JP2002010196A - Electronic album device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily display a desired image regardless of the number of thumbnails, related to an album device for displaying a desired image by selecting it out of a plurality of images. SOLUTION: Related to an electronic album device 1, the feature amount of a thumbnail is calculated according to input of the thumbnail for retrieval image. For a plurality of original images housed in a CD-RW5, a feature amount of thumbnail of each original image is sequentially calculated, and its calculation result is collated with the feature amount of thumbnail of a retrieval image, for exploring an original image which is most similar to the retrieval image. That original image is outputted to a monitor 2.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is capable of storing a plurality of images taken by a digital camera or the like, and selecting a desired image from these images and displaying the selected image on a screen. It relates to a possible electronic album device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a digital still camera, image data of a still image obtained by photographing can be recorded on a memory card. However, the number of still images that can be recorded on one memory card is small, In order to store a single still image, a plurality of memory cards are required. Therefore, a plurality of still images recorded on a memory card can be transferred to a CD-R (Compact Disc-Recordable) or CD-RW (Comp
An electronic album device has been developed that allows a large number of still images to be stored and enables a search for a large number of still images by writing to a data storage device such as act Disc-Rewritable). .

In this type of electronic album device, a plurality of still images (original images) are stored in a data storage device together with respective thumbnails (reduced images). For example, a plurality of still images (original images) are stored in a data storage device. When displaying a desired one still image from among the still images on an image display device such as a liquid crystal display, first, a selection screen including a thumbnail of each image is displayed. A method is adopted in which a target image is displayed in a large size on a screen by selecting a thumbnail of the target image from the screen. According to this method, the selection screen can be displayed quickly, so that the user can display a desired image in a short time.

[0004]

However, in a conventional electronic album apparatus, a user has to perform a task of selecting a thumbnail of a target image from a plurality of thumbnails, and as the number of thumbnails increases, this task has to be performed. There was a problem that became difficult. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic album apparatus capable of easily displaying a desired image regardless of the number of thumbnails.

[0005]

An electronic album apparatus according to the present invention comprises a data storage device in which a plurality of images (original images) are stored together with respective thumbnails, and an image display device, which is connected to a data storage device. It is possible to select one or more desired original images and / or thumbnails from a plurality of original images and thumbnails stored in the device and display them on the image display device. The electronic album apparatus includes: an input unit for inputting a thumbnail of a search image to be searched; and, based on the input thumbnail of the search image,
First calculating means for calculating the feature value of the thumbnail; second calculating means for calculating the feature value of the thumbnail based on the thumbnail of each original image stored in the data storage device; The feature amount is compared with the feature amount of the thumbnail of the original image stored in the data storage device, and one or more of the plurality of original images stored in the data storage device having a high similarity with the search image are selected. Search means for searching for the original image and outputting the original image to the image display device.

In the electronic album apparatus of the present invention, when a desired image is to be searched from a plurality of original images stored in the data storage device, a thumbnail of an image to be searched (search image) is input. I do. The thumbnail is created, for example, by photographing with a digital camera, and is stored in a memory card or the like. Therefore, thumbnails are read from the memory card and input to the electronic album device. Note that the thumbnail can be obtained by photographing a drawing depicting an image of the search image with a digital camera.

[0007] The electronic album device calculates a geometric feature amount of the thumbnail according to the input of the thumbnail of the search image. Then, for a plurality of original images stored in the data storage device, while sequentially calculating the geometric feature amount of the thumbnail of each original image, the calculation result is compared with the feature amount of the thumbnail of the search image, One or more original images having a high similarity to the search image are searched for, and the original images are output to the image display device. As described above, since the method of matching the feature amount of the thumbnail is adopted, the calculation time can be reduced and the accuracy of the feature amount is improved as compared with the case of matching the feature amount of the original image. As a result, highly reliable matching is realized. As a result, one or more images including the target image are displayed on the screen of the image display device. Therefore, the user does not need to select the thumbnail of the target image from the plurality of thumbnails, or the labor required for the operation is reduced.

The images stored in the data storage device may be not only still images but also moving images. In this case, thumbnails of the moving images are extracted from a plurality of image planes constituting the moving image. One or more image planes, or thumbnails of the image planes.

Further, another electronic album apparatus according to the present invention comprises: input means for instructing classification of a plurality of images stored in a data storage device;
A calculating means for calculating a feature amount of each thumbnail based on the thumbnail of each image stored in the data storage device; and a feature amount of each thumbnail for a plurality of images stored in the data storage device. Classification means for classifying similar images to a common grape based on the same image, and outputting a plurality of images belonging to the same group to an image display device in association with each other.

In the electronic album apparatus of the present invention, when searching for a desired image from a plurality of images stored in the data storage device, a command for classifying the plurality of images is input. In response to the input of the command, the electronic album device calculates the geometric feature of the thumbnail of each of the plurality of images stored in the data storage device, and then compares the features with each other. Thereby, the plurality of images stored in the data storage device are classified into a plurality of groups. As a result, the plurality of images stored in the data storage device are grouped by a plurality of images having a high degree of similarity, and are displayed on the screen of the image display device for each group. Therefore, the user can greatly reduce the number of images to be selected by first selecting the group to which the target image belongs, and thereafter, the user can select the target image from a plurality of images belonging to the group. Can be selected, so that the labor of image search is reduced as compared with the conventional technique.

[0011]

According to the electronic album apparatus of the present invention, a desired image can be easily displayed regardless of the number of thumbnails.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG.
A monitor (2) is connected to the electronic album apparatus (1) according to the present invention so that images can be displayed. or,
The user can instruct various operations to the electronic album apparatus (1) by operating a remote controller (hereinafter, abbreviated as a remote controller) (3). Further, the electronic album device (1) is provided with a memory card interface (13) and a CD-RW interface (14), and the memory card interface (13) is provided with a digital camera (not shown). A memory card (4) in which a plurality of images (still images and / or moving images) are recorded is loaded, and a CD-RW (5) capable of storing a large number of images is stored in a CD-RW interface (14). Is loaded.

The electronic album device (1) includes a CPU (6)
A ROM (7) in which computer programs for realizing various operations are registered; a RAM (8) as a working memory; and a display control circuit (9) for controlling the operation of the monitor (2). A memory card control circuit (10) for controlling the operation of the memory card interface (13);
CD-RW control circuit (12) for controlling the operation of interface (14), and command signal (infrared signal) from remote control (3)
And a receiver (11) for receiving the data.

By loading the memory card (4) taken out of the digital camera into the memory card interface (13) of the electronic album device (1),
A plurality of original images and thumbnails written in (4) are read and stored in the CD-RW (5) loaded in the CD-RW interface (14).

For example, as shown in FIG. 4, a large number of original images are stored together with their respective thumbnails in the CD-RW (5). When a desired image is to be searched from these original images, the search is performed. Of the target image (search image). Since the thumbnail is created by photographing with a digital camera and stored in the memory card (4), the thumbnail of the search image is read from the memory card.

In the search mode, the electronic album device (1) first calculates a feature amount of a thumbnail of a search image, and then, for a plurality of original images stored in the CD-RW (5), a thumbnail of each original image. While sequentially calculating the feature amount of the search image, the calculation result is compared with the feature amount of the thumbnail of the search image to search for an image having the highest similarity to the search image.

Here, the calculation and collation of the feature amount of the thumbnail are performed, for example, by nonlinear normalization (“linear density equalization—nonlinear normalization method for correlation method”, Transactions of the Institute of Electronics, Communication and Communication, '84 / 11 Vol. J67-). D No.11), and then match the direction pattern ("Analysis of handwritten kanji by the direction pattern matching method" IEICE Transactions '82 / 5 Vol.J65-D
No.5) can be adopted. That is, after performing binarization based on the shading of the image and performing non-linear normalization, an edge pattern of the image is obtained, and a feature amount obtained by mapping the directional component and position of the edge to a feature space in four directions is obtained. Also, the matching degree (similarity degree) can be calculated by performing pattern matching of two feature amounts to be matched (“analysis by the handwritten kanji directional pattern matching method”, IEICE Transactions '82 / 5 Vol.J65-D
No.5). The images retrieved in this way are shown in the monitor of FIG.
It is supplied to (2) and is projected on the screen.

The search image is not limited to an image obtained by photographing a real object with a digital camera, but may be an image obtained by photographing a drawing depicting an image of the search image as shown in FIG. .

The images stored in the CD-RW (5) may be not only still images but also moving images. For example, as shown in FIG. , The image 12 is composed of ten image planes 1 to 10, and the image 13 is composed of 20 image planes 1 to 2.
In the case of 0, the thumbnail of the moving image is a thumbnail of an image plane extracted from a plurality of image planes constituting the moving image at a ratio of one out of ten image planes. In this case, similarly, the thumbnail of the search image is compared with the thumbnail of each image (still image and moving image) by the feature amount. For the determination of the thumbnail of a moving image, for example, a method of detecting an image plane in which a feature amount has changed beyond a threshold value in a series of image planes constituting the moving image and selecting the image plane as a thumbnail can be adopted.

FIG. 2 shows a procedure of an image search based on the search image. First, in step S1, the thumbnail S 'of the search image S is read, and in step S2,
The feature amount FS of the read thumbnail S 'is calculated. Next, in step S3, after setting the image number N to 0,
In step S4, the thumbnail N 'of the image N is read, and subsequently, in step S5, the feature amount FN of the thumbnail N' of the image N is calculated.

Thereafter, in step S6, a matching degree (similarity) RN between the feature amount FN of the thumbnail of the image N and the feature amount FS of the thumbnail S 'of the search image S is calculated. continue,
In step S7, it is determined whether or not N is 0. If the determination is yes, the process proceeds to step S8, where M = N and RM = RN. If no, the process shifts to step S9 to determine whether or not the RN exceeds the RM.
Then, the process proceeds to step S10, where M = N and RM = RN. If no, step S10 is bypassed. Then, step S
At 11, the image number N is counted up, and step S
At 12, it is determined whether N has exceeded the maximum image number. If the determination is no, the process returns to step S4. If yes, the process moves to step S13 to output the image M as the image with the highest matching degree (search result), and ends the procedure.

As a result, the monitor (2) shown in FIG.
The image most similar to the search image will be displayed.
Therefore, the user can automatically obtain a desired image, and it is not necessary to select a thumbnail of a target image from a large number of thumbnails as in the related art.

Also, an electronic album device (1) according to the present invention.
Calculates the feature amounts of the thumbnails of a large number of images stored in the CD-RW (5) in the classification mode, compares the feature amounts of the thumbnails of the images with each other, and compares similar images. Are classified as a common group, and the result is output. Here, the above-described non-linear normalization and the direction pattern matching method can be adopted for the calculation and collation of the feature amount of the thumbnail.

As a result of the above classification, for example, as shown in FIG.
Many original images and thumbnails are grouped and displayed for each group.

FIG. 3 shows the procedure of the image classification. First, in step S21, the number of groups GC is set to 0, and in step S22, the image number N is set to 0. Next, in step S23, it is determined whether or not N exceeds the maximum image number. If the determination is NO, the process proceeds to step S24, where the thumbnail N 'of the image N is read out, and step S25 is performed. Then, the feature amount FN of the thumbnail N 'of the image N is calculated.

Thereafter, in step S26, it is determined whether or not N is 0. When the determination is yes, the process proceeds to step S37, and the group element number GE
N [GC] [0] is set to N. In step S38, the number of group elements GEN [GC] is set to 1, and step S39 is performed.
, The feature amount G of the thumbnail of the group representative (top) image
After setting F [GC] to FN and further setting the number of groups GC to 1 in step S40, N is set in step S41.
And returns to step S23.

If it is determined NO in step S26, the process proceeds to step S27, where the group number GN is set to 0.
After that, in step S28, the feature amount FN of the thumbnail N 'of the image N and the group representative of the group number GN
The degree of matching RG with the feature amount GF [GN] of the thumbnail of the (head) image is calculated. Next, in step S29, it is determined whether or not the matching degree RG is equal to or greater than the threshold value RT of the similar image matching degree. If the determination is no, the process proceeds to step S30 to count GN. After being raised, in step S31, it is determined whether or not GN is lower than GC. If the determination is yes, the process returns to step S28.

When the determination is YES in step S29, the process proceeds to step S42, and the group element number (addition) GEN [GN] [GEC [GN]] is set to N. In step S43, the number of group elements (Added) GEC [GN] to G
After setting EC [GN] +1, N is counted up in step S44, and the process returns to step S23. On the other hand, when it is determined NO in step S31, step S3
2 and change the group element number GEN [GC] [0] to N
, And in step S33, the number of group elements GEN
[GC] is set to 1 and the group representative is set in step S34.
The feature amount GF [GC] of the thumbnail of the (head) image is set to FN, and the number of groups GC is counted up in step S35, then N is counted up in step S36, and the process returns to step S23. Then, step S
When it is determined to be Yes at 23, the procedure ends.

By executing the above procedure, the following classification results are obtained. Number of groups = GC Number of elements in each group = GEC [GN] (GN: group number, 0 ≦ GN <GC) Image number of elements in each group = GEN [GN] [i] (i: element number, 0 ≦ i <GEC [GN])

In this way, a large number of images stored in the CD-RW (5) are divided into groups with high similarity, and the images belonging to each group are displayed on the screen of the monitor (2). Will be. Therefore, many images can be easily arranged. Also, when searching for a target image, the number of images to be selected can be significantly reduced by first selecting a group to which the target image belongs, and thereafter, from a plurality of images belonging to that group. What is necessary is just to select a target image.

The configuration of each part of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the technical scope described in the claims. For example, the calculation of the feature amount of the thumbnail, the comparison, and the calculation of the similarity are not limited to the method of the above-described embodiment, and various well-known methods can be adopted.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an electronic album device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of a search process.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of a classification process.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a search process.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a search image and a thumbnail of a handwritten drawing.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a search process of an image including a moving image.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a result of a classification process.

[Explanation of symbols]

 (1) Electronic album device (2) Monitor (3) Remote control (4) Memory card (5) CD-RW (13) Memory card interface (14) CD-RW interface

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G11B 27/00 G11B 27/34 P 5L096 27/34 H04N 5/76 B H04N 5/76 5/91 JN F-term (reference) 5B075 MM03 MM04 ND03 ND08 ND12 ND23 ND34 NK07 NK13 NK14 NK24 NK42 NR05 NR12 PQ02 PQ40 PQ46 PQ48 PR06 QM08 UU40 5C052 AA02 AA04 AA17 AC08 CC01 DD04 5C05A05 BA053 HA07 HC26 HC27 5D110 AA17 AA29 DA06 DA15 DA20 DB05 DE04 DE06 EA06 EA08 FA02 FA09 5L096 AA02 AA06 CA02 EA03 JA03 JA11 LA05

Claims (5)

[Claims] An image display device is connected to a data storage device in which a plurality of images are stored together with respective thumbnails, and a desired one of a plurality of images and thumbnails stored in the data storage device is selected. Alternatively, in an electronic album device capable of selecting and displaying a plurality of images and / or thumbnails on an image display device, an input unit for inputting a thumbnail of a search image to be searched, First calculating means for calculating the feature value of the thumbnail based on the thumbnail, second calculating means for calculating the feature value of the thumbnail based on the thumbnail of each image stored in the data storage device, The feature amount of the thumbnail of the image is compared with the feature amount of the thumbnail of the image stored in the data storage device, and stored in the data storage device. Locate one or more images having high similarity with the search image from a plurality of images are, electronic album apparatus characterized in that it comprises a search means for outputting the image to the image display device. 2. The electronic album device according to claim 1, wherein the search image is an image obtained by photographing a drawing depicting an image of the search image. 3. The image stored in the data storage device is a still image and / or a moving image.
An electronic album apparatus according to claim 1. 4. The electronic album device according to claim 3, wherein the moving image thumbnail is one or more image planes extracted from a plurality of image planes constituting the moving image, or a thumbnail of the image plane. 5. A data storage device in which a plurality of images are stored together with respective thumbnails and an image display device are connected, and a desired one of a plurality of images and thumbnails stored in the data storage device is selected. Alternatively, in an electronic album device capable of selecting and displaying a plurality of images and / or thumbnails on an image display device, input means for instructing classification of the plurality of images stored in the data storage device; In response to the input of the command, a calculating means for calculating a feature amount of each thumbnail based on the thumbnail of each image stored in the data storage device, and a plurality of images stored in the data storage device as targets. Based on the feature amounts of the thumbnails, the similar images are classified into a common group, and a plurality of images belonging to the same group are classified. An electronic album apparatus comprising: a classifying unit that outputs images to an image display device in association with each other.