JP2005190087A - Image retrieval device and image retrieval method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the following problem of a device retrieving a specific image by information about a photographing place: when an amount of photography information of a retriever is small, it is difficult to indicate detailed position information, so that the retrieval becomes inefficient. <P>SOLUTION: By classifying the photographing place by large classification, i.e., an area, images can be partway narrowed down even by the ambiguous information of the photographing place of the retriever to promptly find the objective image. By using extraction by another retrieval key such as a date or time together, retrievability can be improved. An area indication part for making the retriever input the area classified by the large classification can be realized with a simple configuration. By reducing the number of the classified areas, conversion information for allowing an area decision device to first classify the photographing place into the area can be reduced, and it is also useful for cost reduction of the device. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image search apparatus and an image search method capable of easily selecting a target image from a plurality of images accompanied by position information.

  Due to the widespread use of digital still camera and digital video camera image acquisition devices, the general public is increasingly handling digital images. Also, with the widespread use of large-capacity storage devices (such as hard disk drives and memory cards), a large amount of image data is often stored in one storage device. In order to display or print an image, it is necessary to find a target image from among a large amount of stored images, but this is not easy.

  Some images have additional information such as shooting date, shooting time, shooting location, etc., and many image search devices that find a target image quickly by extracting images using the shooting date have been announced. ing. Also, images accompanying shooting location information are also standardized by the Exif standard, and shooting location information is acquired from GPS (Global Positioning System), PHS (Personal Handyphone System), etc. As the number of acquisition devices has been increasing in recent years, image search devices that use shooting location information for image extraction have also been announced.

  For example, in Patent Document 1, a mark is displayed at coordinates corresponding to position information on a map, and when this is indicated, an image of a shooting location corresponding to the mark is extracted. The coordinate mark corresponding to a plurality of adjacent position information is displayed as a mark having a size corresponding to the number of the position information (FIG. 8).

  By inventing a method that can quickly find the target image by extracting images from the same shooting location, various extraction methods such as shooting date and shooting location can be selected according to the image. Became.

  However, human memory becomes ambiguous over time, and the display of detailed shooting locations can make selection difficult for the user. Extraction with a plurality of ambiguous memories is more effective when a certain period of time has passed than extraction with one accurate memory.

  Hereinafter, the configuration disclosed in Patent Document 1 will be described.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an operation display state of image search processing using position information as a key in a conventional image recording / reproducing apparatus. That is, on the search screen displayed on the display device 46, a map of a region specified by the user or a region set by default (for example, all over Japan) is read from the map database and stored in the map RAM for display control. Displayed through the section.

  Here, when there is an image taken in the area on the map displayed on the display device 46, the mark 70 is displayed at that position. At this time, in the case where images are taken at a plurality of points that are so close that they cannot be distinguished on the screen, a single mark 70 is representatively displayed, and the size of the mark 70 is taken at that location. By displaying the image with a change in proportion to the number of images, the user can roughly know the number of images taken at that location.

  In addition, by displaying a representative place name of the place beside each mark 70, the place can be understood at a glance. The user designates the cursor 71 in accordance with the mark with a controller such as a mouse, so that the image data recorded on the information recording medium in association with the position information of the designated mark 70 is read out. Displayed as an image.

Here, when there are a plurality of images included in the designated mark 70, a list of photographing addresses and photographing times more detailed than the place names displayed beside the mark 70 is displayed, and the user can display this photographing position. By selecting a target image from the list display, the image data associated with the shooting position information is read and displayed as shown in 47.
JP 9-252454 A

  However, in the above-described conventional configuration, in an apparatus that searches for a specific image from a large amount of image data based on shooting location information, the searcher's memory is ambiguous about the shooting location, or information obtained from another person is not obtained. If the number is small, it is difficult to specify detailed position information, and the search becomes inefficient.

  As shown in FIG. 8, when the mark 70 exists in multiple places within the same prefecture, it takes time to specify desired position information. For example, when trying to specify an image taken in Kanagawa Prefecture in FIG. 8, there are two marks in Kanagawa Prefecture as shown in the figure, and the position information to be specifically specified is the position once. You need to select information and check the image. In the figure, there are two places, but when there are several tens of places, it is extremely difficult to specify.

  Furthermore, even if the map is displayed as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 when the shooting location is not specifically remembered and the information is ambiguous such as “Kanto”, the map When it is not clear which mark should be selected, it is necessary to open an image for all the marks in the configuration of the conventional technique, and the operation becomes very complicated.

  In view of the above problems, the present invention classifies shooting locations into areas, and if a searcher designates an area, by extracting images shot at shooting locations classified into the areas, the image is narrowed down to some extent, An object of the present invention is to provide an image search apparatus that realizes a means for quickly searching for a target image at a lower cost.

  In order to solve the above problems, an image search device and an image search method of the present invention are image search devices capable of performing an image search based on shooting location information attached to a shot image, and based on the shooting location information of the shot image. An area determination unit that classifies captured images for each predetermined area, and an area designation unit that designates the area. By designating a desired area by the area designation unit, an image list classified into the desired area is displayed. The main features are that a desired image can be selected from the displayed image list and that a means for narrowing down the image to some extent and finding the target image more quickly is realized at a lower cost.

  According to the present invention, first, by classifying the shooting locations by area, it is possible to narrow down the image to some extent and quickly find the target image even by the information of the searcher's ambiguous shooting location. Furthermore, the searchability can be further improved by using together with extraction by other search keys such as date and time. In addition, the area indication unit for allowing the searcher to input a large classified area can be realized with a simple configuration, and if the number of areas to be classified is reduced, the area determination device first determines the shooting location. Conversion information for classifying into areas can also be reduced, which helps to reduce the cost of the apparatus.

  The invention according to claims 1 to 5 of the present invention is an image search device capable of searching for an image based on shooting location information attached to a shot image, and is configured to store a shot image based on shooting location information of the shot image. An area determination unit that classifies each area and an area designation unit that designates the area. By designating a desired area by the area designation unit, a list of images classified into the desired area is displayed and displayed. The desired image can be selected from the list of images, and the area is displayed on the area instruction unit, and the area is designated by the searcher's operation. By combining the display unit of the area instruction unit that displays the area and the image display unit, not only the cost is reduced, but also a list of images taken in that area is displayed at the same time, thereby improving the searchability. Got.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a display state in the image search device and image search method of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram for explaining a search operation, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the image search device of the present embodiment. 4, FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 are flowcharts showing the flow of the search operation, and FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing the display state of area designation.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 7 denotes a digital still camera that can shoot various videos (still images, moving images). In this embodiment, the digital still camera is a digital still camera, but at least images can be captured and saved in a file format. Any other electronic device such as a video camera may be used. Reference numeral 1 denotes an image storage unit for storing an image photographed by the digital still camera 7, which may be a storage device (memory or the like) mounted in the image search device 8, or a photographed image that is detachable from the digital still camera 7. May be an image in which a storage medium capable of storing the image is mounted in the image search device 8. In that case, the image storage unit 1 corresponds to a memory card slot or the like. It is assumed that shooting location information is written as additional information in the image stored in the image storage unit 1. In order to store the shooting location information as additional information, it is necessary to provide a means for writing information for specifying the shooting location in the digital still camera 7. In general, a GPS antenna is incorporated and latitude / longitude information of the shooting location is provided. Is written as shooting location information. Reference numeral 3 denotes an area information table which is divided into areas (Tohoku region, Kanto region, etc.) and has an information table. The table corresponds to the area and latitude / longitude. 2 is an area determination unit that reads out shooting location information of an image stored in the image storage unit 1 and classifies each area according to information from the area information table 3, and 4 is a searcher who instructs the shooting location to be extracted. An area instruction unit 5 is an image extraction unit that extracts a specific image from images in the image storage unit 1 based on information from the area determination unit 2 and the area instruction unit 4, and 6 is an image display unit that displays the extracted image. Is,
The area instruction unit 4 includes a display unit 4a that displays an area list for the searcher to specify an area, and an operation unit 4b that selects and determines an area. The operation unit 4b includes a cursor button / lever and various operation buttons.

  The image storage unit 1 stores an image taken by an image acquisition device of a digital still camera or a digital video camera. The image storage unit may be a built-in memory or a removable memory device. The memory used may be a mountable semiconductor memory such as SRAM or DRAM, a removable semiconductor memory such as an SD card or CompactFlash (registered trademark), a hard disk, an optical disk (CD, DVD, etc.), and the like.

  In the above configuration, the area determination unit 2 and the area information table 3 constitute an area determination unit, and the area instruction unit 4, the image extraction unit 5, and the image display unit 6 constitute an area designation unit.

  A specific example of the searcher's operation will be described below with respect to the embodiment configured as described above.

  First, as shown in FIG. 2A, the searcher looks at the display unit 4a of the area instruction unit of the present apparatus and uses the operation unit 4b to select the area where the image to be searched is captured. In the present embodiment, the displayed areas are Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto, Chubu, Kinki, Chugoku, Shikoku, and Kyushu. At this time, each time the selection of the area is operated with the cursor key, a list of images taken in the selected area is displayed on the image display unit 6. For example, when the default is set to select the Hokkaido region, a list of images (thumbnail images) taken in the Hokkaido region is displayed on the image display unit 6. Next, the Tohoku region can be selected by operating the down button of the cursor key, and the image list displayed on the image display unit 6 displays images taken in the Tohoku region. In addition, by operating the cursor key, in the map display on the display unit 4a, the selected area can be visually grasped by moving the cursor for each area or changing the color of the selected area. it can. When the area has been selected, the determination button on the operation unit 4b is operated to determine.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 2 (b), the cursor 4c is moved from the image photographed in the area displayed on the image display unit 6 by using the cursor key of the operation unit 4b. Let's find out. In the figure, only 8 images (thumbnail) are displayed on one screen. However, if there are 9 or more images in the specified area, scroll the screen vertically, horizontally, etc. Images can be displayed. In addition, the number of images that can be displayed at one time is not limited to eight. Setting a small number makes it easier to see the sharpness of each image, and increasing the number increases the designated area. When there are a large number of images, a desired image can be easily found. The number of images to be displayed may be a fixed number, but it is easier to use if the user can arbitrarily set it.

  Next, when a desired image can be specified from the image list displayed on the image display unit 6, the cursor 4c is set to the image and the determination button of the operation unit 4b is operated. Then, as shown in FIG.2 (c), the display of the display part 4a switches from map display to picked-up image display.

  Next, the search operation of the present embodiment will be described in further detail with reference to FIG.

  First, the area determination unit reads out the shooting location information attached to the image stored in the image storage unit, compares it with the area table information, and classifies the image for each area (step 10). This is performed for all images. Next, the area where the image to be searched is photographed is input by the area specifying unit from the searcher (step 11). The image extraction unit extracts an image photographed in the designated area using the search area information from the area instruction unit and the area classification information of the image from the area determination unit (step 12). The last extracted image is displayed on the image display unit (step 13).

  The image classification by the area determination unit may be performed after the area is input by the area instruction unit. In addition, when this search is repeated a plurality of times, if the image classification by the area determination unit is performed only once, the area determination processing after the second time can be omitted.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of processing for classifying an image for each area. This is a specific processing example of the processing in step 10 of FIG. First, the area determination unit reads out coordinates as shooting location information attached to an image stored in the image storage unit (step 15). The coordinates of this information can generally be latitude and longitude. If the coordinates remain unchanged, the size of the area information table 3 becomes enormous, so the coordinates are classified into blocks of a certain size (step 16). This can reduce the size of the table. The optimum block size may be determined from the resolution of the area boundary and the size of the table. Then, the area information table 3 is pulled using the classified block information to determine the area to which the image shooting location belongs (step 17). The area information is stored in the apparatus in association with the image (step 18). The image extraction unit extracts an image using this area information.

  FIG. 6 shows a display example of the area input device according to the embodiment of the present invention. In this example, the display unit 4a and the image display unit 6 of the area instruction unit 4 are combined, but by doing so, not only the cost is reduced, but also a list of images taken in that area is displayed at the same time. By doing so, the effect of improving the searchability can also be obtained.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, first, by classifying the shooting locations by area, it is possible to narrow down the image to some extent even by the information of the searcher's ambiguous shooting location, and to quickly select the target image. You can find out.

  In addition, by classifying the shooting locations into areas and grouping them, there is also an effect of evoking the memory that the photographer has forgotten and finding out the target image quickly by association. In addition, when a person other than the photographer searches for an image, it can be searched for only with information of a certain area, so that even a person having little information can be searched for.

  Furthermore, the accuracy of extraction can be improved by using it together with extraction by date or time. Note that the date in this case may be a specific date or a period with a range. Similarly, the time may be a specific time, a wide time, or an ambiguous period such as “morning” or “evening”. It is a feature of the present invention that it is possible to obtain a high-precision extraction by using both of these widths, even if a high extraction accuracy cannot be obtained by each.

  The area designation unit may be displayed by selecting the name of the area, but when the area is selected by graphically displaying a map as shown in 4a of FIG. It makes it easier to restore memory.

  Of course, as shown in FIG. 6, the area indicating unit can be simply configured by a lamp such as an LED and a switch or only a switch (FIG. 6), and can be realized without a graphical display device, thereby reducing the cost. . In FIG. 6, an area indicating unit including a display showing a list of areas that can be selected, a display unit 4 a indicating the currently selected area, and an operation unit 4 b including a switch for changing and confirming the designated area. Indicates. Of course, this simple configuration may be realized using a GUI.

  The image display unit may display the image after completing the instruction of the shooting location, but it is easy to understand if the preview can be displayed when the instruction is given. Helps select the area. At this time, if not all images can be displayed at once, all images can be scrolled. Alternatively, all images may be displayed by reducing the image.

  The image list display may be grouped for each area and displayed at a time.

  Note that when displaying a list, the efficiency of searching for a target image can be improved by sorting in the order of date. Furthermore, it is easy to understand if date and time information is displayed at the same time as the preview image.

  As described above, the technique of first classifying images for each shooting area and then searching for an image shot in the area designated by the searcher can quickly use even the smallest amount of information by utilizing the searcher's memory association. In addition, this method is very effective as a method for searching for an image. Further, with this method, it is possible to realize an apparatus capable of performing a search process at high speed at low cost.

  By having not only the image display unit 6 but also a printing unit in the apparatus, it is possible to configure a printer that can quickly find and print an image to be printed.

  Since the image search unit 6 performs the search process after first classifying each area, the search process can be performed at high speed and can be extracted at high speed. In addition, if the number of area divisions is reduced, the capacity of the area table and the database after classification can be reduced, which is very effective for cost reduction.

  In this embodiment, an example of Japan is shown, but it is of course possible to adapt it to overseas. Moreover, although the locality was shown as an example of an area, it is good also as a country, a prefecture, and an area.

(Embodiment 2)
As an application of the image search apparatus shown in the first embodiment, an image extraction function for capturing an image in the same area as an image capturing area is also conceivable. This embodiment is shown in FIG. In this example, first, it is assumed that one image is selected. At that time, when the searcher starts this function (by pressing the area key in FIG. 7), the area where the selected image is captured is displayed, and the image captured within that area is extracted. The

  This is very useful for finding images taken during a trip to the same area.

  Since the area designating unit and the image display unit can use those of the conventional image search device, the function of the image search device of the present invention can be introduced into most of the image search devices without almost increasing the cost.

Schematic diagram of display of Embodiment 1 of image search device of the present invention Schematic diagram of operation of Embodiment 1 of image retrieval apparatus of the present invention The block diagram for demonstrating the structure of the image search device of this invention Schematic diagram for explaining the operation of the image search apparatus of the present invention. Schematic diagram for explaining the operation of area classification of the image search apparatus of the present invention Schematic diagram of a simple embodiment of an image search device of the present invention Schematic diagram of the operation of the second embodiment of the image retrieval apparatus of the present invention. Schematic diagram of an image display device display example using conventional shooting location information Schematic diagram of an image display device display example using conventional shooting location information

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image memory | storage part 2 Area determination part 3 Area information table 4 Area instruction | indication part 4a Display part 4b Operation part 5 Image extraction part 6 Image display part

Claims (6)

An image search apparatus capable of searching for an image based on shooting location information attached to a shot image, wherein the area is determined based on shooting location information of the shot image, and an area determination unit that classifies the shot image for each predetermined area, and specifies the area An area designating unit configured to display a list of images classified into the desired area by designating a desired area by the area designating unit, and to select a desired image from the displayed image list. An image search device. The image search apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a printing unit, wherein the image selected by the search can be printed. 2. The image search apparatus according to claim 1, wherein both the area display and the image display of the area designating unit are used. 2. The image search apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image search apparatus can be used in combination with extraction based on not only shooting location information but also date and time. The image retrieval apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an image extraction function for capturing an image taken in the same area as an image capturing area. An image search apparatus capable of searching for an image based on shooting location information attached to the shot image, classifying the shot image into predetermined areas based on shooting location information of the shot image, and selecting a desired area from the predetermined areas. An image search method characterized by displaying a list of images classified into the desired area by designating and selecting a desired image from the displayed image list.

Images