JPH01171065A - Retrieving device for library information - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To actually realize the condition close to hold the book with the hands and watch it by a user at the bookshelf of a library by displaying the picture information photographed a book, the contents of the book and others for retrieving at a terminal device. CONSTITUTION:Storing means 14 and 15 include a means to record plural pieces of picture information including the information of respective steps for retrieving and an information processor 17 includes a means to retrieve one of the pieces of control information in accordance with the control information given from a terminal device 3 and give the picture information to the terminal device 3. The terminal device 3 displays the picture information as the picture photographed on a CRT display device. The picture information is the picture information photographed by a video camera and the picture information read by a contact type picture reader. Thus, without needing the knowledge concerning the bibliography, the keyword retrieval of a data base and the operation method of the information processor, the book and the page of purpose can be retrieved by the picture information and the condition close to holding the book with the hands and watching it at the bookshelf of the library by a user actually can be realized.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention is used as a device for searching books owned by a library.

〔overview〕

The present invention is a device that uses an information processing device to search for books owned by a library, in which a user can actually search by displaying image information obtained by photographing a book, a table of contents of the book, etc. for searching on a terminal device. This creates a state similar to that of holding and looking at a book on a library shelf.

[Conventional technology]

In recent years, devices have been used to create a database of books, especially papers, and search the contents from a remote location. An example of such a device is one in which multiple universities collaborate to build a database, and the central database is searched via telephone lines or digital communication lines from terminal devices installed in university laboratories across the country. It has been known.

In such a literature search system, a personal combinator is used as a terminal device. When this terminal device is connected via a communication line to the solid device that stores the database, and a character string called a keyword for data search is entered from the keyboard of this terminal device, that information is sent to the solid device. . The solid device searches for the book window, author name, publisher, and other book-related information, as well as the library group that owns the book, based on the keyword from the terminal device, and sends the results back to the terminal device. On the terminal device,
The list of search results can be displayed as a string on the CR7 display and printed on paper if desired.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, it is extremely difficult to search for information about a desired book from a remote location. This is because the information to be searched is wide-ranging, including text, images, and graphs, and the information must be searched from a huge number of books and even from individual pages of the books.

Furthermore, in currently used literature search systems, in order to search for information, it is necessary to use keywords that represent its characteristics. That is, when a keyword is input from a terminal device, the solid device searches for information corresponding to this keyword, sends it back to the terminal device, and displays this information on the terminal device.

However, in such a literature search system, it is extremely difficult to completely describe the information sought using keywords. For example, the same document may have different keywords depending on how it is expressed. −For example, “salaryman,” “worker,” and “employee” are used to describe the same person.
, "worker,""officeman," and other keywords.

In such a case, it is difficult to determine which keyword will yield the desired document. If the search range is widened, different expression methods can be included, but the disadvantage is that the amount of literature in the search results increases.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems and allows users to search for a target book and its contents, and even read the book without the need for knowledge of bibliography, keyword searches in databases, or operating methods of information processing devices. The purpose is to provide a library information retrieval device that can search for library information.

[Means for solving problems]

The library information retrieval device of the present invention includes means for recording a plurality of image information including information at each stage of retrieval in a storage means, and the information processing device selects the image information according to control information provided from a terminal device. The present invention is characterized in that it includes means for searching for one image and providing the image information to the terminal device, and the terminal device includes means for displaying the image information as a photographed screen on a CRT display device.

Image information is image information taken by a video camera,
and image information read by a contact type image reading device. More specifically, the image information taken by the video camera includes image information of the entire library, image information of each department in the library, and image information of the bookshelves, and the image information is taken by a contact image reading device. The read image information is image information of the table of contents of the book and image information of each member of the book.

[For production]

In order to be able to search and read books and their contents from anywhere in the country via communication lines, it is necessary to have technology that can transmit large amounts of information at high speed over communication lines, even by untrained people. Easy-to-operate terminal device,
It is necessary to develop many technologies, such as technology for rapidly inputting vast amounts of information about books, and technology for storing information in a form suitable for communication. Of these techniques, the present invention
To easily find a desired book and its contents.

The library information search device of the present invention can search for books using image information, and even an untrained person can easily find the desired book and page. Devices that display image information have been known for a long time, but since the information obtained by searching is image information,
The present invention is a novel technology in that image information itself is used for searching.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a book information retrieval device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

This search device includes a video signal storage device 14, an image optical memory 15, and a magnetic disk device 16 as storage means in which information about the book including the book name, author name, and publisher, and the name of the library that owns the book are recorded in advance.
, a terminal device 3 including a CRT display device, this terminal device 3, a video signal storage device 14, and an image optical memory 15.
and an information processing device 17 coupled to the magnetic disk device 16, and the information processing device 17 searches the video signal storage device 1 according to the search request data given from the terminal device 3.
4. It includes a search means for searching the recorded contents of the image optical memory 15 and the magnetic disk device 16 and outputting the search result data to the terminal device 3, and the terminal device 3 has a means for displaying the search result data on the CRT display device. include.

The video signal storage device 14 and the image optical memory 15 are
This is a device that records a plurality of image information including information at each stage for searching. The information processing device 17 includes means for searching image information according to control information provided from the terminal device 3 and providing the image information to the terminal device 3, and the terminal device 3 displays this image information on a CRT display device. It includes means for displaying a photographed screen.

More specifically, this search device includes a center 1 and a terminal device 3 connected to the center 1 via a communication line 2.

The center 1 includes a video signal storage device 14 that stores image information taken by a video camera, an image optical memory 15 that stores image information read by a contact image reading device, and further includes a video signal storage device 14 that stores image information taken by a video camera, and an image optical memory 15 that stores image information read by a contact type image reading device. It is equipped with a magnetic disk device 16 that stores .

These storage devices are connected to the information processing device 17 via the control unit 13. Connected to the information processing device 17 are a magnetic disk device 18 that stores devices in which image information and character data are stored and addresses where they are stored, and an exchange 19 that accommodates the communication line 2 .

The image information stored in the video signal storage device 14 is represented by a video signal. This image information is supplied from the video camera 10 via the control section 13. This image information includes image information in which a panoramic view of the library is photographed, image information in which each department within the library is photographed, and image information of bookshelves.

The image information stored in the optical memory 15 is represented by a facsimile signal. This image information is supplied via a character recognition device 12 and a control section 13 from a contact type image reading device 11 using, for example, a reading section of a facsimile machine. This image information is image information of the table of contents of the book and image information of each member of the book.

Character data stored in the magnetic disk device 16 is supplied via the control unit 13 from a character recognition device 12 that converts a facsimile signal output from the contact type image reading device 11 into a data code.

The exchange 19 can be used for either a digital line or a telephone line, and performs an exchange connection between an external ISDN line or a telephone line and the information processing device 18.

As the communication line 2, an 15DN (Integrated Services Digital Network) line or a telephone line is used.

As the terminal device 3, a high-performance personal computer called an 15DN compatible workstation or a normal personal computer is used.

FIG. 2 shows the data structure of information regarding books.

This information includes a general view of the library, each department, shelves, shelves, books,
It has a tree structure with a table of contents and pages. The image information from the panoramic view of the library to the shelves is a video signal and is stored in the video signal storage device 14.The books and their contents are mixed with image information, text and graphics represented by facsimile IJ signals. The image information is stored in the optical memory 15, and the character and graphic data is stored in the magnetic disk device 16.

Furthermore, all of the information can be stored in the optical memory 15 as image information.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the terminal device 3. As shown in FIG. This terminal device 3 is a general personal computer equipped with a line ink face 21 and a pointing device. Here, an example is shown in which a mouse 30 is used as the pointing device.

Line ink face 21 , central processing unit 22 , read-only memory 23 and random access memory 24 are interconnected via bus 20 . A keyboard 29, a mouse 30, a CR7 display device 31, and a printer 32 are further connected to the bus 20 via ink faces 25-28, respectively.

In order to display image information, the interface 27 to which the CR7 display device 31 is connected is equipped with a bitmap memory for holding image display contents, and is capable of holding image information to be displayed.

When this terminal device 3 is connected to the information processing device 17 and the keyboard 29 or mouse 30 is operated, the information is transferred to the information processing device 17 via the line interface 21.
sent to. Here, in the case of the keyboard 29, when the return key is pressed, the previous character string is sent out. In the case of the mouse 30, the information is sent when the button is pressed and when the pointer moving on the display screen moves out of the screen due to movement of the mouse 30.

Furthermore, by operating the keyboard 29 or the mouse 30, the image information displayed on the CR7 display device 31 can be output to the printer 32.

The information processing device 17 performs processing corresponding to the information from the terminal device 3 depending on the state at that time.

Figure 4 shows the display screen of the CR7 display device 31 during a search, (a) is a panoramic view of the library, (b) is a department, (C) is a bookshelf, (d) is a column, (e) is a table of contents, ( f) shows an example of a page display screen.

When the terminal device 3 is connected to the center 1, the information processing device 17 in the center 1 selects one library, reads out the image information of the entire view from the video signal storage device 14, and sends it to the terminal device 3. The terminal device 3 displays this image information on the CR7 display device 31. An example of the display screen at this time is shown in FIG. 4(a).

In this state, when a numerical value is input from the keyboard 29 or an operation to change the library is performed using the mouse 30, the information processing device 17 returns image information of a panoramic view of another library to the terminal device 3. As a result, the image of the library displayed on the CR7 display device 31 is switched to an image of another library. Panoramic views of different libraries are displayed one after another by manipulating numerical values or operating the mouse 30.

When the return key on the keyboard 29 is pressed or the department display is operated using the mouse 30 while the entire view of the library is displayed, the information processing device 17 displays the information displayed on the CR7 display device 31 at that time. About the library
Image information captured by each department within the video signal storage device 14 is read out from the video signal storage device 14 and sent back to the terminal device 3. The terminal device 3 displays this image information on the CR7 display device 31. An example of the display screen at this time is shown in FIG. 4(b).

At this time, a pointer 30' that moves within the screen as the mouse 30 is moved is displayed on the display screen.

When the pointer 30' moves off the screen by moving the mouse 30, the information processing device 17 reads image information in the library corresponding to the moving direction of the pointer 30' from the video signal storage device 14, and transfers the image information to the terminal. It is sent back to device 3. When the terminal device 3 displays this image information,
The display screen of the CRT display device 31 changes. By repeating this, the display screen moves around the library.

Further, when a button on the mouse 30 is pressed while the department is displayed, the information processing device 17 reads image information regarding the bookshelf of the item pointed to by the pointer 30' from the video signal storage device 14, and send it back to The terminal device 3 displays this image information on the CRT display device 3.1. An example of the display screen at this time is shown in FIG. 4(C). The resolution of this display screen is such that the positional relationship of the books can be seen.

By moving the mouse 30 in this state, the pointer 30' moves on the screen, and when the pointer 30' moves off the screen, other bookshelves in the same department are displayed by the same process.

When a button on the mouse 30 is pressed while the bookshelf is displayed, a similar process is performed to enlarge the books in the column indicated by the pointer 30' to the extent that their titles can be read. In this case as well, the pointer 30' moves within the screen as the mouse 30 is moved, and when the pointer 30' moves off the screen, other books on the same bookshelf are displayed.

An example of the display screen at this time is shown in FIG. 4(d).

By pressing the mouse button 30 in this state,
The book pointed to by the pointer 30' can be selected.

When a book is selected, the information processing device 17 reads image information related to the table of contents of the book from the optical memory 15 and sends it back to the terminal device 3. On terminal device 3, this table of contents is
It is displayed on the RT display device 31. An example of the display screen at this time is shown in FIG. 4(e).

With the table of contents displayed, if you enter a numerical value from the keyboard 29 or specify an item in the table of contents with the pointer 30' and press a button on the mouse 30, the information processing device 17 displays the page specified by the information. The image information, character data, and graphic data are read from the optical memory 15 and the magnetic disk device 16, and the information is sent back to the terminal device 3. The terminal device 3 displays the image of the page on the CRT display device 31. An example of the display image at this time is shown in Figure 4 (f
).

When a page is displayed, an area 40 for changing the page is provided in a part of the display screen. By pointing to this area 40 with the pointer 30' and pressing a button on the mouse 30, pages can be "turned". Further, by operating the mouse 30, a part of the page can be enlarged.

Next, the relationship between the position of the pointer 30' on the display screen and identification by the information processing device 17 will be explained.

5 to 7 show the relationship between the display screen and the identification area. FIG. 5(a), FIG. 6(a) and FIG. 7(a) respectively show the department, table of contents and page display screen 31';
5, et al.), FIG. 6(b), and FIG. 7 et al.) each show the identification area by the information processing device 17.

When a button on the mouse 30 is pressed while the pointer 30' is displayed on the display screen 31', the position information is sent to the information processing device 17. The information processing device 17 displays identification areas 51, 61, 7 as shown in FIGS. 5 and 7), FIG. 6 (5), and FIG.
1 is defined, and it is determined which identification area 51, 61, 71 has been selected from the position information of the pointer 30'.

Taking the case where departments are displayed as an example, in this case, the identification area 51 is defined corresponding to the bookshelf 50.

When the pointer 30' is moved on the display screen 31' and a button on the mouse 30 is pressed while pointing to, for example, a mathematics bookshelf, the position information is sent to the information processing device 17. The information processing device 17 determines that the mathematics bookshelf has been selected from the identification area 51 corresponding to the position information.

In addition, if the table of contents is displayed, the information processing device 1
7, an identification area 61 is defined for each item in the table of contents. When a page is displayed, the identification area 71 is displayed using paragraphs, pictures, etc.
Define °.

In this way, libraries, departments, shelves, stacks of shelves, books,
Pages and portions within pages can be selected.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the operation of the mouse 30. (a) is the reference point, [ra] is the point moved from the reference point, (C) or e
) indicates button operation.

To move the pointer 30' on the display screen 31',
The mouse 30 is moved as shown in FIG. 8(a).

Items on the display screen 31', for example, individual books on a bookshelf,
When specifying a page shown in the table of contents, or specifying and enlarging a paragraph, picture, etc. on a page, use the pointer 30' to indicate the identification area, as shown in FIG. 8(C). , the first button 301 of the mouse 30 is pressed. As a result, the button identifier and the position information of the pointer 30' are
It is sent to the information processing device 17 via the terminal device 3.

Here, the coordinates of the pointer 30' are represented by xy coordinates with the origin at the lower left of the display screen. The y-axis is the horizontal axis, and the y-axis is the vertical axis. For example, pointer 30' has coordinates [150, 200
] is displayed, if you press the first button 301,
ro1150200" is sent. The first "01" is the identifier of the first button, followed by <
r 150J and ``200J'' represent the coordinates of the pointer 30'. Send it back.

If a part of the display screen 31' cannot be clearly divided into areas, such as an art book, the area can be defined by the locus of the pointer 30'. In that case, as shown in FIG. 8(d), the mouse 30 is moved while pressing the first button 301.

At this time, the data of the button identifier and the position information of the pointer 30' are sent to the information processing device 17 at regular intervals. The information processing device 17 defines an area circumscribing the section to which the pointer 30' has moved, for example, an area where the starting point is the new origin and the ending point is the right side or the upper side of the display screen 31', and selects image information corresponding to this area. and sends it back to the terminal device 3.

For example, while pressing the first button 301, the pointer 30
' from coordinates [150,200] to coordinates [450,220]
], the information processing device 17 has ro1150.
20 (1r01450220 J data is sent. At this time, the information processing device 17 has the coordinates [150, 200
] is set as a new origin, and image information with a width of 300 mm is sent back to the terminal device 3. Therefore, C.R.T.
On the display device 31, the previous display screen 31' is displayed in an enlarged manner.

When performing a procedure different from the search procedure from the library to the book page, the second button 302 of the mouse 30 is pressed, as shown in FIG. 8(e). At this time, information processing device 1
7, the identifier of the second button 302 and the pointer 30
' position information data is sent.

By detecting the identifier of the second button 302, the information processing equipment 17 displays the pull-down menu 311 at the position specified by the subsequent position information. By specifying a menu in this pull-down menu 311 with the pointer 30' and pressing the first button, processing related to the contents can be performed.

FIG. 9 shows a display example of the pull-down menu 311, and FIG. 10 shows the pull-down menu 311 in an enlarged manner. Here, an example is shown in which a pull-down menu 311 is displayed on the page of a book, and the items are "approach" and "move away".
and "keyboard command" are shown.

When the pointer 30' points to the item "Approach" or "Go Away" in the pull-down menu 5-311 and the first button 301 of the mouse 30 is pressed, the information processing device 1
7 enlarges or reduces the screen around the pull-down menu, -311. Furthermore, when the item "keyboard command" is selected, the information processing device 17 waits for an input from the keyboard 29. At this time, page designation or keyword search can be performed using the keyboard 29.

You can also provide multiple types of pull-down menus and switch between them.

FIG. 11 shows the format of signals expressing key words and other character data. Each character data is represented by a 2-byte code inserted between the header H and the end symbol E. This code corresponds to numbers, alphabets, symbols, and kanji.
These are combined to represent character data. The end of character data is determined by the end of a fixed number of characters, or by using a code indicating the end, for example, 0DOA in hexadecimal.

FIG. 12 shows the format of a signal for expressing position information. This signal is also represented by a header H1 end symbol E and a 2-byte signal, similar to the code used to express character data, but all bits in the first byte are "1".
It becomes. Three sets of this A word are used; the first signal represents the button identifier of the mouse 30, the next signal represents the X coordinate on the display screen, and the last signal represents the X coordinate on the display screen.

FIG. 13 shows a configuration for displaying image information on the terminal device 3. As shown in FIG.

The line interface 21 includes a distributor 211 and a decoder 212, and the ink face 27 includes a bitmap memory 271 and a signal converter 272.

The distributor 211 distributes the human signal into code data and image data, and outputs the code data to the central processing unit 22 and the image data to the decoder 212. The central processing unit 22 outputs a control signal to the decoder 212, bitmap memory 271, and signal converter 272 according to the code data output from the distributor 211. Decoder 2
12 decodes the image data using a decoding algorithm designated by the central processing unit 22 and outputs rask image data to the bitmap memory 271. The bitmap memory 271 stores rask image data in a rectangular area specified by the central processing unit 22, and transfers the rask image data to the signal converter 27.
The data is output to the CR7 display device 31 via. Signal converter 2
7 converts the rask image data into a multi-level television signal R1G.
and convert to 已.

FIG. 14 shows the format of data sent from the information processing device 17 to the terminal device 3.

An identifier indicating the type of data is added to the beginning of each data. For example, "00": uncompressed image data, "01": compressed image data, "02": character code, "03": graphic code, r04": command. Examples of these data are shown in Figure 14(a).
Or as shown in e).

The distributor 211 shown in FIG. 13 outputs the first five units of data to the central processing unit 22. The central processing unit 22 recognizes the first unit as an identifier and performs processing according to the data. For example, when the identifier is "00", the following four units of data are interpreted and stored in the bitmap memory 2.
71 and controls the decoder 212 to output the data from the 6th unit onward as is. Further, when the identifier is "01", the decoder 212 is controlled to convert the data after the 6th unit into rask image data and output it. When the identifier is "02" or "03", the central processing unit 22 takes in all the data, interprets the data, and stores the interpreted data in the bitmap memory 271.
Output to. Here, the identifier is "00" to "03"
When , it represents the starting point of the rectangle to which the next two units of data are transferred, and represents the size of the rectangle to which the next two units of data are transferred.

When the identifier is "04", the central processing unit 22 takes in all the data and performs processing according to this command. For example, when changing the screen from black and white to color,
A color display command is given to the signal converter 272.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the library information search device of the present invention can search for a target book and page using image information without the need for knowledge about bibliography, database keyword searches, or how to operate an information processing device. can. Therefore, there is an effect that the user can realize a state similar to actually picking up and looking at a book on a bookshelf in a library.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a book information retrieval system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 shows the data structure of information regarding books. FIG. 3 is a block configuration diagram showing an example of a terminal device. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display screen of a CRT display device during a search. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the relationship between the display screen and the identification area. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the relationship between the display screen and the identification area. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the relationship between the display screen and the identification area. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing mouse operations. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a display example of a pull-down menu. Figure 10 is an enlarged view of the pull-down menu. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the format of a signal expressing character data. FIG. 12 is a diagram showing the format of a signal expressing position information. FIG. 13 is a block configuration diagram showing a configuration for displaying image information on a terminal device. FIG. 14 is a diagram showing the format of data sent from the information processing device to the terminal device. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Center, 2...Communication line, 3...Terminal device, 11...Contact type image reading device, 12...Character recognition device, 13...Control unit, 14...Video Signal storage device, 15... Optical memory for image, 16.18... Magnetic disk device, 17... Information processing device, 19... Exchange, 20... Bus, 21... Line ink face, 22... Central processing unit, 23... Read-only memory, 24... Random access memory, 25-28.
...Interface, 29...Keyboard, 30...
- Mouse, 31... CRT display device, 32... Printer, 211... Distributor, 212... Decoder, 27
1...Bitmap memory, 272...Signal converter. Patent applicant Telematics International Research Institute Co., Ltd. -
1 Agent: Patent Attorney Nao Takashi Ide". Figure 1: Data Machinery Figure 2: Terminal Equipment Figure 3 (a) Figure 5 (a) (b) Figure 6 (a) (b) Figure 7 Figure 8 Figure 9 Figure 10 Figure 11 Figure 12

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) A storage means in which information about the book, including the book title, author name, and publisher, and the name of the library that owns the book are recorded in advance, and a terminal device including a CRT display device, and this terminal device and the storage means and a coupled information processing device, the information processing device including search means for searching the recorded contents of the storage means according to search request data given from the terminal device and outputting search result data to the terminal device, The terminal device is a library information retrieval device including means for displaying the search result data on a CRT display device, and the storage means includes means for recording a plurality of image information including information at each stage of the search. The information processing device includes means for searching for one of the image information according to control information provided from the terminal device and providing the image information to the terminal device, and the terminal device transmits the image information to the CRT display device. A library information retrieval device characterized by comprising means for displaying a photographed image on a screen. (2) The library information search device according to claim (1), wherein the plurality of image information are image information taken by a video camera and image information read by a contact image reading device. (3) Image information taken by a video camera includes image information of the entire library, image information of each department in the library, and image information of bookshelves, and is read by a contact image reading device. The library information search device according to claim 1, wherein the image information retrieved is image information of the table of contents of the book and image information of each page of the book.