JPH01284973A - Picture recording and reproducing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain intuitive retrieval by utilizing a partial picture or a reduced picture, with which the attribute or classification of a picture can be judged at a glance, and observing a retrieving picture, for which a large number of these partial pictures or reduced pictures are arranged. CONSTITUTION:When the picture is recorded, a control circuit 5 is activated by a command, which is given since an operator operates a keyboard 6, a picture (an object picture for short in the following) to be the object of recording and reproducing is taken from a picture input device 1 to a frame buffer 2 and stored in a picture accumulating device 3. Simultaneously, the picture is inputted to a display device 7 and a picture reducing and segment circuit 8. Thus, the reduced picture of the whole object picture or partial picture, for which one part of the object picture to be designated by the operator is segmented, is made by using a coordinate input device 10 and a coordinate converting circuit 11. This reduced picture or partial picture is successively inputted in a picture constituting buffer 9 and the retrieving picture is formed in order to execute the retrieval later.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image recording and reproducing apparatus for recording and reproducing images on a recording medium.

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, image recording and reproducing apparatuses that record and reproduce images using magnetic or optical discs, tapes, or cards as media have come into wide use. In addition to simply recording and playing back images, this type of device generally also has a search function that allows you to select and display a specific image from among a large number of images. It's coming.

The above-mentioned conventional image recording and reproducing apparatus will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the conventional image recording and reproducing apparatus, in which 21 is an image input device, 22 is a frame buffer connected to the image input device 21 and holding image data for one screen; 27 is a display device connected to the frame buffer 22, and 23 is also the frame buffer 22.
24 is an address control circuit connected to the image storage device 23, 25 is a control circuit also connected to the image storage device 23, and 26 is a keyboard connected to the control circuit 25. Further, 30 is a coordinate input device, 31 is a code conversion circuit connected to the coordinate input device 30, 32 is a search table connected to the code conversion circuit 31, and 33 is a search table and address control circuit 11 connected to the search circuit 24. It is a control circuit.

The operation of the conventional image recording and reproducing apparatus configured as described above when executing a search will be described.

First, the control circuit 25 receives a command from the keyboard 26.
is started, and the image input device 21 extracts from the image storage device 23 an image of a classification table or attribute table created by hand or printing, which has been imported into the image storage device 23 and is stored in the frame buffer 22. As a result, an image of the classification table or attribute table is obtained on the display device 27.

When an item to be used as a keyword for a search is specified using the coordinate input device 30 in this image, a keyword code is created from the coordinate value by the code conversion circuit 31, and a keyword code is created in the search table 32.
, the search control circuit 33 determines the address of the image having this keyword on the image storage device 23, and the address control circuit 24 retrieves the target image from the image storage device 23 to the frame buffer 22, and displays it on the display device 27. It will be displayed on .

Details of the conventional image recording and reproducing apparatus as described above are disclosed as an image file apparatus in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 57-93479.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, in the above-mentioned conventional image recording and reproducing apparatus, it is necessary to create a classification table or an attribute table in advance by handwriting or printing, which requires a large amount of effort. Basically, the search method uses keyword codes, so it is difficult to understand intuitively and requires some experience to use. There were problems in that classification tables and attribute tables sometimes did not make sense.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and it is not necessary to prepare a classification table or an attribute table in advance, and it is intuitively easy to understand, so even a first-time user can use it immediately. The purpose of this invention is to provide a recording/playback device.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, the image recording and reproducing apparatus of the present invention creates a reduced image from any stored arbitrary image,
Alternatively, a configuration including a search image composition means for constructing a search image by cutting out a partial image thereof, and a search means for searching the above-mentioned arbitrary image using the search image constructed by the search image composition means. It is something that you have.

Effect of the Invention With the configuration described above, the present invention does not search using codes assigned to attribute items or classification items, but searches for partial images whose attributes and classification can be determined at a glance. By using the reduced images and visually viewing a search image in which a large number of these partial images or reduced images are arranged, the search can be performed intuitively.

Embodiment Hereinafter, an image recording and reproducing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an image recording and reproducing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which 1 is an image input device such as a camera or a scanning device, and 2 is a screen connected to an image input device l. A frame buffer that holds image data for minutes,
7 is a display device connected to the frame buffer 2; 3 is an image storage device also connected to the frame buffer 2; 4 is a display device connected to the frame buffer 2;
5 is an address control circuit connected to the image storage device 3; 5 is a control circuit also connected to the image storage device 3; 6 is a keyboard connected to the control circuit 5; The components are almost identical to those used in the device. Further, 10 is a coordinate input device such as a tablet or a mouse, 11 is a coordinate conversion circuit connected to the coordinate input device IO, and 8 is an image reduction circuit connected to the coordinate conversion circuit 11, the image storage device 3, and the frame buffer 2. An image cutting circuit; 9 a screen configuration buffer connected to the image reduction and image cutting circuit 8 and the image storage device 3; 12 a search table connected to the screen configuration buffer 9, the coordinate conversion circuit 11, and the address control circuit 4; It is.

The operation of the image recording and reproducing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention configured as described above will be described below.

First, when recording an image, the operator must use the keyboard 6.
The control circuit 5 is activated by a command given by operating the , and an image to be recorded and reproduced (hereinafter referred to as the target image) is captured from the image input device 1 to the frame buffer 2 and stored in the image storage device 3. At the same time, a reduced image of the entire target image or a partial image of a portion of the target image specified by the operator using the coordinate input device 10 and coordinate conversion circuit 11 is input to the display device 7 and the image reduction and cropping circuit 8. Made. These reduced images or partial images are sequentially input to the screen composition buffer 9 and stored, thereby forming a search image for later search. Further, the correspondence between the position of the reduced image or partial image in the searched image and the storage address of the corresponding target image in the image storage device is created and held in the search table 12 in the form of a table.

As described above, a large number of target images are recorded and accumulated in the image storage device 3, and a search image composed of reduced images or partial images in one-to-one correspondence is created, and a special area of the image storage device 3 is created. is accumulated in FIG. 2 illustrates an example of configuring a search image from four target images, in which the first image (car) and third image (person) are reduced to the second image (document). ) and the fourth image (ship) are images for retrieval obtained by cutting out partial images in which the document name and ship name are shown, respectively.

Next, to explain the operation during image search and playback, the control circuit 5 is activated in response to a command given by the operator by operating the keyboard 6, and the search image is first retrieved from a special area of the image storage device 3, and the frame buffer 2 and displayed on the display device 7. When the operator visually inspects this search image and selects a reduced image or partial image corresponding to the required target image, and specifies the reduced image or partial image using the coordinate input device 10, the coordinates are The conversion circuit 11 converts the information into position information and inputs it into the search table 12. The search table 12 converts the position information into a storage address of the corresponding target image on the image storage device, and accesses the image storage device 3 through the address control circuit 4. In the manner described above, the required target image is extracted from the image storage device 3, and is then extracted onto the display device 7 through the frame buffer 2.

As described above, according to this embodiment, a desired image can be easily and intuitively searched for by viewing the search image displayed on the display device and operating the coordinate input device.

Effects of the Invention As described above, the image recording and reproducing apparatus of the present invention includes a search image configuring means for configuring a search by creating a reduced image from any stored arbitrary image or cutting out a partial image thereof; By having a configuration including a search means for searching the above-mentioned arbitrary image using the search image composed by the search image composition means, there is no need to prepare a classification table or an attribute table in advance, and it can be done intuitively. Since it is easy to understand, it is possible to realize an excellent image recording and reproducing device that even a first-time user can use immediately.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of an image recording/reproducing device according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a search image in the embodiment, and the third diagram is a block diagram of a conventional image reproducing/recording device. It is a diagram. ■...Image input device, 2...Frame buffer, 3...Image storage device, 7...
- Display device, 8... Image reduction and image cutting circuit, 10... Coordinate input device. Name of agent: Patent attorney Toshio Nakao 1 person tA1 figure to Domomo NJ device figure 3 30-hiko 1su summer

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) an image input means for inputting an image; a frame buffer means for temporarily holding the image input by the image input means and simultaneously displaying the image;
an image storage means for recording and storing the image held in the frame buffer on a recording medium; and a search image composition means for constructing a search image from arbitrary images stored in the image storage means. , a search means for searching for the arbitrary image using the search image constructed by the search image composition means. (2) The image recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the search image composition means composes the search image by creating a reduced image of an arbitrary image. (3) The image recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the search image composition means composes the search image by cutting out an arbitrary partial image of an arbitrary image.