JP2002374397A - Image storage device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image storage device, with which a plurality of hard disks can be selectively used in the case of requesting a reading speed and the other case. SOLUTION: When image data are inputted, utilization frequency information is extracted by an HDD selection circuit 102 and further, the image data are compressed by a compressing circuit 103 and successively stored in a buffer 105. Depending to whether the compressed image data are stored in an HDD 109 or 112, the buffer 105 switches the transfer speed of the compressed image data. The transfer rate to be converted by the buffer 105 is determined, corresponding to whether the use frequency of the image data extracted by the HDD selection circuit 102 is 'large' or 'small'. A table 107 stores information, showing whether the compressed image data sent at the transfer rate suitable for a storage medium are transferred to the HDD 109 of low speed and large capacitance or HDD 112, which can be accessed at a high speed, by a switcher 106.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an image storage device for speeding up access to image data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an image storage device that acquires and stores image data from an input device such as a scanner device, a facsimile device, or an input device such as a PC (personal computer) terminal connected via a network is known. Are known. Such an image storage device needs to correspond to a transfer speed, an input speed, and the like of different image data from various input devices connected via a network. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 8-22 regarding storage of image data
Japanese Patent No. 7375 discloses an image storage device that stores image data from an input unit and sends the image data to an output unit. The image storage device stores image data according to an operation mode in order to increase an output speed when outputting a plurality of originals. There is described an image storage device in which the writing speed to the image memory is low by changing the memory access method at the time of reading, but the reading speed is high and the output speed when recording a plurality of originals is high. .

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned prior art, since a memory is assumed as an image storage device, a large amount of image data is stored, or image data is stored after performing an electronic sort function. In such a case, it is not suitable, and it may take time not only to write image data but also to read image data. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to control a hard disk which is a large-capacity storage means, a hard disk having a relatively small capacity but configured so as to enable high-speed access, so that a read speed is required or not. An object of the present invention is to provide an image storage device capable of selectively using a plurality of hard disks.

[0004]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image storage device capable of transmitting and receiving image data to and from another terminal device connected via a network.
Image data receiving means for receiving image data to which usage frequency information indicating a ratio used in the other terminal device is added, and usage frequency information added to the image data received by the image data receiving means being predetermined. Detecting means for detecting whether or not the value is larger than a value, a large-capacity storage means having a storage capacity for storing the image data of a certain amount or more, and a storage for storing the image data from the large-capacity storage means. A high-speed access storage unit having a small capacity but capable of high-speed access; and storing the image data in the large-capacity storage unit or the high-speed access storage unit based on the detection result of the frequency of use of image data by the detection unit. Determining means for determining whether to store the image data in the image data received by the image data receiving means. When the use frequency information detected is larger than a predetermined value, the determination unit determines that the image data is stored in the high-speed access storage unit, and the detection unit receives the image data by the image data reception unit. When the use frequency information added to the image data is detected to be smaller than a predetermined value, the determining means determines that the image data is stored in the large-capacity storage means, thereby achieving the above object.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the high-speed access storage means has a plurality of storage media, and performs serial conversion or image conversion on the image data received by the image data receiving means. The above object is achieved by performing parallel conversion, converting the data into bitmap data, and storing the data in the plurality of storage media. According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the invention, the image data received by the image data receiving unit is temporarily stored before being stored in the mass storage unit or the high-speed access storage unit. The above object is achieved by further comprising a temporary storage unit for storing, wherein the temporary storage unit is a high-speed storage unit capable of storing at least one or more pieces of image data received by the image data receiving unit. I do. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the determining means stores the image data received by the image data receiving means in the mass storage. The above object is achieved by further comprising storage destination information recording means for recording storage destination information indicating which of the storage means and the high-speed access storage means has decided to store the information.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in an image storage device capable of transmitting and receiving image data to and from another terminal device connected via a network, the access frequency information indicating the access frequency of the other terminal device is Image data receiving means for receiving the added image data; detecting means for detecting whether access frequency information added to the image data received by the image data receiving means is greater than a predetermined value; and A large-capacity storage unit having a storage capacity for storing data that is a certain amount or more; a high-speed access storage unit that has a small storage capacity for storing the image data from the large-capacity storage unit but allows high-speed access; Based on the detection result of the access frequency information of the image data by the detection unit, the image data is stored in the large-capacity storage unit or Determination means for determining which of the high-speed access storage means to store, the access frequency information added to the image data received by the image data receiving means is larger than a predetermined value. When the determination unit determines that the image data is stored in the high-speed access storage unit, the determination unit determines that the access frequency information added to the image data received by the image data reception unit is a predetermined value. When it is detected that the image data is smaller than the value, the determination means determines that the image data is to be stored in the large-capacity storage means, thereby achieving the above object.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the fifth aspect of the present invention, the frequency of access to the image data stored in the large-capacity storage means or the high-speed access storage means from the another terminal device is detected. Extracting the image data stored in the large-capacity storage means or the high-speed access storage means, transferring the image data from the large-capacity storage means to the high-speed access storage means, and storing the extracted image data. Or image data transfer means for transferring from the high-speed access storage means to the large-capacity storage means and storing the image data. The image data transfer means is stored in the large-capacity storage means by the access frequency detection means. If the frequency of access from the other terminal device to the specified image data is detected to be equal to or higher than a certain value, The image data extracted from the mass storage means, by storing in said fast access memory means, to achieve the above object. According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the sixth aspect of the present invention, the image data transfer unit transfers the other terminal device to predetermined image data stored in the high-speed access storage unit by the access frequency detection unit. When it is detected that the frequency of access from the storage device is below a certain value, the above object is achieved by extracting the image data from the high-speed access storage means and storing it in the large-capacity storage means.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the image storage device according to the first embodiment. The image storage device of the present embodiment (FIG. 1)
The part surrounded by a dotted line is an image processing device (not shown) such as a scanner device or a facsimile device,
Image data and image data information from a C (personal computer) terminal 1,...
A network I / F (interface) 101 input via the PC and input image data are stored in a large-capacity HDD (hard disk drive) 109 which has relatively slow access but has a relatively small capacity. HDD selection circuit 102 for extracting image information for determining whether to store the image data in HDD 112 which can be accessed at high speed, compression circuit 103 for compressing input image data, and buffer 105 for temporarily storing compressed compressed image data. A memory control circuit 104 for controlling the buffer 105;
Extraction result of DD selection circuit 102 (corresponding to decision result)
And a switch 106 for switching between sending the compressed image data to the large-capacity HDD 109 or sending to the high-speed accessible HDD 112 in accordance with the above. Table 107 for storing and large-capacity HDD control circuit 10 for controlling large-capacity HDD 109
8, a parallel conversion circuit 111 for converting the transmitted compressed image data into parallel data, and a high-speed access HDD control circuit 110 for controlling a high-speed accessible HDD 112.

Next, the operation of the image storage device according to the present embodiment will be described. First, image data and image information are input via the network I / F 101. Here, the image information is header information of image data relating to input image data such as an image file name, an image size, an image format, and a compression format. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that expected use frequency information of the image data is added to the header information. That is, for example, if the input image data is frequently accessed after the input, or if the image data itself is public data, information of “high usage frequency” is added as usage frequency information, When it is determined that the access frequency is too low, the information of “low use frequency” is added as the use frequency information. The determination as to whether the usage frequency information of the image data is “large” or “small” is made in advance by a predetermined value, for example, when the image data is accessed or used more than 10 times, "Large", and if less than 10 times, "Small usage frequency". It is assumed that the setting of the predetermined value that determines the magnitude of the use frequency can be changed as appropriate.

When image information is input via the network I / F 101, the HDD selection circuit 102 extracts use frequency information for the image data from the image information and stores it in a register inside the HDD selection circuit 102. . The image data is compressed by the compression circuit 103 in order to increase the amount of image data stored in the image storage device. As a method of compressing image data by the compression circuit 103, reversible compression is desirable so as not to deteriorate the quality of image data. The compressed image data compressed by the compression circuit 103 is sequentially stored in a buffer 105 controlled by a memory control circuit 104. At this time, buffer 10
Reference numeral 5 is used as a temporary memory, and the compressed image data read to some extent in the buffer 105 is sequentially read from the head. This is buffer 105
Is a large-capacity HDD 109 storing compressed image data.
This is because the transfer speed of the compressed image data is switched depending on whether the data is stored in the HDD 112 that can be accessed at high speed. As described above, the buffer 105 has a function of converting a transfer rate suitable for the access speed of the storage medium.

The transfer rate converted by the buffer 105 is determined by whether the frequency of use of the information and image data extracted by the HDD selection circuit 102 is “large” or “small”. For example, if the image information is “frequently used”, that is, if the image data is frequently accessed in the future, it is better to store the image data on a storage medium that can be accessed at high speed. This is advantageous in terms of efficiency. On the other hand, for example, when the image information is “infrequently used”, since the access frequency is low, it is not necessary to store the image information in a storage medium that can be accessed at high speed. This means that you only need to store them. Thus, the switch 106
Converts compressed image data transmitted at a transfer rate switched according to image information based on information extracted by the HDD selection circuit 102 into a low-speed and large-capacity HDD 109.
To be stored in the HDD 112 which can be accessed at high speed. As described above, the switching unit 106 can transmit the compressed image data sent at a transfer rate suitable for the storage medium via the memory control circuit 104 to the optimum storage medium.

When the switch 106 transmits the compressed image data transmitted at a transfer rate suitable for the storage medium to the optimum storage medium, the switch 107 stores the low-speed large-capacity HDD 10
9 (storage information, which is information on a storage medium in which compressed image data is stored) indicating whether the data has been transferred to the HDD 112 or the HDD 112 that can be accessed at high speed. In principle, according to the use frequency information added to the image information, the frequently used image data is stored in the HDD 112 which is a storage medium which can be accessed at high speed, and the infrequently used image data is stored in the HDD 10 which is a low speed and large capacity storage medium.
9 is stored. Note that the HDD 112, which is a storage medium having a relatively small capacity and capable of high-speed access, has a DISK F
In the UL state, that is, when there is no remaining capacity of the disk, even the image information “frequently used” is stored in the HDD 109 which is a low-speed large-capacity storage medium. In such an exceptional case, the table 107 is used to detect where the image data is stored. As described above, the storage medium storing the compressed image data can be specified by the table 107. Further, the information in the table 107 may include, for example, an ID (identifier) number of a storage medium storing the input image information.

Here, the storage medium of the image storage device will be described. In the image storage device of the present embodiment, a large-capacity HDD 109 is used as a relatively low-speed and large-capacity storage medium.
The HDD 109 is controlled by a large-capacity HDD control circuit 108. HDD
109 is used for storing image data that is not frequently used because it is easy to increase the capacity because it is low-speed and low-cost. Further, in the image storage device of the present embodiment, a high-speed accessible HD is used as a high-speed accessible storage medium.
The HDD 112 is controlled by a high-speed access HDD control circuit 110. The HDD 112 is used to store frequently used image data. The high-speed access HDD control circuit 110 includes a parallel conversion circuit 111. The parallel conversion circuit 111 converts the image data transmitted to operate the storage medium at high speed in parallel,
It is possible to write on the storage medium in parallel,
Thereby, high-speed transfer can be performed. By performing such an operation, image data can be accessed more efficiently.

Next, a second embodiment will be described.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the image storage device according to the second embodiment. The first embodiment is a case where image data is stored in a storage medium in accordance with the frequency of use (FIG. 1), whereas the second embodiment is an embodiment where the stored image data is read. That is different. The image storage device of the present embodiment (the portion surrounded by a dotted line in FIG. 2)
Large-capacity HDD control circuit 208 for controlling large-capacity HDD 209, serial conversion circuit 211 for converting stored compressed image data to serial data, and high-speed access HDD for controlling high-speed accessible HDD 212
A control circuit 210, a table 207 for storing where the compressed image data is stored as a result, and a large capacity H
A selector circuit 206 for selecting whether to read the compressed image data from the DD 209 or a high-speed accessible HDD 212; a buffer 205 for temporarily storing the compressed image data read from the storage medium; and a memory for controlling the buffer 205. A control circuit 204 and a decompression circuit 203 for decompressing the read compressed image data
And image data and image data information from an image processing device (not shown) such as a scanner device or a facsimile device, or PC terminals 1,..., N, etc., via a LAN constituted by an optical cable or the like. Network I
/ F101. Further, the serial conversion circuit 211 of the second embodiment performs a process of converting data read from a plurality of storage media in parallel, and converting the data to multi-bit data, instead of converting the data to 1-bit data. Shall be.

Next, the operation of the image storage device according to the present embodiment will be described. In the present embodiment, as a storage medium for storing compressed image data, there is an HDD 209 having a relatively low speed and a large capacity, and a large capacity HDD control circuit 208 for controlling the HDD 209 controls an image of a relatively infrequently used image. The data is stored. As a storage medium that can be accessed at high speed, there is an HDD 212 that can be accessed at high speed.
2 is stored by the high-speed access HDD control circuit 210 for controlling the image data. The high-speed access HDD control circuit 210 has a serial conversion circuit 211, and the serial conversion circuit 211
In order to operate the storage medium at a higher speed, the image data read out according to the speed of the storage medium is converted into serial data and read out. At this time, whether to read the compressed image data from the low-speed large-capacity HDD 209 or the high-speed accessible HDD 212 is determined based on the image information stored in the table 207.

Based on the information from the table 207,
The selector circuit 206 selects the compressed image data from each storage medium. The selected compressed image data is
Buffer 20 controlled by memory control circuit 204
5 are sequentially stored. At that time, the buffer 205 is used as a temporary memory, and the compressed image data read to some extent in the buffer 205 is sequentially read from the head. This is because the buffer 205 transfers the compressed image data read from the storage medium at a certain transfer rate to the network I / F.
This is because the transfer rate is converted in order to send the data to an external local area network via the communication terminal 201. The compressed image data converted by the buffer 205 is supplied to a decompression circuit 2.
03, the image data is restored to the original image data, and transmitted over the network via the network I / F 201. With such a configuration, the image data that is infrequently used is accessed, that is, stored by a relatively low-speed and low-cost large-capacity storage medium.
Frequently used image data can be divided so as to be accessed at a high speed by a storage medium that can be accessed at a high speed, and a low-cost and efficient image storage device can be provided.

Next, a third embodiment will be described.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the image storage device according to the third embodiment. The image storage device of the present embodiment (FIG.
The part surrounded by a dotted line is an image processing device (not shown) such as a scanner device or a facsimile device,
A network I / F 301 for inputting image data and image data information from the C terminals 1,..., N via a LAN constituted by an optical cable or the like, and storing an external image access frequency for each image data. The image data is stored in the large-capacity HDD 309, which has a relatively slow access but is relatively slow, but the HDD is relatively small but can be accessed at a high speed.
D312, an access frequency storage circuit 302 for deciding whether to store the image data, and a compression circuit 30 for compressing the input image data.
3, a buffer 305 for temporarily storing the compressed image data, a memory control circuit 304 for controlling the buffer 305, and a determination result (corresponding to access frequency determination information) of the access frequency storage circuit 302. A switch 306 for switching between sending the compressed image data to the large-capacity HDD 309 and sending it to the HDD 312 that can be accessed at a high speed; and a table 307 for storing which of the switched compressed image data is stored as a result. ,
A large-capacity HDD control circuit 308 for controlling a large-capacity HDD 309, a parallel conversion circuit 311 for converting transmitted compressed image data into parallel data, and a high-speed access HDD for controlling a high-speed accessible HDD 312
And a control circuit 310.

Next, the operation of the image storage device according to the present embodiment will be described. First, when image data is input via the network I / F 301, the access frequency storage circuit 302 calculates access frequency information for the input image data, and the access frequency storage circuit 3
02 is stored in an internal register. The access frequency storage circuit 302 stores the access frequency of each image data that is accessed on a daily basis. For example, with respect to image data that has been accessed for a certain amount or more within a unit period, it is determined that access will be frequently performed in the future, and high-speed access to the memory control circuit 304 and the switch 306 is possible. It is designed to instruct storage in a storage medium. In addition, the access frequency storage circuit 302 instructs the memory control circuit 304 and the switch 306 to store the image data determined to be infrequently accessed to a large-capacity storage medium at a low speed. Has become.

The image data input from the network I / F 301 is compressed by the compression circuit 303 in order to increase the amount of image data stored in the image storage device. As a method for compressing image data by the compression circuit 303, reversible compression is preferable so as not to deteriorate the quality of the image data. The compressed image data compressed by the compression circuit 303 is sequentially stored in a buffer 305 controlled by a memory control circuit 304. At this time, the buffer 305
Is used as a temporary memory, and the compressed image data read to some extent in the buffer 305 is sequentially read from the head. This is buffer 305
Is a large-capacity HDD 309 storing compressed image data.
This is because the transfer speed of the compressed image data is switched depending on whether the data is stored in the HDD 312 which can be accessed at high speed. As described above, the buffer 305 has a function of converting a transfer rate suitable for the access speed of the storage medium.

The transfer rate converted by the buffer 305 is such that the access frequency of the information and image data calculated by the access frequency storage circuit 302 is “large” or “small”.
Is determined. It should be noted that whether the access frequency of the image data is “high” or “small” is determined in advance by a predetermined value, for example, “high access frequency” when there are 10 or more accesses to the image data. If the number of accesses is less than 10, the access frequency is set to "low access frequency". It is assumed that the setting of the predetermined value that determines the magnitude of the access frequency can be changed as appropriate. For example, when the access frequency storage circuit 302 determines that the access frequency is high as the information of the image data, that is, when it is determined that the access frequency of the image data is high in the future, the image storage device performs high-speed access. This means that storing the data in a possible storage medium is advantageous in terms of performance. On the other hand, for example, when the information of the image data is determined to be “small access frequency”, it is not necessary to store the image data in a storage medium that can be accessed at high speed because the access frequency in the future is low. That is, it is sufficient to store the data in a low-speed storage medium. Thus, the switching device 3
Reference numeral 06 denotes whether to store the compressed image data transmitted at the transfer rate switched by the image information in the low-speed large-capacity HDD 309 or the high-speed accessible HDD 312 based on the judgment information of the access frequency storage circuit 302. Switch. Thus, by the switch 306,
The compressed image data transmitted at a transfer rate suitable for the storage medium via the memory control circuit 304 can be transmitted to the optimum storage medium.

When the switch 306 transmits the compressed image data transmitted at the transfer rate suitable for the storage medium to the optimum storage medium, the table 307 stores the low-speed large-capacity HDD 30
9 or information indicating whether the image data is stored in the HDD 312 that can be accessed at high speed (storage information that is information on a storage medium in which the compressed image data is stored). In principle, according to the access frequency information added to the image information, the image data with a high access frequency is stored in the HDD 312 which is a storage medium capable of high-speed access, and the image data with a low access frequency is stored in the HD 312 which is a low-speed and large capacity storage medium.
D309. The HDD 312, which is a storage medium having a relatively small capacity and capable of high-speed access, has a DIS 3
In the K FULL state, that is, when there is no remaining capacity of the disk, the HDD 309 which is a low-speed and large-capacity storage medium even if the image information is “access frequently”.
Will be stored. In such an exceptional case, the table 307 is used to detect where the image data is stored. Thus, the table 30
7, the storage medium storing the compressed image data can be specified. The information in the table 307 may include, for example, an ID number of a storage medium stored in the input image information.

Here, the storage medium of the image storage device will be described. In the image storage device of the present embodiment, a large-capacity HDD 309 is used as a relatively low-speed and large-capacity storage medium.
The HDD 309 is controlled by a large-capacity HDD control circuit 308. HDD
Reference numeral 309 is used for storing image data with low access frequency because it is easy to increase the capacity because it is low-speed and low-cost. In the image storage device according to the present embodiment,
A high-speed accessible HDD 312 is provided as a high-speed accessible storage medium, and this HDD 312 is controlled by a high-speed access HDD control circuit 310. The HDD 312 is used to store frequently accessed image data. In addition, high-speed access HDD
The control circuit 310 has a parallel conversion circuit 311. The parallel conversion circuit 311 converts the image data transmitted in order to operate the storage medium at high speed into parallel data and writes the image data in parallel to the storage medium, thereby performing high-speed transfer. it can. By performing such an operation, image data can be accessed more efficiently.

Next, a fourth embodiment will be described.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the image storage device according to the fourth embodiment. The third embodiment is a case where the image data is stored in the storage medium according to the access frequency (FIG. 3), whereas the fourth embodiment is a case where the stored image data is read. That is different. Image storage device of the present embodiment (portion surrounded by dotted line in FIG. 4)
Is a large-capacity HDD control circuit 408 for controlling a large-capacity HDD 409, a serial conversion circuit 411 for serially converting stored compressed image data, and a high-speed access H for controlling a high-speed accessible HDD 412.
A DD control circuit 410, a table 407 for storing where the compressed image data is stored as a result, and a selector for selecting whether to read the compressed image data from the large-capacity HDD 409 or the HDD 412 that can be accessed at high speed. A circuit 406, a buffer 405 for temporarily storing the compressed image data read from the storage medium, a memory control circuit 404 for controlling the buffer 405,
Decompression circuit 403 for decompressing the read compressed image data
And image data and image data information from an image processing device (not shown) such as a scanner device or a facsimile device, or PC terminals 1,..., N, etc., via a LAN constituted by an optical cable or the like. Network I
/ F401. Further, the serial conversion circuit 411 of the fourth embodiment performs a process of converting data read from a plurality of storage media in parallel, and converting the data into multi-bit data, instead of converting the data into 1-bit data. Shall be.

Next, the operation of the image storage device according to this embodiment will be described. In the present embodiment, as a storage medium storing the compressed image data, there is an HDD 409 having a relatively low speed and a large capacity, and a large capacity HDD control circuit 408 for controlling the HDD 409 controls the image data having a relatively low access frequency. Is stored. As a storage medium that can be accessed at high speed, there is an HDD 412 that can be accessed at high speed.
Is stored by the high-speed access HDD control circuit 410 for controlling the image data. The high-speed access HDD control circuit 410 has a serial conversion circuit 411, and the serial conversion circuit 41
In order to operate the storage medium at a higher speed, 1 performs serial conversion on the read image data in accordance with the speed of the storage medium and reads the image data. At this time, the table 40 indicates whether to read the compressed image data from the low-speed large-capacity HDD 409 or the high-speed accessible HDD 412.
7 is determined based on the image information stored in.

Based on the information from the table 407,
The selector circuit 406 selects the compressed image data from each storage medium. The selected compressed image data is
Buffer 40 controlled by memory control circuit 404
5 are sequentially stored. At this time, the buffer 405 is used as a temporary memory, and the compressed image data read to some extent in the buffer 405 is sequentially read from the head. This is because the buffer 405 transfers the compressed image data read from the storage medium at a certain transfer rate to the network I / F.
This is because the transfer rate is converted in order to send the data to an external local area network via 401. The compressed image data converted by the buffer 405 is supplied to a decompression circuit 4.
03, the image data is restored to the original image data, and is sent out onto the network via the network I / F 401. With such a configuration, image data with low access frequency accesses a relatively low-speed and low-cost large-capacity storage medium, and image data with high access frequency can be accessed at high speed by a storage medium that can be accessed at high speed. Access can be divided, and a low-cost and efficient image storage device can be provided.

Next, a fifth embodiment will be described.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the image storage device according to the fifth embodiment. The image storage device of the present embodiment (FIG.
The part surrounded by a dotted line is an image processing device (not shown) such as a scanner device or a facsimile device,
A network I / F 501 for inputting image data and image data information from the C terminals 1,..., N via a LAN constituted by an optical cable or the like, and an external image access frequency are stored for each image data. The image data is stored in a large-capacity HDD 509, which is relatively slow in access, or is a relatively small-capacity but high-speed accessible HDD.
D512, an access frequency storage circuit 502 for determining whether to store the input image data,
D509 and 512, a compression / expansion circuit 503 for expanding the image data, a buffer 505 for temporarily storing the compressed image data, a memory control circuit 504 for controlling the buffer 505, and a large-capacity HDD 50.
9, a data transfer circuit 506 that switches between sending compressed image data to the HDD 512 that can be accessed at high speed, and a table 507 that stores where the switched compressed image data is stored as a result. Large-capacity HDD control circuit 508 for controlling large-capacity HDD 509
A serial conversion circuit 511 for serially converting the transmitted compressed image data, and a high-speed access HDD control circuit 510 for controlling a high-speed accessible HDD 512.

In the fifth embodiment, the HDD 509, which is a large-capacity storage medium, and the H, which is a high-speed accessible storage medium, are used.
After a predetermined amount of image data has been stored in the DD 512, the access frequency of the image data changes. In this case, if the access frequency increases beyond a certain value, the storage destination of the image data is set to H.
This is an embodiment in which DD 509 is changed to HDD 512. For example, image data that has been stored in the HDD 509, which is a large-capacity storage medium, because access frequency was low beforehand, may be accessed later. In such a case, the storage destination of the image data is changed in order to improve the reading efficiency and the writing efficiency of the image data in the image storage device. Here, the operation of the image storage device according to the present embodiment will be described. The access frequency storage circuit 502 recognizes all accesses to the image data, and constantly detects and stores which image data has what access rate. For example, if the access frequency storage circuit 502 detects that the access frequency of the image data stored in the low-speed large-capacity storage medium has increased, the access frequency storage circuit 502 issues an instruction to move the image data to a high-speed accessible storage medium. It has become. The data transfer circuit 506 receiving the instruction from the access frequency storage circuit 502 controls the large-capacity HDD control circuit 508 to read out the corresponding image data. At the same time as reading, writing of image data to the high-speed access HDD control circuit 510 is controlled.

The memory control circuit 504 stores the image data read by the data transfer circuit 506 in the buffer 50.
5, the image data is sequentially stored at the transfer rate of the low-speed and large-capacity storage medium, and at the same time, the image data is transferred from the head of the buffer 505 at the transfer rate of the high-speed accessible storage medium without waiting for the completion of writing to the buffer 505 Buffer 5
Starting from 05. The read image data is
Under the control of the data transfer circuit 506, the high-speed access HD
The image data is written to a storage medium that can be accessed at high speed via the D control circuit 510, that is, an HDD 512 that can be accessed at high speed. Then, the image data existing on the large-capacity storage medium side is deleted, and the transfer is completed. When the transfer of the image data from the large-capacity storage medium to the high-speed accessible storage medium is completed, the table 507 indicating the storage medium of the image data is rewritten with the content indicating that the high-speed accessible storage medium has been moved. As a result, the image data existing on the low-speed large-capacity storage medium is
With an increase in the access frequency (change to a higher access frequency), the data has been transferred to a storage medium that can be accessed at a high speed, and the access efficiency to the image data can be improved.

Next, a modification of the fifth embodiment will be described. FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image storage device that is a modification of the fifth embodiment. An image storage device (a portion surrounded by a dotted line in FIG. 6) of the present embodiment is an image processing device (not shown) such as a scanner device or a facsimile device, or the PC terminal 1 as in the fifth embodiment. ,..., N, etc., a network I / F 601 for inputting image data and image data information via a LAN constituted by an optical cable or the like, and an external image access frequency are stored for each image data. Is stored in the HDD 609 with relatively slow access but large capacity,
HDD 61 which has relatively small capacity but can be accessed at high speed
Access frequency storage circuit 602 for deciding whether to store the data in
And compress the input image data, or
9 and 612, a buffer 605 for temporarily storing the compressed image data, a memory control circuit 604 for controlling the buffer 605, and a large-capacity HDD 609. Send compressed image data or access HD at high speed
Data transfer circuit 60 for switching whether or not to transmit to D612
6, a table 607 for storing where the switched compressed image data is stored as a result, and a large-capacity HD
A large-capacity HDD control circuit 608 for controlling the D609, a serial conversion circuit 611 for serially converting the transmitted compressed image data, and a high-speed accessible H
High-speed access HDD control circuit 61 for controlling DD612
0.

In a modification of the fifth embodiment, the HDD 60 which is a large-capacity storage medium is contrary to the image storage device of FIG.
9, when a predetermined amount of image data is stored in the HDD 612, which is a storage medium that can be accessed at high speed, a change in the access frequency of the image data. This is an embodiment in which the HDD 612 is changed to the HDD 609. For example, it was previously accessed quite often,
Later, image data whose access frequency has become low may occur. In such a case, the storage destination of the image data is changed in order to improve the reading efficiency and the writing efficiency of the face drawing data of the image storage device. Here, the operation of the image storage device according to the present embodiment will be described. The access frequency storage circuit 602 recognizes all accesses to image data, and always detects and stores which image data has what access rate. For example, the access frequency storage circuit 6
02 detects that the access frequency of the image data stored in the high-speed accessible storage medium has decreased.
An instruction is issued to move the image data to a low-speed, large-capacity storage medium. The data transfer circuit 606 receiving the instruction from the access frequency storage circuit 602
It controls the high-speed access HDD control circuit 610 to read the corresponding image data. At the same time as reading, writing of image data to the large-capacity HDD control circuit 608 is controlled.

The memory control circuit 604 stores the image data read by the data transfer circuit 606 in the buffer 60.
5, the image data is sequentially stored at the transfer rate of the storage medium that can be accessed at high speed, and at the same time, the image data is sequentially transferred from the head of the buffer 605 at the transfer rate of the low-speed and large-capacity storage medium without waiting for the completion of writing to the buffer 605. Buffer 6
Starting from 05. The read image data is
Under the control of the data transfer circuit 606, image data is written to a large-capacity storage medium, that is, a large-capacity HDD 609 via a large-capacity HDD control circuit 608. Then, the image data on the storage medium that can be accessed at high speed is deleted, and the transfer is completed. When the transfer of the image data from the high-speed accessible storage medium to the large-capacity storage medium is completed, a table 60 indicating the storage medium of the image data is displayed.
7 is rewritten to indicate that it has been moved to the mass storage medium. As a result, the image data existing in the storage medium that can be accessed at high speed is transferred to the low-speed and large-capacity storage medium with a decrease in the access frequency (changed to a low access frequency). Efficiency can be improved.

[0032]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when the detecting means detects that the use frequency information added to the image data received by the image data receiving means is larger than a predetermined value, the determining means determines If it is determined that the image data is to be stored in the high-speed access storage means, and the detecting means detects that the use frequency information added to the image data received by the image data receiving means is smaller than a predetermined value, the determining means determines that Since it is determined that the image data is stored in the large-capacity storage means, the storage medium can be switched according to the frequency of use of the image data, and an image storage device with good access efficiency can be provided. In the invention according to claim 2, the high-speed access storage means has a plurality of storage media,
Since the image data received by the image data receiving means is subjected to serial conversion or parallel conversion to be converted into bitmap data and stored in a plurality of storage media, the storage medium can be accessed more quickly and efficiently.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, there is further provided a temporary storage means for temporarily storing the image data received by the image data receiving means before the image data is stored in the large-capacity storage means or the high-speed access storage means. Is a high-speed storage unit capable of storing at least one or more image data received by the image data receiving unit, so that the image data can be stored on the network at a relatively low cost regardless of the access time of the storage medium. Can be sent. In the invention according to claim 4, storage destination information for recording storage destination information indicating whether the determining means has determined to store the image data received by the image data receiving means in the large-capacity storage means or the high-speed access storage means. Since the recording means is further provided, it is not necessary to be conscious of the storage medium actually stored, and the image data can be automatically read and efficiently accessed.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, when the detecting means detects that the access frequency information added to the image data received by the image data receiving means is larger than a predetermined value, the determining means determines the image data. Is determined to be stored in the high-speed access storage means, and if the detection means detects that the access frequency information added to the image data received by the image data receiving means is smaller than a predetermined value, the determination means Is determined to be stored in the large-capacity storage means, so that an image storage device with high access efficiency can be provided. In the invention according to claim 6,
The image data transfer means, when the access frequency detection means detects that the access frequency from another terminal device to the predetermined image data stored in the large-capacity storage means is equal to or higher than a certain value, the image data transfer means Since the image data is extracted from the large-capacity storage means and stored in the high-speed access storage means, an image storage device with high access efficiency can be provided. According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, the image data transfer unit detects that the access frequency from another terminal device to the predetermined image data stored in the high-speed access storage unit is equal to or less than a predetermined value by the access frequency detection unit. In this case, the image data is extracted from the high-speed access storage means and stored in the large-capacity storage means, so that an image storage device with high access efficiency can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image storage device according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image storage device according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image storage device according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image storage device according to a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image storage device according to a fifth embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image storage device that is a modification of the fifth embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 Network I / F (Interface) 102 HDD (Hard Disk Drive) Selection Circuit 103 Compression Circuit 104 Memory Control Circuit 105 Buffer 106 Switch 107 Table 108 Large Capacity HDD Control Circuit 109 Large Capacity HDD 110 High Speed Access HDD Control Circuit 111 Parallel Conversion Circuit 112 High Speed Accessible HDD

Claims (7)

[Claims] An image storage device capable of transmitting and receiving image data to and from another terminal device connected via a network, wherein an image to which use frequency information indicating a ratio used in the other terminal device is added. Image data receiving means for receiving data; detecting means for detecting whether use frequency information added to the image data received by the image data receiving means is greater than a predetermined value; and storing the image data. A large-capacity storage unit having a storage capacity of a certain amount or more; a high-speed access storage unit having a smaller storage capacity for storing the image data than the large-capacity storage unit but capable of high-speed access; The image data is stored in the large-capacity storage unit or the high-speed access storage unit based on the detection result of the usage frequency information of the image data. Determining means for determining whether to store the frequency of use information in the image data received by the image data receiving means is greater than a predetermined value, The means determines that the image data is stored in the high-speed access storage means, and the detecting means detects that the use frequency information added to the image data received by the image data receiving means is smaller than a predetermined value. In this case, the determining unit determines that the image data is stored in the large-capacity storage unit. 2. The high-speed access storage means has a plurality of storage media, performs serial conversion or parallel conversion on the image data received by the image data receiving means, and converts the image data into bitmap data. The image storage device according to claim 1, wherein the image is stored in a storage medium. 3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a temporary storage unit that temporarily stores the image data received by the image data receiving unit before the image data is stored in the large-capacity storage unit or the high-speed access storage unit. 3. The image storage device according to claim 1, wherein the image storage device is a high-speed storage device that can store at least one or more pieces of image data received by the image data receiving device. 4. A storage destination for recording storage destination information indicating whether the determination means has determined to store the image data received by the image data reception means in the large-capacity storage means or the high-speed access storage means. 4. The image storage device according to claim 1, further comprising an information recording unit. 5. An image storage device capable of transmitting and receiving image data to and from another terminal device connected via a network, wherein the image data to which access frequency information indicating the access frequency of the other terminal device is added is stored. Image data receiving means for receiving, detecting means for detecting whether access frequency information added to the image data received by the image data receiving means is greater than a predetermined value, and storage capacity for storing the image data A large-capacity storage unit having a large capacity equal to or more than a certain amount; a high-speed access storage unit having a smaller storage capacity for storing the image data than the large-capacity storage unit but capable of high-speed access; Based on the detection result of the access frequency information, the large-capacity storage means or the high-speed access storage Determination means for determining which of the stages is to be stored, and wherein the detection means detects that the access frequency information added to the image data received by the image data reception means is larger than a predetermined value. The determining means determines that the image data is to be stored in the high-speed access storage means, and the access frequency information added by the detecting means to the image data received by the image data receiving means is smaller than a predetermined value. The image storage device, wherein the determination unit determines to store the image data in the large-capacity storage unit. 6. An access frequency detecting means for detecting an access frequency to the image data stored in the large-capacity storage means or the high-speed access storage means from the other terminal device; Extracting the image data stored in the high-speed access storage means, transferring the image data from the large-capacity storage means to the high-speed access storage means, and storing the image data; or from the high-speed access storage means to the large-capacity storage means Image data transfer means for transferring and storing the image data. The image data transfer means transmits the predetermined image data stored in the large-capacity storage means by the access frequency detection means from the other terminal device. If the access frequency is detected to be equal to or higher than a certain value, the image data is extracted from the mass storage means, Image storage device according to claim 5, wherein the storing in the access storage means. 7. The image data transfer means, wherein the access frequency from the another terminal device to the predetermined image data stored in the high-speed access storage means by the access frequency detection means is equal to or less than a predetermined value. 7. The image storage device according to claim 6, wherein, when detected, the image data is extracted from the high-speed access storage unit and stored in the large-capacity storage unit.