JP2976424B2 - Image filing equipment - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image filing apparatus, which records and manages the registration date and time of registered image information, and displays a period from registration each time a search is performed. , And when a certain period of time has passed, a so-called deletion process is performed to disable access to the image information. In addition, a storage period is designated for each registered image information, and when the storage period has elapsed, that fact is displayed on a display device.

"Problems to be Solved by Conventional Techniques and Inventions" Among image information (files) registered in an image filing apparatus, those whose importance decreases or becomes unnecessary as time passes. If the number of such files increases, extra time and labor are required for file management work, which hinders efficient operation of the image filing apparatus. However, the registration date and time is recorded and managed for each image information to be registered, and a period from the registration date and time is displayed each time a search is performed. If the period exceeds a predetermined period, the image information is accessed. By disabling, it becomes possible to access only necessary image information and increase the efficiency of the test plan. In addition, a storage period is designated for each registered image information, and the file is finely managed according to its importance and contents. When the storage period has elapsed, the file is displayed on a display device, and the file management information is provided to the operator. As a result, it is possible to accurately judge whether the file is to be stored or discarded, and it is expected that the efficiency of the image filing apparatus can be improved by taking appropriate processing.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and
In addition to recording and managing the registration date and time of the image information registered in, the period from registration is displayed on the display device each time it is searched, and if the period exceeds a certain period, access to the image information is disabled It is an object of the present invention to provide an image filing apparatus that performs a so-called deletion process. Second, an image in which the registration date and time of each registered image information is recorded and managed, and a storage period is specified for each registered image information, and when the storage period has elapsed, the fact is displayed on a display device. It is an object to provide a filing device.

[Means for Solving the Problems] A first concrete means for achieving the above object is to store the read image information by a storage means and register the image information with a corresponding search keyword. And
In an image filing apparatus configured to search for target image information based on a search keyword and display the same on a display device, a recording management unit that records and manages a registration date and time for each registered image information, and a period from registration to the display device Display control means for displaying the image information, and a deletion means for deleting management information such as a corresponding keyword for the image information whose period has passed a predetermined period so that the image information cannot be accessed. It is characterized by having done. Second
The specific means is that the read image information is stored by the storage means, the image information is registered with a corresponding search keyword, the target image information is searched based on the search keyword, and In an image filing apparatus configured to display, a recording management unit that records and manages a registration date and time for each registered image information, a designation unit that specifies a storage period for each registered image information, and Preferably, display control means for displaying the fact on the display device and change means for changing the search keyword for the image information for which the storage period has elapsed are provided.

"Operation" As described in the description of the specific means, the present invention records and manages the registration date and time for each registered image information by the record management means, displays the period from the registration at the time of search display, and displays the period When a predetermined period has passed, the deletion means deletes the management information such as a keyword and performs a so-called deletion process of making the image information inaccessible.
In addition, the record management unit records and manages the registration date and time for each registered image information, designates a storage period for each item, and when the storage period has elapsed, displays the fact on a display device and presents it to the operator. I do.

"Example" An example of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic system configuration diagram of an electronic filing system, in which an image reader, an image reader 3, an optical disk deck 4, a hard disk device 5, and a printer 6 are connected by an image bus to a controller 1 and a CRT display device 2. Are connected by an image bus and a command bus, respectively, and the automatic document feeder 7 for the image reader 3 and the keyboard 8 are connected by a command bus.

FIG. 2 is an internal block diagram of the above system, in which a CPU 10 is connected to a ROM 11, a RAM 12, a hard disk interface (hereinafter referred to as an I / F) 13, an optical disk I / F 14, and a keyboard I / F 15 by a system bus. At the same time, it is connected to the display block 16, the image memory 17, and the compression / decompression block 18. Further, the display block 16,
The image memory 17 and the compression / decompression block 18 connect the scanner I / F 19 and the printer I / F 20 via an image bus. Said
The CPU 10 manages and controls the entire system according to a program stored in the ROM 11. In addition, it also extracts an area of the image information designated on the document, and performs character recognition. The hard disk I / F 13 transfers management information of image information stored in the hard disk, input keywords, and the like. The optical disk I / F 14 uses the compression / decompression block 1 when registering image information.
The image information encoded in 8 is sent to the optical disc,
When displaying the image information, the encoded image information sent from the optical disk is transferred to the compression / decompression block 18. The keyboard I / F 15 sends various information input from the keyboard 8 to the CPU 10. Further display block 1
6 has a display memory, and compresses and
The image information transferred via the decompression block 18 and the CPU 10
Displays the information or the like written directly by the CRT display device 2. The image memory 17 is a memory that stores image information of at least one surface, stores image information transferred from the scanner I / F 19, and stores the stored image data in the printer I / F 20 or the compression / decompression block 18. Transfer to
Further, the image data expanded and transferred by the compression / expansion block 18 is stored. In addition, image information in a command area read by scanning of the image reader 3 is stored.
The image information stored in the image memory 17 is directly read / written by a command from the CPU 10 or transferred between the hard disk I / F 13, the optical disk I / F 14, and the compression / decompression block 18. The image memory 17 can be accessed from either the image bus or the system bus as shown in the block diagram. Compression / expansion block 18
Is composed of a compression section for encoding image information and a decompression section for returning the encoded image information to the original image information, and encodes the image information sent from the image memory 17 via the image bus to the optical disc I. / F, decodes the encoded image information sent from the optical disk I / F via the system bus, and transfers it to the image memory 17 via the image bus. In addition, the scanner I / F transfers the image information sent from the scanner or the image information in the designated area to the image memory 17, and the printer I / F 20 is stored in the image memory 17 or the image memory of the display block 16. The displayed image information is transferred to the printer 6 and the image information is converted into a hard copy by the printer 6.

Next, regarding the processing operation of the electronic filing system, each flowchart and the CRT at the start of the processing operation are described.
A description will be given with the screen of the display device 2 attached.

FIG. 3A is a flowchart showing a main routine of the present embodiment. FIG. 7B shows a screen display when the present routine is disclosed.

In step S11, steps necessary for various operations after power-on are initialized, and in step S12, the registration work routine (S13), The search work routine (S14) or the utility work routine (S15) is called.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a registration work routine.

First, in (S21), an image input processing routine is executed.

Next, in (S22), a keyword registration input processing routine for adding a keyword for later searching the read and stored image information is executed.

In the image writing process routine of (S23), a process of reading the image information by the reading device, encoding the image information stored in the image memory 17, and writing the image information on the optical disk is executed.

In the following (S24), a keyword and management information writing process routine is executed, and the input keyword and image management information (storage position on the optical disk, storage capacity, etc.) are written to the hard disk.

Proceeding to (S25), the operator is asked whether there is a next document to be read, and if there is, the registration work routine is repeated. If not, the registration work routine ends.

FIG. 5A is a flowchart showing the image input processing routine, and FIG. 5B is a flowchart showing the CR at the start of the processing routine.
6 is a screen display of the T display device 2.

This image input processing routine is performed by using the CR shown in FIG.
It is sequentially executed in response to an operator's instruction (S31) inputted from the keyboard while viewing each message on the T display device 2.

First, a document of image information to be stored and registered in the electronic filing system is set on the automatic document feeder 7 for the image reader 3 as an image reading device or directly on the document glass table of the image reader 3. Documents set in the automatic document feeder 7 are automatically and sequentially sent onto a document glass table in response to an instruction to start reading. And
In step S32, it is checked whether or not the resolution mode has been changed. If the content input in step S31 is a resolution mode change, the current resolution mode is changed to a high resolution mode (400dpi) or a normal resolution mode (200dpi) (S33). Then, the process returns to the keyboard input (S31). When not changing the resolution mode (S32
NO) checks in step (S34) whether or not reading has started, and (S31)
If the content input in step is not an instruction to start reading, other parameter processing (S35) is performed. As other parameter processing, determination of the read size, exposure level, presence / absence of halftone, magnification and the like shown in FIG. An instruction to start reading is input from the keyboard by the operator (S3
If the answer is YES in 4), the image of the original on the original glass table is formed on the photoelectric conversion element by the scanning operation of the scanner of the image reader 3 to be converted into a digital signal and stored in the image memory 17 as image information. Scanning is performed by electrical scanning of the photoelectric conversion element in the main scanning direction and by movement of the scanner in the sub-scanning direction (S36). The read image information stored in the image memory 17 is thinned out at a predetermined reduction ratio depending on the resolution of the CRT display device, or is transferred to the display memory of the display unit 16 without being thinned out. This is displayed on the screen (S37), and this routine ends. The purpose of thinning out the image information is to display the entire image due to the difference in resolution between the image information reading device 3 and the CRT display device 2.

FIG. 6A is a flowchart showing a keyboard registration input processing routine, and FIG. 6B is a screen display of the CRT display device 2 at the start of this processing routine.

First, in (S41), image information of a characteristic portion in the image information to be read is extracted by designating an area, and search auxiliary information (hereinafter, referred to as an image keyboard) separately from the image information.
Reset the flag of whether to register as "0",
Subsequently, the image information storage flag for designating the period for storing the image information in (S42) is reset to "0" for each registered image information. The following steps are performed by inputting an operator's instruction from a keyboard (S4
3). As the image keyword, picture information such as a drawing, a graph, and a table that characteristically displays the image information to be registered is suitable, but character information such as a simple symbol may be used.

In (S44), it is inquired whether or not the keyboard input operation has been completed, and if it has been completed, this processing routine ends. If not, go to (S45) and enter the content in (S43)
It is determined whether or not the image keyboard is registered.
In 6), it is asked whether image information is to be further stored. If not, normal keyword registration and input processing (S47) is performed.
It returns to the keyboard input of (S43). To save (S4
Proceed to 8) to determine whether the operator level is appropriate. The operator level refers to a criterion for determining the presence or absence of appropriate judgment ability and experience when storing and registering image information, and is determined by the department, post, etc. of the operator. If it is determined that the operator level is appropriate (YES in S48), a save processing subroutine to be described later is called (S49), save processing is performed, and the process returns to (S43).

When registering the image keyword of (S45), (S45)
Proceeding to 50), the image keyword registration flag is set to "1", a subroutine of image keyword area setting processing described later is called (S51), the area is set, and the process returns to the keyboard input of (S43).

FIG. 7A is a flowchart showing the storage processing routine (S49), and FIG. 7B is a display screen of the CRT display device 2 when a storage period is input.

The save processing routine sets the image information save flag to "1" in (S61), inputs a save period from the operator (S62), and terminates this routine.

FIG. 8 (a) is a flowchart showing the image keyword area setting processing routine, and FIG. 8 (b) is a display screen of the CRT display device 2 for prompting registration area setting.

In (S71), the currently displayed keyword input instruction screen is retracted from the screen of the CRT display device 2, and the read image information to be registered transferred from the image memory 17 to the display memory is displayed (S72). Subsequently, in (S73), the start coordinates IKXS, IKYS of the area setting of the image keyword are set to "0", and in (S74), the length information IKXL, IKYL of the image keyword is initialized. The IKXS, IKYS, IKXL, I
A frame is displayed on the screen of the CRT display device 2 to indicate which area is currently set based on KYL (S7).
Five). The following steps are performed by inputting an operator's instruction from a keyboard (S76). When the movement key operation is performed (YES in S77), IKXS or IKYS is updated in the increasing or decreasing direction to move the frame display (S78), and when the size key is operated (YES in S79), IKXL or The IKYL is updated in the increasing or decreasing direction to change the size of the frame display (S80). When the end key is operated (YES in S81), the keyword input instruction screen (FIG. 6 (b)) is restored (S82), and this processing routine is ended. After each key operation (YES in S77, S79, S8
(NO at 1) returns to (S75) and waits for an input instruction from the next keyboard.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an image writing process routine.

In (S91), the image information stored in the image memory 17 is transferred to the compression / decompression block 18 for encoding, and a write start address for the optical disc is calculated (S92). That is, the write address is set next to the end address of the last registered image information. Subsequently, the image information encoded and compressed by the compression / decompression block 18 is transferred to the optical disk in the order of the write address and written (S93), and subsequently (S94),
The last address of the written image information is taken out to be stored in the hard disk as management information. Thus, the processing routine ends.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a keyword and management information writing processing routine.

In (S101), it is determined whether or not the image keyword registration flag is set to "1". If it is not set, the process jumps to (S107) to be described later, and if it is set, the write start address to the optical disk is set. Calculate (S10
2) Subsequently, it is determined whether or not the resolution mode is the high resolution mode (S103). In the image keyword area setting processing routine (FIG. 8 (a)), IKXS, IKYS, IKX
If the image information in the image memory 17 corresponding to the area set on the display screen by L and IKYL is unchanged in the normal resolution mode (NO in S103), the image information is not changed in the high resolution mode (S1).
03, YES), the image information is thinned out and transferred to the optical disk, and the pixel density is kept constant to be a write image keyword (S104, S105, respectively).

Writing of the image keyword to the optical disk is performed at a position different from the image information, that is, at a different page or a different file position. The image keyword is stored on the optical disk without data compression. This is because the display area itself of the image keyword is small and the amount of memory does not increase so much. Therefore, it is not necessary to expand the image at the time of display, and processing can be performed in a short time.

Even in the case of the normal resolution mode, image information can be thinned out and transferred to reduce the pixel density.

Next, the last write address of the image keyword written on the optical disk is taken out as management information of the image keyword (S106). In the following (S107), the display print count value is cleared, and in (S108) a write start address for writing the management information to the hard disk is calculated, and the process proceeds to (S109) to transfer the management information to the hard disk.

The management information includes an image keyword registration flag,
The start and end tracks of the image keyword, the X and Y lengths of the image keyword, the start and end tracks of the image, the pixel density, other storage periods, the registration date and time, and keywords are shown in FIG.

FIG. 12 (a) is a flowchart showing a search work routine of the electronic filing system, and FIG. 12 (b) is a screen display of the CRT display device 2 at the start of this routine.

In (S111), the operator inputs a keyword for search using the keyboard 8. Subsequently, in step (S112), it is determined whether or not there is an instruction to end the search. If there is an instruction, the search operation routine is terminated. When the relevant document is not found (NO in S114), the process returns to the keyword input, and when the relevant document is searched (S114). YES) calls a subroutine of a relevant document list display process described later (S115), and displays the document list on the CRT display device 2. The operator selects a document to be read from the optical disc from the document list (S116), then determines whether or not the search has been completed, and if the search operation is to be continued (NO in S117), returns to the keyword input (S111). , If the search is over (YE in S117)
S) reads out the corresponding image information from the optical disk based on the management information, decodes it in the compression / decompression block 18, and
17 (S118) and display on the CRT display device 2 (S119) (FIG. 12 (c)). In (S120), the displayed document (image information) is counted and written to the hard disk as management information after counting. If the user wants to print the displayed image information and make a hard copy, the input from the keyboard (S121) is a print instruction (S1).
If it is determined in step 22) that the document is to be printed, the document is counted, written to the hard disk as management information after counting (S123), and the image information in the image memory 17 is transferred to the printer 6 for printing. Out (S124).

FIG. 13 (a) is a flowchart of a corresponding document list display processing routine, and FIG. 13 (b) is a document list display example displayed on a CRT display device.

First, in (S121), a display address for determining a display position on the display screen of the CRT display device 2 is calculated. In the following (S132), it is determined whether or not the display of the search document has been completed. If the display has been completed, this routine is terminated. If there is a document that has been searched and is not displayed, the process proceeds to (S133).
It is determined whether or not a display area remains on the display screen. If there is no display area, this routine ends. If the display area remains, the keyword of the search target document is displayed (S134), and in the following (S135), it is determined whether or not the image keyword registration flag is set to "1". If the flag is not set to "1" (NO in S135), the process returns to (S132). If the flag is set, the image information of the image keyword is read from the optical disk based on the management information, and the display memory is read. And display it (S136) (FIG. 13 (b)). Next (S137)
Since one display has been made, the display address is updated in preparation for the next display, and the process returns to (S132).

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a utility work routine.

In this work, an update processing routine (S142), a batch update processing routine (S143), and other processing routines (S144) are respectively executed by instructions from a keyboard input of the operator (S141).

FIG. 15 (a) is a flowchart showing the update processing routine, and FIG. 15 (b) shows an example of a screen display of the CRT display device 2 in this processing routine.

In (S151), the file management information, which is the image information registered and stored, is extracted from the hard disk, and then (S152)
Does not display when the end of the file is determined by (S16
Proceed to the keyboard input process of 0). If it is not the end of the file, display the keyword of the file in (S153),
It is determined whether or not the save flag is set to “1” (S154). If the save is designated, it is determined whether or not the save date and time has elapsed after registration (S155). The (S154)
If the save flag is not set to "1", it is determined whether a predetermined date and time has passed after registration (S156). In each of the above steps (S155) and (S156), when it is determined that the date and time have passed, a period from the registration and a display of the date and time have been displayed on the screen of the CRT display device 2 (S157). If the storage or the predetermined date and time has not elapsed, the process proceeds to (S158), and it is determined whether the number of times of display and printing is appropriate. For example, the display count value written to the hard disk as management information is compared with the print count value, and if display count value> print count value × 2, the document searched and displayed on the screen of the CRT display device 2 is displayed. Since the document is not the target document in many cases, it indicates that the number of times of printing is extremely smaller than the number of times of display, it is determined that the keyword for proofreading is inappropriate, and that fact is displayed (S159).

Subsequent steps (S160) are performed by an operator's instruction through keyboard input.

It is determined whether or not to end this routine in (S161) (S162).
Then, the operator is asked whether or not to perform the update process of this routine for the next document, (S163) whether or not to perform the deletion process, and (S164) whether or not to change the keyword. Prompt. When the update process is to be performed on the next document, the process returns to (S151). When the delete process is to be performed, the process proceeds to (S166). When the keyword change process is to be performed, the process proceeds to (S165). Return to

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing a batch update processing routine.

In (S171), the file management information is extracted from the hard disk. Subsequently, if the end of the file is determined in (S172), the present routine is terminated. If not, the routine is terminated (S173).
To determine whether the save flag is set to "1". If set, determine whether the save date and time has elapsed since registration, and if not, determine whether the predetermined date and time have elapsed since registration. The determination is made in (S174) and (S175), and if the time has elapsed, a deletion process (S176) is performed.

The deletion process deletes a file whose registration date and time has passed a predetermined time or more. However, since the optical disk is write-only, the management information of the file written on the hard disk must be deleted to make it inaccessible. However, it is also possible to increase the efficiency of document disposal by providing a means for selecting whether or not to delete the document, or automatically deleting a document after a predetermined period of time.

In the above embodiment, the image data is stored as it is in the optical disk memory as the image keyword without data compression. However, the image keyword may be compressed and expanded for processing.

[Effects of the Invention] As has been clarified in the description of the specific means and operation, the present invention first records and manages the registration date and time for each registered image information by the record management means, Is displayed, and when the period exceeds a predetermined period, management information such as a keyword is deleted by a deletion unit, and a so-called deletion process is performed to disable access to the image information. Improve the search efficiency and efficiently operate the image filing device because only the necessary image information can be searched without accessing the registered image information that has lost or become unnecessary. There are effects such as being able to. The second record management means records and manages the registration date and time for each registered image information, designates a storage period for each item, and when the storage period has elapsed, displays a message to that effect on a display device and informs the operator. Since the information is presented, it is possible to accurately determine whether the file is to be stored or discarded, and it is possible to improve the efficiency of the operation of the image filing apparatus by taking appropriate measures.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 is a schematic system diagram of an electronic filing system, FIG. 2 is an internal block diagram of the same, FIG. 3A is a main routine, and FIG. 4 is a registration operation. FIG. 5 (a) is an image input processing routine, FIG. 6 (a) is a keyword registration input processing routine, FIG. 7 (a) is a storage processing routine, and FIG. 8 (a) is an image FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a keyword area setting processing routine, FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an image writing processing routine, FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a keyword and management information writing processing routine, FIG. 13 (a) shows a search work routine, FIG. 13 (a) shows a corresponding document list display processing routine, FIG. 14 shows a utility work routine, and FIG. 15 (a) shows an update processing routine.
FIG. 16 shows a flowchart of the batch update processing routine. 3 (b), 5 (b), 6 (b), 7 (b), 8 (b), 12 (b),
FIGS. 13 (c), 13 (b) and 15 (b) are explanatory diagrams exemplifying screen displays of the CRT display device 2 at the time of execution of the corresponding routine. 1 ... controller, 2 ... CRT display device, 3
…… Image reader, 4 …… Optical disk deck, 5 ……
Hard disk drive, 10 CPU, 16 display block, 17 image memory, 18 compression / decompression block.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) H04N 1/21

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A method for storing read image information by a storage means, registering the image information with a corresponding search keyword, searching for target image information based on the search keyword, and displaying the target image information on a display device. In the image filing apparatus, a recording management unit that records and manages a registration date and time for each registered image information, a display control unit that displays a period from the registration on the display device, and the period elapses a predetermined period An image filing apparatus characterized in that a deletion means for deleting management information such as a corresponding keyword is provided for the obtained image information so that the image information cannot be accessed. 2. A method for storing read image information by storage means, registering the image information with a corresponding search keyword, searching for target image information based on the search keyword, and displaying the target image information on a display device. In the image filing apparatus, a recording management unit that records and manages a registration date and time for each registered image information; a designation unit that specifies a storage period for each registered image information;
A display control unit for displaying on the display device the image information for which the storage period has passed, and a change unit for changing the search keyword for the image information for which the storage period has passed, are provided. An image filing apparatus, characterized in that: