JP2556308B2 - Image storage device - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an image storage device.

[Prior Art] In a conventional image processing system, when an image is recorded on a recording medium, a part of the image is recorded as image index information, and the image index information is used as a clue when searching for image information. There is.

Then, when registering a plurality of pages as one case, the conventional apparatus uses a part of the image of the first page as index information.

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, the image index information is displayed so that it can be viewed by the operator,
Although it is used as a clue for the operator's search, there is a case in which there is no easy-to-determine portion on the first page for the operator. In this case, there is a problem that the search time becomes long.

[Object of the Invention] Further, when storing images of a plurality of pages as one file in a storage medium and creating an index for each case,
Images of a plurality of pages are input as one file from the input means, the input images of a plurality of pages are stored in a storage medium, and each time an image of one file is stored, one stored file is stored. It is possible to specify a page to be used as an image index from the image of the file.

However, as described above, the operation of designating a page to be used as an image index each time one image is stored is complicated, and there is a problem that operability regarding index creation is poor.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an image storage device that improves the operability regarding index creation when storing images of multiple pages as one file in a storage medium.

Embodiment of the Invention FIG. 1 is an external connection diagram of an image processing system showing an embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, the control unit (workstation)
1 is a microcomputer for system control, RAM, R
It is equipped with an internal memory such as an OM and an external memory such as a floppy disk or a cartridge disk.

Further, a document reader 2 for converting the document information of the document placed on the document table at the input section of the digital copying machine into an electric signal by an image pickup device such as a CCD, and an electric signal for a laser beam printer at the output section of the digital copying machine. A high-speed printer 3 that records an image on a recording material based on the converted information, an image file 4 that has a recording medium such as an optical disk or a magneto-optical disk, and can write and read a large amount of image information, and a digital file. A CRT device 8 that displays image information or system control information photoelectrically read by an input scanner (reader) of a copying machine, and a cable 1 that electrically connects each input / output device.
1,12,17,18 are provided.

Further, the keyboard 20 provided in the control unit 1 issues an operation command of the system by operating the keyboard 20. The operation panel 21 for issuing an operation command of the digital copying machine includes a setting key for the number of copies, a copying magnification, etc., a copy key 25 for instructing the start of copying, a numerical display and the like.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration of the above embodiment.

The same members as those shown in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals.

The keyboard 31 corresponds to the keyboard 20 shown in FIG. 1, and the operator inputs an operation command of the system by the keyboard 31.

Microcomputer (eg Motorola 6800
A CPU (central processing unit) 32 composed of 0) is provided. The CPU 32 is an example of one having a function of creating image index information based on image information of an arbitrary page among a plurality of pages when registering a plurality of pages in a predetermined storage unit.

A ROM (Read Only Memory) 33 is written with a system control program in advance, and the CPU 32 controls and operates according to the program written in the ROM 33.

The RAM (random access memory) 34 is mainly used as a working memory of the CPU 32 and a page memory for storing image signals exchanged between the input / output units. External memory composed of floppy disk 35
Is a system control program, a database for image retrieval from image files, and the like. The communication interface 36 is capable of exchanging information with other similar systems or terminals via a communication line such as a local area network.

Also, an input / output interface 37 that achieves information exchange between the control unit 1 and the digital copying machine 42, and a bit extraction circuit that thins out image signals at a predetermined rate.
38, an optical disk interface 39 for exchanging information with the image file 4, a CRT interface 40 for exchanging information with the CRT 8, and a bus (16 bits) for transferring signals between the blocks in the control unit 1. ) 41 and are provided.

The image signal output from the document reader 2 is
It is input to the input / output interface 37 of the control unit 1. The input / output interface 37 receives the image signals input serially.
It is converted into a 16-bit parallel signal and output on the bus 41. The image signal output on the bus 41 is sequentially input to the image area of the RAM 34 page by page.

In this way, the image signal stored in the RAM 34 is output again to the bus 41 and, via the communication interface 36,
An image is formed by being externally output, sent to the image file 4 via the optical disc interface 39, written on the optical disc, or transmitted to the printer 3 via the input / output interface 37.

The image signal of the image file 4 read from the optical disk is once written in the RAM 34 and then transmitted to the printer 3 via the input / output interface 37.

The image signal from the document reader 2 can be directly transmitted from the input / output interface 37 to the printer 3 without passing through the control unit 1. That is, when a mere copy operation is desired, the image file 4 and the CRT 8 are not needed, and therefore, for example, the image signal from the document reader 2 is directly supplied to the printer 3 without passing through the control unit 1.
The real-time copy operation is executed. This mode is called "pass mode".

The above-mentioned control relating to the transmission of the image signal is executed by the CPU 32 in accordance with the operation command input by the operator via the keyboard 31.

Next, an outline of the registration operation for writing an image on the optical disk in the above embodiment will be described.

First, the keyboard 31 is used to specify the number of pages when a plurality of pages are registered as one case. Further, when a keyword necessary for the search is input, the image is read from the first page by the document reader 2 and the image is confirmed by the CRT device 8, the image is written on the optical disc. After writing the first page to the optical disc,
The second page of the original is read. In this way, from the first page to the final page, continuous operations of image reading, image confirmation, and writing on the optical disk are sequentially performed.

Here, in the middle of reading the plurality of pages, after reading the page to be used as the image index information in the plurality of pages, the keyboard 31 is used to specify the image index information to be used. After the writing of the final page on the optical disc is completed, a part of the image information of the page designated as the image index creation is copied to the next area in which the final page is written.
Then, the copied image information is used as image index information. At this time, the read images of multiple pages are thinned out by the bit extraction circuit and stored in RAM, and after writing the last page, all pages are collectively or divided and reduced and displayed on the CRT to be used as index information. It becomes easy to select the image to be used.

 Next, a search time will be described.

In the search operation, the image index is assigned to the CRT device 8
When it is necessary to display the information in the area, the area next to the last page of the image information of a plurality of pages is read from the optical disc. By displaying the read image information on the CRT device 8, the image index is displayed. Further, the page for generating the image index information may be designated before the registration of one page, or may be designated after the registration of the final page. In any case, inside the apparatus, the image index creation may be copied after the end of writing the last page.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the operation at the time of registration in the above-mentioned embodiment, and shows an example in which a reduced image of a designated page is used as an image index.

First, the number of pages of information to be registered, keywords for searching, etc. are input (S1). When creating a reduced image index, the default is that the first page is the image index.

Then, it is determined whether or not the number of pages for creating the index image is changed (S2), and if the change is necessary, the number of pages to be used as an index is input (S3). The image is actually read from one page (S4), and the image is registered in the recording medium (S5). Then, it is judged whether or not the image read and registered is the page designated by the index (S6). If the page is designated as the index, the image information of the page is reduced in the area immediately after the actual image is recorded on the recording medium, and the reduced image is registered as an image index (S7).

Then, it is judged whether or not the first page of information has been completed up to the last page (S8), and if the last page is not completed, the process returns to S4. When the last page is completed, registration is complete.

Next, if the image index display is designated at the time of search, the number of pages serving as the image index is read from the index area, and the reduced image is read immediately after the actual image of that page number.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the image index display screen.

A plurality of reduced images 61, which are image indexes, are simultaneously displayed on the screen 60 of the entire display. This reduced image (default at the time of registration) is made by designating the first page, but a predetermined number of pages after the second page can be selected by the operator's selection.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, when images of a plurality of pages are stored in a storage medium as one file, there is an effect that operability regarding index creation is improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the above embodiment. FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the operation of the above embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the image index display screen in the above embodiment. 1 ... control unit, 2 ... manuscript reader, 4 ... image file, 32 ... CPU, 33 ... ROM.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. Input means for inputting an image; storage means for storing images of a plurality of pages input from the input means as one file in a storage medium; one file stored in the storage means From among the multiple page images included in
Instructing means for instructing a desired page to be an image index; when instructed by the instructing means, an image index is created based on the image of the instructed page, while there is no instruction by the instructing means In this case, an image storage device, comprising: an image index creating means for creating an image index based on an image of a predetermined page determined in advance.