JP2691006B2 - Image file device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an image file device provided with a rewritable optical disc, and in particular, when registering an image such as a drawing, a history drawing is registered as a partial image. The present invention relates to an image file device characterized by dramatically increasing the number of stored drawings.

[Conventional technology]

In recent years, image file devices have become word processors, personal computers, and fax machines.
It has emerged as the 4th OA device following the above, and is attracting attention as a means to promote the paperless office and design departments. This image filing apparatus uses an optical disk to store a large amount of image information and can immediately print it as needed. Therefore, the penetration into the design department where a large number of drawings is generated is remarkable, and most of the image file apparatuses in operation at present are used for this purpose.

On the other hand, since the target drawing is sequentially modified as necessary due to its nature, the history information is considered to be important together with the latest version of the drawing. In general, among the products already manufactured, not only those manufactured based on the latest version of the drawings, but also many products manufactured based on the drawings before this. Therefore, to maintain these products,
In addition to the latest drawings, history drawings are also required, and multiple versions of drawings are managed collectively for one product.

Regarding the version management of this drawing, most of the conventional image filing devices handle the same as paper. That is, each time a drawing is modified, one sheet is additionally registered, and the latest drawing and each history drawing are stored in the optical disk. Therefore, in order to store one drawing, it is necessary to have a storage capacity for a plurality of sheets including the history drawings, and there is a drawback that the number of sheets to be stored on the optical disc is significantly limited.

Conventionally, as a device for eliminating these inconveniences, JP-A-60
An example is the device described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 77271.

The above conventional technique achieves an increase in the number of stored sheets by registering only the changed portion without adding one sheet each time the drawing is modified.

That is, an image obtained from a document such as a drawing is divided into a plurality of areas and stored in advance, and when a change occurs in the document, only the divided image having the change is stored. When reading an image, only the latest version of the divided image was read, combined, and displayed.

Thus, by synthesizing the partial images, it is possible to realize a function equivalent to that of storing the entire surfaces of the latest and history drawings.

As described above, in the apparatus using the conventional technique, the entire surface of the original image is divided and stored, and only the corrected portion is added as the partial image.

Therefore, it is not necessary to store the entire surfaces of the latest and historical drawings, and the number of drawings stored per optical disk can be dramatically improved.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

With the above-mentioned conventional technique, the problem of the number of sheets stored on the optical disk has been greatly improved. However, due to the configuration in which partial images are combined and displayed, there still remains a problem regarding the display speed of the drawing.

That is, it is necessary to separately search a plurality of partial images for display, develop the code data into image data, and then combine each partial image into one image. Therefore, there is a drawback that the above processing occurs every time a drawing other than the original image is displayed, and the efficiency of the search operation is significantly reduced. In particular, since the drawings used for retrieval are mainly the latest version, this defect will definitely become apparent in operation.

Further, since the original image is stored in equal divisions and this area is registered for passage, the minimum required capacity for one re-registration is determined in division units. Even if a small area is modified, a certain amount of history file capacity is required, and if it spans a dividing line, it requires double the capacity. Therefore, the capacity of the corrected image is not optimized, and there is a drawback that the number of stored images is reduced as compared with the method of storing only the corrected area.

Further, since the device according to the conventional technique was devised on the premise of the write-once type optical disc, there was a drawback that the rewritable type optical disc which will become the mainstream in the future is not considered.

An object of the present invention is to provide an image file device provided with a rewritable optical disk, which can dramatically increase the number of image data stored mainly in drawings without sacrificing search display time. To do.

[Means for solving the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, in the image file device, first, the difference portion in the (N-1) th edition is cut out from the latest Nth edition and the (N-1) th edition image, and the registered image is registered. After erasing the entire image of the (N-1) th edition,
The entire image of the printing plate, the partial history image of the (N-1) th printing plate, and their position information are registered. Further, when the history image is searched, the partial history image is embedded in the latest version of the whole image and combined.

Instead of cutting out the different portion from the image of the (N-1) th edition, '0' can be embedded in the area other than the different portion.

Instead of embedding and synthesizing the partial history image in the latest version of the whole image, arithmetic synthesis such as exclusive OR can be performed.

Instead of embedding and synthesizing the partial history image in the latest version of the entire image, it is also possible to change and display the color tones of both.

According to another aspect of the present invention, in a hierarchical memory system in an image file device, a first memory means for storing the latest version of the entire image and a second memory means for storing the partial history image are provided. Characterized by comprising a third memory means for storing the position information, and synthesizing the entire history image from the first memory means and the second memory means in accordance with the contents of the third memory means. Is.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, in a rewritable optical disc, the latest version of the entire image and a partial history image are stored in the image data section, and the position information of the partial history image is stored in the index section. It is what

According to still another aspect of the present invention, in a drawing management system, a memory system that stores the latest version of the overall view and a partial history view in which only a corrected part is cut out, and a necessary drawing is read, displayed, and output. It consists of the illustrated search system,
When displaying or outputting a history map, the partial history map is embedded and combined in the whole map.

[Action]

In the configuration of the present invention described above, the image file device executes two types of processing, registration and search.

First, registration can be roughly divided into processing of the first edition and subsequent editions. The first version of the drawing is registered in the same procedure as the current image file device. That is, input the drawing from the scanner,
The image of the entire surface is stored on the optical disc together with its attribute information.

For drawings from the 2nd edition onward, the input drawing is registered as it is as an overall drawing, and the history drawing corresponding to the old drawing is registered as a partial drawing. First, the drawing is input from the scanner and only the corrected portion is cut out from the history map. Next, the history map registered in the optical disk is erased, and the cut out partial view is registered instead. Finally, the entered whole map is registered.

In addition, the search can be roughly divided into the processing of the latest version and the previous version. The latest version of the drawing is searched in the same procedure as the current image file device. In other words, the image data is read from the optical disc and displayed as it is on the display.

The history diagram corresponding to the old diagram is displayed by combining the latest version of the entire diagram and the partial diagram. First, the latest version, which is the general view, is read from the optical disc and developed in the image memory. Next, a partial view that differs from the latest drawing is read out, and the latest drawing is embedded and combined in the image memory. Finally, the synthesized history map is displayed on the display.

In this description, the drawings are always input from the scanner, but the drawings edited on the screen are equivalent.

In addition, although the embedding synthesis is given as a means for creating a history drawing, an arithmetic synthesis such as an exclusive OR or a means for changing the color tone may be used from the original purpose.

According to the processing procedure described above, registration and search for the optical disk are executed.

The state of registration and search processed in this way will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing the structure of image data stored on the optical disc. Fig. 2 (a)
Indicates the structure of image data stored on the optical disc,
(B) shows the state of the corresponding display image.

First, the stored image on the left side is the history image of Rev. 0 and 1, and Re
It is composed of the latest images from v.2. Here, the diagonal lines show the substance of the image data, and the blanks are the parts without data. Therefore, since it is not necessary to register the entire history map, the number of sheets stored on the optical disc is dramatically improved.

The display image on the right side corresponds to the stored image on the left side. The latest image of Rev.2 is displayed as it is, and the history images of Rev.0 and 1 are embedded and combined from each partial image and the latest image of Rev.2. Therefore, the latest version of the drawing that is frequently searched does not need to be embedded and combined, and can be displayed at high speed.

Thus, according to the present invention, it is possible to dramatically increase the number of stored image data without sacrificing the search time by utilizing the characteristics of the rewritable optical disk. It is possible to provide an economical image file device. From a practical point of view, this effect is remarkable for drawings that file a huge amount of paper.

〔Example〕

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

First, the structure of the image file stored on the optical disc will be described in detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of an image file according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The image file shown in FIG. 3 is composed of 31 index parts and 32 image data parts.

The index unit 31 stores attribute information regarding image data. That is, the revision number of the image data,
Information such as a storage address, a data length, a horizontal width, a vertical length, a combining position, and the like.

The image data unit 32 stores the substance of the image data.
In general, the image data unit 32 stores data encoded by the MH (Modified Huffman) or M ² R (Modified ² READ) system in order to reduce the capacity per image data. The index section 31 and the image data section 32
May be stored in different storage media or the same storage medium.

Further, both the index part 31 and the image data part 32 are composed of the "latest drawing" and a plurality of "history drawings".

The "Latest drawing" of the image data section 32 stores the entire view,
The "history drawing" stores a partial view. Index part 31
The attribute information corresponding to the image data is stored in the "latest drawing". Further, in the "latest drawing" of the index unit 31, the combining position is stored in addition to the above-mentioned attribute information. The composite position is position information of the "history drawing" on the "latest drawing". According to this position information, the whole view and the partial view are embedded and combined to create a "history drawing".

Next, regarding the operation of the image filing device itself,
This will be described in detail with reference to the drawings, FIG. 4 and FIG. FIG. 1 is a hardware configuration diagram of an embodiment according to the present invention, and FIGS. 4 and 5 are operation flowcharts of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a CPU (Central Processing Unit) that controls the entire device, 2 is a main memory in which programs and tables for controlling the CPU 1 are stored, and 3 is electrical image data on the paper surface. A scanner for converting into a scanner 4, a scanner control circuit for generating a drive signal for the scanner 3 and transferring image data, 5 an image memory for accumulating image data input from the scanner 3, 6 for encoding and decoding image data, An image processor for performing image processing such as cutting and pasting, 7 is a display for displaying image data, 8 is a display control circuit for generating a synchronization signal and transferring it to the display 7 together with the image data, and 9 is for inputting instruction information from an operator. Keyboard, 10 for keyboard 9
Keyboard control circuit that samples the instruction information from and transfers it to the CPU, 11 is a printer that prints image data on paper, 12 is a printer control circuit that generates a drive signal for the printer 11 and transfers image data, and 13 is between each device An image bus for exchanging image data, 14 an optical disk for storing image data, and 15 an optical disk control circuit for generating a drive signal for the optical disk 14 and transferring the image data.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described separately for registration and search.

First, in the registration process, the CPU 1 activates the scanner control circuit 4 based on the program stored in the main memory 2. The activated scanner control circuit 4 is the scanner 3
Drive and input the latest version of the image data. The input image data is stored in the image memory 5 via the scanner control circuit 4 and the image bus 13.

Subsequent processing differs between the first edition and the subsequent editions. The first version of the drawing is registered in the same procedure as the current image file device.

First, the operator confirms the registration of the image data on the display 7. The CPU 1 activates the image processor 6 and transfers the image data stored in the image memory 5 to the display control circuit 8 via the image bus 13. The transferred image data is displayed on the display 7.

Next, the index unit 31 for the confirmed image data is registered in the optical disc 14. That is, the attribute information of the image data is transferred from the keyboard 9 to the keyboard control circuit 10.
Stored in the main memory 2 via the. Here, the attribute information is a value such as the revision number of the image data, the storage address of the optical disc, the data length, the width of the image data, the length of the image data.
Further, these pieces of information are read from the main memory 2 and registered in a predetermined position on the optical disc 14 via the optical disc control circuit 15.

Finally, the image data section 32, which is the main body of the image data, is registered in the optical disc 14. That is, the CPU 1 activates the image processor 6 to convert the image data stored in the image memory 5 into code data. MH (Modified Huf
The image data encoded by the fman) or M ² R (Modified ² READ) method or the like is registered in the image data section 32 of the optical disc 14. That is, these code data are read from the image memory 5 and registered in a predetermined position on the optical disc 14 via the optical disc control circuit 15.

Next, the processing of the second and subsequent editions will be described. Similar to the first edition, the entered drawing is registered as it is as a whole drawing, and the history drawing, which is an old drawing, is registered as a partial drawing.

First, the history diagram corresponding to the old diagram is read from the optical disc 14 and developed on the image memory 5. The CPU 1 drives the optical disk control circuit 15 to develop the index section 31 stored in the optical disk 14 on the main memory 2 via the image bus 13.

The CPU 1 analyzes the index part 31 to obtain attribute information such as the storage address and data length of the image data part 32. Restart the optical disk control circuit 15 based on the obtained attribute information,
The image data section 32 stored in the optical disk 14 is transferred to the image memory 5 via the image bus 13. further,
The image processor 6 converts the code data into image data and expands it on the image memory 5.

Next, a partial view is cut out from the history map developed on the image memory 5, and the position is confirmed on the display 7. That is, the CPU 1 activates the image processor 6 and transfers the latest version of the image data stored in the image memory 5 to the display control circuit 8. The transferred latest image data is displayed on the display 17.

Further, the image processor 6 is restarted, the partial image changed by the latest version of the image data is cut out from the image data of the history chart, and the display control circuit 8 embeds and synthesizes it. The partial image data of the transferred history map is embedded and displayed in the latest version of the image data.

The operator observes the composite image displayed on the display 7 and adjusts the position of the partial image. Although the position adjustment is instructed using the keyboard 9, it is equivalent to using a mouse or the like. When the confirmation of the composite position is completed, the position information is transferred to CPU1.

When the notification of the position information is completed, the history map stored in the optical disc 14 is updated. That is, the CPU 1 activates the optical disc control circuit 15 to erase the index portion 31 and the image data portion 32 of the history map which are no longer needed. Here, since the rewritable optical disc is used, "erasing" is performed, but when the write-once optical disc is used, the unnecessary flag is written.

When the "erasing" of unnecessary information is completed, the updated history map is written on the optical disc 14. First, the CPU 1 is activated to create the index unit 31 including the position information on the main memory 2. The created index section 31 is read from the main memory 2 and registered at a predetermined position on the optical disk 14 via the optical disk control circuit 15.

When the registration of the index section 31 is completed, the image data section is written on the optical disc 14. CPU1 is image processor 6
To start partial image data from the entire image data of the history map stored in the image memory 5. The cut-out partial image data is converted into code data and registered in the image data section 32 of the optical disc 14.

When the update of the image data of the history map is completed by such a procedure, the input image is registered by the same procedure as the first version.

In the search process, the CPU 1 activates the keyboard control circuit 10 based on the program stored in the main memory 2. The activated keyboard control circuit 10 inputs search information from the keyboard 9. The input search information is the data name and revision number to be displayed and is finally stored in the main memory 2.

Next, the latest version of the image data is read from the optical disc 14 and developed on the image memory 5. The CPU 1 activates the optical disc control circuit 15, and the index unit 31 stored in the optical disc 14 is transferred to the main memory 2 via the image bus 13.
Expand on top.

The CPU 1 analyzes the index part 31 to obtain attribute information such as the storage address and data length of the image data part 32. Restart the optical disk control circuit 15 based on the obtained attribute information,
The image data section 32 stored in the optical disk 14 is transferred to the image memory 5 via the image bus 13. further,
The image processor 6 converts the code data into image data and expands it on the image memory 5.

Subsequent processing differs between the latest version and earlier versions. The latest version of the drawing is displayed in the same procedure as the current image file device. That is, the CPU 1 activates the image processor 6 and transfers the image data stored in the image memory 5 to the display control circuit 8 via the image bus 13. The transferred image data is displayed on the display 7.

Next, processing of drawings before the latest version will be described. A history diagram having a difference from the retrieved latest version is read out, and embedded in the image memory 5 and synthesized.

First, the partial image data of the history map of the revision number designated by the keyboard 9 is read from the optical disc 14 and developed on the image memory 5. The CPU 1 activates the optical disc control circuit 15 to develop the index unit 31 stored in the optical disc 14 on the main memory 2 via the image bus 13.

The CPU 1 analyzes the index part 31 to obtain attribute information such as the storage address and data length of the image data part 32. Restart the optical disk control circuit 15 based on the obtained attribute information,
The image data section 32 stored in the optical disk 14 is transferred to the image memory 5 via the image bus 13. further,
The image processor 6 converts the coded data into image data, synthesizes the partial images on the image memory 5, and develops them.

The above-described processing for the history image is executed while incrementing the revision number by one. When there is no history map to be read, the processing is terminated, the whole image data of the latest version stored in the image memory 5 is embedded and combined, and the image is stored again in the image memory 5.

Finally, the CPU1 activates the image processor 6,
The combined image data is transferred to the display control circuit 8. The transferred image data is displayed on the display 7.

Next, the operation in the registration process and the search process will be described.

Fig. 4 shows the PAD (Problem
Analysis Diagram).

In FIG. 4, the start of processing is declared at block 41. In block 42, the data name, position, and revision number of the input image are input from the keyboard 9. In block 43, the image data is actually input from the scanner 3.

At block 44, it is determined whether the input image is the first version.
If it is the first edition, it branches to block 55, and if it is a later version, it branches to block 45.

In block 45, the index portion 31 of the previous revision number is read from the optical disc 14. In block 46, the image data part 32 of the previous revision number is read. In block 47, the read code data of the image data section 32 is expanded into image data.

In block 48, the input image and the image data of the previous revision number are superimposed and displayed. In block 49, the position of the partial image is finely adjusted using the keyboard 9 or the like. At block 50, the finely adjusted position coordinates are read out.

In block 51, the index portion 31 and the image data portion 32 of the previous revision number that are no longer needed are deleted. In block 52, the index section 31 of the updated previous revision number is re-registered in the optical disc 14. Block 53
Then, cut out the partial image of the previous revision number,
Compress to coded data. In block 54, the image data section 32 of the updated previous revision number is re-registered in the optical disc 14.

In block 55, the data name, position, and revision number of the input image are registered in the index section 31 of the optical disc 14. At block 56, the input image is compressed into coded data. In block 57, the image data portion 32 of the input image is registered in the optical disc 14.

The above processing is executed, and at block 58, the end of the registration processing is declared.

FIG. 5 shows a PAD (Problem
Analysis Diagram).

In FIG. 5, the start of processing is declared at block 61. In block 62, the data name and revision number of the image to be displayed are input from the keyboard 9. In block 63, the index portion 31 of the latest version of the image data is read from the optical disc 14.

In block 64, the image data section of the latest version of image data
32 is read from the optical disk 14. In block 65, the read code data of the image data section 32 is expanded into image data.

At block 66, it is determined whether the displayed image is the latest version. If it is the latest version, it branches to block 73. If it is an earlier version, it branches to block 67.

In block 66, the processes from block 68 to block 71 are repeated from the revision number of the display image to the revision number immediately before the latest version.

In block 68, the index portion 31 of the relevant revision number is read from the optical disc 14. In block 69, the image data part 32 of the corresponding revision number is read from the optical disc 14. In block 70, the read code data of the image data section 32 is expanded into partial image data. In block 71, each partial image is pasted and combined based on the coordinate values of the index part 31.

In block 72, the latest image data and the partial image pasted and synthesized are re-synthesized.

In block 73, the combined image data is displayed on the display 7.

The above processing is executed, and at block 74, the end of the search processing is declared.

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present embodiment,
By taking advantage of the characteristics of rewritable optical discs, which are expected to become mainstream in the future, the latest drawings can be stored in the optical disc as a whole, and the history drawings can be stored only in the corrected portion. Therefore, after dramatically increasing the number of discs that can be stored on an optical disc,
The man-machine interface during the search operation can be greatly improved.

In the above embodiment, the partial image of the history map is cut out, but in order to maintain compatibility with the current data format, '0' may be embedded in addition to the corrected part.

In the above embodiment, the partial image of the history map is embedded and displayed in the latest whole image.
In order to make the difference between the two clear, it is also possible to adopt a configuration in which arithmetic synthesis such as exclusive OR is combined and displayed. Further, the color tone of both may be changed and displayed.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the history drawing is processed into a partial image of only the corrected portion and registered. Therefore, as compared with the conventional data storage format, it is possible to greatly reduce the image data capacity of the history drawing. Therefore, there is an effect that the number of stored image data per optical disc can be dramatically improved.

In addition, the latest version of drawings that are frequently searched has a configuration in which the entire drawing is registered. Therefore, a complicated process such as composition with a partial drawing is not required at the time of search, and the entire view can be displayed at high speed. Therefore, there is an effect that the man-machine interface in the search operation can be greatly improved.

As described above, the present invention can reasonably realize the expansion of the number of stored images, which is an eternal problem of the image filing apparatus. Particularly in the field of drawing management that handles a huge amount of paper, the effect is remarkable from a practical point of view.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of hardware showing an embodiment according to the present invention, and FIGS. 2A and 2B are conceptual diagrams of a stored image showing a structure of a history image in FIG. 1 and a display image, FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an image file that realizes FIG. 2, and FIG.
PAD (Problem A
FIG. 5 is a PAD diagram showing the image data search operation in FIG. 1 ... CPU (Central Processing Unit) 2 ... Main memory 3 ... Scanner 4 ... Scanner control circuit 5 ... Image memory 6 ... Image processor 7 ... Display 8 ... Display control circuit 9 ... Keyboard 10 ... … Keyboard control circuit 11 …… Printer 12 …… Printer control circuit 13 …… Image bus 14 …… Optical disk 15 …… Optical disk control circuit 31 …… Index section 32 …… Image data section

Front Page Continuation (72) Inventor Masahiro Okumura 2880 Kokuzu, Odawara-shi, Kanagawa Hitachi Co., Ltd. Odawara Plant (72) Inventor Naoaki Kufushiro 2880 Kunifu, Odawara, Kanagawa Hitachi Odawara Plant (72) ) Inventor Masaaki Fujinawa 1-280, Higashi Koigokubo, Kokubunji, Tokyo, Central Research Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd. (72) Inventor, Hiroo Shimizu 6-27-18 Minamioi, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo Within Hitachi Information Business Headquarters ( 56) References JP-A-62-160572 (JP, A)

Claims (7)

(57) [Claims] 1. A means for inputting an image such as a drawing, a storage means for storing the input image, a search means for searching the image stored in the means, and a means for displaying the image. In the image filing apparatus equipped with the display stage and the printing means for printing the image, the latest whole image of the Nth edition and the previous history image of the (N-1) th edition are compared. , Means for cutting out only the corrected portion from the history image of the (N-1) th edition, means for deleting the entire image of the registered (N-1) th edition, the entire image of the Nth edition and the cutout Means for registering the partial history image of the (N-1) th edition and the position information, and searching the history image,
An image filing device characterized by means for embedding and synthesizing the partial history image in the whole image. 2. The image file device according to claim 1, wherein instead of the means for cutting out only the modified portion, means for embedding '0' in a portion other than the modified portion is provided. 3. The image file device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein instead of the means for embedding and composing the partial history image in the whole image, means for composing and synthesizing an exclusive logical story is characterized. Image file device. 4. The image filing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein instead of the means for embedding and combining the partial history image in the whole image, means for displaying by changing the color tone of both images is displayed. File device. 5. A means for inputting an image such as a drawing, a storage means for storing the input image, a searching means for searching the image stored in the means, and a means for displaying the image. An image filing apparatus including a display stage of the above, and a printing unit for printing the image, a first memory unit for storing the latest version of the entire image, a second memory unit for storing the partial history image, An image characterized by a third memory means for storing the position information and a control means for synthesizing the entire history image from the first memory means and the second memory means according to the contents of the third memory means. Hierarchical memory system in file device. 6. A rewritable optical disc comprising an image data section for storing an input image and an index section for storing attribute information of the image, wherein the latest version of the whole image and a partial history image are recorded in the image data section. A rewritable optical disc, characterized by means for storing and means for storing position information of the partial history image in an index portion. 7. A drawing management system, which is a memory system for storing the latest version of the whole view and a partial history view obtained by cutting out only a corrected part and the position, and reading out, displaying and issuing a necessary drawing. A drawing management system consisting of a search system that embeds and combines partial history maps in the entire map when displaying or drawing out history maps.