JP2674509B2 - Image reading device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device for reproducing image data stored in an image recording medium, and more particularly to an image reading device for displaying a plurality of reduced images.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, an image recording apparatus or an image filing system for recording and storing image data on a recording medium such as a magneto-optical disk or a solid-state memory has been widely found.

Such an image file system has an advantage that it can instantly access a desired image and does not have the trouble of fast-forwarding / rewinding unlike the VTR. However, if there are several tens of files, thousands of files are stored. In order to find the desired one from the inside, it cannot be easily found without using, for example, the image management number.

However, it is the most natural method to look for the desired image while looking at the image itself, and this is a method that matches human memory. Therefore, the search efficiency in this case depends on how many images can be displayed in a short time. For this purpose, some systems that collectively display a plurality of images on one screen have been proposed.

First, in the configuration disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-87660, a reduced image is created and recorded when recording an image, and a plurality of these reduced images are displayed at the time of retrieval. As shown in FIG. 6, the image input device 31
The image signal input from is temporarily stored in the image memory 32 and then accumulated in the recording medium 34 via the interface 33. Further, the image data in the image memory 32 is reduced by the image reducing device 35 and recorded in another area of the recording medium 34 as a reduced image for search. At this time, the original image data and the reduced image data are associated with each other on a one-to-one basis.

When retrieving the accumulated image data,
The plurality of reduced image data are combined on one screen by the image combining device 36 and displayed on the monitor 37. The operator selects a desired image from these, and the image data corresponding to the selected reduced image is monitored in full size. 37 is displayed.

Next, in the system disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 62-266671, as shown in FIG. 7, the image synthesizing device 45 uses the original image data accumulated in the recording medium 44 to generate reduced data. Image memory 42
And a plurality of reduced images are displayed on one screen of the monitor 46.

A more detailed structure of the image synthesizing device 45 comprises an image memory 51 write address generator 52 and a read address generator 53, as shown in FIG. When generating the search screen, as shown in FIG.
The image data read from No. 4 is thinned out every other pixel in the horizontal direction and every other line in the vertical direction, and written into the image memory 51. This operation is executed for a plurality of screens. At this time, the write address is offset-controlled so that the reduced images do not overlap each other on the image memory. The plurality of reduced data written in the image memory 42 are scanned from left to right and from top to bottom like a television signal, and displayed on one screen of the monitor 46. A method for generating reduced data by using a thinned address is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-373074.

[0009]

However, in the system shown in FIG. 6, it is necessary to provide the recording medium 34 with a reduced image storage area, and the size of the area corresponds to the stored image data. It is not related to the number of reduced screens displayed on the search screen.

In the system shown in FIG. 7, when it is attempted to display a large number of reduced image data on the search screen at one time, it is necessary to read out the image to be displayed from the recording medium, thin out a part of it, and write it in the image memory. Therefore, the search screen creation time increases in proportion to the number of reduced screens to be displayed at the same time.

An object of the present invention is to provide an image reading device which can display and change a plurality of reduced screens at high speed.

[0012]

An image reading apparatus according to the present invention reads a plurality of image data from an image recording medium so as to be collectively displayed on one screen. The number of divisions specifies the number of divisions of one display screen. Designating means, reading means for sampling and reading pixel data in each of a plurality of images according to the number of divisions, and output selection for selecting one image from the plurality of images according to the scanning position of one display screen based on the number of divisions. Means, and a display means for displaying a plurality of images on the one screen according to the pixel data read by the reading means and the image data selected by the output selecting means.

[0013]

With respect to each of a plurality of images to be displayed, pixel data is read from the image storage medium with a skip number according to the number of divisions, and a plurality of images reduced in one display screen are scanned by one display screen. Display it.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of an image filing system that employs an image reading device according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, the image data input from the image input unit 1 is stored in the image memory 2 and then stored in the image storage unit 3. As the image storage unit 3, a magneto-optical disk, a solid-state memory, or the like can be used, but a device capable of high-speed reading is particularly desirable, and for example, a large capacity IC memory is used.

The write address Aw is generated by the write address generation unit 4, and the image storage unit 3 is generated accordingly.
The image data F1, F2, ... Are stored in. The accumulated image data is read according to the read address Ar output from the read address generation unit 5, stored in the image memory 2, and then displayed on the monitor 6.

The write address generator 4 and the read address generator 5 are controlled by the controller unit.
The controller section includes an operator console 7 for an operator to input a desired command or data, a command processing section 8 for processing the command, and a controller 9 for controlling the address generating section 4 or 5 according to the input command. .

In order to display a plurality of reduced images for retrieval, first, how many reduced images are to be displayed is determined,
Accordingly, the horizontal division number D _H and the vertical division number D _V are displayed on the console 7
Enter from. If four divisions, D _H = D _V = 2, and if six divisions, for example D _H = 3, D _V = 2. Then, the registration number N _F of the image data to be displayed is input. The registration number may be only the registration number of the first image data, or the range of registration numbers of the image data considered necessary may be designated.

The number of horizontal divisions D _H , the number of vertical divisions D _V and the registration number N _F input in this way are input to the read address generation unit 5 via the command processing unit 8 and the controller 9 and set to the specified number of divisions. A plurality of reduced images are read out at a corresponding reduction ratio and displayed on the monitor 6. The detailed configuration and operation of the read address generator 5 will be described below.

FIG. 2 is a circuit configuration diagram of a read address generator which is an embodiment of the image reading apparatus according to the present invention. In the figure, the timing pulse generator 11 is
The vertical timing pulse V, the horizontal timing pulse H, and the clock pulse CLK are generated respectively. The horizontal timing pulse H is input to the clock counter 12 as a reset pulse and to the line counter 13 as a count pulse. The clock counter 12 outputs a horizontal address A _H , and the line counter 13 outputs a vertical address A _V.

The cumulative adder 16 has a clock pulse CLK.
The horizontal division number D _H stored in the memory 14 by accumulating in accordance with the timing of outputting the sample address A _s. For example, if D _H = 2, As = 2, 4, 6, ... Similarly, the cumulative adder 17 cumulatively adds the vertical division number D _V stored in the memory 15 according to the horizontal timing pulse, and outputs the line address A _L.

The sample address A _S is added to the horizontal division number D _H by the adder 18 and then compared with the effective sample number E _{S of the} memory 22 by the comparator 20 so that A _S > E _S
Then, the comparator 20 resets the cumulative adder 16. Similarly, the line address A _L is added to the vertical division number D _V by the adder 19 and then compared with the effective line number E _L of the memory 23 by the comparator 21, and when A _L > E _L , the comparator 21 Resets the cumulative adder 17. In this way, so-called thinning addresses A _S and A _{L of} each reduced image according to the horizontal and vertical division numbers D _H and D _V are generated.

The output selector 24 has horizontal and vertical address A.
Type _H and A _V and vertical and horizontal division number D _H and D _V, in accordance with the timing for scanning one display screen, determining whether to output which image data. That is, the memory 25
-1~25-N to one of the registration number N _F of a plurality of image data respectively stored but are selected by the output selector 24, and output as an image address A _F.

In this way, the read address Ar consisting of the line address A _L , the image address A _F and the sample address A _S is output to the image storage unit 3, and a search screen consisting of a plurality of reduced images is displayed on the monitor 6. It

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be specifically described.

First, the specified number of horizontal and vertical divisions D _H
And D _V are stored in the memories 14 and 15, respectively, and the plurality of registration numbers N _F are stored in the memories 25-1 to 25-N, respectively.

The horizontal address A _H and the vertical address A _V indicating the scanning position of the search screen displayed on the monitor 6 are output from the clock counter 12 and the line counter 13, respectively, and at the same time, the cumulative adders 16 and 17 move horizontally and horizontally. The vertical division numbers D _H and D _V are cumulatively added.
These cumulative addition values become the sample address A _S and the line address A _L for reading the corresponding image data from the image storage unit 3, respectively.

These sample address A _S and line address A _L are respectively added to D _H and D by adders 18 and 19, respectively.
_V is added, and the added values are input to the comparators 20 and 21, respectively. The comparators 20 and 21 compare with the number of effective samples E _S and the number of effective lines E _L , respectively, to determine whether or not the address of the pixel data to be read is valid. The comparator outputs a reset pulse to the cumulative adder that exceeds the valid range, whereby the corresponding cumulative adder is reset, and cumulative addition starts again from the beginning.

FIG. 3A is a schematic diagram showing access pixels in the four-division operation of this embodiment, and FIG. 3B is a schematic diagram showing a search screen divided into four. In this case, D _H =
Since D _V = 2, the horizontal and vertical cumulative adders 16 and 17 increase in the order of 0, 2, 4, 6, ... That is, like the hatched pixels shown in FIG. 3A, every other pixel of the original image is accessed in the horizontal direction, and every other line is also accessed in the vertical direction.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3B, when the scanning of the search screen reaches the center in the horizontal and vertical directions, the image address _AF is switched by the output selector 24.
Another image data is subsequently read and displayed. For example, in horizontal scanning of the search screen, the read data is switched from image to image in the center of the screen. In this way, four reduced images are displayed on the search screen as shown in FIG.

FIG. 4A is a schematic diagram showing access pixels in the six-division operation of this embodiment, and FIG. 4B is a schematic diagram showing a search screen divided into six. Also in this case, the basic operation is the same as in the case of four divisions. Since D _H = 3 and D _V = 2, the horizontal cumulative adder 16 increases to 0, 3, 6, 9, ... And the vertical cumulative adder 17 increases to 0, 2, 4, 6 ,. And so on. That is, like the hatched pixels shown in FIG. 4A, every two pixels of the original image are accessed in the horizontal direction, and every other line is accessed in the vertical direction. As a result, the 6-division search screen is displayed as shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a process of generating a 4-division search screen in this embodiment. For each of the four images designated by the registration number NF, FIG.
The access shown in (A) is performed and a four-division search screen is constructed. The same applies to the case of 6-split screen.

Since the read address Ar is generated according to the number of divisions D _H and D _V designated in this way, the image size automatically changes according to the number of reduced images to be displayed.
When changing the display image, another registration number may be designated. Also, even when changing multiple reduced images at the same time,
Since the search screen need only be scanned once, the display speed of the search screen is not reduced.

Further, in this embodiment, since the search screen can be changed at high speed, a high-speed memory such as a solid-state memory is adopted as the image storage unit 3, and a moving image such as a television video signal is recorded therein. If so, it is possible to simultaneously display a plurality of moving images on the search screen.

[0036]

As described in detail above, the image reading device according to the present invention reads pixel data from the image storage medium for each of a plurality of images to be displayed with a skip number according to the number of divisions. A plurality of images can be reduced and displayed by one scanning of the display screen regardless of the number of divisions, and the change of the screen can be speeded up even when the reduced image is changed.

Further, since the size of the reduced image is automatically changed according to the number of screen divisions, the operability is improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of an image filing system that employs an image reading device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a circuit configuration diagram of a read address generator which is an embodiment of the image reading device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3A is a schematic diagram showing access pixels in a four-division operation of this embodiment, and FIG. 3B is a schematic diagram showing a search screen divided into four.

FIG. 4A is a schematic diagram showing access pixels in a six-division operation of this embodiment, and FIG. 4B is a schematic diagram showing a search screen divided into six.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a process of generating a four-division search screen in this embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of a conventional image reading device.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing another example of a conventional image reading device.

8 is a block diagram of the image synthesizing device in FIG. 7. FIG.

9 is an image schematic diagram for explaining the operation of the image combining device in FIG. 7. FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Image Input Section 2 Image Memory 3 Image Storage Section 4 Write Address Generation Section 5 Read Address Generation Section 6 Monitor 7 Operator Console 8 Command Processing Section 9 Controller 11 Timing Pulse Generator 12 Clock Counter 13 Line Counter 14 Horizontal Division Number Memory 15 Vertical Number of divisions memory 16 Cumulative adder 17 Cumulative adder 18 Adder 19 Adder 20 Comparator 21 Comparator 22 Effective sample number memory 23 Effective line number memory 24 Output selector 25-1 to 25-N Registration number memory _DH Horizontal Number of divisions D _V Number of vertical divisions A _L Line address A _F Image address A _S Sample address

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Internal reference number FI Technical indication location H04N 5/76 H04N 5/907 B 5/907 G06F 15/66 355D (56) References 58-176686 (JP, A) JP 62-988 (JP, A) JP 63-84259 (JP, A) JP 1-128164 (JP, A) JP 3-77489 (JP A) Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 4-367080 (JP, A) Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 5-134656 (JP, A) Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-124080 (JP, A) Actual Development No. 2-70258 (JP, U)

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. An image reading apparatus for reading out a plurality of image data from an image recording medium so as to be collectively displayed on one screen, in a division number designating unit for designating a division number of the one screen, and according to the division number. Reading means for sampling and reading pixel data in each of the plurality of images; output selecting means for selecting one image from the plurality of images according to a scanning position of the one screen based on the division number; According to the pixel data read by the reading means and the image data selected by the output selecting means,
An image reading apparatus comprising: a display unit that displays the plurality of images on one screen. 2. The division number designating unit designates the number of divisions in each of the horizontal direction and the vertical direction of the one screen, and the reading unit sets the number of horizontal lines of each image according to the vertical division number. 2. The line address generating means for skipping and accessing and the sample address generating means for skipping and accessing the horizontal pixel data of each image by the number according to the horizontal division number. Image reading device. 3. The line addressing means comprises a first cumulative adder for cumulatively adding and outputting the vertical division numbers at each horizontal scanning timing of the one screen, and the sample addressing means comprises horizontal for the one screen. The image reading apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a second cumulative adder that cumulatively adds and outputs the horizontal division number for each pixel scanning clock. 4. The reading means further comprises a memory for storing the number of effective samples and the number of effective lines of the one screen, and the first accumulation if the output of the first cumulative adder exceeds the number of effective lines. A first comparator that resets the adder; and a second comparator that resets the second cumulative adder when the output of the second cumulative adder exceeds the number of valid samples. Item 3. The image reading device according to item 3.