JP2008310423A - Image file creation edition device, image file browsing device, and image file creation edition method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image file creation edition device capable of managing an image before change and an image after change easy in discrimination by one image file, while suppressing increase of the size of the image file. <P>SOLUTION: This image file creation edition device is equipped with an edition part for correcting a part of a raster image; and a file creation part for creating the image file including at least a differential image showing a difference between a raster image before correction and a raster image after correction, and the raster image after correction. The file creation part is characterized by creating the image file so that the color of the differential image becomes a different color from the color of the raster image after correction. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image file creation / editing device, an image file browsing device, and an image file creation / editing method, and more particularly to an image file creation / editing device for creating / editing an image file including a raster image, and an image file for viewing the image file. The present invention relates to a browsing device and a method for creating and editing the image file.

  Nowadays, with the improvement of the processing capability of computers, the work of fetching many types of image files into a computer and performing various image processing and image file editing has become common.

  Among these image files, there are raster images that represent images in units of pixels, vector images that represent images by geometrical descriptions such as points, lines, and circles.

  When working on editing these image files, there are many work modes in which multiple images are taken into a computer and work is performed in parallel. Improvement of work efficiency when handling multiple images is an important technical aspect. One of the issues.

For example, in Patent Document 1, what is conventionally handled as a plurality of image files is imported into one image file, more specifically, one multi-page TIFF file, and raster images of each page of the TIFF file are respectively stored in multiple images. A technique for improving operability during editing by processing as a layer is disclosed.
JP 2001-243490 A

  By the way, in an operation of importing and filing an image file such as a drawing or a map into a computer for storage and management, work for editing and updating the captured image file is frequently performed. In such an image file editing / updating operation, the old image file before editing / updating and the new image file after editing / updating are often compared, and the operation proceeds while confirming the difference between them.

  In such a case, if the multi-page TIFF file disclosed in Patent Document 1 is used, the old image file and the new image file can be processed as the same single image file while being made separate pages. Compared with the case of handling as an image file, the efficiency of editing / updating work is improved to some extent.

  However, when a part of an image with a large amount of information such as a map is updated by performing an editing operation such as addition or deletion, the old image file is compared with the new image file to find a difference between them. The work is not easy and is a major impediment to improving the efficiency of editing and updating. In addition, the size of these complicated image files is generally large, and it is not preferable from the viewpoint of effective use of memory resources to store the old image file and the new image file at the same time.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is possible to easily manage an image before change and an image after change with a single image file while suppressing an increase in the size of the image file. An object is to provide an image file creation / editing device, an image file browsing device, and an image file creation / editing method.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, an image file creation / editing device according to the present invention includes an editing unit for correcting a part of a raster image, a raster image before correction, and a raster image after correction. A file generation unit that generates an image file including at least a difference image representing a difference between the image and a corrected raster image, wherein the file generation unit includes a color of the difference image and the corrected raster image The image file is generated so that the color of the image is different from the color of the image.

  In order to solve the above problem, an image file browsing device according to the present invention includes a difference image representing a difference between a raster image before correction and a raster image after correction, and a post-correction image as described in claim 6. In an image file browsing apparatus that displays or prints an image of an image file including at least the raster image of the image, the color of the modified raster image and the difference image are different from the color of the modified raster image. A composite image that is highlighted and combined with the raster image is displayed or printed.

  In order to solve the above problems, an image file creation / editing method according to the present invention includes (a) correcting a part of a raster image and (b) a raster image before correction and A step of generating an image file including at least a difference image representing a difference from the corrected raster image and the corrected raster image, and in step (b), the color of the difference image and the corrected image The image file is generated so that the color of the raster image is different.

  According to the image file creation / editing device, the image file browsing device, and the image file creation / editing method according to the present invention, it is possible to easily identify the image before the change and the image after the change while suppressing an increase in the size of the image file. It can be managed with one image file.

  Embodiments of an image file creation / editing device, an image file browsing device, and an image file creation / editing method according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(1) Configuration and General Operation of Image File Creation / Editing Device FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration example of an image file creation / editing device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The image file creation / editing apparatus 1 is a computer system configured with a computer main body and its peripheral devices, for example, as a hardware configuration. The functional blocks shown in FIG. 1 are realized by the hardware and software of this computer system.

  As will be described later, the image file creation / editing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment generates an extended TIFF file obtained by extending a general-purpose TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) file that is widely used today. The TIFF file is an image file format with a high degree of freedom that can be stored in one file even if the image data has different resolution, number of colors, and encoding format, and is less dependent on application software. In addition, a plurality of image data can be divided into “pages” and stored in one file, and information called “tags” (hereinafter referred to as tag information) is stored in image data for each “page”. It is also possible to describe resolution and color information independently and store a plurality of image data of different resolutions and colors in one file. The TIFF file can handle a plurality of different types of image data and other data by various application software due to the presence of tag information.

  In the image file creation / editing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, separately extended tag information is added to a general-purpose TIFF file composed of general-purpose tag information and general-purpose image data, and this extended tag information is supported. The extended TIFF file is generated by adding the extended image data and the extended data.

  Also, it has a function of reading the generated extended TIFF file and browsing or printing the image file (extended image file).

  In order to realize these functions, the image file creation / editing apparatus 1 includes an input unit 10, an extended TIFF generation unit 20, an extended TIFF viewer 30, an operation unit 40, an editing unit 50, and an extended TIFF storage, as shown in FIG. A unit 60, a display device 70, a printer 80, and the like.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a rough flow of an image file creation / editing operation performed using the image file creation / editing apparatus 1.

  The input unit 10 includes, for example, a scanner device or an interface device connected to an external network. The scanner device reads a drawing such as a map, which is a source of the image file created by the image file creation / editing device 1, and imports it into the device as a raster image. Further, a general-purpose TIFF file or an extended TIFF file may be input from an external server or the like via an interface device.

  A raster image read by a scanner device, or a raster image included in a general-purpose TIFF file or an extended TIFF file input from the outside is a raster image before correction. A functional block for correcting and editing such as adding and deleting the raster image before correction is an editing unit 50.

  FIG. 3A is an example of a raster image before correction, and is a map image on which roads and surrounding buildings are displayed. The raster image before correction is displayed on the display device 70. The raster image before correction is added and corrected by using a pointing device such as a mouse or a keyboard provided in the operation unit 40. The image to be added is superimposed on the raster image before correction and displayed on the display device 70.

  As an image to be added at the time of correction, a vector image is generally used from the viewpoint of position accuracy, sharpness of the shape, ease of work, etc., but even if correction or correction is performed using a raster image, Good.

  FIG. 3B is a diagram illustrating a vector image to be newly added to the raster image before correction. For example, vector images such as straight lines, curved lines, circles, arrows, and characters are added to the raster image before correction.

  When the correction and editing operations are completed, the vector image of the added part is converted into a raster image, and is superimposed on the raster image before correction to form one raster image (corrected raster image).

  FIG. 4A is a diagram showing a raster image after correction, and an image in which a raster image before correction (FIG. 3A) and an image for added writing (FIG. 3B) are superimposed. It has become.

  By the way, in the conventional general-purpose TIFF file, the parameters defining the attributes of one raster image have a one-to-one correspondence with the raster image. For example, when the color information of the corrected image is defined as a single color (monochrome color), all the regions of the corrected image are defined as a single color. In other words, the structure of the conventional general-purpose TIFF file does not have a file structure in which the attribute of the image before correction and the attribute of the image of the added part can be managed independently, and the attribute of the image data of the added part is It is integrated with the attribute of the image data before correction.

  For this reason, when a part of a complex monochrome image such as a map is retouched and corrected, it is very difficult to find the retouched part from the corrected image.

  In view of this, the image file creation / editing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment generates an extended TIFF file having a file structure capable of independently managing the attributes of the image before correction and the attributes of the image to be added. With this extended TIFF file, for example, as shown in FIG. 4B, it is possible to display only the image of the added part as a color image and to display it by highlighting the monochrome raster image before correction. It is trying to become. Further, with this extended TIFF, the raster image before correction can be printed as monochrome, while only the image of the added part can be printed as color.

(2) Structure of Extended TIFF File and Generation Method Thereof Next, an example of the structure of the extended TIFF file 100 generated by the image file creation / editing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment and the generation method thereof will be described. The extended TIFF file is generated by the extended TIFF generation unit 20 of the image file creation / editing apparatus 1.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of the extended TIFF file 100. The part shown in white is the part of the structure of a conventional general-purpose TIFF file, and the part shown in hatching is newly added as the extended TIFF file 100. The part of the structure added to is shown. First, the same part as the structure of the general-purpose TIFF file shown in white will be described first.

  The “TIFF header” 101 stores a pointer to tag information. By this pointer, the area of “tag information (general-purpose TIFF)” 107 can be accessed.

  Further, “tag information (general-purpose TIFF)” 107 stores a pointer that can access “modified raster image data” 102 and “TIFF general information” 104.

  In the “corrected raster image” 102, the vector image of the retouched portion is converted into a raster image, and the raster image of the retouched portion and the raster image before correction are combined, that is, the latest raster image, that is, the latest Raster images are stored. Further, “tag information (general-purpose TIFF)” 107 stores the attributes of the raster image after correction, for example, the number of pixels, resolution, compression method, and the like. Here, the compression method indicates, for example, the type of reversible compression method such as G4.

  The data of the structure shown in white is data necessary for displaying or printing the corrected raster image. The structure of these parts is the same as that of a conventional general-purpose TIFF. As a result, the corrected raster image can be displayed or printed by a widely used general-purpose TIFF viewer without using a dedicated extended TIFF viewer described later. In other words, even if the extended TIFF file 100 generated by the image file creation / editing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment is in the hands of a user who has only a general-purpose TIFF viewer, the modified raster image has the same quality as before. It is guaranteed to be viewed (displayed) and printed on.

  Next, the extended portion indicated by hatching will be described. “Tag information (extended TIFF)” 108 accessed from the “TIFF header” 101 is accessed as “raster image of the retouched portion” 103, “raster image information of the retouched portion” 105, and “drawing information etc.” 106. A pointer is stored.

  Among these, the “raster image of the retouched portion” 103 stores a raster image obtained by converting the vector image of the retouched portion. The “retouched raster image” 103 is managed separately from the “corrected raster image” 102 in a separate area, and the color information of this portion is changed to the color information of the “corrected raster image” 102 (for example, monochrome image). It is possible to set as a color different from (color).

  As a result, only the “raster image of the added part” 103 can be displayed in different colors by the dedicated viewer for the extended TIFF file 100 (the extended TIFF viewer 30 in FIG. 1). Specifically, for example, the “corrected raster image” 102 is taken out to form a first raster layer of monochrome color, and the “raster image of the part to be added” 103 is taken out to set the second color of the set color. By forming the first raster layer and displaying the first raster layer and the second raster layer in an overlapping manner, it is possible to display a corrected image in which only the added part is highlighted in color.

  In addition, since the extended TIFF file 100 stores the latest image “Raster image after correction” 102 and “Raster image of the retouched portion” 103, history management for the previous generation can be performed. .

  From the viewpoint of only history management, a method of storing a raster image before correction and a raster image after correction in a conventional general-purpose TIFF file using multi-page may be used. However, in this method, two image data having the same size are stored in one image file, which is not preferable from the viewpoint of the use efficiency of memory resources or the file transfer speed.

  On the other hand, the size of the “raster image of the retouched portion” 103 held in the extended TIFF file 100 according to the present embodiment is very small compared to the raster image before correction. Furthermore, in the present embodiment, after the image of the added part is converted into a raster image, compression processing such as G4 is performed. As a result, the size of the “raster image of the retouched portion” 103 is further reduced, and the size of the image file is very small compared to the history management that holds both the raster image before correction and the raster image after correction. It becomes.

  In FIG. 5, an example is shown in which one image data corresponding to one generation is used as the “raster image of the retouched portion” 103, but a retouched portion of a plurality of generations is held as a plurality of image data areas. It is good also as a form. In this case, layer management information corresponding to each image data may be managed by linking with history management information.

  “Raster image information of the retouched portion” 105 stores attribute information relating to the “raster image of the retouched portion” 103, for example, the number of pixels and position information. The display size of the “raster image of the added part” 103 is a very small part of the entire image. Therefore, the size of the “raster image data of the part to be added” 103 is reduced, and position information indicating which position in the entire image is to be superimposed is included in the attribute information.

  When performing history management over a plurality of generations using a plurality of retouched image data, the layer management information corresponding to each image data is linked to the history management information and included in the “raster image information of the retouched portion” 105. You can do it.

  In the “drawing information etc.” 106, drawing information such as drawing number, drawing creator, drawing creation date, additional information that can be arbitrarily described by the user, information on revision history, etc. are stored as character string data.

  The conventional general-purpose TIFF file does not have a file structure for storing these character string information. For this reason, in order to manage drawing information and additional information in association with the general-purpose TIFF file, it is necessary to provide a separate management data file, which is complicated and inconvenient in file management.

  On the other hand, the extended TIFF file 100 according to the present embodiment has a structure in which management information such as drawing information can be stored in the same file as the image data. As a result, the ease of handling in file management has been greatly improved.

  The “drawing information etc.” 106 can be read from an external application software, displayed, or printed using a publicly-known technology such as DLL (Dynamic Link Library).

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an extended TIFF file creation / edit process.

  First, the general-purpose TIFF file is read (step ST1), and the uncorrected raster image stored in the general-purpose TIFF file is displayed on the display device 70 (step ST2). In addition, a document such as a map may be read by a scanner device provided in the input unit 10 and used as a raster image before correction.

  In step ST3, editing such as correction is performed on the read raster image before correction. For example, a part of the raster image is deleted, or an addition using a vector image for a part of the raster image is performed. Further, if necessary, drawing information such as a drawing number, drawing creator, drawing creation date, and other additional information (information corresponding to drawing information 106 in FIG. 5) is input as an appropriate character string.

  Next, the rewritten vector image is converted into a raster image (step ST4), and then the raster image of the retouched portion and the uncorrected raster image are combined to generate a corrected raster image (the corrected raster image in FIG. 5). (Corresponding to the image 102) is generated (step ST5). Further, TIFF general information 104 indicating the attribute information of the raster image 102 after correction is also generated.

  Further, compression processing such as G4 is performed on the raster image of the added part, and an image corresponding to the raster image 103 of the added part in FIG. 5 is generated (step ST6).

  In step ST7, the resolution, position information, etc. of the raster image of the added part are set or generated as the raster image information 105 of the added part in FIG.

  Finally, based on predetermined tag information, the raster image 102 after modification of the drawing information 106, the raster image 103 of the retouched portion, the TIFF general information 104, the raster image information 105 of the retouched portion, and the drawing information 106 are arranged. The creation of the extended TIFF file 100 is completed.

(3) Reading, Displaying, and Printing Process of Extended TIFF File FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of reading, displaying, and printing process of an extended TIFF file. These processes are mainly performed by the extended TIFF viewer of FIG.

  In step ST11, a TIFF file is input. This input is performed by reading a TIFF file stored in the extended TIFF storage unit 60 of the image file creation / editing apparatus 1 or by inputting from an external server or the like via an interface device provided in the input unit 10. Good. The input TIFF file may be an extended TIFF file 100 or a general-purpose TIFF file.

  Next, the tag information (general-purpose TIFF) 107 is read and analyzed (step ST12), and the TIFF general information 104 and the modified raster image 104 are read from the tag information (step ST13).

  Thereafter, based on the attribute information of the TIFF general information 104, a corrected raster image is formed on the first raster layer (step ST14). The image formed on the first raster layer is a raster image after monochrome color correction.

  Subsequently, the presence / absence of tag information (extended TIFF) 108 is confirmed (step ST15). If the tag information (extended TIFF) 108 does not exist, it is determined that the read TIFF file is a normal general-purpose TIFF file, and the process proceeds to step ST16. In step ST16, the first raster layer image is displayed in monochrome or printed, and the process ends.

  On the other hand, if the tag information (extended TIFF) 108 exists, it is determined that the read TIFF file is the extended TIFF file 100, and the process proceeds to step ST17.

  In step ST17, based on the tag information (extended TIFF) 108, the raster image 103 of the retouched portion and the raster image information 105 of the retouched portion are read.

  Thereafter, based on the raster image information 105 of the retouched portion, a raster image of the retouched portion is formed on the second raster layer (step ST18). The image formed on the second raster layer is a color image.

  Finally, the image of the first raster layer and the image of the second raster layer are overlaid and displayed or printed (step ST19).

  The image displayed or printed here is an image in which only the added part is highlighted in color on the corrected monochrome raster image.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram summarizing browsing functions using the extended TIFF file 100. As described above, the extended TIFF file 100 can be browsed by a conventional general-purpose viewer. In this case, the modified raster image is displayed (or printed) in monochrome.

  On the other hand, when the extended TIFF file 100 is viewed with a dedicated viewer (extended TIFF viewer), it is possible to browse a raster image in which the added part is highlighted in color.

  Further, the extended TIFF file 100 includes drawing information 106 and the like, and this information can be read and viewed by application software using DLL or the like.

  As described above, according to the image file creation / editing device 1, the image file browsing device (extended TIFF viewer), and the image file creation / editing method according to the present embodiment, while suppressing an increase in the size of the image file, The image before the change and the image after the change can be easily managed with one image file.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments as they are, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. In addition, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the embodiment. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, the constituent elements over different embodiments may be appropriately combined.

1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an image file creation / editing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The figure which shows the flow of the creation edit work of an extended TIFF file. (A) is a figure which shows an example of the raster image before correction, (b) is a figure which shows an example of the vector image added at the time of correction. (A) is a figure which shows an example of the raster image after correction | amendment by a general purpose TIFF file, (b) is a figure which shows an example of the raster image after correction | amendment by an extended TIFF file. The figure which shows the structural example of an extended TIFF file. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an extended TIFF file creation process. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of reading and displaying / printing an extended TIFF file. The figure which summarized the browsing function using an extended TIFF file.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image file creation editing apparatus 10 Input part 20 Extended TIFF production | generation part 30 Extended TIFF viewer 40 Operation part 50 Editing part 60 Extended TIFF preservation | save part 70 Display apparatus 80 Printer

Claims (12)

An editing section for correcting a part of the raster image;
A file generation unit for generating an image file including at least a difference image representing a difference between a raster image before correction and a raster image after correction; and a raster image after correction;
With
The file generator
Generating the image file such that the color of the difference image and the color of the modified raster image are different colors;
An image file creation and editing apparatus characterized by the above. The editing unit corrects a part of the raster image using a vector image,
The file generation unit converts the vector image used for correction into a raster image, compresses the converted raster image, and generates the difference image included in the image file.
The image file creation / editing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: An image browsing unit for displaying or printing an image based on the image file generated by the image file generating unit;
Further comprising
The image browsing unit
Displaying or printing the modified raster image and a composite image synthesized with the raster image by highlighting a color of the difference image different from the color of the modified raster image;
The image file creation / editing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: The image file is a TIFF format image file,
The modified raster image is an image that can be extracted from the image file by general-purpose tag information of TIFF, and the difference image is an image that can be extracted from the image file by extended tag information of TIFF.
The image file creation / editing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein The image file is
The identification information of the image file and the information related to the correction of the raster image include character string information described in an arbitrary character string,
The character string information is information that can be extracted from the image file by the TIFF expansion tag information.
The image file creation / editing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein: In an image file browsing apparatus that displays or prints an image of an image file that includes at least a difference image representing a difference between a raster image before correction and a raster image after correction, and a raster image after correction,
Displaying or printing the modified raster image and a composite image in which the color of the difference image is highlighted with a color different from the color of the modified raster image and combined with the raster image;
An image file browsing apparatus characterized by that. The image file is a TIFF format image file,
The modified raster image is an image that can be extracted from the image file by general-purpose tag information of TIFF, and the difference image is an image that can be extracted from the image file by extended tag information of TIFF.
The image file browsing device according to claim 6. (A) A part of the raster image is corrected,
(B) generating an image file including at least a difference image representing a difference between the raster image before correction and the raster image after correction, and the raster image after correction;
With steps,
In step (b)
Generating the image file such that the color of the difference image and the color of the modified raster image are different colors;
An image file creation and editing method characterized by that. In step (a), a part of the raster image is corrected using a vector image,
In step (b), the vector image used for correction is converted into a raster image, and the converted raster image is compressed to generate the difference image included in the image file.
9. The image file creation and editing method according to claim 8, wherein: (C) displaying or printing an image based on the image file generated by the image file generation unit;
Further comprising steps,
In step (c)
Displaying or printing the modified raster image and a composite image in which the color of the difference image is highlighted with a color different from the color of the modified raster image and combined with the raster image;
9. The image file creation and editing method according to claim 8, wherein: The image file is a TIFF format image file,
The modified raster image is an image that can be extracted from the image file by general-purpose tag information of TIFF, and the difference image is an image that can be extracted from the image file by extended tag information of TIFF.
The image file creation / editing method according to any one of claims 8 to 10, wherein the image file is created and edited. The image file is
The identification information of the image file and the information related to the correction of the raster image include character string information described in an arbitrary character string,
The character string information is information that can be extracted from the image file by the TIFF expansion tag information.
12. The method for creating and editing an image file according to claim 11.

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