JP2994916B2 - Image file version control device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image file version management apparatus, and more particularly, to an apparatus for managing a version of an image file newly created from an original version of an image file in an image processing apparatus. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an image processing system such as a printing / plate making system or a CAD system, various kinds of image processing are performed on inputted high-definition image data (for example, read from a photographic original). , Image processing
Corrections have been made. Here, the image processing handled by the image processing system as described above is roughly classified into the following two types. (1) The first is image processing performed on the entire image (all pixels). For example, enlargement, reduction, rotation, deformation,
Color conversion and the like correspond to this (see FIG. 10). (2) The second is image processing to be performed on a part of an image, for example, retouching (erasing an image), brushing, and the like (see FIG. 11). It should be noted that, for the change of tone (change of gradation), filtering, and the like, the entire image or a part of the image is set before the processing. The results are classified into the above (1) and (2) according to the setting result.

In the above-described image processing system, a final image is obtained by repeatedly performing image processing on an original image. That is, the original image is
By repeating several version changes, the image is finally finished to the desired quality. At that time, every time the version of the image file is changed, it is necessary to save a new version of the image file for the purpose of backup or the like. In a conventional image processing system, the generated image file of each version is stored irrespective of the type of image processing described above. Also,
The management of each version is performed by adding a name indicating the version to the image file name of each version and storing it in a version management table as shown in FIG. 12, for example. Referring to the version management table shown in FIG. CT. 1
(Version 1), and the image file after the flaw erasure processing has the file name A. CT. 2 (version 2).
Similarly, by repeatedly performing other image processing, new versions of image files are successively generated, stored, and managed.

[0004]

As described above, in the conventional image processing system, since each version of the image file itself is stored, an enormous storage device is required. For example, only the six versions of the image file shown in FIG. 12 have a data amount of about 65 MB. This is approximately 6.5 times the data amount of the original image data file of 10 MB. As a result, there is a problem that the storage device for backup becomes large and expensive. Such a problem has been exacerbated in the field of printing and plate making where the amount of image data to be processed is particularly large.

In the conventional image processing system, when reusing an image of each version, it is only necessary to specify a version name from a version management table shown in FIG. 12 and obtain an image file of that version. Could not reproduce the intermediate results of the image processing. For example, even if a plurality of image processes (rotation, reduction, etc.) are performed in the process of obtaining the version 3 image from the version 2 image in FIG. 12, the user is the final result of the plurality of image processes. Only version 3 images could be reused.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an image file version management apparatus capable of greatly reducing the amount of version management data to be stored when a new image file is created.

[0007]

The invention according to claim 1 is
An image processing apparatus for managing a version of an image file newly created from an original version of an image file.
The image processing performed on the original version of the image file is the first image processing performed collectively on the entire image or the second image processing performed locally on a part of the image When the first image processing is performed on the original version of the image file, the first version of the image file is subjected to the first version of the image file. First storage means for storing the information indicating the content of the image processing performed as version management data of a newly created image file, and a result of the determination by the determination means, the image file of the original version If the second image processing has been performed, the difference image data between the original version of the image file and the newly created image file is stored in the version management data of the newly created image file. And a second storing means for storing as data.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, referring to the version specifying means for specifying the version of the image file to be restored and the first and second storage means, Creation history extraction means for extracting the creation history of the image file, and, based on the creation history extracted by the creation history extraction means, all image processing that occurred during the creation process of the specified version of the image file The image processing apparatus further includes an image file restoring unit that restores a designated version of the image file by repeating the operation for the image file again.

[0009]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when creating a new image file, the first image in which image processing performed on the original version of the image file is collectively performed on the entire image In the case of processing, information indicating the content of image processing performed on the original version of the image file is stored as version management data. On the other hand, when the image processing performed on the original version of the image file is the second image processing locally performed on a part of the image, the image file of the original version and the newly created image file are created. The difference image data from the image file thus saved is stored as version management data. by this,
The amount of stored data for version management is significantly reduced as compared with a conventional image processing apparatus.

In the invention according to claim 2, when the version of the image file to be restored is designated, the creation history of the designated version of the image file is extracted by referring to the first and second storage means. Then, based on the extracted creation history, all image processing that occurred in the process of creating the designated version of the image file is repeated for the original image file. As a result, the image files of each version are faithfully restored. If image processing between versions is stopped halfway, it is possible to reproduce and use the image processing result halfway between versions.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Before specifically describing the contents of one embodiment of the present invention, the principle will be described with reference to FIG. As described above, the image processing handled by the image processing system is roughly classified into two types. One is the first image processing (enlargement, reduction, rotation, transformation, color conversion, etc.) performed on the entire image (all pixels), and the other is performed on a part of the image. Image processing (such as retouching (image erasure), brushing, etc.). The embodiment described below is characterized in that the method of managing the version of an image file is changed as follows according to the type of image processing performed.

(1) First Image Processing In the first image processing, since the image processing of the specified contents is collectively performed on the entire image, its reproduction is relatively easy. That is, when the first image processing is performed, as shown in FIG. 1A, the instruction information of the image processing contents (function or command name of the image processing, parameters necessary for each execution, etc.) is stored. I do. By doing so, the next version of image can be reproduced at any time by executing the specified image processing again on the original version of image data.

(2) In the case of the second image processing In the second image processing, only a part of the image is changed by the processing, and it can be considered that the image data changed as a whole is small. Therefore, when the second image processing is performed, as shown in FIG. 1B, the difference between the image data before the image processing and the image data after the image processing is calculated, and the difference image data is stored. . Since the entropy of the differential image data is significantly reduced as compared with the processed image data, it is possible to reduce the amount of stored image data at a high compression rate. Preferably, when the difference image data is compressed and stored by a lossless method such as a lossless method of JPEG (International Standardization Coding System for High-Definition Still Images), a higher compression ratio is maintained while maintaining high image quality. Can be expected. To reproduce the image data, the difference image data may be added to the original version of the image data.

In the case of (1), since only the instruction information of the image processing contents is stored, the amount of data to be stored is drastically reduced as compared with the conventional case where the image file itself is stored. Further, if the image processing repeated between versions is stopped halfway, the image processing result halfway between versions can be reproduced. Therefore, the image processing result on the way between versions can be reused.

On the other hand, in the case of the above (2), since the difference image data between the image data before the image processing and the image data after the image processing is stored, the image file itself is stored as in the conventional case. As compared with the case, the compression ratio of the saved image file can be greatly improved.

Next, more specific contents of one embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the image processing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. 2, a control unit 1, a main memory 2, an image processing unit 3,
Difference calculation unit 4, compression / decompression unit 5, display memory 6
, A keyboard 7, a first image memory 8, a second image memory 9, a first table memory 10, a second table memory 11, a first secondary storage device 12, and a second secondary storage The device 13 is mutually connected via a system bus 17.

The control unit 1 as a central processing unit includes a CPU
And the like, and controls the operation of the entire image processing apparatus. The main memory 2 includes a RAM or the like, and is used as a working memory of the control unit 1. The image processing unit 3 is a device that performs various types of processing on image data, and includes a general-purpose image processing processor or a DSP (digital signal processor). Difference calculation unit 4
Is a device for calculating difference image data, and is configured by a difference calculation processor, a DSP, or the like. The compression / decompression unit 5 is a device that compresses / decompresses the difference data calculated by the difference calculation unit 4 by a lossless method such as a lossless method of JPEG (International Standardized Coding for High-Definition Still Images). It is composed of a compression / decompression processor or a DSP. If the processing capacity of the control unit 1 is high, the image processing unit 3, the difference calculation unit 4, and the compression /
The control unit 1 may execute any or all of the processing of the decompression unit 5.

The display memory 6 is also called a frame buffer, and has at least one display for displaying on the CRT display 15.
The image data for the frame is stored. The image data stored in the display memory 6 is converted into an analog video signal by the D / A converter 14, and then given to the CRT display 15, where it is displayed. The keyboard 7 is operated by an operator and transmits commands and various data to the control unit 1.
Is a device for inputting the information. Note that this keyboard 7
Is provided with a mouse 16, and commands and various data can be input with the mouse 16.

The first and second image memories 8 and 9 are:
It stores image data to be processed at the time of image data processing, and is used by being toggled when executing image processing. The first table memory 10 stores a version management table as shown in FIG. 5 described later. The second table memory 11 stores first and second process name management tables as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 described later. The first secondary storage device 12 is a device that stores an original image file and a difference image file, and is constituted by, for example, a large-capacity magnetic disk device with an autochanger or a large-capacity magneto-optical disk device. The second secondary storage device 13 is a device that stores a version management table as shown in FIG. 5 to be described later, and stores various program data for an OS system, a window system, and printing and plate making processes. It is composed of a magnetic disk device and the like.
The control unit 1 operates according to the program data stored in the second secondary storage device 13. The main memory 2, the first and second image memories 8 and 9, and the first and second table memories 10 and 11 are constituted by a RAM or the like.

Next, various data tables used in the image processing apparatus of this embodiment will be described. First, the process name management table will be described with reference to FIGS. The first processing name management table shown in FIG. 3 stores data relating to first image processing (enlargement, reduction, rotation, deformation, color conversion, etc.) to be performed on the entire image. A processing number of each image processing, a processing name, a function name,
Necessary parameter types are stored. The second processing name management table shown in FIG. 4 stores data relating to second image processing (retouching, brushing, etc.) performed on a part of an image. Specifically, the number of each image processing And the processing name.

Next, the version management table will be described with reference to FIG. The version management table shown in FIG. 5 stores version management data of each image file. Specifically, the version number of the image file and the version number (original number) of the original image file to be processed are stored. Version number), the number of the image processing performed on the original image file (stored in the processing name management table in FIGS. 3 and 4), and the processing parameter or image file name corresponding to each image processing And remember.

The version management data stored in the version management table shown in FIG. 5 will be described with reference to FIG. 5 and 6, the image file of version 1 (the file of the original image) has the file name abc. CT
Has been saved as. The version 2 image file has a processing number # corresponding to the version 1 image file.
1, # 3, and # 7 image processing (see FIG. 3) and processing number #
The image processing result of processing number # 7 and processing number # 10 are generated by performing image processing 101 (see FIG. 4).
The difference image data from the image processing result of file 1 is file name ab
c. CT. 2 stored. In addition, processing number #
The parameters of image processing of # 1, # 3 and # 7 are respectively
(30), (def), and (700, 50). The version 3 image file is generated by performing image processing of processing numbers # 2 and # 4 (see FIG. 3) on the version 1 image file. The processing parameters are (30, 50),
(3, 7.5). The version 4 image file has a processing number # corresponding to the version 2 image file.
The image processing parameters of processing numbers # 1 and # 3 are generated by performing image processing of # 1 and # 3, respectively.
(55) and (hij). The version 5 image file is generated by performing image processing of process number # 2 on the version 4 image file, and its parameter is (40, 70). The version 6 image file is generated by subjecting the version 5 image file to image processing of process number # 102 (see FIG. 4). The version 5 image processing result and the version 6 image processing The difference image data from the result is file name a
bc. CT. 6 is stored. The image file of version 7 is generated by performing image processing of process number # 2 on the image file of version 6, and its parameter is (20, 10).

Next, the version history table will be described with reference to FIG. The version history table shown in FIG. 7 shows the history of the image file of the designated version (in FIG. 7, for example, version 6) generated from the version 1 original image file. 5 is developed on the main memory 2 with reference to the version management table of FIG. In the example of FIG.
This indicates that the image file of version 6 was generated by following the history of version 1 → version 2 → version 4 → version 5 → version 6.

Next, referring to the flowchart of FIG.
The operation of creating a new version and the operation of managing the new version in this embodiment will be described. First, to create a new version of an image file, the operator specifies the number of the old version from which the new version is created (step S1). That is, the already created version of the image file is processed to create a new version of the image file. Next, the control unit 1 controls the toggle counter m (for example,
"0" as an initial value in the main memory 2)
Is set (step S2). This toggle counter m
Every time it is updated, its value toggles from 0 → 1 → 0 → 1... Next, the control unit 1 restores the image file of the version specified in step S1 on the image memory specified by the toggle counter m (step S3). This restoration operation will be described later in detail with reference to FIG. Here, the first image memory 8 corresponds to the value “0” of the toggle counter m,
The second image memory 9 corresponds to “1”. Therefore, the initially specified version of the image file is
The image is restored on the image memory 8. Next, the control unit 1
The image file restored on the image memory 8 is displayed on the CRT display 15 (step S4).

Next, the control section 1 updates the count value of the toggle counter m (step S5). Note that the first update count value of the toggle counter m is “1”. Next, the operator selects the number of the image processing to be performed (stored in the first or second processing name management table (see FIG. 3 or FIG. 4) in the second table memory 11) and executes it. Is instructed (step S6). When the operator selects the above-described first image processing from the first processing name management table, the operator also inputs parameters necessary for image processing together with the processing name. Next, the control unit 1
Execute the image processing corresponding to the selected image processing number,
The processing result is stored in the image memory (firstly, the second image memory 9) designated by the toggle counter m (step S7). Next, the control unit 1 displays the image processing result stored in the image memory designated by the toggle counter m on the CRT display 15 (step S8).

Next, the control section 1 determines whether or not the processing for creating a new version has been completed (step S9). The end of the new version creation process is instructed by the operator. If the new version creation processing has not been completed, the control unit 1 determines whether or not the operator's consent has been obtained with respect to the result of the image processing executed in step S7 (step S10). When there is no defect in the image processing result displayed on the CRT display 15, the operator gives an instruction to the control unit 1 to approve the image processing result. When an instruction to approve the image processing result is not given from the operator, that is, when an instruction to cancel is given, the control unit 1 repeats the operations of steps S6 to S8 again. As a result, the first image processing result is canceled and the image processing is performed again.

On the other hand, in step S10, when an operator's consent instruction for the image processing result is obtained, the control unit 1 determines that the image processing executed at that time has been performed collectively on the entire image. Is the image processing (enlargement, reduction, rotation, deformation, color conversion, etc.) of the image, or is the second image processing (retouch, brushing, etc.) locally performed on a part of the image? Is determined (step S11). At this time, when the first image processing is executed, the control unit 1 determines the image processing number and the parameter corresponding to the executed first image processing (these are selected in step S6 and the input Has been)
Is temporarily stored in the main memory 2 (step S1).
2). On the other hand, when the second image processing is executed, the control unit 1 calculates difference image data between the image data stored in the first image memory 8 and the image data stored in the second image memory 9. (Step S13). Next, the control unit 1
Compresses the calculated difference image data by a lossless method such as a lossless method of JPEG (international standardized coding method for high-definition still images) and stores it in the first secondary storage device 12 as a difference image file (Step S14). The image processing number corresponding to the second image processing executed at this time is temporarily stored in the main memory 2.

When the processing in step S12 or S14 is completed, the control section 1 returns to the operation in step S5 again, and performs the same processing as above (processing in steps S5 to S14).
repeat. In the repetition routine, the first and second image memories 8 and 9 are used by being toggled by sequentially updating the toggle counter m. That is, when the previous image processing result is stored in the first image memory 8, the current image processing result is stored in the second image memory 9, and conversely, the current image processing result is stored in the first image memory 8. When the result is stored, the previous image processing result is stored in the second image memory 9.

When the above steps S5 to S14 are repeated and all image processing for the new version is completed, the process proceeds from step S9 to step S15, where the control unit 1 determines the image processing number stored in the main memory 2 And the parameter and the file name of the difference image file stored in the first secondary storage device 12 in a version management table (preset in the second secondary storage device 13) shown in FIG. sign up. After that, the control unit 1 ends the creation and management operation of the new version.

Next, the operation of restoring an image file in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Note that the restoration operation in FIG. 9 is typically performed in the above-described step S3 in FIG. 8 for creating a new version. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be executed when an old version of an image file is to be referred to for other purposes (for example, when an old version of an image file is to be reused).

First, the control unit 1 inputs a version number k of an image file to be restored (step S21).
This version number k is generally specified by the operator. Next, the control unit 1 reads the file of the original image (the image file of version number 1) from the first secondary storage device 12, and reads the first image memory 8 (or the second image file).
The image data is loaded into the image memory 9) (step S22). Next, the control unit 1 reads out the version management table (see FIG. 5) from the second secondary storage device 13, stores it in the first table memory 10, and refers to the version management table. A version history table is created, and the number n of version transitions from version 1 of the original image file to the designated version k is obtained (step S23). Here, it is assumed that version management data as shown in FIG. 5 is stored in the version management table,
Assuming that the designated version number is 6, the version history table created at this time is as shown in FIG. That is, the image file of version 6 is
It is created by following the history of version 1 → version 2 → version 4 → version 5 → version 6, and the number n of version transitions is 5. Note that the created version history table is developed on the main memory 2.

Next, the controller 1 sets 2 as an initial value in a version number counter i (for example, provided in the main memory 2) (step S24). Next, the control unit 1 obtains the version number q stored in the i-th (first at the second) version from the version history table developed in the main memory 2 (step S25). In the example of FIG. 7, since the version stored second is version 2, the control unit 1 obtains 2 as q. Next, the control unit 1 refers to the version management table (see FIG. 5) stored in the first table memory 10 and checks the version q
Then, the number p (the number of image processing functions) of image processing performed on the original version when the image file is created is obtained (step S26). For example, in FIG. 5, the number of image processing performed on the original version 1 when creating the version 2 is determined by the image processing numbers # 1, # 3, # 7,
# 101. Next, the controller 1 sets 1 as an initial value in an image processing number counter j (for example, provided in the main memory 2) (step S27).

Next, the control unit 1 determines whether the j-th image processing (firstly the first image processing) on the version q image file is the first image processing performed on the entire image. Or a second performed on a portion of the image
Is determined (step S28). At this time, if the j-th image processing is the above-described first image processing, the control unit 1 refers to the version management table (see FIG. 5) stored in the first table memory 10 and performs the corresponding image processing. (Step S2)
9). Next, based on the parameters obtained in step S29, the control unit 1 executes corresponding image processing on the image file (firstly, the original image file) stored in the first image memory 8 (step S30). . Thereby, the processing result of the first image processing is restored.

On the other hand, if the j-th image processing is the second image processing in step S28, the control unit 1
Refers to the version management table (see FIG. 5) stored in the first table memory 10 to obtain a corresponding differential image file name (step S31). Next, the control unit 1
Reads the differential image file corresponding to the differential image file name from the first secondary storage device 12 and performs data decompression processing on the differential image file (Step S
32). Next, the control unit 1 adds the decompressed differential image data to the image file stored in the first image memory 8 (Step S33). As a result, the processing result of the second image processing is restored.

After the end of step S30 or S31, the control section 1 increments the image processing number counter j by 1 (step S34). As a result, the image processing to be executed next is updated. Next, the control unit 1 determines whether or not the count value of the image processing number counter j has become larger than the number p of the image processing obtained in the above-described step S26, thereby restoring the version q image file. It is determined whether the processing has been completed (step S35). When the count value of the image processing number counter j is equal to or smaller than the number p of the image processing (when j ≦ p), since the execution of the image processing for restoring the image file of version q has not been completed, the control unit 1 Then, the operations of steps S28 to S35 are repeated again.

When the count value of the image processing number counter j becomes larger than the number p of image processing (when j> p) by repeating the operations of steps S28 to S35, the image file of version q is restored. Since the execution of all the image processing has been completed, the control unit 1
It is determined that the restoration process of the version q image file has been completed, and the version number counter i is incremented by 1 (step S36). Next, the control unit 1 determines that the count value of the version number counter i is equal to the value in step S2 described above.
It is determined whether or not the number of version transitions n obtained in step 3 has become larger, thereby determining whether or not the restoration processing of the image file of the designated version k has been completed (step S).
37). If the count value of the version number counter i is equal to or smaller than the version transition number n (i ≦ n), the restoration processing of the image file of the designated version k has not been completed, so the control unit 1 returns to steps S25 to S37 again. Is repeated.

If the count value of the version number counter i becomes larger than the version transition number n by repeating the operations of steps S25 to S37 (i> n), the restoration processing of the image file of the designated version k is completed. Therefore, the control unit 1 ends the restoration operation of FIG.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the designated version of the image file is restored from the original image file in order following the creation history. At this time, the image file of the intermediate version is subjected to exactly the same image processing as the original image processing, so that a faithful restoration result can be obtained.

In the above embodiment, the difference image data is compressed and stored. However, in an environment where a larger storage device can be used, the difference image data is stored as it is. Is also good. In the above embodiment,
Since the difference image data is compressed by a lossless encoding method such as the JPEG lossless method, the image quality does not deteriorate even if the compression / decompression is repeated. The difference image data may be compressed by a lossy coding method such as a cosine (DCT) transform coding method or a vector quantization coding method. However, in this case, there is another advantage that the compression ratio is improved (compression ratio is 1/10 or more) compared to the lossless encoding method.

Although the above embodiment is configured as a stand-alone device, the present invention can be applied to an image processing system operated under a network environment.
For example, the image processing in the image processing unit 3 may be executed by a client machine, and the other processing may be executed by a server machine.

In the present invention, the method of expressing image data is not limited to a specific method, and various expression methods can be applied. For example, three colors of RGB or four colors of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black used in the field of printing and plate making may be represented by 8- to 12-bit data. Also, other color spaces such as CI
It may be expressed in the Lab color space proposed by E (International Commission on Illumination). Furthermore, it can also be expressed as a monochrome multi-valued image or a monochrome binary image.

[0042]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when a new image file is created, image processing performed on the original version of the image file is collectively performed on the entire image. Saves information indicating the content of image processing performed on the original version of the image file as version control data, and the image processing performed on the original version of the image file becomes part of the image. When the image processing is locally performed, the difference image data between the original version of the image file and the newly created image file is stored as the version management data. As compared with the case where the image file itself is stored, the amount of stored data for version control can be significantly reduced.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the version of the image file to be restored is designated, the creation history of the designated version of the image file is extracted,
Based on the extracted creation history, all image processing that occurred in the process of creating the specified image file is repeated again for the original image file,
Since the designated version of the image file is restored, the intermediate image processing results between the versions can be reproduced and used.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a first process name management table used in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a second process name management table used in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a version management table used in one embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a diagram for explaining version management data stored as an example in the version management table shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a version history table used in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an operation for creating a new image file and an operation for managing its version in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of restoring an image file according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating first image processing performed on the entire image.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a second image processing performed on a part of an image.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a version management table of an image file used in a conventional image processing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Control part 2 ... Main memory 3 ... Image processing part 4 ... Difference calculation part 5 ... Compression / decompression part 6 ... Display memory 7 ... Keyboard 8 ... First image memory 9 ... Second image memory 10 ... First table memory DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... 2nd table memory 12 ... 1st secondary storage device 13 ... 2nd secondary storage device 14 ... D / A converter 15 ... CRT display 16 ... Mouse 17 ... System bus

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. An apparatus for managing a version of an image file newly created from an original version of an image file in an image processing apparatus, wherein when creating the new image file, the image file of the original version is Is the first image processing performed collectively on the entire image,
Determining means for determining whether the second image processing is locally performed on a part of an image; as a result of the determination by the determining means, the first image processing is performed on an original version of the image file Has been performed, first storage means for storing information indicating the content of image processing performed on the original version of the image file as version management data of a newly created image file, And when the second image processing is performed on the original version of the image file as a result of the determination by the determination means, the difference image between the original version of the image file and the newly created image file An image file version management device, comprising: second storage means for storing data as version management data of a newly created image file. 2. A creation history extracting unit for designating a version of an image file to be restored, a creation history extracting unit for extracting a creation history of the designated version of the image file with reference to the first and second storage units. Means, based on the creation history extracted by the creation history extracting means, by repeating again all image processing that occurred in the process of creating the specified version of the image file on the original image file 2. The image file version management device according to claim 1, further comprising an image file restoring unit for restoring the designated version of the image file.