JPH01121895A - Image retrieval display device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To realize smooth scroll display by continuously accessing a picture used for scroll display from a picture memory. CONSTITUTION: When scroll display or the like is executed, information of a position to be displayed, namely, a display request can be forecasted by the scrolling direction. The picture in the position corresponding to the display request is preliminarily transferred from a two-dimensional storage device 1 into a picture memory 6 based on this forecasting before this display request is issued, thereby continuously accessing the picture used for scroll display from the picture memory 6. Thus, smooth scroll display is possible.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Objective of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) This invention retrieves images such as maps and aerial photographs and document images that are larger than the display size of a display device from a secondary storage device. The present invention relates to an image search display device for displaying images.

(Prior art) In recent years, with the practical use of large-capacity image storage devices such as optical disk devices, it is possible to manage images that are sufficiently large compared to the display size of maps, etc. (these are referred to as large images), and to Demand for devices that search and display information is increasing. Such an image search and display device basically reads a range of images from a secondary storage device such as an optical disk device into an image memory constituted by a semiconductor memory, and performs CR processing of the images in the image memory.
A configuration is adopted in which the information is supplied to a display device such as a T-display and displayed.

In an image search display device, it is essential to be able to scroll display. Since the image memory based on the semiconductor memory can be accessed instantaneously, the images stored in the image memory can be smoothly scrolled and displayed. On the other hand, when scrolling beyond the range of the image in the image memory, after the image in the image memory has finished displaying,
New image data is immediately transferred from the secondary storage device to the image memory. However, although secondary storage devices such as optical disk devices 0 have a large capacity, their access speed is slower than that of semiconductor memory, so it takes time to transfer images to image memory.
This transfer time makes it difficult to smoothly scroll and display the entire large image.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As described above, in conventional image search and display devices, it takes time to transfer image data from the secondary storage device to the image memory, so it is difficult to transfer image data beyond the range of images in the image memory. There has been a problem in that smooth display cannot be achieved when scrolling or the like.

This invention was made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image search display device that can smoothly scroll and display large images relative to the display size of the display device. .

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention uses an image memory having a memory size larger than the display size of a display device, and also uses image memory that is Predictive update that updates the contents of the image memory by predicting a display request, reading the image at the predicted position from the secondary storage device, and writing it to an area in the image memory other than the area displayed on the display device. It is equipped with means.

(Function) When performing scroll display, etc., information on the position to be displayed from now on, that is, the display request, can be predicted from the scroll direction. In this invention, the image at the position corresponding to the display request is transferred from the secondary storage device to the image memory based on such 1,000n1, so that the image can be displayed by scrolling. images can be accessed continuously from image memory. Therefore, smooth scrolling display is possible.

(Example) The present invention will be described in detail below.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of an image search and display device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, optical disc 1
is a secondary storage device that stores information on large images such as maps and aerial photographs, and is driven by the optical disk controller 2. The optical disk controller 2 has an interface function and is connected via a system bus 3 to a control processor 4 that controls the entire apparatus, and is also connected to an image memory controller 5. The image memory controller 5 is a device that controls the dual port image memory 7 composed of a semiconductor memory according to commands from the control processor 4, and performs buffering of image data transferred from the optical disk 1 via the optical disk controller 2. , generates an address signal for the image memory 6. The CRT display 7 as a display device is C
It is controlled by the RT controller 8 and displays images read out from the image memory 6 in synchronization with the CRT display 7 by the CRT controller 8.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the relationship between the display areas of the image memory 6 and the CRT display 7 in FIG. 1. C
It is assumed that the RT display 7 has a display size of 1024×1024 pixels, and the image memory 6 has a memory size larger than this display size, for example, 4096×4096 pixels.

Which 10 of the images in the image memory 6 is the area D displayed on the CRT display 7 (hereinafter referred to as the display area)?
Whether to create an image of 24×1024 pixels or not, the control processor 4 sends the coordinate values (bx, by) of the origin of the display area to the CRT controller 8 based on a command input by the user through an input means such as a keyboard (not shown). It is done by giving instructions. CRT controller 8
Following this instruction, (bx, by ) ~ (bx +
1023. The image data of the area (by +1023) is sent to the CRT display 7 in real time and displayed. Here, if the control processor 4 sequentially changes the display origin (bx, by) based on a scroll display command from the user, scroll display is performed.

On the other hand, in this embodiment, X is stored in the image memory 6.

Addresses are assigned so that the initial value "0" of the X coordinate and the final value r4096J respectively match. That is, the x and X coordinate values sent from the control processor 4 to the CRT controller 8 are modulo [x, 4096], g+odu at the
l.

[Y, 4096] respectively. For example, if the X coordinate value sent from the control processor 4 to the CRT controller 8 is r4097J, the X address of the image memory 6 is 4098+4098-1 with remainder 2, so x-r2J
It turns out that.

Therefore, for example, the control processor 4 uses (b
x, b y ) = (3500, 3500) as C
RT Near: /When instructed to troller 8, C
As shown in FIG. 3, the RT controller 8 (8500,
3500) ~ (4095,4095), (0,35
00) ~ (523,4095), (3500,0)
~(4095,523), (0,0)~(523,5
23) The four rectangular areas Di-D4 are displayed on the CRT display 7 as an image of 1024×1024 pixels. As a result, the control processor 4 has a finite size (
The image memory 6 (4,098×4,098 pixels) can be treated as a virtual memory with an infinite two-dimensional extent.

Next, the fourth section describes the operation when continuously scrolling and displaying images whose image size is larger than the memory size of the image memory 6, that is, 4098×409B pixels or more.
This will be explained with reference to FIGS. In this scroll display, the control processor 4 predicts a display request for a position outside the range of the image stored in the image memory 6, reads out the image at the predicted position from the optical disk 1, and displays the image in the image memory 6. By writing to an area other than the area,
The contents of the image memory 6 are updated sequentially.

It is assumed that images are managed on the optical disc 1 by dividing them into fixed sizes of 1024×1024 pixels. Here, on the CRT display 7, as shown in FIG.
bx, by) ~ (bx +1023. by +10
21), images of four adjacent unit storage area groups A of 1024×1024 pixels each including this display area are read from the optical disk 1 and written into the image memory 6.

Next, when scrolling the display to the right from the state shown in Figure 4, until the X coordinate of the display area exceeds r 3072J, as shown in Figure 5(a),
24) ~ (4095, 2047), (3072,
The images of two areas B from 2048) to (4095, 3σ71) are read from the optical disc 1 and written into the image memory 6.

On the other hand, when scrolling the display in the upper right direction from the state shown in Figure 5(a), as shown in Figure 5(b), until the X coordinate of the display area exceeds rOJ and the X coordinate exceeds r3072J, , (2048,3072) ~ (3071,409
5).

(3072, 3072) ~ (4095, 4095),
(0,3072) to (1023.

4095), (0,2048)~(1023,3
071) , (0,1024) ~ (1023,20
47) is read from the optical disc 1 and written in the image memory 6.

Note that when scrolling in directions other than the above, that is, in the left, top, bottom, bottom right, top left, and bottom left directions, the image of the area consisting of the unit of 1024 x 1024 pixels to be displayed next is displayed in the same way. Read from optical disc 1 before,
All you have to do is write it into the image memory 6.

FIG. 6 schematically shows the flow of control by the control processor 4 when performing scroll display as described above. ° First, the scroll direction is detected in step 11, and then the scroll direction detection result is determined in steps 12a to 12h, and the corresponding processing is performed.
(2) is executed in steps 13a to 13h.

FIG. 7(a) shows the process in step 13a when the scroll direction is determined to be rightward in step 12a in FIG.
is shown in detail. First, when it is determined that the scrolling direction is rightward, in step 21, the , and the X coordinate value of the right end of the display area is checked to see if the difference is smaller than a certain threshold. As a result, if the above difference is smaller than the threshold, it is checked in the next step 22 whether the image of the area B adjacent to the right end of the storage area group A has been loaded into the image memory 6, and if it has not been loaded, step 23 Then, the image of the area B is read from the optical disc 1 and written to the right side of the area A in the image memory 6. This enables scrolling display in the right direction as shown in FIG. 5(a).

On the other hand, FIG. 7(b) shows in detail the process (■) in step 13e when the scroll direction is determined to be in the upper right direction in step 12e in FIG. 6. In this case, the scroll direction is determined to be in the upper right direction. Then, in step 31, a unit storage area group A including the display area shown in FIG.
The X coordinate value of the right end (front end in the scroll direction) of
It is checked whether the difference with the X coordinate value of the right end of the display area is smaller than a certain threshold value, and in step 32, the It is checked whether the difference between the coordinate value and the X coordinate value of the upper end of the display area is smaller than a certain threshold. As a result, if it is determined that the above difference is smaller than the threshold in at least one of steps 31 and 32, the next step 33
Check whether the image of area C adjacent to the right end and upper end of storage area group A has been loaded into the image memory 6.
If the image has not been loaded, the image of the area C is read from the optical disk 1 in step 34 and written to the right side and above the area A in the image memory 6. As a result, Fig. 5(b)
It becomes possible to scroll the display in the upper right direction as shown in .

Note that this invention is not limited to the above embodiments,
For example, in the embodiment, the case where an image such as a map is scrolled and displayed has been explained, but when document images such as a book are stored on the optical disk 1, and they are sequentially searched and displayed as if turning the pages of a book. can also be applied. In this case, since the next display request can be predicted from the direction in which the page is turned, the image of the predicted page can be read from the optical disc 1 and written into the image memory 6 in the same manner as before.

Further, the secondary storage device is not limited to an optical disk, but may be a magnetic disk or other storage device if the amount of image data to be stored is relatively small. It is also possible to provide a plurality of such secondary storage devices in parallel.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, during scroll display, etc., a display request for a position outside the range of an image stored in an image memory having a memory size larger than the display size of the display device is predicted, and the predicted display request is performed. By providing a predictive update means that updates the contents of the image memory by reading the image at the position from the secondary storage device and writing it to an area other than the display area in the image memory, the image for scroll display can be stored in the image memory. It is possible to access the page continuously from the beginning and display it with smooth scrolling. Furthermore, even when document images are retrieved and displayed one after another, the waiting time when switching pages can be reduced.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of an image search display device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 2 and 3 are diagrams showing the relationship between the image memory and the display area of the CRT display in FIG. 1, and FIG. 5 and 5 are diagrams showing the predictive update processing of images in the image memory during scroll display in the same embodiment, and FIG. 6 schematically shows the flow of control by the control processor in FIG. 1 during scroll display. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing in detail the flow of processing during rightward scrolling display and upper rightward scrolling display in FIG. 6. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Optical disk (secondary storage device), 2... Optical disk controller, 3... System bus, 4... Control processor (predictive update means), 5... Image memory controller, 6 images Memory, 7... CRT display (display device), 8... CRT controller, A...
・Unit storage area, B, C...Pre-n1 update area, D...
·Indicated Area. Applicant Representative Patent Attorney Takehiko Suzue 313 Figure Chiku 4 Figure (0,0)

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) A display device that displays an image; an image memory that has a memory size larger than the display size of this display device and stores an image to be displayed on the display device; means for reading an image of the display size and supplying it to the display device; a secondary storage device that stores an image of an image size larger than the memory size of the image memory; and a range of images stored in the image memory. By predicting a display request for a position outside the image memory, reading an image at the predicted position from the secondary storage device, and writing it to an area other than the area to be displayed on the display device in the image memory, 1. An image search and display device comprising: predictive update means for updating the contents of the image search and display device. (2) When performing scroll display on a display device, when the area displayed on the display device in the image memory approaches the front end of the image in the image memory in the scrolling direction, the predictive updating means 2. The image search and display device according to claim 1, wherein an image adjacent to the image is read from a secondary storage device and written into an image memory. (3) The image search and display device according to claim 1, wherein addresses are allocated to the image memory so that the initial value and final value of each of the x and y addresses match.