step S5
Go to 03.

Step S 503 is a process for displaying the screen indicated by the screen number on the display 208 based on the screen configuration stored in the screen information 613 and the search result stored in the similar image buffer 609. Details of this processing will be described later with reference to FIG. When the processing is completed, the processing for displaying the next screen in step S107 (FIG. 20) is completed.

FIG. 25 is a flowchart showing in detail the procedure for displaying the previous screen in step S108 (FIG. 20). This process is a process of displaying the previous screen of the search result screen displayed on the display 208.
Hereinafter, the details of this process will be described.

In step S601, it is determined whether a previous screen exists. If the value of the screen number area is not 0, it is determined that the previous screen exists, and step S6 is performed.
Go to 02. If the value of the screen number area is 0, it is determined that the previous screen does not exist, and step S108 (FIG. 20)
Ends the previous screen display process.

Step S602 is processing to count down the value of the screen number by 1 in order to display the screen before the currently displayed screen. Upon completion of the process, the process advances to step S603.

Step S 603 is a process for displaying the screen indicated by the screen number on the display 208 based on the screen configuration stored in the screen information 613 and the search result stored in the similar image buffer 609. Details of this processing will be described later with reference to FIG. When the processing is completed, the processing for displaying the previous screen in step S108 is completed.

FIG. 26 is a flowchart showing in detail the processing procedure for determining the screen configuration in step S308 (FIG. 22) and step 403 (FIG. 23). This processing is processing for determining a screen configuration on which a search result is to be displayed based on information stored in the similar image buffer 609, and outputting information on the screen configuration to the screen information 613. Hereinafter, the details of this process will be described.

In step S 701, the distribution status for the similarity of the images stored in the similar image buffer 609 is checked, and the distribution status is stored in the distribution information 611. First, the number of image IDs having a similarity of 1.0 is obtained from the similar image buffer 609 and stored in the distribution information 611.
The number of image IDs having a similarity smaller than 0 and having a similarity of 0.9 or more is obtained from the similar image buffer 609, stored in the distribution information 611, and thereafter similarly stored in the similar image buffer 609 at intervals of 0.1. The number of image IDs is obtained and stored in the distribution information. Upon completion of the processing, the process advances to step S702.

Step 702 is similar to the similar image buffer 60.
9 are grouped according to the degree of similarity to each other, and the grouping result is referred to as group information 612.
This is the process of storing the information. Details of this processing will be described later with reference to FIG. Upon completion of the processing, the process advances to step S703.

In step S703, the scale to be displayed on each screen is determined, and the determined result is displayed on screen information 61.
3 is stored. Details of this processing will be described later with reference to FIG. When the processing is completed, the processing for determining the screen configuration ends.

FIG. 27 is a flowchart showing in detail the grouping processing procedure of step S702 (FIG. 26). Hereinafter, the details of this process will be described.

In step S 801, “0” is assigned to a buffer item area for storing a buffer item for indicating each item in the similar image buffer 609, so that the buffer item indicates the first item of the similar image buffer 609. The buffer item area is secured in the RAM 203. Upon completion of the processing, the process advances to step S802.

In step S 802, a similar image list corresponding to the image ID in the similar image buffer 609 indicated by the buffer item is obtained from the similar image information 610.
The similar image information 610 has an array of similar image lists, as shown in FIG.
Since it is D, the corresponding similar image list can be easily extracted. When the processing is completed, step S80 is performed.
Proceed to 3.

In step S803, step S8
02 is substituted into a list item area for storing a list item for indicating each item in the similar image list extracted in 02, so that the list item indicates the first item of the similar image list. The list item area is secured in the RAM 203. Upon completion of the processing, the process advances to step S804.

In step 804, it is determined whether or not the similarity of the item in the similar image list indicated by the list item is equal to or greater than a specified value. If not less than the specified value, step S
Proceed to 805, and if smaller than the specified value, step S809
Proceed to. The running value is set to, for example, 0.8.

In step S805, it is determined whether or not the image ID indicated by the list item is present in an item in the similar image buffer 609 located on the head side of the item indicated by the buffer item. That is, if an image ID that matches the image ID of the item in the similar image list indicated by the list item exists in the items in the similar image buffer 609 corresponding to a value smaller than the value of the buffer item, the process proceeds to step S806. Branch, if not, step S80
Branch to 7.

In step S806, the image ID corresponding to the buffer item and the image ID corresponding to the list item
And the similarity corresponding to the list item are group information 6
12 is stored. The image ID corresponding to the buffer item is stored in the storage area of the image ID of the group information, the image ID corresponding to the list item is stored in the storage area of the representative image ID of the group information, and the similarity corresponding to the list item is the similarity of the group information. Respectively in the storage areas of. After finishing the process,
Proceed to step S809.

In step S807, the value of the list item is counted up by one, and the item is pointed to the next item in the similar image list extracted in step S802. Upon completion of the processing, the process advances to step S808.

In step S808, it is determined whether the item indicated by the list item is valid. If it is not valid, the process has been performed for all valid items in the similar image list extracted in step S802, and the process proceeds to step S809. If it is valid, the process still needs to be performed, and the process proceeds to step S804.

In step S809, the value of the buffer item is counted up by one, and the similar image buffer 60 is counted up.
Point to the next item in 9. Upon completion of the process, the process advances to step S810.

In step S810, it is determined whether the item pointed to by the buffer item is valid. If it is not valid, the process has been performed on all valid items in the similar image buffer 609, and the process advances to step S811.
If it is valid, the process still needs to be performed, and the process proceeds to step S802.

In step S811, the valid items stored in the group information 612 are sorted in ascending order by the value of the representative image ID. When the processing ends, the grouping processing in step S702 (FIG. 26) ends.

FIG. 28 is a flowchart showing in detail the processing procedure for determining the display scale in step S703 (FIG. 26). Hereinafter, the details of this process will be described.

In step S901, initialization necessary for determining a display scale is performed. That is, 0 is stored in the screen number area, and 0 is stored in the start number area. The screen number is the number of the screen on which the search result is displayed, and the start number means the number of the area where the display of the image is started in each screen. Here, the area indicates a space between adjacent scales. The region number also corresponds to the subscript of the array of the distribution information 611. The screen number area and the start number area are secured in the RAM 203. In addition, the value of each element such as the start of display of the screen information 613 and the scale width is initialized to −1. Upon completion of the processing, the process advances to step S902.

In step S902, 0 is assigned to each of the area number area and the scale radius area. The area number area and the scale radius area are secured in the RAM 203. The area number corresponds to a subscript of the distribution information 611,
An area number 0 is assigned to the matching area 706, and an area number 1 is assigned to an area between the similarity 1.0 and the similarity 0.9.
, And similarly, area numbers are assigned in descending order of similarity. The scale radius is a value that represents the radius of the scale displayed in the search result display area 703 by the number of dots. Upon completion of the processing, the process advances to step S903.

In step S903, branching is performed based on the result of comparison between the area number and the start number. If the value of the area number is smaller than the value of the start number, no image is displayed in the area corresponding to the area number, and the process proceeds to step S904.
If the value of the area number is equal to or greater than the value of the start number, the image of the area corresponding to the area number is displayed, and the process proceeds to step S906.

In step S904, the increment of the radius of the area indicated by the area number is stored in the screen information 613. When the area number is 0, the radius increment is obtained by using the matching area data 605, and when the area number is other than 0, the radius increment is obtained by using the radius increment data 607. Here, since the area number is smaller than the start number, no image is displayed in this area. That is, the number of images to be displayed is 0,
It can be seen from FIGS. 11 and 13 that the radius increment is 30 dots regardless of whether the area number is 0 or not.
However, if no character string exists in the query box 701, an image similar to the image ID stored in the comparison source ID area is stored in the similar image buffer 609, and if the start number is not 0, the comparison is performed. Unless the image indicated by the original ID is displayed, the image of the comparison source cannot be known. Therefore, only in this case, the matching area 70
6, one image indicated by the comparison source ID is displayed. Therefore, in this case, when the area number is 0, it can be seen from the matching area data 605 shown in FIG. 11 that the increment of the radius is 60 dots. When the radius increment is determined, the radius increment is stored in the “scale width” column (FIG. 19) corresponding to the screen number and the area number of the screen information 613. For example, in the query box 701, “red a
"pple" is stored and the value of the screen number is 1,
In this processing, as shown in (T201) of FIG. 19, 30 is stored as a scale width for a region corresponding to the similarity between 1.0 and 0.8. In this process, the increment of the determined radius is added to the scale radius. Upon completion of the processing, the process advances to step S905.

In step S905, the value of the area number is incremented by 1 in order to process the area next to the area indicated by the area number. Upon completion of the processing, the process advances to step S903.

In step S906, the increment of the radius of the area indicated by the area number is determined. The radius increment is
It can be obtained from the matching area data 605, the radius increment data 607, the distribution information 611, and the area number. Using the distribution information 611, the number of images to be displayed in the area indicated by the area number is obtained. When the area number is 0, the matching area data 605 is used. When the area number is not 0, the radius increment data 607 is used. Then, an increment of the radius corresponding to the number of images to be displayed in the area is obtained. For example, when “red apple” is stored in the query box 701, the distribution information 611 is as (T101) in FIG. On the other hand, it can be seen that 3, 5, 8, 6, 0, and 5 images are displayed in the respective areas, and the matching area data 605 shown in FIG. 11 and the matching area data 605 shown in FIG. By using the radius increment data 607, the radius increment in each region is 120, 90, 90,
90, 30, and 90. Also, no character string exists in the query box 701, and 9
If 99 is stored, the distribution information 611 is as shown in FIG.
(T102), the area number is 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, respectively.
It can be seen that 1, 3, 4, 2, 3, 0 images are displayed, and by using the matching area data 605 shown in FIG. 11 and the radius increment data 607 shown in FIG. , The radius increment of each region is 6
It can be seen that they are 0, 60, 60, 60, 60, 60. Upon completion of the processing, the process advances to step S907.

In step S907, it is determined whether or not the area indicated by the area number can be displayed in search result display area 703. If the value obtained by adding the increment of the radius obtained in step S906 to the value of the scale radius is larger than half of the size 600 dots of the search result display area 703, the area indicated by the area number cannot be displayed in the search result display area 703. Therefore, the process proceeds to step S910.
If it is less than half of 600 dots, it can be displayed and the process proceeds to step S908. For example, the distribution information 611 is as shown in FIG.
(T101), the screen number is 0
If the area number is 2, the scale radius value is 300, and the process proceeds to step S908. However, if the screen number is 0 and the area number is 3, the scale radius value is 390, so that step S910 is performed. Proceed to.

In step S908, step S906
The increment of the radius of the area corresponding to the area number obtained in the step is stored in the screen information 613. For example, the distribution information 611 is as shown in FIG.
(T101), the screen information 61
In (3), as shown in (T201) of FIG.
90, 90 are stored, and as a scale width for an area having a similarity of 0.7 to 0.5 when the screen number is 1,
90, 30, and 90 are stored respectively. When the distribution information 611 is as shown in (T102) of FIG. 17, the screen information 613 includes (T20) of FIG.
As shown in 2), as a scale width for a region where the similarity at screen number 0 is 1.0 to 0.6,
60, 60, 60, 60, 60, 60 are stored respectively. In this process, the determined increment of the radius is added to the scale radius. Upon completion of the processing, the process advances to step S909.

In step S909, the value of the area number is incremented by 1 in order to process the area next to the area indicated by the area number. Upon completion of the process, the process advances to step S906.

In step S910, it is determined whether all the images stored in the similar image buffer 609 have been processed. If the values of the elements after the area indicated by the area number in the distribution information 611 are all 0, the processing has been performed on all the images, and therefore, step S 70
The process of determining the display scale of FIG. 3 (FIG. 26) ends. Otherwise, the process advances to step S911 to display an image that has not been processed on the next screen.

In step S911, first, screen information 6
The value of the start number is assigned to the start number area corresponding to the 13th screen number. Then, the value of the screen number is incremented by 1 to process the next screen. Also, the value of the area number is assigned to the area number area. After finishing the process,
Proceed to step S902.

FIG. 29 is a flowchart showing step S310 (FIG. 22).
Step S405 (FIG. 23) and step S503 (FIG.
It is a flowchart which shows the processing procedure of search result display of 4) and step S603 (FIG. 25) in detail. This processing is based on the screen configuration information stored in the screen information 613,
Similar image buffer 609 and image database 604
Is a process of displaying a screen indicated by a screen number on the display 208 based on information of an image stored in the display 208. Hereinafter, the details of this process will be described.

In step S1001, using the scale width in the screen information 613 corresponding to the designated screen number,
A scale is displayed in the search result display area 703. From the scale width corresponding to the similarity 1.0, the value of the scale width is sequentially added to the radius of the scale until the value of the scale width becomes −1, and the center of the search result display area 703 is moved to the radius of each scale. The center circle is displayed. The inside of the scale having the similarity of 1.0 is painted in gray. Upon completion of the processing, the process advances to step S1002.

In step S1002, the matching area 706
Are displayed with an image having a similarity of 1.0. From the top of the similar image buffer 609, an image ID for an item having a similarity of 1.0 is obtained, an image file corresponding to the image ID is obtained from the image database 604, and the image file is displayed in the matching area 706. As the coordinates for displaying the image file, the coordinates corresponding to the number of images to be displayed in the matching area 706 are obtained using the matching image data 606.
When no character string exists in the query box 701, as shown in FIG. 9, the edge of the image indicated by the comparison source ID is displayed in a double frame. In this case, the image indicated by the comparison source ID is always stored in the similar image buffer 609 as the similarity 1.0. When processing is completed, step S
Proceed to 1003.

In step S1003, the head of the image IDs other than the similarity of 1.0 is acquired from the similar image buffer 609 as the image ID of the target image to be displayed. Upon completion of the process, the process advances to step S1004.

In step S1004, it is determined whether the target image is a representative image. If the image ID of the target image is stored as the image ID of the group information, it is determined that the image is not the representative image, and step S1 is performed.
Proceed to 005. If not stored as an image ID, it is determined that the image is a representative image, and the process advances to step S1007.

In step S1005, the image ID of the image to be displayed is changed to the next image ID in the similar image buffer 609. When the processing is completed, step S100
Continue to 6.

In step S1006, it is determined whether or not to end the image display. Similar image buffer 60
If all the images in the image 9 have been processed, or if the scale width of the area where the target image is to be displayed is -1, it is determined that the display of the image is to be ended, and step S1011 is performed. Proceed to. If not, the process proceeds to step S1004 assuming that the image is still displayed.

In step S1007, the display position of the image to be displayed, that is, the representative image is determined. First, the direction of the center coordinates of the display image with respect to the center of the search result display area 703 is determined using the arrangement angle data 608. By using the arrangement angle data 608, the direction from the center can be uniquely determined depending on the number of the representative image to be displayed. Next, the search result display area 7
The distance from the center of 03 to the center coordinates of the display image is determined using the screen information 613. The distance from the center of the search result display area 703 to the area for displaying the image is determined based on the screen information 613 based on the similarity between the specified screen number and the display image.
Can be obtained by accumulating the corresponding scale width from the region of 1.0. The distance from the center in the area is
Since the scale width of the area can be obtained from the screen information 613, it can be obtained from the scale width and the similarity. For example, in a case where the screen information 613 is in the state of (T201) in FIG. 19 and an image with a similarity of 0.56 is displayed when 1 is designated as the screen number, this image is displayed with a similarity of 0.5. The distance from the center of the search result display area 703 to the area with a similarity of 0.5 is obtained by adding the scale width from the scale of the similarity 1.0 to the scale of the similarity 0.6. 30 + 30 + 30 + 90 +
It can be seen that 30 = 210 dots. The distance from the center in the area of similarity 0.5 is similarity 0.5.
Since the scale width of the area is 90 dots, 90 ×
It can be seen that (0.6−0.56) /0.1=36 dots. Therefore, in this case, the search result display area 703
Is the distance from the center of the image to the center of the image with the similarity of 0.56.
It can be seen that 210 + 36 = 246 dots. In this manner, the angle and the distance from the center of the search result display area 703 can be obtained, so that the position where the image is displayed can be determined. When the processing is completed, step S1
Go to 008.

In step S1008, a representative line is displayed from the center of the search result display area 703 to the display position obtained in step S1007. However, the matching area 706
Does not display the representative line. When the processing is completed, the process proceeds to step S1009.

Step S1009 is a process for displaying all the images of the group to which the target representative image belongs except for the representative image. The image of the group to which the representative image belongs can be obtained using the group information 612. In the group information 612, all the images corresponding to the image IDs whose representative image ID values are equal to the image ID values of the representative images to be displayed are displayed. The distance from the center of the search result display area 703 to each image to be displayed can be obtained from the similarity of each image in the similar image buffer 609 in the same manner as in step S1007. The distance from the display position of the representative image to the display position of each image can be determined from the group information 612. For example, based on the representative image ID and the image ID of the image to be displayed, the corresponding similarity is obtained from the group information 612, and the value obtained by subtracting the similarity from 1.0 is multiplied by 500 to determine the similarity. Can be. In addition, each image is in the order of low similarity with the representative image,
With the search result display area 703 at the center, the representative line is displayed alternately on the counterclockwise side and the clockwise side.
In this manner, the distance from each of the two points, the center of the search result display area 703 and the center of the representative image, to each image can be obtained, and it is possible to determine which of the lines connecting the two points is displayed. The position at which each image is displayed can be determined.
When the display position of each image is determined, a line connecting the center of each image and the center of the representative image is displayed, and each image is displayed in ascending order of similarity with the representative image. By displaying the images in this order, when the images overlap, the image having a higher similarity to the representative image is less likely to be blocked by other images. Upon completion of the process, the process advances to step S1010.

In step S1010, step S10
The representative image is displayed at the position determined in step 07. As described above, since the representative image in the group is displayed last, it is possible to prevent the representative image having the highest similarity in the group from being obstructed by another image.
Upon completion of the processing, the process advances to step S1005.

In step S1011, the previous screen button 7
12 and a next screen button 713 are displayed. If the designated screen number is 0, the previous screen does not exist, so the triangle of the previous screen button 712 is displayed on a white background, and if it is not 0, the previous screen exists, so the triangle of the previous screen button 712 is a black background. indicate. If the value of the start area of the screen information 613 for the screen number obtained by adding 1 to the designated screen number is −1, there is no next screen, so the next screen button 713
Is displayed on a white background, and if it is not -1, the next screen exists, so the triangle of the next screen button 713 is displayed on a black background. When the processing is completed, the processing of the search result display is ended.

In the embodiment described above, an example was described in which the similar image information 610 is created each time in step S102. Instead, similar image information 610 is created in advance by performing the same processing as in step S102. The data may be stored in the CD-ROM 205 as related data, and may be loaded into the RAM 203 in step S101.

Further, the image database 502 is stored in a CD-R
Although the example in which the image data is stored in the OM has been described, an image database stored in the HD drive 206 may be used instead.

A CD-ROM as an external storage device
Although the example in which the information search program 501 and the related data are directly loaded into the RAM 203 and executed from the 205 has been described, the information search program 501 and the related data are temporarily stored in the HD drive 206 from the CD-ROM 205 (installation). In advance, when the information search program 501 is operated, the HD drive 206
May be loaded into the RAM 203.

The medium on which the information search program 501 is recorded may be a floppy disk (FD), an IC memory card, or the like in addition to the CD-ROM.

Further, the information search program 501 is executed by the RO
It is also possible to record it in M, configure it as a part of the memory map, and execute it directly by the CPU 201.

In the above description, an example in which English is used as a language used as a query and an explanatory sentence has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to an English-only language. It is an invention applicable to languages.

In step S111, the similarity is calculated by using the description sentence attached to the image in order to obtain an image similar to the designated image. It is not limited to the calculation method. For example, the similarity may be calculated using information of the image itself, such as the brightness, color, and composition of the image.

Further, in the above embodiment, an example in which an image is searched as an information search target has been described, but the search target handled by the present invention is not limited to an image. For example, it is effective for various information searches such as documents, videos, and sounds. That is, when an image is searched as a search result displayed in the search result display area 703, the image itself is displayed. However, when a document is searched, a title or a keyword of the document may be displayed instead of the image. . In the case of a video, information representing the video, such as a title and a representative scene, may be displayed, or the video of each result may be reproduced.

Further, in the above embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, the matching area 706 is a circle area centered on the center of the search result display area 703, and each scale is the matching area 706.
, And each image of the search result is displayed so as to be arranged radially from the center of the search result display area 703 with the similarity corresponding to the distance from the matching area 706. However, the present invention is not limited to such a display method. For example, as shown in FIG. 30, the matching area 3001 is shown as a rectangular area on the left side of the search result display area 3000, and each scale is shown as a parallel line with the left side, as shown by the lines 3002 and 3003. Is also good. In this case, the horizontal distance from each image to the matching area 3001 is displayed in accordance with the similarity of each image. Also, instead of designating the arrangement position of each image by an angle with respect to the center of the matching area 706 as in the arrangement angle data 608, the search result display area 300 is used instead.
Specify the distance from the upper side of 0. Thus, the image of the search result can be displayed at a desired position in exactly the same procedure as that described in the above embodiment. Even when the search result is displayed in this manner, as shown in FIG.
As in the above embodiment, it is possible to group and display the images of the search results.

The present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices, or may be applied to a device composed of one device.

A storage medium storing program codes of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus, and a computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus is stored in the storage medium. It goes without saying that the present invention is also achieved by reading and executing the program code.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD
-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.

When the computer executes the readout program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also the OS and the like running on the computer are actually executed based on the instructions of the program code. It is needless to say that the present invention also includes the case where the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by performing a part or all of the processing described above.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written in a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the program code is read based on the instruction of the program code. It is needless to say that the present invention includes a case where a CPU or the like provided in the function expansion board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

[0144]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, the degree of coincidence, which is the degree to which each piece of information to be searched satisfies the search condition, is calculated, and each piece of information that satisfies the search condition is displayed on the screen display unit. Is determined based on the degree of coincidence of each piece of information, and is displayed on the screen display unit. further,
The screen display unit displays an index for indicating the degree of coincidence in a visually easy-to-understand manner.

As a result, the distribution of the information obtained as a result of the search for each degree of coincidence can be easily grasped at a glance. Whether the result is obtained,
Now you can easily grasp.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an outline of an embodiment of an information search device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of an embodiment of an information search device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a CD-ROM in which a program or the like is a recording medium
Is supplied to the computer system via a CD-ROM drive.

FIG. 4 is a ROM storing a control procedure program and the like;
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a storage configuration in a recording medium CD-ROM.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a memory map in a state where a program and various related data stored in a CD-ROM are loaded into a RAM and become executable.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a screen displayed on a display by an information search program, and illustrating a screen configuration of a first search result when a query search is performed.

8 is a diagram showing a display screen after a next screen button is clicked on the display screen of the display shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a display screen after clicking an image on the display screen of the display shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a configuration of an image database written in a RAM.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a configuration of matching area data written in a RAM.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a configuration of matching image data written in a RAM.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a configuration of radius increment data written in a RAM.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a configuration of arrangement angle data in which an area is secured in a RAM.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a similar image buffer whose area is secured in a RAM.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of similar image information whose area is secured in a RAM.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a configuration of distribution information in which an area is secured in a RAM.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a configuration of group information whose area is secured in a RAM.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a configuration of screen information having an area secured in a RAM.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of an information search program.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing in detail a search initialization processing procedure in step S102 (FIG. 20).

FIG. 22 is a flowchart showing in detail a query search processing procedure in step S109 (FIG. 20).

FIG. 23 is a flowchart showing in detail a procedure of a similarity search in step S111 (FIG. 20).

FIG. 24 is a flowchart showing in detail a processing procedure for displaying the next screen in step S107 (FIG. 20).

FIG. 25 is a flowchart showing in detail a processing procedure of a previous screen display in step S108 (FIG. 20).

FIG. 26 is a flowchart showing in detail a processing procedure for determining a screen configuration in step S308 (FIG. 22) and step 403 (FIG. 23).

FIG. 27 is a flowchart showing the grouping processing procedure of step S702 (FIG. 26) in detail.

FIG. 28 is a flowchart showing in detail a processing procedure for determining a display scale in step S703 (FIG. 26).

FIG. 29: Step S310 (FIG. 22), Step S4
FIG. 25 is a flowchart showing in detail the search result display processing procedure of step S05 (FIG. 23), step S503 (FIG. 24) and step S603 (FIG. 25).

FIG. 30 is a diagram showing another configuration example of the search result display area.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 101 input unit (search condition input unit) 102 control unit 103 coincidence calculation unit (coincidence calculation unit) 104 search result display unit (search result display unit) 105 coincidence index display unit (coincidence index display unit) 106 storage unit 107 Information storage unit 108 Display unit (screen display unit) 201 CPU (central control unit) 202 ROM (read only memory) 203 RAM (random read / write memory) 204 CD-ROM drive 205 CD-ROM 206 HD (hard disk) drive 207 Keyboard 208 Display 209 Mouse 210 Printer 211 Control bus 300 Computer system 500 Configuration diagram of a medium on which programs and the like are recorded 600 Memory map when programs run

Claims (18)

[Claims] A search condition input unit for inputting a search condition;
An information storage unit that stores individual information to be searched;
An information search device comprising: a screen display unit that displays information obtained by searching for each piece of information stored in the information storage unit under a search condition; wherein the individual information stored in the information storage unit and the search condition A coincidence calculating means for comparing each of the information with a search condition input from a condition input unit to obtain a coincidence which is a degree at which the individual information satisfies the search condition; A search result display means for determining a display position when displaying the information based on the degree of coincidence of the information and displaying the result on the screen display unit, and an index for indicating a spatial change of the degree of coincidence in a visually understandable manner. An information retrieval device comprising: a coincidence index display means for displaying on the screen display unit. 2. The information retrieval apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said coincidence index display means displays a scale as an index of the coincidence. 3. The search result display means determines a position where information that completely satisfies the search condition is to be displayed at a predetermined position on a screen of the screen display unit, and determines a display position of each information that satisfies the search condition. 3. The information retrieval apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a distance from the predetermined position is determined according to a degree of coincidence of the corresponding information obtained by the degree of coincidence calculation means. 4. The search result display means according to claim 1, wherein display positions of respective information satisfying the search condition are radially arranged and displayed with the predetermined position as a center. An information retrieval device according to item 1. 5. The information according to claim 1, wherein said coincidence index display means displays a scale of a concentric circle centered on said predetermined position as an index of coincidence. Search device. 6. The search result display means, wherein the predetermined position is one side of a polygon and each piece of information satisfying the search condition is displayed inside the polygon.
An information retrieval device according to claim 3. 7. A search condition input unit for inputting search conditions,
An information storage unit that stores individual information to be searched;
A screen display unit that displays information obtained by searching for each piece of information stored in the information storage unit under a search condition; and a screen display unit that displays information obtained by the search condition. A matching degree calculating step of comparing each piece of information with a search condition input from the search condition condition input unit and obtaining a match degree that is a degree at which the individual information satisfies the search condition; A search result display step of determining a display position when displaying the satisfying information on the screen display unit based on the degree of coincidence of the information and displaying the information on the screen display unit; and visually displaying a spatial change in the degree of coincidence. A matching index display step of displaying an index for indicating on the screen display section for easy understanding. 8. The information retrieval method according to claim 7, wherein in the matching index display step, a scale is displayed as an index of the matching. 9. In the search result display step, a position where information that completely satisfies the search condition is to be displayed is set at a predetermined position on a screen of the screen display unit, and a display position of each information that satisfies the search condition is determined. 9. The information search method according to claim 7, wherein the distance from the predetermined position is determined according to the degree of coincidence of the corresponding information obtained in the step of calculating the degree of coincidence. 10. The search result display step according to claim 7, wherein display positions of respective information satisfying the search condition are radially arranged and displayed with the predetermined position as a center. Information search method described in. 11. The method according to claim 7, wherein in the matching index display step, a scale of a concentric circle centered on the predetermined position is displayed as a matching index.
0. The information search method according to any one of 0. 12. The search result display step, wherein the predetermined position is set as one side of a polygon, and each piece of information satisfying the search condition is displayed inside the polygon. Information search method described in any of the above. 13. A search condition input unit for inputting search conditions, an information storage unit for storing individual information to be searched, and information obtained by searching each information stored in the information storage unit using search conditions. A computer-readable storage medium storing, as a program, an information search method applied to an information search apparatus including a screen display unit for displaying the obtained information, wherein the information search method is stored in the information storage unit. A matching degree calculating step of comparing each piece of information and a search condition input from the search condition condition input unit to obtain a match degree that is a degree at which the individual information satisfies the search condition; A display position for displaying information satisfying the condition on the screen display unit, a search result display step of determining based on the degree of coincidence of the information and displaying the determined result on the screen display unit; A matching index display step of displaying, on the screen display unit, an index for visually indicating a spatial change in the matching degree in an easily understandable manner. 14. The storage medium according to claim 13, wherein in the matching index display step, a scale is displayed as an index of the matching. 15. In the search result display step, a position where information that completely satisfies the search condition is to be displayed is set at a predetermined position on a screen of the screen display unit, and a display position of each information that satisfies the search condition is determined. 15. The storage medium according to claim 13, wherein the distance from the predetermined position is determined according to the degree of coincidence of the corresponding information obtained in the step of calculating the degree of coincidence. 16. The search result display step according to claim 13, wherein display positions of respective information satisfying the search condition are radially arranged and displayed with the predetermined position as a center. A storage medium according to claim 1. 17. The storage according to claim 13, wherein in the matching degree index displaying step, a scale of a concentric circle centered on the predetermined position is displayed as a matching degree index. Medium. 18. The search result display step, wherein the predetermined position is set as one side of a polygon, and each piece of information satisfying the search condition is displayed inside the polygon. The storage medium according to any one of the above.