JP2009181450A - Image processing device, image processing method, and image-processing program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image-processing device which operates nimbly without imposing a large load, even when many images are displayed, and displays fine images even if magnified image displaying operations are executed, and also to provide an image processing method and an image processing program. <P>SOLUTION: An image processing system includes a client device 100 and a server device 110. The server device 110 includes an external IF part 111, a thumbnail generation processing part 113, an image DB storage part 114, a cluster image generation processing part 115, an image arrangement determination processing part 116, and a display screen control processing part 117. The display screen control processing part 117 displays cluster images, which are displayed at a high speed when the display magnification rates of the images are small, displays the respective thumbnail images when the display magnification rates of the images are large, and displays not only the cluster images but also the respective images nearly at a magnification rate at which switching is made between a small magnification rate and a large magnification rate. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an image processing method, and an image processing program having a function of generating list display screen data of a plurality of images such as a thumbnail list for image data stored in an image database.

  Conventionally, there has been an apparatus such as electronic filing for digitizing a paper document using an input device such as a scanner. However, the apparatus has been used only for business purposes handling a large amount of paper documents.

  In recent years, the low price of scanners, the spread of MFPs (Multi Function Printers) equipped with scanning functions, and the legislation such as the e-document method (electronic document method), the handling and convenience of general offices Has been recognized, and the opportunity to scan and digitize paper documents is increasing.

  In addition, electronic document image data, photographic image data, document data created by an application such as a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as “PC”), and the like are converted into a database (hereinafter referred to as “DB”) to be integrated and managed. The usage of DB is also increasing. For example, even if it is necessary to save an original paper document, an image DB may be constructed in terms of ease of management and ease of search.

  Image DBs vary from large-scale ones where a server device is installed and accessed by a large number of people via the Internet or LAN, to personal ones that construct DBs in personal PCs. The MFP has a function of storing document data in a built-in hard disk drive (hereinafter referred to as “HDD”), and an image DB based on the MFP is constructed.

  When browsing an image in the image DB in which a plurality of image data is stored, the user searches for a target image using an image search method. If the image name (file name) of the search target image is known, a search may be performed from a list of image names, but generally a list display of thumbnail images is used. For example, when searching for a document image, a candidate image that has found a keyword after a keyword search is displayed as a thumbnail list, and finally a search target image is selected, or a search target image is selected using only the thumbnail list display from the beginning. The method of searching is taken.

  Thumbnail list display makes it easy to grasp the contents of an image by arranging a plurality of reduced images on the screen. However, in order to display a plurality of images on a limited screen at a time, individual thumbnails are displayed. The resolution is generally low. For example, when thumbnails of photographic images are displayed, it is relatively easy to understand the contents of a low-resolution reduced image, but in the case of a character-centered document image, it is difficult to interpret characters with the reduced image. It is difficult to grasp the contents of Therefore, when searching for document images, the user must enlarge and check each document image using a function such as a viewer, and the operability during the search is very poor. In particular, in the case of a server / client system via a network, it is necessary to transfer new high-resolution image data when displaying an image with a viewer. As a result, it is often used to confirm a large number (for example, several thousand) of images. It takes a long time, and there is a problem that the search efficiency is remarkably lowered.

  For the purpose of solving this problem, for example, an image data processing method disclosed in Patent Document 1 has been proposed. The technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-151867 is to create a group image capable of displaying a list of a plurality of images in advance, and output the group image created in advance when the group image is requested to be output. Thus, data processing at the time of output is omitted, and an attempt is made to shorten the time required to output the collective image after the output request of the collective image.

  Further, in the image DB as described above, there is a problem that it becomes difficult to grasp the whole image stored in the image DB as the number of stored images increases. In a normal thumbnail list display, when the number of stored images reaches about several thousand images, it is very harsh for the user to check all of them, so such work is not necessary unless a specific image is absolutely necessary. It is not usually performed, and even if it is performed, it is very difficult to guess the entire image DB from a randomly arranged thumbnail list.

  This is considered to indicate the black boxing of the image DB, and the following adverse effects are mentioned. For example, when a huge amount of information from all over the world, such as the World Wide Web (WWW), is targeted for the information DB, the information required by the user is almost certainly present in the information DB. In order to obtain the user, the user can take actions such as searching with peace of mind. However, the information on how much information is accumulated in the normal local image DB depends only on the user's memory. Relying on the memory to retrieve the stored image based on keywords, dates, etc., to obtain the desired information, the information forgotten from the user's memory loses the opportunity to be used, and the utilization efficiency of the image DB is reduced. It will be a factor to drop.

For the purpose of solving this problem, for example, a document information content browsing system disclosed in Patent Document 2 is known. Patent Document 2 shows a browsing user who has a vague search intention by selecting and browsing the document information content to be browsed while browsing the information space expressed as a map by the browsing user. However, even when it is not possible to express one's own interest / orientation explicitly using keywords or the like, it is possible to search document information contents adapted to the interest / orientation in a strolling manner.
JP 2002-92584 A JP 2003-76718 A

  However, the conventional ones have the following problems.

  First, since there is no description about the coping method regarding the enlargement of the file capacity of the collective image as the number of images constituting the collective image increases in Patent Document 1, the one described in Patent Document 1 is If the number of images constituting the group image increases, each image cannot be displayed in detail, or if each image is displayed in detail, the system is subjected to a great load. It does not operate lightly.

  Further, as disclosed in Patent Document 2, for browsing users with vague search intentions, the browsing user arranges an image on a two-dimensional or three-dimensional map so that the browsing user can view the entire image or zoom. A map search type image browsing method in which an information space is strolled with an image that strolls on a map using a function such as scrolling is considered to be a suitable solution. However, in order to grasp the entire contents of the image DB, it is preferable to be able to list the images accumulated in the image DB. For this purpose, it is necessary to display a large number of images at one time. However, there is no description about displaying a large number of images or means for solving the problems in the display.

  On the other hand, the inventor of the present invention changes the definition of the thumbnail image by changing the size or resolution of the thumbnail image according to the display magnification (magnification rate) of the image in the map search type image browsing method, An image browsing method has been proposed in which the image content can be confirmed without degrading the image quality even when the image enlargement ratio is increased (Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-304010). This method is hereinafter referred to as “map search type image browsing method capable of free zooming”. This proposal also describes a map search type image processing apparatus that operates lightly even when a large number of images are displayed by using a hierarchically encoded group image in which a plurality of images are arranged. . However, when handling a collective image in such a free-zoomable map search type image browsing method, there are the following problems.

  In the case of a system capable of displaying up to a fine image by performing an enlargement display (zoom-up) operation of the image on the map, for example, when the user can enlarge the image to the extent that the character of the document image can be recognized Since the individual images arranged in the collective image need to have a certain size (size), the collective image becomes relatively very large. For example, assuming that each image is arranged as a collective image with a size of 200 dpi, an A4 size image has a size of about 2300 pixels × 1600 pixels. Accordingly, assuming that a collective image in which about 10,000 of these images can be arranged, for example, a minimum size of 230,000 × 160,000 pixels is required, and the capacity of the entire collective image is a color image. It becomes about 100 GB (gigabytes). Even if this collective image is compressed, a storage capacity of about 10 GB is required, and even if the collective image is divided into several parts and processed, a considerable amount of memory is required (1 GB is required even with 100 divisions). Therefore, the load on the system becomes very large, which is not realistic.

  Therefore, assuming that each image is arranged as a collective image with a size of about 20 dpi, for example, the above-described pixel size is about 1/100, which reduces the load problem on the system. This causes a problem that a fine image cannot be obtained.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and even when a large number of images are displayed, it operates lightly without giving a great load, and it is fine even if an image enlargement display operation is performed. An object is to provide an image processing apparatus, an image processing method, and an image processing program capable of displaying an image.

  The image processing apparatus of the present invention is an image processing apparatus that processes image data of a list display screen for displaying a plurality of thumbnail images. The list display screen displays the plurality of thumbnail images so that a display magnification can be changed. And a list view window that displays all or part of the thumbnail list view, the image size or resolution can be changed according to the display magnification, and the plurality of thumbnail images are assembled. Display control means for performing control to display at least one of the collected image and the thumbnail image whose image size or resolution can be individually changed according to the display magnification according to a predetermined condition. It has a configuration.

  With this configuration, in the image processing apparatus of the present invention, the display control unit performs control to display at least one of the aggregate image obtained by collecting the plurality of thumbnail images and the thumbnail image on the thumbnail list view according to a predetermined condition. Therefore, even when a large number of images are displayed, the operation can be easily performed without imposing a great load, and a fine image can be displayed even if an image enlargement display operation is performed.

  Note that the predetermined condition is preferably a display magnification of the thumbnail image.

  The predetermined condition is preferably the number of thumbnail images to be displayed in the list view window.

  Furthermore, it is preferable that the predetermined condition is a capacity of image data of thumbnail images displayed in the list view window.

  Further, in the image processing apparatus of the present invention, the display control unit selects an image to be displayed on the thumbnail list view according to a first display magnification and a second display magnification larger than the first display magnification, When the display magnification is within a range from the first display magnification to the second display magnification, the selected image is controlled to be displayed in the thumbnail list view. A number of thumbnail images selected, and when the display magnification is less than the first display magnification, only the collective image is selected, and when larger than the second display magnification, only the thumbnail image is selected. ing.

  With this configuration, in the image processing apparatus of the present invention, the display control unit displays at least one of a group image obtained by collecting a plurality of thumbnail images and a thumbnail image on the thumbnail list view according to the display magnification of the thumbnail image. Since the control is performed, the display screen can be switched without giving the user a sense of incongruity at the time of switching between the collective image and the individual thumbnail images, and even when a large number of images are displayed, there is no great load. It operates lightly, and a fine image can be displayed even when an image enlargement display operation is performed.

  Furthermore, in the image processing apparatus of the present invention, the display control unit selects an image to be displayed in the thumbnail list view according to a first image number and a second image number larger than the first image number, The selected image is controlled to be displayed in the thumbnail list view, and when the number of thumbnail images to be displayed is within the range from the first image number to the second image number, the set is displayed. Select an image and a predetermined number of thumbnail images, select only the thumbnail image when the number is less than the first number, and select only the group image when the number is the second number. It has a configuration.

  With this configuration, in the image processing apparatus of the present invention, the display control unit displays, in the thumbnail list view, at least one of a grouped image obtained by collecting a plurality of thumbnail images and a thumbnail image according to the number of thumbnail images to be displayed. Since the display control is performed, even when images with randomly arranged images or images in the form of overlapping maps are displayed, it operates lightly without imposing a heavy load, and performs an enlarged display operation of the image. Even a fine image can be displayed.

  Furthermore, in the image processing apparatus of the present invention, the display control unit displays an image to be displayed on the thumbnail list view in accordance with a first image data volume and a second image data volume larger than the first image data volume. The selected thumbnail image is controlled to be displayed in the thumbnail list view, and the thumbnail image to be displayed has an image capacity ranging from the capacity of the first image data to the capacity of the second image data. When it is within the range, the group image and a predetermined number of thumbnail images are selected, and when it is less than the first image data capacity, only the thumbnail image is selected, and the capacity of the second image data When it is larger, only the collective image is selected.

  With this configuration, in the image processing apparatus of the present invention, the display control unit displays at least one of the aggregate image obtained by collecting a plurality of thumbnail images and the thumbnail image in the thumbnail list view according to the image capacity of the thumbnail image to be displayed. Since the display control is performed, the image can be switched and displayed more accurately for any map-type image.

  Furthermore, the image processing apparatus of the present invention configures the group image when the display control unit selects the group image and the predetermined number of thumbnail images as images to be displayed in the thumbnail list view. The thumbnail image is controlled to be displayed so as to overlap each other at the position where the thumbnail image to be displayed is displayed.

  With this configuration, the image processing apparatus of the present invention can display a more detailed image than that by the collective image when performing an enlarged display operation of the image.

  Furthermore, in the image processing apparatus of the present invention, when the display control unit selects the aggregate image and the thumbnail images having the predetermined number of images as images to be displayed on the thumbnail list view, the individual thumbnail images are displayed. It has a configuration for controlling to display the thumbnail images constituting the collective image so as to overlap each other at the display position.

  With this configuration, the image processing apparatus of the present invention can facilitate the search for images by displaying the collective images and enhancing the listability.

  Furthermore, the image processing apparatus according to the present invention has a configuration in which the display control unit controls to display only the image having the highest overlapping position when the thumbnail images are displayed in a superimposed manner.

  With this configuration, the image processing apparatus according to the present invention can avoid the image under the overlap once being overwritten and displayed, so that a display that does not give a sense of incongruity to the user can be performed even in an overlapping map. it can.

  Furthermore, the image processing apparatus of the present invention is configured so that when the display control unit selects the aggregate image and the predetermined number of thumbnail images as images to be displayed in the thumbnail list view, individual thumbnail images are displayed. The display is controlled so as to be pseudo-displayed in an area outside the list view window.

  With this configuration, the image processing apparatus according to the present invention can avoid the image under the overlap once being overwritten and displayed, so that a display that does not give a sense of incongruity to the user can be performed even in an overlapping map. it can.

  The image processing method of the present invention is an image processing method for processing image data of a list display screen for displaying a plurality of thumbnail images. The image display magnification can be changed on the list display screen, A thumbnail list view for displaying thumbnail images and a list view window for displaying all or part of the thumbnail list view are displayed, and the image size or resolution can be changed according to the display magnification, and the plurality of thumbnails Control is performed to display in the thumbnail list view at least one of a group image obtained by grouping images and a plurality of thumbnail images whose image size or resolution can be individually changed according to the display magnification according to a predetermined condition. It has a configuration.

  With this configuration, the image processing method of the present invention performs control to display at least one of the aggregate image obtained by collecting a plurality of thumbnail images and the plurality of thumbnail images on the thumbnail list view according to a predetermined condition. Even when a large number of images are displayed, the operation can be performed lightly without giving a great load, and a fine image can be displayed even if an image enlargement display operation is performed.

  An image processing program of the present invention is an image processing program that causes a computer to function as an image processing apparatus that processes image data of a list display screen for displaying a plurality of thumbnail images. Displaying a thumbnail list view for displaying the plurality of thumbnail images, and a list view window for displaying all or part of the thumbnail list view, wherein the computer displays the display At least an aggregate image in which the image size or resolution can be changed according to a magnification and the plurality of thumbnail images are aggregated, and a plurality of thumbnail images whose image size or resolution can be individually changed according to the display magnification Control to display one in the thumbnail list view according to a predetermined condition It has a structure to function as a display control means for performing.

  With this configuration, in the image processing program of the present invention, the display control unit displays at least one of the aggregate image obtained by assembling a plurality of thumbnail images and the plurality of thumbnail images on the thumbnail list view according to a predetermined condition. Since the control is performed, even when a large number of images are displayed, the operation can be performed lightly without applying a great load, and a fine image can be displayed even if an image enlargement display operation is performed.

  The present invention is an image processing having an effect that even when a large number of images are displayed, the operation can be performed lightly without giving a great load, and a fine image can be displayed even if an image enlargement display operation is performed. An apparatus, an image processing method, and an image processing program can be provided.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. An example in which the image processing apparatus of the present invention is applied to an image processing system including a server apparatus and a client apparatus will be described.

(First embodiment)
First, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of the image processing system in the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the image processing system according to the present embodiment includes a client device 100 and a server device 110.

  The client apparatus 100 includes a display device 101, an application program (hereinafter referred to as “application”) 102, and an input device 103. The client device 100 is composed of, for example, a PC, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistants), a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone, or the like.

  The display device 101 is composed of a liquid crystal display, for example, and displays an image. The application 102 performs display control of the display device 101, communication control with the server apparatus 110, interpretation of an instruction command input to the input device 103, and the like. The input device 103 includes, for example, a keyboard, a mouse, a scanner, and the like, and inputs a user instruction command.

  The server apparatus 110 includes an external interface (hereinafter referred to as “IF”) unit 111, a thumbnail generation processing unit 113, an image DB storage unit 114, a collective image generation processing unit 115, an image arrangement determination processing unit 116, a display A screen control processing unit 117 for classifying images in accordance with commands from the client device 100 and outputting information on the classification results to the client device 100.

  The external IF unit 111 communicates with the client device 100 via an external communication path 104 configured by, for example, a LAN or the Internet.

  The thumbnail generation processing unit 113 generates thumbnail image data for display by scaling the registered image data 112 registered as an image DB in the image DB storage unit 114 to a predetermined size or less.

  The image DB storage unit 114 stores the registered image data 112 and the thumbnail image data as an image DB. The image DB storage unit 114 stores collective image data 120 and image arrangement data 121 described later.

  The collective image generation processing unit 115 generates collective image data 120 in which a plurality of thumbnail images are arranged. The collective image data 120 is data obtained by arranging and synthesizing images obtained by reducing the registered image data 112 to a predetermined size, for example, in a matrix.

  The image arrangement determination processing unit 116 receives the registered image data 112, determines the image arrangement on the map screen, and outputs image arrangement data 121 indicating the determined image arrangement as coordinate data. The image arrangement data 121 is data indicating the positions on the map of all images registered in the image DB.

  The display screen control processing unit 117 generates display screen data 118 relating to a display screen to be displayed on the display device 101 of the client apparatus 100. This display screen data 118 is data to be displayed on the display device 101 of the client apparatus 100.

  The display screen control processing unit 117 receives screen control data 119 for controlling the display screen data 118 from the external IF unit 111, and executes display control according to the content of the screen control data 119. Yes. The screen control data 119 is data input from the client device 100. The display screen control processing unit 117 constitutes a display control unit according to the present invention.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration example of the server apparatus 110. The components in the figure will be described below.

  The server device 110 includes a CPU 201 that performs calculations and processes according to a program, a volatile memory 202 that is used as a work area for temporarily storing and holding data such as program code and image code data, HDD 203 for storing and accumulating data and programs, video memory 204 for temporarily storing image data, monitor 205 for displaying an image based on the image data written in the video memory, mouse, keyboard, etc. Input device 206, an external IF unit 207 that transmits and receives data via the external communication path 104 such as the Internet or a LAN, and a bus 208 that interconnects the respective components.

  In the present embodiment, an explanation is given assuming that the server device 110 is a server computer, and processing such as display screen generation is realized by software. That is, the processing in the server device 110 is realized by an application program (not shown) that operates in the configuration shown in FIG.

  However, the server apparatus 110 is not limited to the one shown in FIG. 2, and may be configured to perform processing by hardware in an apparatus such as an MFP. Further, instead of the configuration of the client device 100 and the server device 110 as shown in FIG. 1, for example, the configuration shown in FIG. Good. Since the client device 100 is assumed to be a PC or a mobile terminal as described above, the configuration of the client device 100 is also treated as the same as the configuration shown in FIG.

  Next, the operation in this embodiment will be described. The operation of the image processing system in this embodiment is roughly divided into two operations. One is an image registration operation, and the other is an operation of “using an image in the image DB” for searching, browsing, and acquiring (downloading from a server) a desired image. In using the image, first, a desired image is searched, and then the image is browsed using an application viewer and stored in the user's PC.

  Hereinafter, an image registration operation and an image search operation performed by displaying a list of thumbnail images will be described.

  First, the image registration operation will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an outline of the image registration operation of the image processing system in the present embodiment. The broken line shown in FIG. 1 indicates the data flow at the time of image registration.

  In step S001, the user registers the registered image data 112 by giving an instruction to register image data in the server apparatus 110 from the client apparatus 100 via the application program 102.

  In step S002, the registered image data 112 is input to the server apparatus 110 via the external communication path 104, and an ID is added to the image DB storage unit 114 via the external IF unit 111 together with accompanying meta information such as a file name. Attached and registered. At the same time, the thumbnail generation processing unit 113 reduces the registered image data 112 to generate thumbnail image data for display, and registers it in the image DB storage unit 114 with ID information. When the registered image data 112 is image data having a plurality of pages, thumbnail image data is generated in units of pages.

  In step S003, in parallel with the processing in step S002 described above, the image arrangement determination processing unit 116 determines the position of the registered image on the map by a predetermined process based on the registered image data 112. In addition, the image arrangement determination processing unit 116 acquires the image arrangement data 121 for all the images registered together with the image data in the image DB storage unit 114, and additionally writes the arrangement data of the registered image data 112 to the image DB storage unit. Register again at 114. Further, the image arrangement determination processing unit 116 outputs the image arrangement data 121 including the arrangement data of the registered image data 112 to the collective image generation processing unit 115.

  The process for determining the image arrangement is a process determined on the system side by the form of the map. For example, when arranging the images in order, it is assigned to the next position of the previously registered image, and depending on the characteristics of the image. In the case of a map that determines the arrangement of an image, a feature amount is extracted from the image and the arrangement is determined according to the feature amount. In the case of a document image, the arrangement may be determined according to a feature amount obtained by morphological analysis of a sentence. As one example, a method of extracting a plurality of feature amounts such as color, shape, texture, layout, etc. from an image and converting them into coordinates in a two-dimensional or three-dimensional space using an existing method such as a self-organizing map This makes it possible to search for a map that takes advantage of the appearance of the image. These techniques only need to use existing techniques, and these techniques are highly important in using the map search, but will not be described in detail because they differ from the gist of the present invention.

  In step S004, the collective image generation processing unit 115 inputs the registered image data 112 from the image DB storage unit 114 and the image arrangement data of the registered image data 112 determined by the image arrangement determination processing unit 116, and collects the image. Data 120 is generated and registered in the image DB storage unit 114.

  As the image DB storage unit 114, with respect to accompanying meta information such as ID information and file name, a general RDB (relational database) can be used to simplify processing such as registration, management, and search of image data. It is feasible. Further, the image data to be stored in the image DB storage unit 114 is constructed so that it can be read by linking with the above-described meta information by performing processing such as compression encoding as necessary. Just keep it. Further, the image DB storage unit 114 may construct and store a hierarchical data structure using a language such as XML (eXtensible Markup Language), for example, as long as the above functions are satisfied. You may accumulate | store as image DB in a different server apparatus, and embodiment is not ask | required. As for image registration, image data may be directly registered in the server device 110 from an image input device such as a scanner or a digital camera. Further, the server apparatus 110 may have a rendering function so that electronic data can be input.

  Next, the collective image generation process performed by the collective image generation processing unit 115 in step S004 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the collective image generation processing unit 115. In the following description, it is assumed that a plurality of image data and their collective image data are already registered in the image DB storage unit 114.

  In step S011, the collective image generation processing unit 115 acquires the existing collective image data 120 registered from the image DB storage unit 114.

  In step S012, the collective image generation processing unit 115 reduces the input registered image data 112 to a predetermined size, and combines the registered image data constituting the reduced collective image data 120 in step S013. The composition process here is overwritten so that the reduced registered image is arranged at the arrangement position in the collective image determined by the image arrangement determination processing unit 116.

In step S014, the collective image generation processing unit 115 re-registers the generated (updated) collective image in the image DB storage unit 114.
Next, thumbnail images and collective images in the present embodiment will be described.

  In the present embodiment, thumbnail image data and collective image data used for display in the client device 100 are generated for each registered image. In the map search type display system according to the present invention, it is necessary to generate a thumbnail image having an image size corresponding to the display size of the client. As this technique, as proposed by the present inventor in Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-304010, image data (code code) corresponding to a necessary image size is used by using a hierarchical encoding method typified by JPEG2000 or the like. Alternatively, a plurality of thumbnail images having different sizes may be prepared and a thumbnail image corresponding to the display size may be selected.

  Similarly to the thumbnail image that is a reduced image of each image, the collective image in which the thumbnail images are aggregated may be configured by a hierarchical encoding method, or may be configured by a plurality of images having different sizes. Note that the data of the collective image is generally huge image data, and therefore, it is preferable to configure the hierarchical encoding method because the overall storage capacity can be saved. Further, the collective image may be composed of one image, or may be composed of a plurality of images obtained by dividing the entire collective image into several.

  As for the size of the thumbnail image, for example, as shown in Table 1, a long side size is defined for each predetermined thumbnail image size, and if the long side size of the original image is larger than that, the registered image data 112 is reduced. Processing may be performed so as to create a thumbnail image having the long side corresponding to the size, and the short side may be reduced while maintaining the ratio with the long side.

  Specifically, when the image size of the input registered image data 112 is 4000 pixels long × 2000 pixels wide, the vertical size is the size shown in Table 1 and the horizontal size is Sam1 to Sam7. It is only necessary to be able to display thumbnail images of seven different sizes.

  In this embodiment, as shown in Table 1, only thumbnail images are used when displaying thumbnail images whose size is equal to or smaller than the size of Sam2, and when displaying thumbnails of size Sam3, When a mixture of images and individual thumbnail images is used and an image of Sam4 or higher is displayed, only the individual thumbnail images are used. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the displayable thumbnail image size that needs to be generated by the thumbnail generation processing unit 113 is a thumbnail image having a size of Sam3 or more.

  Next, the image search operation will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an outline of the image search operation of the image processing system according to this embodiment. The same operation is performed even when the user searches for an image without having a specific search purpose.

  In step S <b> 101, the user uses the application program 102 in the client device 100 to instruct the server device 110 to display a list of thumbnail images.

  In step S102, when the server apparatus 110 receives a list display instruction signal, the display screen control processing unit 117 generates an initial screen of a thumbnail list display screen as shown in FIG. 6A, for example. FIG. 6A shows an example of a thumbnail list display screen. The components in the figure are as follows.

  That is, the thumbnail list display screen in the present embodiment shown in FIG. 6A includes a window 301 that defines the display area of the thumbnail list view 302, a thumbnail list view 302 that is a display frame of the thumbnail image 303, A plurality of thumbnail images 303 each representing one thumbnail image, a slider 304 for setting a display magnification of the thumbnail list view 302, a slider 305 for scrolling the thumbnail list view 302 in the horizontal direction, and a thumbnail list view 302 And a slider 306 for scrolling in the vertical direction.

  Here, when displaying a group image, the thumbnail list view 302 itself is a group image, and when displaying individual images, each thumbnail image 303 displayed on the thumbnail list view 302 is an individual image. It becomes. Details of the display of the individual thumbnail images 303 and the collective image will be described later.

  Here, for simplification of description, the collective image is handled as one image, but may be divided and handled as a plurality of images as shown in FIG. 6C, for example. FIG. 6C shows an example in which the thumbnail list view 302 is equally divided into four parts 302a to 302d, and the thick dotted line shows the boundary of the division. However, the thumbnail list view 302 may be divided not equally but equally.

  Further, FIG. 6 shows an example in which the thumbnail images 303 on the map are arranged and arranged, but they may be arranged at random, and there is no problem if the thumbnail images 303 are arranged to overlap each other.

  The thumbnail list display screen in the present embodiment has two main screen structures. One is a thumbnail list view 302, and the other is an image of an outer frame portion including other user interfaces. The application 102 in the client apparatus 100 combines these two frames to generate display screen data for the display device 101, and finally generates screen data as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 6B is a schematic diagram showing the thumbnail list view 302, and a display area 307 showing the boundary of the window 301 is shown. When generating the display screen data, the display screen control processing unit 117 generates two types of screen data as described above. The image in the outer frame part is displayed in the display magnification and display area of the thumbnail list view 302. Therefore, the description relating to the image data generation of the frame portion of the outer frame will be omitted, and only the screen data generation of the thumbnail list view 302 will be described.

  When the initial screen data is generated, the display screen control processing unit 117 sets the display magnification of the thumbnail list view 302 (the default minimum magnification in FIG. 6A) and the display area 307 to predetermined values, and thumbnails. A list view 302 is generated, and data of the thumbnail list view 302 is transmitted to the client apparatus 100 as display screen data 118 including data of the frame portion of the outer frame from the external IF unit 111 via the external communication path 104.

  The thumbnail list view 302 has a screen as shown in FIG. 6B, but the display screen control processing unit 117 may use the collective image as the thumbnail list view 302 when using the collective image. In the case of using this image, the image arrangement data 121 and the ID information of the display image may be held. Further, as the data of the thumbnail list view 302, it is preferable to transmit only the screen data in the display area 307 to the client device 100. The generation of the thumbnail list view will be described later. Further, a blank portion exists in the screen shown in FIG. This is because when the thumbnail image at the end of the display area 307 is enlarged and displayed, a space as a display area is required.

  There are various methods for creating the display screen and the method for communicating between the server and client. As a commonly used and preferred method, by using the WWW-based technology with the server device 110 as a Web server, It can be realized relatively easily. In this case, the display screen data 118 is described by, for example, HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language), and the application 102 may use a general Web browser. In the present embodiment, a scroll slider for changing the display magnification and the display area is configured on the screen. For example, the input device such as a mouse in the client apparatus 100 is provided with these functions. You may comprise as follows.

  Returning to FIG. 5, in step S <b> 103, the client apparatus 100 expands (renders) the display screen data 118 by the application 102 and displays a display screen (thumbnail list screen) based on the display screen data 118 on the display device 101. .

  In step S104, the user using the client apparatus 100 operates the sliders 305 and 306 to change the display area in order to search for the search target image while browsing the image displayed on the display screen. The display magnification is changed by operating the magnification setting slider 304 to instruct screen scrolling or display magnification change. The operation of the slider is executed by an input device 103 such as a mouse (not shown).

  In step S <b> 105, the screen scroll or display magnification change instruction is converted into screen control data 119 indicating the display magnification and display area and transmitted to the server device 110.

  In step S106, when the server apparatus 110 receives the screen control data 119, the thumbnail list view screen is changed. Details of the operation when changing the thumbnail list view screen will be described later.

  In step S107, as in step S103, a display screen (thumbnail list screen) based on the changed display screen data 118 is displayed on the display device 101.

  If the user cannot find the search target image in step S108, the operations in steps S104 to S107 are repeated.

  Next, the thumbnail list view screen change process in step S106 shown in FIG. 5 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an outline of the operation of the server apparatus 110 when the display area screen of the thumbnail list view 302 is generated.

  In step S201, when the screen control data 119 is input from the client device 100, the display screen control processing unit 117 sets the display magnification and the display area 307 of the thumbnail list view. In the case of the initial setting screen, predetermined values are set in the server device 110 for these pieces of information.

  In step S202, it is determined whether the display magnification set in step S201 described above is larger than a predetermined threshold value B (second display magnification). When the thumbnail image display mode for displaying the thumbnail images is selected and the display magnification is equal to or smaller than the threshold value B, as described later, the mixed display mode for displaying the group images and the individual thumbnail images at the same time, or only the group images The collective image display mode for displaying is selected.

  In the present embodiment, the minimum thumbnail image display size of a display image (which agrees with the thumbnail image display mode) that can display only individual thumbnail images is 320 × 320 pixels, and the maximum thumbnail image display size in the mixed display mode is 160. Since it is × 160 pixels, the threshold value B is preferably 240, which is an intermediate value between 320 and 160. Also, the smaller the display magnification, the more images are displayed.

  In step S <b> 203, individual thumbnail images corresponding to image data included in the display area 307 of the thumbnail list view 302 are selected and determined as image data to be provided to the display screen of the thumbnail list view 302. Here, when the thumbnail image is created by a hierarchical code, the hierarchical level is set simultaneously. When a plurality of thumbnail images having different sizes are held, a thumbnail image having a size corresponding to the display magnification is selected.

  In step S204, it is determined whether the display magnification set in step S201 is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold A (first display magnification). A mixed display mode in which images and individual thumbnail images are displayed simultaneously is selected. When the display magnification is less than the threshold A, a collective image display mode in which only the collective images are displayed is selected.

  In the present embodiment, the maximum thumbnail image size of a display image that can display only the collective image (agreement with the collective image display mode) is 80 × 80 pixels, and the display size of the maximum thumbnail image in the mixed display mode is 160. Since × 160 pixels are used, the threshold A is preferably 120, which is an intermediate value between 80 and 160.

  In step S205, individual thumbnail images corresponding to the image data included in the display area 307 of the thumbnail list view 302 are selected and determined as image data to be provided to the display screen of the thumbnail list view 302, and the collective image data 120 is selected. select. For example, when the collective image is divided as shown in FIG. 6C, the divided collective image in the display area 307 is selected and determined. Here, when the collective image is created by a hierarchical code, the hierarchical level is set simultaneously. If a plurality of group images having different sizes are held, a group image having a size corresponding to the display magnification is selected.

  In step S206, the collective image data 120 is selected as the image data to be provided to the display screen of the thumbnail list view 302. If the collective image is divided, the collective image at a position included in the display area 307 is selected and determined. Here, when the collective image is created by a hierarchical code, the hierarchical level is set simultaneously. If a plurality of group images having different sizes are held, a group image having a size corresponding to the display magnification is selected.

  In step S207, screen data in the display area 307 of the thumbnail list view 302 is generated for the selected thumbnail image or group image. The screen data in the thumbnail list view 302 may be bitmap data. However, as is generally done with HTML, a method of describing image coordinate information and link information in a structured document is generally used. Is. In this case, it is necessary to transfer the structured document data and the image data in the display area from the server device 110 to the client device 100.

  Next, an enlarged display process according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating an enlarged display process executed by the display device 101 of the client apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment.

  The user displays candidate images as search target images from many thumbnail images at the center of the screen using the sliders 305 and 306 (FIG. 8A), and in the process of gradually increasing the enlargement ratio, Whether or not the image is a search target image is confirmed while performing comparison with the image and confirmation of the image content (FIGS. 8B to 8C). If it can be confirmed that the displayed image is not the search target image, the display magnification may be reduced to further search for candidate images. On the other hand, when the displayed image is a search target image, the image content can be confirmed in detail while the screen of the thumbnail list view 302 is displayed (FIG. 8D).

  In the present embodiment, in the enlarged display process as described above, the collective image display mode, the mixed display mode, and the thumbnail image display mode are switched.

  Here, for example, a problem when switching directly from the collective image mode to the thumbnail image display mode will be described.

  For example, if the display shown in FIG. 8B is a screen displayed in the collective image mode, and the display shown in FIG. 8F is a screen displayed in the thumbnail image display mode, each thumbnail image is displayed from the display of the collective image. Since the screen transition occurs at the time of switching to, the thumbnail image display once disappears as shown in FIG. 8E, and then the individual thumbnail images are sequentially displayed.

  Here, since each thumbnail image has a size corresponding to the display magnification, it has a certain amount of image capacity. This is because the client device 100 does not have code data for individual thumbnail images even if a thumbnail image based on a hierarchical code that only needs to communicate only the difference code with the display image is used. The display disappears for the amount of time for communicating, and the user who is using it feels as a transition of the display screen with a great discomfort.

  Therefore, first, the image shown in FIG. 8F is displayed using the collective image, and then the individual thumbnail images are arranged so as to overlap the corresponding thumbnail images in the collective image, so that the user feels uncomfortable. Search and search on the map can be performed without any problem.

  The required capacity of the collective image in the present embodiment is (160 + 20) pixels × (160 + 20) pixels × 10, when 10,000 images can be displayed, assuming that the margin between images is 20 pixels. Since the number of 000 images × 3 (bytes / pixel), the capacity is about 1 GB, and the capacity is sufficiently practical when it is considered to be about 100 MB after the compression processing. Even in this case, if all the collective images are expanded in the memory, a memory capacity of 1 GB is required. In such a case, if the collective image is divided and only the necessary portions are expanded in the memory as described above. Good.

  As described above, according to the image processing system of the present embodiment, it is possible to perform search while checking the contents of a plurality of images easily and continuously without opening another window such as a viewer. In the map search type image list display that can be improved, if the display magnification is small and the number of images displayed on the screen is large, a collective image that can be displayed at high speed with few images to be displayed is displayed. When the display magnification is large and the number of images to be displayed on the screen is small, individual thumbnail images are displayed, and in the vicinity of the magnification at which the two are switched, the collective image is displayed and the individual images are also displayed. Independent operation is possible, and the collective image has a huge capacity and does not overload the system. It is possible to switch the display screen even without discomfort when switching the image.

  Note that by programming each process described in the operation description and causing the computer to operate according to the program, the program can cause the computer to function as the client device 100 and the server device 110 illustrated in FIG. 1.

  In the above-described embodiment, the size of the thumbnail image indicated as Sam3 in Table 1 is configured to be displayed as both the aggregate image and the individual thumbnail images. However, the thumbnail image size of Sam3 is set to the individual thumbnail. It is also possible to configure such that only images can be displayed. In that case, the group image of the size shown in FIG. 8B is simply enlarged to display the group image at the screen size of FIG. 8F (the image will be slightly blurred). Further, it may be configured such that fine display corresponding to the image size is completed by superimposing individual thumbnail images.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, when displaying the group image and the individual thumbnail images in the mixed mode when the display magnification is enlarged, the group images are displayed first and overlaid so as to overwrite the individual thumbnail images. As shown, when the display magnification is reduced, the display screen is as shown in FIG. 8 (f) to FIG. 8 (b).

  For example, when FIG. 8F shows only the display of individual thumbnail images and FIG. 8B shows the display in the mixed mode, the user changes the display magnification from the display screen of FIG. 8F in the reduction direction. When this is done, it is the reverse of the enlarged display, and since each thumbnail image is held on the client device 100 side, each thumbnail image is displayed first, and processing is performed to overwrite the collective image on it. Better.

  In such control, the client apparatus 100 notifies the server apparatus 110 of enlargement display and reduction display instructions from the input device 103 together with other data using the screen control data 119, and describes them in the display screen data 118. This can be easily realized by changing the display order of the images to be displayed.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, an image processing system according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the first embodiment, an example is shown in which an image to be displayed in the thumbnail list view is selected and displayed as a collective image and individual thumbnail images according to the display magnification. However, in the present embodiment, a display screen is displayed. An example in which display selection of the collective image and individual thumbnail images is switched according to the number of images in the image will be described.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a thumbnail list display screen (map screen) showing a map form by an image arrangement method in which such a method is particularly effective. The figure shows a map in which images are randomly arranged and allows overlapping of images. As described in the first embodiment, when a feature amount of an image is extracted from image data and a large number of images are arranged on the map based on the feature amount, a display as shown in FIG. 9 is often obtained. It is also possible to make a map that does not allow overlapping of images by means of arrangement.

  The configuration and operation in the present embodiment can be realized in substantially the same manner as in the first embodiment, and the difference is the operation of the server apparatus 110 when the display area screen of the thumbnail list view 302 is generated. Explain it.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an outline of the operation of the server apparatus 110 when the display area screen of the thumbnail list view 302 is generated. In addition, the description similar to 1st Embodiment is abbreviate | omitted, and the operation | movement of the following steps S212 and S214 which replaces the operation | movement of step S202 and S204 in 1st Embodiment is demonstrated.

  In step S212, the number of images included in the display area 307 set in step S201 is counted. As a result of counting, it is determined whether the number of images in the display area is less than a predetermined threshold value B (first image number). If the number of images in the display area is less than the threshold value B, When the thumbnail display mode for displaying thumbnail images is selected and the number of images in the display area is equal to or greater than the threshold value B, the mixed display mode or the collective image display mode is selected as described later.

  In step S214, it is determined whether the number of images counted in step S212 is equal to or smaller than a predetermined threshold value A (second image number). A mixed display mode in which images and individual thumbnail images are displayed at the same time is selected. When the counted number of images is larger than the threshold value A, a group image display mode in which only the group images are displayed is selected.

  As described above, according to the number of images in the display area, the image processing system according to the present embodiment displays the thumbnail list view 302 using individual thumbnail images, displays a collective image, collects images, It is possible to select whether to display both images and individual thumbnail images.

  As shown in FIG. 9, when images are randomly arranged, the number of images is not determined according to the display magnification. In particular, when the images are overlapped, the degree is high. As described in the first embodiment, when the display magnification is changed and the display is switched from the collective image display to the individual thumbnail image display, it is more than expected. There is a possibility that a lot of image data needs to be transferred from the server apparatus 110 to the client apparatus 100, and the display may be slow. Therefore, depending on the number of images to be displayed, the present embodiment in which the display mode is switched according to the number of images in the display table area is more suitable than the first embodiment.

  In the present embodiment, there is a possibility that the collective image may be displayed up to a display magnification larger than the display magnification in the first embodiment, so that the size of the maximum thumbnail image that can be displayed as the collective image is increased. It is preferable that each thumbnail image can be displayed up to a small size. In such a case, even if the size of the thumbnail images that can be displayed is increased by allowing the images to overlap, the size of the collective image is reduced as compared with the aligned image arrangement described in the first embodiment. Therefore, it is not necessary to increase the load on the system.

  For example, if the relationship between the thumbnail image size and the image form is as shown in Table 2, the size of the displayable thumbnail image of the collective image is set to 320 × 320 pixels which is twice that of the first embodiment. If the vertical and horizontal sizes of the collective image are halved, the capacity of the collective image can be made substantially the same as in the first embodiment.

  Further, since the capacity of the image data does not change so much even if the thumbnail images of a small size are increased, it can be realized with a server load equivalent to that of the first embodiment. It should be noted that both the method (first embodiment) for switching between a collective image and individual thumbnail images depending on the display magnification and the method for switching according to the number of images described in the present embodiment may be used. For example, when the resolution of the collective image in the present embodiment reaches a predetermined upper limit display magnification, the display mode of each thumbnail image may be forcibly switched.

  In the case of displaying the collective image and the individual thumbnail images at the same time in the overlapped images as shown in FIG. 9, after the collective image is first displayed as in the first embodiment, the individual thumbnail images are displayed. After displaying the overlapped image as a collective image, the image below the overlap appears once when displaying the individual thumbnail images, and then the image above the overlap appears again to collect The display returns to the same display as the image. Although it is possible to use this as a seasoning for display, since this phenomenon occurs only at a certain timing, there is a possibility that the user may feel uncomfortable. As a suitable display method in such a case, (A) individual thumbnail images of only the topmost overlapping image are selected and displayed. (B) individual thumbnail images are arranged outside the frame of the display area 307. Then, there is a method of displaying in a pseudo manner.

  This will be specifically described with reference to FIG. Assuming that FIG. 11A represents a collective image when displayed in the mixed mode, the above (A) is a form in which only the image indicated by the oblique lines in FIG. 11B is displayed as individual thumbnail images. Yes, in (B) above, individual thumbnail images indicated by hatching in FIG. 11C are moved out of the frame of the display area 307 and expanded on the memory of the client device 100, but not displayed. It is a form.

  By using the method as described above, it is possible to prevent the image under the overlap from being overwritten and displayed once, and the display with no sense of incongruity even in the map with the overlap as shown in the present embodiment. Can be performed. This technique can also be used in the first embodiment and further in a third embodiment described later.

(Third embodiment)
Next, an image processing system according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the present embodiment, an example is shown in which a group image and individual thumbnail images are selected and switched according to the capacity of image data of all the images included in the display screen. Note that the capacity of the image data here is the capacity of the thumbnail image data to be displayed on the display screen when the image data is hierarchically encoded.

  The configuration and operation in the present embodiment can be realized in substantially the same manner as in the first embodiment, and the difference is the operation of the server apparatus 110 when the display area screen of the thumbnail list view 302 is generated. This will be explained below.

  FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the operation of the server apparatus 110 when the display area screen of the thumbnail list view 302 is generated. In addition, the description similar to 1st Embodiment is abbreviate | omitted, and the operation | movement of the following steps S222 and S224 which replaces the operation | movement of step S202 and S204 in 1st Embodiment is demonstrated.

  In step S222, the total capacity of the thumbnail image data included in the display area 307 set in step S201 is calculated. As the calculation method, when hierarchical encoding is used, the calculation may be easily performed from the size of the display image, or the code amount for the layer necessary for display may be integrated for all images. Further, when a plurality of images are created according to the size of the thumbnail image, the capacity of the thumbnail images having the size of the corresponding thumbnail image data may be summed up.

  It is determined whether the image capacity of the image displayed in the display area is equal to or less than the threshold value B. If the image capacity is less than the threshold value B (capacity of the first image data), each thumbnail image is displayed. When the thumbnail image display mode is selected and the image capacity is equal to or larger than the threshold value B, the mixed display mode or the collective image display mode is selected as described later.

  In step S224, it is determined whether the image capacity calculated in step S222 is equal to or smaller than a predetermined threshold A (capacity of the second image data). If the image capacity is equal to or smaller than the threshold A, the collective image When the image capacity is larger than the threshold value A, the group image display mode for displaying only the group image is selected.

  As described above, the image processing system according to the present embodiment selects whether to display the thumbnail list view 302 using individual thumbnail images or to display a collective image according to the image capacity in the display area. It becomes possible. Since the image capacity here is almost equivalent to the communication capacity of the image data communicated by the external communication path 104, the relation with the display speed becomes a large value, and it is possible to switch the image with high accuracy.

  As described above, the image processing apparatus, the image processing method, and the image processing program according to the present invention operate lightly without imposing a great load even when displaying a large number of images, and perform an image enlargement display operation. Image processing that has the effect of being able to display fine images even if it is performed, and has the function of generating a list display screen data of a plurality of images such as a thumbnail list for the image data stored in the image database It is useful as an apparatus, an image processing method, an image processing program, and the like.

1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image processing system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The block diagram which shows the structure of the server apparatus in the image processing system in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. 2 is a flowchart showing an outline of an image registration operation in the image processing system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The flowchart which shows the outline | summary of operation | movement of the collective image generation process part in the image processing system in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. The flowchart which shows the outline | summary of the image search operation | movement in the image processing system in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows an example of the thumbnail list display screen in the image processing system in the 1st Embodiment of this invention The flowchart which shows the outline | summary of operation | movement of the server apparatus at the time of the display area screen production | generation of a thumbnail list view in the image processing system in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an enlarged display process executed by a display device in the image processing system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The figure which shows an example of the thumbnail list display screen in the image processing system in the 1st Embodiment of this invention The flowchart which shows the outline | summary of operation | movement of the server apparatus at the time of the display area screen production | generation of a thumbnail list view in the image processing system in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows an example of the thumbnail list display screen in the image processing system in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention The flowchart which shows the outline | summary of operation | movement of the server apparatus at the time of the display area screen production | generation of a thumbnail list view in the image processing system in the 3rd Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Client apparatus 101 Display device 102 Application 103 Input device 104 External communication path 110 Server apparatus 111 External IF part 112 Registered image data 113 Thumbnail generation process part 114 Image DB memory | storage part 115 Collective image generation process part 116 Image arrangement | positioning determination process part 117 Display Screen control processing unit (display control means)
118 Display Screen Data 119 Screen Control Data 120 Collected Image Data 121 Image Layout Data 201 CPU
202 Memory 203 HDD
204 Video Memory 205 Monitor 206 Input Device 207 External IF Unit 208 Bus 301 Window 302 Thumbnail List View 303 Thumbnail Images 304, 305, 306 Slider 307 Display Area

Claims (13)

In an image processing apparatus that processes image data of a list display screen for displaying a plurality of thumbnail images,
The list display screen includes a thumbnail list view that displays the plurality of thumbnail images so that a display magnification can be changed, and a list view window that displays all or part of the thumbnail list view,
At least an aggregate image in which the image size or resolution can be changed according to the display magnification and the thumbnail images are aggregated, and a thumbnail image whose image size or resolution can be individually changed according to the display magnification An image processing apparatus comprising: display control means for performing control to display one on the thumbnail list view according to a predetermined condition. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined condition is a display magnification of the thumbnail image. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined condition is the number of thumbnail images displayed in the list view window. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined condition is a capacity of image data of a thumbnail image displayed in the list view window. The display control means selects an image to be displayed in the thumbnail list view according to a first display magnification and a second display magnification larger than the first display magnification, and displays the selected image in the thumbnail list view. When the display magnification is within a range from the first display magnification to the second display magnification, the group image and a predetermined number of thumbnail images are selected. 3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein when the display magnification is less than the first display magnification, only the aggregate image is selected, and when it is larger than the second display magnification, only the thumbnail image is selected. . The display control unit selects an image to be displayed in the thumbnail list view according to the first image number and a second image number larger than the first image number, and displays the selected image in the thumbnail list view. And when the number of thumbnail images to be displayed is within the range from the first image number to the second image number, the set image and a predetermined number of thumbnails are displayed. The image is selected, and if it is less than the first number of images, only the thumbnail image is selected, and if it is larger than the second number of images, only the collective image is selected. Image processing apparatus. The display control means selects an image to be displayed in the thumbnail list view according to a first image data volume and a second image data volume larger than the first image data volume, and selects the selected image from the thumbnail list. When the image capacity of the thumbnail image to be displayed is within the range from the capacity of the first image data to the capacity of the second image data, it is controlled in advance with the collective image. Select a predetermined number of thumbnail images, and select only the thumbnail image when it is less than the first image data capacity, and select only the aggregate image when it is larger than the second image data capacity The image processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein: When the display control unit selects the aggregate image and the predetermined number of thumbnail images as images to be displayed in the thumbnail list view, the display control unit individually selects a position at which a thumbnail image constituting the aggregate image is displayed. The image processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the thumbnail images are controlled to be displayed in correspondence with each other. The display control means configures a group image at a position where each thumbnail image is displayed when selecting the group image and the predetermined number of thumbnail images as images to be displayed in the thumbnail list view. The image processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein thumbnail images are controlled to be displayed in correspondence with each other. 8. The display device according to claim 5, wherein when the thumbnail images are displayed in an overlapping manner, only the image at the top of the overlapping is displayed in an overlapping manner. 9. Image processing device. When selecting the aggregate image and the predetermined number of thumbnail images as the images to be displayed in the thumbnail list view, the display control means simulates each thumbnail image in an area outside the list view window. The image processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the image processing apparatus is controlled so as to display automatically. In an image processing method for processing image data of a list display screen for displaying a plurality of thumbnail images,
In the list display screen, a thumbnail list view in which a display magnification of an image can be changed and the plurality of thumbnail images are displayed, and a list view window in which all or a part of the thumbnail list view is displayed are displayed.
An image size or resolution that can be changed according to the display magnification and a set of the plurality of thumbnail images, and a plurality of thumbnail images whose image size or resolution can be individually changed according to the display magnification, An image processing method characterized by performing control to display at least one of the above in the thumbnail list view according to a predetermined condition. An image processing program for causing a computer to function as an image processing apparatus that processes image data of a list display screen for displaying a plurality of thumbnail images,
In the computer, as the list display screen, a thumbnail list view in which a display magnification of an image can be changed and the plurality of thumbnail images are displayed, and a list view window in which all or a part of the thumbnail list view is displayed Display
The computer can be changed in image size or resolution in accordance with the display magnification and a plurality of thumbnail images, and a plurality of images in which the image size or resolution can be individually changed in accordance with the display magnification. An image processing program that functions as a display control unit that performs control to display at least one of the thumbnail images on the thumbnail list view according to a predetermined condition.

Images