JP2001211413A - Method and system processing image information provided with text information - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and a system that processes image information provided with text information. SOLUTION: This method and system incorporate desired text information at photographing, generate image data provided with specific text information designated by a user, and use a general computer system to output the image information with the text information in an editable way. Preferably, the system is provided with a text information entry means that is optionally selected by the user, an image input means connected to the text information entry means, and a means that couples the specific image information received by the image input means with the specific text information entered by the text information entry means and provides an output of the result as the image information with the text information.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and a system for handling image information having text information, and more particularly to a method for adding specific text information to image data shot by a digital camera, converting a file name, and displaying the image. Edit,
The present invention relates to a method and system for performing output and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Image information captured by image input means such as a digital camera is generally recognized as image data in a JPEG file format. Further, in a specific digital camera, information set in advance by a manufacturer, for example, information such as shooting date and time can be combined with image information and handled as data in a so-called Exif file format. However, the additional information such as the photographing date and time is limited to the type of information set in advance by the digital camera manufacturer, and the user sets any type of information such as JAN code information or latitude / longitude information. I couldn't do that.

[0003]

Therefore, when using an image input by a user using an image input unit such as a digital camera, it is necessary for the user to separately create and organize comments. For example, when creating a product catalog database including image data, a medical chart system, etc., separately create an image of a product or an affected part and a product management code or medical chart data, and then combine,
I needed to edit. Further, when creating a map including image data, it is necessary to separately prepare photographed image data and geographic information such as latitude and longitude, and then combine and edit them.

[0004]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention incorporates desired text information at the time of photographing, creates image data having specific text information designated by a user, and prepares a so-called personal computer or the like. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and system capable of outputting the image information with text information in a general-purpose computer system so as to be editable. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention for achieving the above object, a text information input means arbitrarily selected by a user, an image input means connected to the text information input means, and a specification input by the image input means And a means for combining the image information with the specific text information input by the text information input means and outputting the image information as text information-added image information.

[0005] Such a system is further characterized in that a part of the text information input by the text information input means is extracted and used as image information with text information. In another preferred embodiment, the image input means is a digital camera, the input image is a digital image, and the text information input means is a GPS unit, a barcode reader, a magnetic card reader, an input keyboard, The input text information is an arbitrary text character string.

To achieve the above object, in another preferred embodiment of the present invention, text information is input by a text information input means arbitrarily selected by a user, the text information is stored in a buffer of an image input means, and the text information input is performed. Image information is input by image input means connected to the means, the specific image information input by the image input means is combined with the specific text information input by the text information input means, and text information is added. A method for outputting as image information is provided.

In another embodiment, text information is input by text information input means arbitrarily selected by a user, and image information is input by image input means connected to the text information input means. By combining the specific image information input by the specific text information input by the text information input means,
A method is provided for outputting as text-information-attached image information and converting all or a part of the specific text information input by the text-information input means so as to be a file name of the text-information-attached image information.

In order to achieve the above object, in still another preferred embodiment of the present invention, all or a part of the specific text information input by the text information input means is used as a file name of the image information with text information. To provide a computer-readable recording medium. In still another embodiment, all or part of the specific text information input by the text information input unit is converted to be a file name of the image information with text information, and at least the file name and the image information are converted. And a computer-readable recording medium for displaying a list so as to correspond to the above.

[0009] Further, the list display method is characterized in that a list of file information including at least the name of the converted file, the size of the file, the type of the file, and the date and time of the file update is displayed. Further, the list display method is characterized in that the list is displayed in a thumbnail format including at least the name of the converted file and the input image information.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A system 10 for handling image information with text information according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, the text information input means 13 and the image information input means 11 may be connected via a predetermined interface means 12, or may be directly connected without passing through the interface means 12. . The image information input means 11 of FIG. 1 is a digital camera in a preferred embodiment. The text information input means 13 is, according to the embodiment, a barcode reader,
Any of a magnetic card reader, an input keyboard, or a GPS unit may be used.

In general, an image photographed by a digital camera is handled as a JPEG format, but an image to which predetermined text information or thumbnail image information is added is Ex.
Handled as if format. The Exif format file can be loaded into the computer 14 via a predetermined storage medium, but can also be directly connected to the computer 14 via a predetermined interface such as SCSI.

Referring to FIG. 2, the above captured Ex
An example of a preferable display screen on a computer screen in which predetermined text information of an if format file is converted into a file name and displayed in a list with typical data of an Exif file such as shooting date and time. This list is
A list of a series of Exif data stored in a predetermined directory of a predetermined storage device included in the computer is displayed. FIG. 3 shows the same series of Ex as FIG.
It is an example of the preferable display screen which displayed the if format file in the thumbnail format. In order to display thumbnails, the image format in the Exif format file must be JPE
It is preferably in G or TIFF format.

The displayed list can be sorted in ascending or descending order for each category such as a file name. In addition, the displayed image can be viewed directly from the list screen using the application software associated with the extension. Furthermore, the displayed list can be converted into a predetermined format such as a CSV format and output. Preferably, a specific category can be extracted and converted and output. Therefore, it can be re-edited by application software using a commercially available spreadsheet.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to construct a database of product images using the present system. Since most of the products manufactured by companies have JAN code barcodes, a database having JAN codes corresponding to product images can be constructed by using a barcode reader as text information input means. . FIG. 4 shows a specific processing procedure. First, when photographing a desired product using the digital camera according to the present invention, the corresponding JAN code is read in advance by a bar code reader (41), and then a predetermined area of the JAN code is extracted using the interface means. (42) The extracted information is stored in the buffer memory of the digital camera (43). Next, a subject (product) corresponding to the JAN code is photographed by the digital camera according to the present invention (44), and the photographed image information and the extracted text information are combined and stored in a storage medium as an Exif format. (4
5). Subsequently, if there is a subject to be further input, the JAN code of the corresponding product is read again using a barcode, and the above-described series of processing steps (41) to (45) is repeated.
If there is no further subject to be input, the information stored in the Exif format is taken into the computer via the storage medium. Alternatively, the data is directly taken into the computer from the digital camera via a specific interface such as SCSI. When displaying the Exif format information taken into the computer, the extracted text information is converted so as to have an Exif format file name (47). At the time of this conversion, a specific portion of the text information can be extracted and converted as a file name using a menu screen having a user interface as shown in FIG. In the example shown in FIG. 5, the first to sixteenth bytes are extracted. When the same text information is extracted during this conversion, for example, "(1)", "(2)"
Can be converted by adding incremental specific suffix information such as. In another embodiment, if text information is duplicated, a save dialog may be displayed. In the example shown in FIG. 5, a unique file name is automatically generated. A list of specific information including the converted file name, file size, file type, and the like is displayed (48).

As a display mode, a shell structure capable of visually recognizing the directory structure in a tree format as shown in FIG. 2 is preferable, and a list of information stored in a specific directory can be displayed. In a preferred embodiment, the application software is Micr
It runs on the operating system Windows (registered trademark) provided by osoft (registered trademark), and displays using the hierarchical structure of folders. In the example of FIG. 2, the path of the predetermined directory is specified as \\ C: \ Projects \ TestImages. It can be confirmed that 21 objects are stored in this directory. Also, a list can be displayed in a thumbnail format as shown in FIG.
In a preferred embodiment, the display size of the thumbnails can be changed.

Furthermore, a specific category is extracted and extracted so that it can be edited with other spreadsheet type spreadsheet application software or word processor software.
It can be output as an SV format text file. Extracting a specific category can be performed by selecting a menu screen 61 having a user interface as shown in FIG.
Do with. In FIG. 6, by selecting a desired category from the categories displayed in the left window 62 and clicking the move button 61, the selected category is moved to the right window 63 and the output category is specified. can do.

When constructing a medical chart database, the identification number of the patient is used instead of the JAN code, so that the text information input means can use an input keyboard or a magnetic card reader instead of a bar code reader. . Therefore, when inputting the image information used for the medical chart, the patient's identification number is input in advance, and then the corresponding image information is input, and the image information and the text information are combined and stored in the storage medium as the Exif format. As with the product database,
When there is no more input target, the text information can be converted to an Exif file name, specific information can be displayed in a list, and a desired category can be extracted and output as a CSV format.

When a map having image information is created, a GPS unit can be used as text information input means. From the GPS unit, latitude and longitude information can be input as text information. Therefore,
When capturing image information, latitude and longitude information is previously stored in a buffer from the GPS unit as text information, a subject based on the latitude and longitude information is captured, and the captured image information and text information are combined to form an Exif. It can be stored on a storage medium as a format. Then, part or all of the text information can be converted to an Exif file name, a specific category can be displayed as a list, a desired category can be extracted and output in CSV format.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a system for handling image information including text information according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an example of a screen displaying a list of detailed information on a specific category including a file name converted according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an example of a screen for displaying thumbnails of Exif format files converted according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method of constructing an image database of products having JAN codes according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an example of a screen for performing a setting for extracting a part of text information.

FIG. 6 is an example of a menu screen for selecting a category to be output in CSV format.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 image information input means 12 interface means 13 text information input means 14 computer

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. Text information input means arbitrarily selected by a user, image input means connected to the text information input means, specific image information input by the image input means, and the text information input means Means for combining with the specific text information inputted by (1) and outputting as image information with text information. 2. The system according to claim 1, wherein a part of the text information input by said text information input means is extracted and used as image information with text information. 3. The image input by the image input means is a digital image, and the text information input by the text information input means is latitude / longitude information, JAN code information, or any other text character string. The system of claim 1, wherein: 4. A user inputs text information by means of text information input means arbitrarily selected, inputs image information by image input means connected to said text information input means, and specifies the input by said image input means. A method of combining the image information and the specific text information input by the text information input means and outputting the image information as text information-added image information. 5. A user inputs text information by a text information input means arbitrarily selected, inputs image information by an image input means connected to the text information input means, and specifies an input by the image input means. Image information and the specific text information input by the text information input means are combined and output as image information with text information, and all or part of the specific text information input by the text information input means Is converted into a name of the image information with text information. 6. The image input by the image input means is a digital image, and the text information input by the text information input means is latitude / longitude information, JAN code information, or any other text character string. 6. The method according to claim 4, wherein the method comprises: 7. A computer-readable recording medium for converting all or a part of specific text information input by text information input means so as to become a file name of image information with text information. 8. Converting all or a part of specific text information input by the text information input means into a file name of image information with text information, wherein at least the file name and the image information are converted. A computer-readable recording medium for displaying a list correspondingly. 9. The method for displaying a list includes at least a name of the converted file, a file size, a file type, and a file update date and time.
9. The computer-readable recording medium according to claim 8, wherein the computer-readable recording medium is displayed in a file information list format. 10. The method for displaying a list includes displaying in a thumbnail format at least including a name of the converted file and the input image information.
A computer-readable recording medium according to claim 8.