JP2002189753A - Device and method for image management, and computer- readable recording medium with recorded image management program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To effectively use a plurality of stored images. SOLUTION: An image management device is equipped with an image storage part 107 that stores a plurality of images, a retrieval part 113 that extracts an image from the image storage part 107 and displays it, an image data classification part 115 that extracts an image which has not been displayed recently or an image which has a low display frequency by the retrieval part 113, and a data display part 105 that displays the extracted image.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an image management device,
The present invention relates to a computer-readable recording medium on which an image management method and an image management program are recorded, and in particular, an image management apparatus, an image management method, and a computer-readable image recording method capable of effectively using a plurality of images. It relates to a recording medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an image database for storing and managing a plurality of images as digital data on a hard disk or the like of a computer has been known. In a conventional image database, digital data of an image is stored on a hard disk with a file name. However, since the content of the stored image cannot be grasped only by the file name, information specific to the image is managed in addition to the file name. This information is called an attribute, for example,
The photographing purpose such as the name of the subject and the name of the event included in the image, or the photographing date is included.

[0003] Attributes are data representing the contents of the image in characters, and are used when searching for an image.
As a result, it is possible to extract only the images whose attributes meet the predetermined conditions, so that a desired image can be searched using the attributes.

[0004]

However, in the conventional image database, when an image is stored, it is necessary to add an attribute in addition to a file name. . In such a case, since the attribute data is incorrect or does not exist, the search is not accurately performed. As a result, the target image is not included in the search result, and there is a problem that the image cannot be accurately searched.

If the number of images to be extracted by retrieval using attributes is large, not all of the retrieved images can be displayed on the screen at once. In such a case, images are displayed on the display one by one or a predetermined number in order. However, the digital data of an image has a problem that it takes a long processing time to display the digital data because of a large amount of data, and it takes time for a user to find a desired image. At times, the user selects a desired image from the images displayed so far even though there are still images that have not been displayed, and stops the search operation without displaying the remaining images. May be done. In such a case, the search operation is stopped before the image that has not been displayed yet is displayed even though it matches the search condition using the attribute. Absent.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image management apparatus, an image management method, and an image management program capable of effectively using an image. Is to provide a computer-readable recording medium on which is recorded.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an image management apparatus, an image management method, and a computer-readable recording medium on which an image management program is recorded, which can inform a user of the existence of an unnecessary image. It is.

[0008]

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image management apparatus, comprising: a storage unit storing a plurality of images; and an image extracted from the storage unit and displayed. A first display control unit for causing the first display control unit to extract an image that has not been displayed recently or an image with a small number of display times; and a second display control unit for displaying the extracted image.

According to the present invention, an image which has not been displayed recently or an image which is displayed less frequently is extracted and displayed. Therefore, it is possible to remind the user of the image that the user has forgotten, and to provide an image management device that can effectively use the image.

In addition, since an image that has not been displayed recently or an image that is displayed less frequently is unnecessary, it is possible to provide an image management apparatus that can inform a user of the existence of an unnecessary image. .

Preferably, the storage means of the image management device comprises:
An area for storing attribute data corresponding to each image is provided, and the attribute data includes at least data relating to the latest display date of each image and the number of times of display up to the present.

According to the present invention, the attribute data corresponding to each image includes at least data relating to the latest display date and the number of display times up to the present, so that an image that has not been displayed recently or an image with a small number of display times can be easily obtained. Can be extracted.

Preferably, the second display control means of the image management device, when a plurality of images are extracted by the extraction means, the most recently displayed image or the number of times of display of the extracted plurality of images is large. The similarity to the image is calculated, and the extracted images are displayed in the order of the calculated similarity.

According to the present invention, when a plurality of images are extracted, the degree of similarity between the recently displayed image or the image with a large number of display times is calculated for the extracted plurality of images and extracted. Are displayed in the order of similarity. Therefore, an image similar to a recently displayed image or an image with a large number of display times is displayed with priority. As a result, a necessary image can be preferentially displayed.

[0015] Preferably, the second display control means of the image management device, when a plurality of images are extracted by the extraction means, displays the plurality of extracted images on the first display control means. A similarity with the extracted image is calculated, and the plurality of extracted images are displayed in the order of the calculated similarity.

According to the present invention, when a plurality of images are extracted, a similarity between the extracted plurality of images and the currently displayed image is calculated, and the extracted plurality of images are calculated. Are displayed in order of similarity. Therefore, an image similar to the currently displayed image is preferentially displayed. As a result, necessary or unnecessary images can be preferentially displayed from among images that have not been displayed recently or images that have been displayed less frequently.

According to another aspect of the present invention, an image management method is an image management method for managing an image by accessing a database storing a plurality of images, wherein the image is extracted from the database and displayed. And extracting an image that has not been displayed recently or an image that has been displayed less frequently by the displaying step, and displaying the extracted image.

According to the present invention, an image which has not been displayed recently or an image which is displayed less frequently is extracted and displayed. Therefore, it is possible to remind the user of the image that the user has forgotten, and to provide an image management method that can effectively use the image.

In addition, since an image that has not been displayed recently or an image that is displayed less frequently is unnecessary, it is possible to provide an image management method that can inform a user of the existence of an unnecessary image. .

According to still another aspect of the present invention, a computer-readable recording medium storing an image management program is a computer storing an image management program for accessing a database storing a plurality of images and managing the images. A step of extracting an image from a database and displaying the image, a step of extracting an image that has not been displayed recently or an image with a small number of display times, and a step of displaying the extracted image And an image management program for causing a computer to execute the above.

According to the present invention, an image that has not been displayed recently or an image that has been displayed less frequently is extracted and displayed. Therefore, it is possible to remind the user of the image that the user of the computer has forgotten, and to provide a computer-readable recording medium that records an image management program that can effectively use the image.

In addition, since an image that has not been displayed recently or an image that has been displayed less frequently is unnecessary, a computer storing an image management program capable of notifying the user of the computer of the presence of the unnecessary image. A readable recording medium can be provided.

[0023]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The same reference numerals in the drawings denote the same or corresponding members, and description thereof will not be repeated.

The image management device according to the present embodiment is constituted by a personal computer or the like. FIG. 1 is a control block diagram schematically illustrating an image management device according to one embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, an image management device 100 includes a control unit 101 for controlling the entire image management device 100, a data input unit 103 for inputting image data and necessary instructions to the image management device 100, and A data display unit 105 for displaying data such as an image in accordance with an instruction from the control unit 101, an image storage unit 107 for storing an image, and inputting data from an external recording medium 111 or recording medium 111 And an external input / output device 109 for outputting data to the device.

The data input section 103 is composed of a keyboard and a mouse. Further, an image scanner or a digital camera for taking in an image as image data can be used. The data input unit 103 stores character information such as attribute data of an image stored in the image storage unit 107,
It is used to input a command such as a predetermined operation instruction to the control unit 101.

The data display unit 105 is a CRT (CR
T) or a liquid crystal display device, which displays an image, a predetermined input screen, or the like according to an instruction from the control unit 101.

The image storage unit 107 includes a data input unit 103
Alternatively, the image input from the external input / output device 109 and the attribute input from the data input unit 103 are stored. Attributes are input and stored in association with each image.

The control unit 101 performs a predetermined process on the image data stored in the image storage unit 107. To perform these processes, the control unit 101
It includes a search unit 113, an image data classification unit 115, a similarity calculation unit 117, and a data rearrangement unit 119.

The search unit 113 uses the attribute according to the search condition input from the data input unit 103 to store the image in the image storage unit 1.
A process is performed to search for an image stored in 07 and extract an image corresponding to the search condition.

The image data classifying section 115 receives the instruction input from the data input section 103, and
Are classified using the attributes associated with the images. As for the attribute, the image is displayed in the data display unit 10.
5 includes data on the number of times displayed and the displayed date and time. The image data classification unit 115 classifies the image into a plurality of images whose display count is equal to or more than a predetermined number and other images, or an image whose display date is after a predetermined date and other images. The former is called a display image, and the latter is called an undisplayed image. In addition, the display image and the non-display image are classified by combining the number of display times and the display date. For example, an image whose display is after a predetermined date and whose display number is equal to or more than a predetermined number is set as a display image, and other images are set as non-display images.

The similarity calculating section 117 uses the displayed image and the undisplayed image classified by the image data classifying section 115,
The similarity of the undisplayed image to the displayed image is calculated. This similarity is calculated using the image feature, and becomes higher as the similarity to the display image increases. The image storage unit 107 is stored in the image storage unit 107 as a part of the attribute stored in association with the image.
Is stored.

The data rearranging section 119 rearranges the images classified as non-displayed images by the image data classifying section 115 using the attributes associated with the images. For example, in the case of using the attribute similarity, the non-display images are sorted in descending order of the similarity.

The external input / output device 109 includes a recording medium 111
An image management program to be executed by the control unit 101 or a magneto-optical disk drive for reading an image, or a digital video disk drive.

As the recording medium 111, a tape system such as a magnetic tape or a cassette tape, a disk system such as a magnetic disk (flexible disk, hard disk) or an optical disk (CD-ROM / MO / MD / DVD, etc.), an IC card (Including a memory card), a card system such as an optical card, or a mask ROM, EPROM, E
It is also possible to use a medium that fixedly carries a program, such as a semiconductor memory such as an EPROM or a flash memory. In addition, the medium may carry the program in a fluid manner so that the program is downloaded from the network. The external input / output device 109 corresponds to the recording medium 111 so that information can be read from or written to the recording medium 111.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the relationship between the display date and the number of display times of the images stored in the image storage unit 107 of the image management apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment. Referring to FIG.
The display date is shown on the horizontal axis, and the number of times of display is shown on the vertical axis. The display date is old in the right direction of the drawing and new in the left direction.

The images stored in the image storage unit 107 are associated with attributes. The attributes include a display date and a display count. Using these attribute data, the image data classifying unit 1
In step 15, the image data stored in the image storage unit 107 is classified. As a classification method, a method is used in which the classification line 125 is determined in a period in which the display date interval is longest. An image whose display date of the attribute associated with the image is older than the classification line 125 is classified as an undisplayed image, and an image of a display date newer than the classification line 125 is classified as a display image. Also,
If there is more than one with the longest display date interval,
A predetermined display date can be used as a reference. Images with a display date of an attribute associated with an image that is older than a predetermined display date as a reference and images with a new display date can be classified into a non-display image and a display image, respectively.

Further, the classification may be made according to the number of times of display. For example, the classification line 127 is set on the basis of five display times. Then, an image in which the number of display times of the attribute associated with the image is 5 or more is classified as a display image, and 5
The images less than the number of times are classified as undisplayed images.

Further, the number of display times and the display date may be classified together. For example, image data having attribute data whose display count is less than 5 and the display date is older than a predetermined date may be classified as a non-display image, and the other image data may be classified as a display image. In this case, referring to FIG. 2, it is below the classification line 127,
The image on the right side of the classification line 125 is regarded as an undisplayed image, and the other images are classified as display images.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a format of attribute data stored in the image storage unit 107 of the image management apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment. Referring to FIG.
Data stored in the image storage unit 107 includes an image and an attribute. The attribute is stored in association with the image. The image stored in the image storage unit 107 is specified by a file name. For this reason, the image and the attribute are associated using the file name of the image.

Referring to FIG. 3, the format of the attribute data includes items of an image file name and an attribute. The attributes are
The format includes the items of display date, number of display times, and similarity. Explaining with a specific example, the display date is set to 20 for the image whose image file name is “file A”.
Attributes of 0/1/10, 10 times of display, and similarity of “5” are stored in association with each other.

The display date and the number of times of display are rewritten when the control unit 101 reads an image from the image storage unit 107. Therefore, when the image file is read from the image storage unit 107, the control unit 101 reads the attribute corresponding to the file name of the image, and increments and stores the data of the item of “number of display times”. Also, the control unit 101
Extracts the date when the image was read from the calendar provided therein, and updates the data of the item "display date".

The similarity item is updated each time the similarity is calculated by the similarity calculation unit 117.

<Similarity Calculation Processing> Next, the similarity calculation processing performed by the similarity calculation section 117 of the control section 101 will be described. The similarity is a value indicating how similar the undisplayed image classified by the image data classification unit 115 is to the displayed image. Therefore, a reference image serving as a reference for calculating the similarity of an undisplayed image is an image obtained by averaging images classified as display images. That is, the similarity between the average image of the images classified as the display image and the image classified as the non-display image is calculated.

Further, the reference image used as a reference for calculating the similarity of the undisplayed image may be a plurality of reference images instead of one average image obtained by averaging the displayed image images. it can. When using a plurality of reference images, the similarity with the average image obtained by averaging the display images is calculated for each of the display images, and this is effective when the similarities vary. The display images are classified into a plurality of groups by grouping the display images having similar similarities into groups using the similarity of the display images to the average image. Then, an image obtained by averaging the displayed images for each of the plurality of classified groups is set as a representative image of the group, and this is set as a reference image. As a result, as many reference images as the number of groups are determined.

FIG. 2 shows a method of making a plurality of reference images.
This will be described with reference to FIG. With reference to FIG. 2, the display image and the non-display image classified by the classification line 125 are classified.
Of the display images, display images having similar similarities are grouped into three groups 121, 122, and 123.
are categorized. Then, an average image obtained by averaging the images included in the group 121, an average image obtained by averaging the images included in the group 123, and an average image obtained by averaging the images included in the group 122 are regarded as images representing the respective groups. The obtained image is determined as a reference image. In the example shown in FIG. 2, three representative images representing the display image are obtained, and the three representative images are set as reference images, and the similarity of the undisplayed image to each of the reference images is calculated. Therefore, the degree of similarity of the attribute associated with the image is three.

As a method of calculating the similarity between images, for example, there is a method using the color distribution of the images. The similarity is calculated using the difference between the color distributions of the two images to be compared. The smaller the difference between the color distributions, the more similar it is, and the higher the degree of similarity.

As another similarity calculation method, an image is tessellated, and the gray value of the tessellated image data is calculated in advance. Then, the similarity is calculated using the difference between the gray values of the two images to be compared. The smaller the difference between the gray values is, the more similar it is, and the higher the similarity is.

When a specific type of image such as a person's face or a car is targeted, an active image proposed by Court et al.
Using the appearance model, similarity can be obtained from parameters calculated from the shape and color information. Active appearances proposed by Courts
For the model, see TF Cootes et al., “Active Appe
arance models "," In Burkhardt and Neumann, editor
s, Computer Vision-ECCV '98 ”, Vo1. II, Frieburg,
Germany, 1999. The similarity using the active appearance model is calculated using the vector distance. The shorter the vector distance, the higher the similarity, and the higher the similarity.

As the similarity calculated in this way, the obtained similarity itself may be used as an attribute.
Those classified into stages may be set as similarities.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the flow of the image display processing performed by image management apparatus 100 in the present embodiment. Referring to FIG. 4, in the image display processing,
First, the image storage unit 107 is used by the image data classification unit 115.
Are classified into an undisplayed image and a displayed image using attributes associated with the images (step S1). This classification is performed by the image data classification unit 115, and is classified by the above-described method based on the display date, the method based on the number of display times, or the method based on the number of display times and the display date.

Then, the undisplayed images are displayed on the data display unit 105 in the order from the oldest display history (step S2).
In addition, you may make it display in a new order of a display history. The display history is represented by data of the item “display date” of the attribute.

In the next step S3, it is determined whether or not all the undisplayed images have been displayed (step S3). If they have been displayed, the process ends, and if not, the process proceeds to step S4.

In step S4, it is determined whether or not the next image is to be displayed.
Proceed to step 2; otherwise, end the process. In step S4, the user determines whether the data input unit 103
It is determined based on an instruction to be input. For this reason, the user can end the display processing before all of the undisplayed images are displayed.

As described above, the image management apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment classifies images into display images and non-display images using the data of the item “display date” of the attribute associated with the image, and Display images are displayed in chronological order from oldest to newest. Because of this,
Since an image that the user has not seen is displayed, it is possible to remind the user of the image that the user has forgotten. As a result, the originally required image can be effectively used. In addition, since an image that has not been displayed recently is often an unnecessary image, it is possible to notify the user of the existence of an unnecessary image.

<Modified Example of Image Display> Next, a modified example of the image display process performed by the image management apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a flow of a modified image display process performed by image management device 100 in the present embodiment. Referring to FIG. 5, image data classification unit 115 causes image storage unit 107
Are classified into an undisplayed image and a displayed image using the attributes associated with the images (step S11). This classification is performed by the image data classification unit 115 and is based on the display date described above, or
Classification is based on the method based on the number of display times or the method based on the number of display times and the display date.

Then, for each of all the images classified as the non-display images, the similarity to the average image obtained by averaging all the images classified as the display images is obtained (step S12). The similarity is obtained by the above-described similarity calculation unit 117, and is obtained using a method using an image feature, a method using a mosaiced gray value, a method using an active appearance model, or the like. The obtained similarity is stored for each image as data of the item of “similarity” of the attribute stored in the image storage unit 107.

Instead of using the average image of the display images, the display images may be divided into a plurality of groups and the similarity with the average image of each group may be obtained. In this case, the similarity is obtained for one image by the number of groups.

Then, the images classified as non-displayed images are displayed in the descending order of similarity obtained in step S12 (step S13). Therefore, the undisplayed images are displayed in an order similar to the display image.

It is determined whether or not all of the images classified as undisplayed images have been displayed (step S14). If all of the images have been displayed, the process ends. If not, the process proceeds to step S15.

Then, in the next step S15, it is determined whether or not there is an undisplayed image to be displayed next. If so, the process proceeds to step S13; otherwise, the process ends.

As described above, in the transformed image display processing, the undisplayed images are displayed in the order similar to the display images, so that the images that the user has forgotten and that have a high necessity are displayed. You. Conversely, if there are a plurality of similar images, only one image is saved from these images, and the other images are deleted, so that similar images are combined into one. be able to.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a function selection screen displayed on image management apparatus 100 in the present embodiment. The function selection screen is a menu screen displayed when the image management program is executed by the control unit 101.
Referring to FIG. 6, function selection screen 130 includes search button 1
31, a registration button 132, a display button 13 of an undisplayed image
3, an end button 134. When the search button 131 is selected with a pointing device such as a mouse, the search of the image data stored in the image storage unit 107 is performed by the search unit 1.
13 is performed. In this case, a search condition input screen for inputting a search condition is displayed, and a desired image is extracted and displayed according to the input of the search condition.

When the registration button 132 is selected with a pointing device, registration processing of image data is performed. In the registration process, a process of storing an image output from an image scanner or a digital camera of the data input unit 103 in the image storage unit 107 is performed. At this time,
A screen for inputting attributes related to the image stored in the image storage unit 107 is displayed. Then, the image is stored in the image storage unit 107, and the attribute related to the image is stored in the image storage unit 107.

When the display button 133 for an undisplayed image is selected with a pointing device such as a mouse, the image display processing shown in FIG. 4 or 5 is performed. Exit button 1
When 34 is selected with a pointing device such as a mouse, the image management program ends.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of an undisplayed image displayed by the image management device according to the present embodiment. The display screen of the undisplayed image is displayed when the display button 133 of the undisplayed image in FIG. 6 is selected with a pointing device such as a mouse. The display screen of the display image displayed in FIG. 7 is a screen displayed on the data display unit 105 in step S2 of FIG. 4 or step S13 of FIG.

Referring to FIG. 7, display screen 1 of an undisplayed image
40 is an area 141A, 1 for displaying an undisplayed image.
41B and 141C. Each area 141A, 1
The save button 142A, 1B is located below 41B, 141C.
42B, 142C and delete buttons 143A, 143B, 1
43C is displayed. Regions 141A, 141B, 141
In C, undisplayed images are sequentially displayed in a thumbnail format, so that the user can visually recognize what kind of image the image is.

Then, the save buttons 142A, 142B,
By specifying 142C with a pointing device or the like, the storage of the corresponding image in the image storage unit 107 is maintained. Also, delete buttons 143A, 143B, 14
When 3C is designated by a pointing device or the like, the corresponding image is deleted from the image storage unit 107.

When the end button 144 is designated by a pointing device or the like, the image display processing ends.
When the “next” button 145 is specified,
When there is an image that has not been displayed yet among the undisplayed images, three undisplayed images that are not displayed yet and are to be displayed next are displayed.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the flow of the display history updating process performed by image management apparatus 100 in the present embodiment. In the attribute format shown in FIG. 3, the following two types of attributes are created for each image, and stored in the image storage unit 107. One is the attribute of the undisplayed image for storing the history of the image displayed in the display process of the undisplayed image, and the other is the history of the image displayed instead of the display process of the undisplayed image. Is an attribute common to images for storing. The attributes of these undisplayed images and the attributes common to the images are created for each user and stored in the image storage unit 107.

The required image or the image to be accessed differs depending on the individual. Therefore, by creating an attribute for each individual, the necessity of an image is managed for each individual.

When the control section 101 executes the image management program (step S21), a screen for inputting the name of the user is displayed (step S22). This allows
The user can be prompted to enter a name. Note that a user ID or the like may be used instead of the name. Further, passwords may be used in combination.

Then, the user extracts an image stored in the image storage unit 107 by using the search unit 113 or the like.
It is determined whether or not it has been displayed (step S23). Here, in addition to the method using the search unit 113, the image storage unit 10
7 may be displayed by directly specifying the image stored in the image 7.

If an image is displayed, step S24
Otherwise, it enters a standby state.

In step S24, it is determined whether or not the display function of an undisplayed image has been executed. If executed, the process proceeds to step S25; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S26. That is, in step S25, the display history is updated when an image is displayed in the image display process shown in FIG. 4 or FIG. On the other hand, step S26 is a display history update process performed when an image is displayed without performing the image display process shown in FIG. 4 or FIG. In this step, it is determined whether or not the display button 133 on the display screen 140 shown in FIG. 6 has been selected with a pointing device such as a mouse.

In step S25, the attribute of the undisplayed image corresponding to the user name input in step S22 is updated. Specifically, first, the attribute corresponding to the user name is read from the attributes of the undisplayed image. Next, the file name of the image determined to be displayed in step S23 is acquired from the read attributes. Then, the data of the item “display date” of the attribute corresponding to the acquired file name is updated, and the data of the item “display count” is incremented.

On the other hand, in step S26, the image storage unit 10
The attribute common to all the images stored in 7 and corresponding to the input user name is updated.
Specifically, first, an attribute corresponding to the user name is read out from attributes common to all images stored in the image storage unit 107. Next, the file name of the image determined to be displayed in step S23 is acquired from the read attributes. Then, the data of the item “display date” of the attribute corresponding to the acquired file name is updated, and the data of the item “display count” is incremented.

In the image display processing shown in FIG. 4 or FIG. 5, a common attribute is used for all of the images stored in the image storage unit 107 to classify the displayed image and the undisplayed image. .

By using the attribute of an undisplayed image, an image that is frequently displayed is an image that is rarely displayed or that has not been displayed recently but has not been deleted. Such an image can be said to be an image having a low required probability. Therefore, by using the attribute of the undisplayed image, an unnecessary image can be preferentially displayed.

As described above, in the display history updating process, since the display history of the image is recorded for each individual, the image can be managed for each individual.

Further, an attribute common to all images and an attribute of an undisplayed image are stored for each user name. When the undisplayed image display function is being executed, only the attribute of the undisplayed image is updated, and the attribute common to all the images is not updated. Conversely, when the undisplayed image display function is not executed, only the attributes common to all the images are updated. For this reason, the display history when the display of the undisplayed image is being executed can be separated from the display history when the image is displayed at other times, and the undisplayed image is adapted to the display of the actual image. Can be displayed.

As described above, the image management apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment can remind the user of the image that the user has forgotten. Therefore, the image can be used effectively. further,
It is possible to inform the user of the existence of an unnecessary image.

Furthermore, since an effective image or an unnecessary image is preferentially displayed, the image can be easily managed.

The embodiments disclosed this time are to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the description above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a control block diagram schematically illustrating an image management device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a display date and the number of times of display of an image stored in an image storage unit of the image management device according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a format of attribute data stored in an image storage unit of the image management device according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of an image display process performed by the image management device according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a modified image display process performed by the image management device according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a function selection screen displayed on the image management device according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a display screen of an undisplayed image displayed by the image management device according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a display history update process performed by the image management device according to the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 100 image management device, 101 control unit, 103 data input unit, 105 data display unit, 107 image storage unit, 109 external input / output device, 111 recording medium, 11
3 search unit, 115 image data classification unit, 117 similarity calculation unit, 119 data rearrangement unit, 125, 127
Classification line, 130 function selection screen, 140 display screen.

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Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A storage means for storing a plurality of images, a first display control means for extracting and displaying images from the storage means, and an image which has not been displayed recently by the first display control means or the number of times of display. An image management device, comprising: an extraction unit that extracts a small number of images; and a second display control unit that displays the extracted images. 2. The storage means has an area for storing attribute data corresponding to each image, wherein the attribute data includes at least data relating to the latest display date of each image and the number of times of display up to the present. , Claim 1
An image management device according to claim 1. 3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second display control unit is configured to, when a plurality of images are extracted by the extracting unit, determine whether or not the plurality of extracted images is a recently displayed image or an image having a large number of display times. The image management device according to claim 1, wherein the similarity is calculated, and the extracted images are displayed in the order of the calculated similarity. 4. When the plurality of images are extracted by the extracting means, the second display control means displays the plurality of extracted images on the first display control means. The image management device according to claim 1, wherein the image management apparatus calculates a similarity with an existing image, and displays the plurality of extracted images in order of the calculated similarity. 5. An image management method for managing an image by accessing a database storing a plurality of images, the method comprising: extracting an image from the database and displaying the image; and displaying an image not recently displayed by the display step. Alternatively, an image management method including a step of extracting an image with a small number of display times and a step of displaying the extracted image. 6. A computer-readable recording medium storing an image management program for accessing a database storing a plurality of images and managing the images, the method comprising: extracting and displaying images from the database; A computer-readable recording medium storing an image management program for causing a computer to execute a step of extracting an image that has not been displayed recently or an image that has been displayed less frequently by the displaying step, and a step of displaying the extracted image.