JPH0214667A - Information storage device and information retrieval device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain an information storage device forming a flexible system by selecting the coding processing of picture information in matching with the application of the user at the time of the storage of information. CONSTITUTION:An original is set to a scanner 18 to operate an optical disk device 22 and the scanner 18. When the skew or density or the like being picture information displayed on a CRT display device 24 is satisfied and a storage key is entered, the processing property sheet set with a compression rate of 1/8, compression system MR(Modified Read) and a binary data or the like is displayed. When the displayed processing data is satisfied and the end key is entered, the coding processing is applied by applying band compression with a compression rate of 1/8 by the MR system in the companding circuit (CODEC) 50 for each line information. Thus, the flexible system is obtained.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to an information storage device and an information retrieval device such as an image information filing device that registers, searches, or communicates image information. .

(Prior art) In recent years, scanners (
Image information filing devices have been put into practical use that read image information using a two-dimensional scanning device, store the read image information on an optical disk, and search and read out any stored image information.

Recently, with the advancement of networking and systemization,
Connect multiple image information filing devices via LAN etc.
They register and search while communicating with each other.

On the other hand, the size of documents handled is not only A3 size, A4 size, B4 size, etc. in general offices, but also A3 size, A4 size, B4 size, etc.
Larger sizes such as 1 size and A2 size are now available, and the amount of image information is increasing enormously.

When registering or searching for these large-sized images, the compression (encoding) rate, expansion (decoding) rate, compression method, number of gradations, etc. are determined for each device in advance.
Depending on the type of image, the compression rate, expansion rate, compression method, number of gradations, etc. cannot be changed. For this reason, it was not possible to build a flexible system9.

For example, if high image quality is required, such as for CAD drawings or photographs, it is desirable to compress at a compression rate that provides high image quality even if the number of records per optical disk decreases due to a decrease in compression rate. There are cases. In addition, if high image quality is not required, you may want to increase the compression rate and increase the number of records per optical disc even if you sacrifice image quality. It is not something that can be changed, but one compression rate is determined for each device. Furthermore, in addition to the compression rate when image information is stored, it is not possible to change the expansion rate, compression method, number of gradations, etc. during retrieval.

Therefore, when storing or retrieving image information, image encoding processing, (q naturalization processing,
There is a need for a flexible system that can select the number of gradations to be changed.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) As described above, when storing or retrieving information, it is possible to select image encoding processing, decoding processing, and gradation number changing processing according to the user's purpose. , there is a need for a system that can be flexible, and when storing or retrieving information, the user can select image encoding processing, decoding processing, and gradation number change processing according to the user's purpose. An object of the present invention is to provide an information storage device and an information retrieval device that can be used as a flexible system.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) An information storage device of the present invention includes a storage means for storing image information, and a plurality of encoding processes for the image information stored in the storage means. A possible first processing means, this first
a selection means for selecting an encoding process to be performed by the processing means; and a second processing means for performing the encoding process selected by the selection means on the image information stored in the L storage means. .

The information retrieval device of the present invention stores image information in a storage means together with search information corresponding to the image information, and searches the storage means for image information corresponding to the search information by specifying the search information. , a first processing means capable of performing a plurality of decoding processes on the image information retrieved from the storage means, a selection means for selecting a decoding process to be performed by the first processing means, and the memory. The second processing means performs the decoding process selected by the selection means on the image information retrieved from the selection means.

The information storage device of the present invention includes a storage means for storing image information, a first processing means capable of performing a plurality of gradation number changing processes on the image information stored in the storage means, and a The image forming apparatus comprises a selection means for selecting a gradation number changing process to be performed by the processing means, and a second processing means for performing the gradation number changing process selected by the selection means on the image information stored in the storage means. ing.

The information retrieval device of the present invention stores image information in a storage means together with search information corresponding to the image information, and searches the storage means for image information corresponding to the search information by specifying the search information. , a first processing means capable of performing a plurality of gradation number changing processes on the image information retrieved from the storage means, and a selection means for selecting a gradation number changing process to be performed by the first processing means. , and a second processing means that performs a gradation number change process selected by the selection means on the image information retrieved from the storage means.

(Function) The present invention enables selection of encoding processing, decoding processing, and gradation number changing processing for image information according to the user's purpose when storing or retrieving information.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the configuration of an electronic filing device according to the present invention. That is, the electronic filing device includes a control module 1o1, a memory module 12, an image processing module 14, a communication control module 16, and a scanner 1.
8. Optical disk 2° and optical disk device 22, keyboard 23, CRT display device 24, printer 25
, a magnetic disk 26 and a magnetic disk device 27, a mouse 29, a system bus 301 . and an image bus 32.

The control module 10 includes a CPU 34, an optical disk device 22, a magnetic disk device 27, and a CPU 34 that perform various controls for storing image information, searching, editing, etc.
It consists of an interface circuit 36 that connects the . Further, a keyboard 23 and a mouse 29 are connected to the CPU 34.

The memory module 12 includes a main memory 38 that stores various control programs such as storage, search, and editing of image information, management information, etc., and an image memory that has a storage capacity corresponding to image information for several pages of an A4 size document. It is composed of a page memory 40, a display memory 42 as a display interface, a display control section 44, and the like. A part of the page memory 40 includes a buffer memory area 40a.
is provided. Writing and reading in this buffer memory area 40a are controlled by a counter (not shown). This page memory 40 is, for example, the destination disk 20.
This is a memory that temporarily stores image information stored in the optical disc 20 and image information read from the optical disc 20. Also display memory 4
2 is for temporarily storing image information displayed by the CRT display device 24. This display memory 42 stores 1.1.1 for the image information actually displayed in the display window (w shown in FIG. 5) of the CRT display device 24, that is, the image information in the page memory 40. Image information that has been subjected to enlargement, reduction, rotation, -insertion, white point inversion, etc. is stored. The display control unit 44 controls the CRT display device 2
It controls the display processing of step 4.

The image processing module 14 includes an enlargement/reduction circuit 34 that performs enlargement/reduction processing of image information, a vertical/horizontal conversion circuit 48 that performs rotation processing of image information, and compression (reducing redundancy) of image information.
A compression/expansion circuit (CODEC) 50 that performs encoding processing to perform (to restore reduced redundancy) and decoding processing to perform decompression (returning reduced redundancy), a scanner interface 52 for the scanner device 18, and a scanner interface 52 for the printer device 25. an internal bus 56 that connects the printer interface 54, scaling circuit 46, and vertical/horizontal conversion circuit 48 with the compression/expansion circuit 50, scanner interface 52, and printer interface 54; and a gradation conversion circuit that performs gradation conversion processing of image information. 57.

The compression/expansion circuit 50 is an M H (Modiried II
ul'['a+an) method, M R(Modl('Le
d Read) method, M2 R (Modll'fed) method.
Bandwidth compression using MR) method, ACODEC method, etc.
Alternatively, band expansion is performed. ACODEC
The method is capable of processing in three stages: - 0.25 bits/pixel in the first mode, 1.0 bits/pixel in the second mode, and 4.0 bits/pixel in the third mode.

The communication control module 16 is, for example, a BCP (Bus Communication P) connected to a LAN.
The communication interface 58 is configured by a communication interface 58 such as The communication control module 16 also includes a UCP (Facsimile Connection Mechanism), which is connected to external devices such as a personal computer via an interface.
P (Universal CoIIlmunicat
ionProcessor) may be provided.

The system bus 30 is a bus for control signals of various devices, and connects the control module 10, the memory module 12, the image processing module 14, and the communication control module 16. Further, the image bus 32 is a bus for image information, and connects the memory module 12, the image processing module 14, and the communication control module 16.

The scanner device 18 is, for example, a two-dimensional scanning device, and is a document (
By scanning the document (document) two-dimensionally with a laser beam, an electrical signal corresponding to the image information on the document is obtained.

The optical disk device 22 sequentially stores image information read by the scanner device 18 on an optical disk 20 .

It also searches the optical disc 20 for image information corresponding to search information specified using the keyboard 23 or the like.

The keyboard 23 is used to input unique search information corresponding to image information to be stored on the optical disc 20 and various operation commands such as storage, search, and editing processing. Further, the mouse 29 can be used, for example, to arbitrarily move a cursor (not shown) displayed on the display window of the CRT display device 24 vertically and horizontally, and to give an instruction at a desired position, thereby determining the position of the cursor. This is used to select or instruct display contents (various operation modes, area designation for image editing, or icons', tr,).

The CRT display device (cathode ray tube display device) 24 is
Image information read by the scanner device 18 and image information retrieved from the optical disc 20 are displayed. The display area for displaying image information of this CRT display device 24 is a multi-window type that can display four image information simultaneously using a maximum of four display windows (shown in FIG. 7; W, . . . ). It is a display device. The image data displayed in each of the display windows W1 . . . is subjected to editing processing such as enlargement, reduction, rotation, scrolling, etc. independently.

The printer device 25 prints out (or copies) image information read by the scanner device 18, image information retrieved from the optical disk 20, or image information displayed on the CRT display device 24.

The magnetic disk device 27 is an optical disk that stores various control programs on a magnetic disk 26 mounted on the magnetic disk device 27, and also stores search information input from the keyboard 23 and image information corresponding to this search information. It stores search data consisting of storage addresses, image sizes, etc. on 20.

The storage address is a logical address, from which a physical track address and a physical sector address are calculated at the time of access.

A search code consisting of multiple search keys for the above search data (
As shown in Figure 4, the image number, document number,
Page number, document size (image size), compression rate (expansion rate)
, compression method, resolution, block length, logical address on the optical disc 19 of image information, the above compression method (ACOD
Document management data consisting of parameters for EC) is assigned, and a document management table is configured by a group of these document management data. The processing data includes parameters for the compression rate (expansion rate), compression method, resolution, and compression method (ACODEC), data indicating whether it is binary or dither, and the number of gradations (not shown).

Next, the operation of image information storage and retrieval processing in the electronic filing device with such a configuration will be described. First, image information storage processing will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. For example, the user selects and sets the registration mode using the keyboard 23 and manually searches for image information to be stored on the optical disc 20.

This search information is composed of a plurality of search key items, and the contents of the search key items are set in advance. The CPU 34 checks the validity of the input search information according to a predefined format. Further, the search information is compared with the search information already registered on the optical disc 20 to check for double registration. The input search information is stored in the main memory 13 according to the result of this check.

Next, the original is set in the scanner @18, and the CPU 34
operates the optical disk device 22 and scanner device 18. The scanner device 18 two-dimensionally scans and photoelectrically converts image information such as a set document. Line information of this photoelectrically converted image information is sequentially stored in the page memory 40.

The image information stored in the page memory 40 is stored in the display memory 42 and displayed on the CRT display device 24. The user checks the skew, density, resolution, etc. of the image information displayed on the CRT display device 24, and when the displayed image information is satisfactory, inputs a memory key (not shown). Then, the CPU 34 reads out the compression ratio (expansion ratio), compression method, binary or dither, gradation, resolution, and parameters as processing data stored in correspondence with the search information. As a result of this reading, the processing property sheet 60 is displayed at the bottom of the window W in which the image information registered by the CRT display device 24 is displayed, as shown in FIG. In this processing property sheet 60, the initial conditions of the device are initially highlighted. For example, compression ratio 1/8, compression method MR12 value,
The resolution is set to 200 ppi.

Check the compression rate (expansion rate), compression method, binary or dither, gradation, resolution, and parameters displayed on the I6 property sheet 60, and end when the displayed processing data is satisfactory. Enter the key (not shown) and
If the results are not satisfactory, use the keyboard 23 or mouse 29 to change the processing data such as the compression ratio, and then press the end key (not shown) manually.

Then, if the processing data is not changed, the CPU 34 compresses the image information stored in the page memory 40 for each line information at a compression rate of 1/8 using the MR (Modified Read) method in the compression/expansion circuit (C0DEC) 50. Encoding is performed by band compression. This encoded image information is stored in the optical disk device 2.
2 and stored on the optical disk 20.

In addition, if high image quality is required, such as A1 or A2 large-format images such as CAD drawings or photographs, the compression ratio may be slightly reduced (the number of recordings per optical disc 20 will decrease). As a method for achieving high image quality, the ACODEC method is selected with parameters of 4 and O bits/pixel. Then, the CPU 34 converts the image information stored in the page memory 40 into a compression/expansion circuit (C0DEC) for each line information.
At step 50, encoding is performed by band compression in accordance with the third mode of 4.0 bits/pixel of the ACODEC system. This encoded image information is supplied to the optical disc device 22 and stored on the optical disc 20.

Furthermore, for A1 or A2 large 111 images, etc., it is necessary to increase the number of recordings per optical disc 20 or shorten the communication time on LAN etc., by sacrificing image quality to a high compression rate. As the method, select 0.25 bits/pixel as the parameter in the ACODEC method.Then, the CPU
34 is the image information stored in the page memory 40,
In the compression/expansion circuit (CODEC) 50 for each line information, the first
Encoding processing is performed by band compression corresponding to the mode. This encoded image information is supplied to the optical disc device 22 and stored on the optical disc 20.

When the image information has been stored on the optical disk 20, the CPU
34 stores physical track addresses where image information is stored, logical addresses determined from physical sector addresses, image length expressed by block length, resolution, compression method, document size, etc. in correspondence with search codes in main memory 38. do. Next, the CPU 34 supplies the search data stored in the main memory 38 to the magnetic disk device 27. Thereby, the magnetic disk device 27 stores the supplied search data in the magnetic disk 26.

Furthermore, when the image to be registered is image information that has been subjected to gradation processing at 32 gradations, dithering, 32 gradations, etc. are specified in the processing property sheet 60. In this case, the compression ratio tends to decrease if the number of gradations remains unchanged. Therefore, flexibility can be provided by selecting binary values or the number of gradations depending on the image information. That is, when the compression rate is an issue, by selecting binary, it is possible to register with a high compression rate. Furthermore, when image quality is a problem, the gradation conversion circuit 57 performs gradation conversion to enable registration with high image quality (for example, 64 gradations).

Therefore, the scanner device 18 has 16 gradations, 32 gradations,
Alternatively, image information processed with 64 gradations can be transferred to the optical disc 2.
0, the number of gradations to be stored can be changed in consideration of the storage capacity and image quality of the optical disc 20.

Furthermore, when the image is compressed, a compression rate property 61 indicating the compression rate may be displayed. For example, as shown in Figure 6, the amount of image information after compression is 36
．． 5KB, the number of blocks is 48 blocks [IKB - 1 byte optical disk (5,25'')], or 1
2 blocks [4K B-1 block optical disc (1
2"), the number of sheets that can be registered is 19,000, 1
It is displayed as 12,000 pieces. This display allows you to lower the resolution from 400 ppi to 2 ooppi, change the number of gradations from dither to binary (black and white), etc.1. or lower the concentration. Furthermore, since the number of documents that can be registered is shown, the user can clearly understand how many documents the user can register.

Further, as shown in FIG. 7, the compression ratio may be displayed by displaying examples of various compression ratios in the window W of the CRT display device 24, and allowing the user to select the compression ratio. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 8, display examples with different compression ratios may be flipped through and selected.

Next, the search process for image information stored on the optical disc 20 will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, a search mode is set using the keyboard 23, and search information corresponding to one piece of image information to be searched is manually entered. The CPU 39 sequentially compares and collates the manually entered search information with the search information stored on the magnetic disk 26, and sequentially checks whether search information matching the input search information is stored. As a result, CPU3
If there is matching search information, step 9 reads out the processing data stored corresponding to the search information. As a result of this reading, only the processing property sheet 60 is displayed at the bottom of the window W of the CRT display device 24, similar to when it was registered. For example, an expansion rate of 8, an expansion method of MR inverse conversion, binary, and a resolution of 200 ppt are displayed.

Check the expansion rate, expansion method, binary or dither, gradation, resolution, and parameters displayed on the processing property sheet 60, and when the displayed processing data is satisfactory, press the end key (not shown). ), and if the result is not satisfactory, use the keyboard 23 or mouse 29 to change the expansion rate, etc., and then input an end key (not shown).

A logical address corresponding to search information that matches the input search information is read out by the manual input of this end key. C
The PU 34 calculates a physical track address and a physical sector address corresponding to this address, and uses these addresses to cause the optical disc device 22 to reproduce image information from the optical disc 20. Further, the CPU 34 supplies image information (compression information) for each scanning line supplied from the optical disk device 22 to the compression/expansion circuit 50, and performs band expansion processing using the expansion method set in the processing property sheet 60. are sequentially supplied to the page memory 40. In addition, the image information for each scanning line that has been subjected to band expansion processing is supplied to the gradation conversion circuit 57, and the processing property sheet 60
A gradation number changing process is performed on the gradation number set in , and the result is sequentially supplied to the page memory 40 . The image information stored in the page memory 40 is displayed on the CRT display device 24 using the display memory 42.

When the image information displayed on this CRT display device 24 is instructed to print out using the keyboard 23, for example, it is supplied from the page memory 40 to the printer device 25 via the printer interface 54, and from this printer device 25. It will be printed out. At this time, necessary processing such as image editing can be performed by the scaling circuit 46, the vertical/horizontal conversion circuit 48, and the like.

As a result, when searching via a communication line such as a LAN, it is better to have a short search time (transfer time over the line) from a practical or economic point of view, or from the point of view of system efficiency. In this case, a parameter of 0.25 bits/pixel is selected in the ACODEC method as a low expansion rate parameter or method.

Then, the CPU 34 converts the image information stored in the page memory 40 into a compression/decompression circuit (C0D) for each line information.
EC) 50, decoding processing is performed by band expansion corresponding to the first mode of 0.25 bits/pixel of the ACODEC method.

Also, even if it takes some time to search (data transfer time),
When high image quality is required, use the ACODEC method as a parameter or method that provides good image quality.
．． Select 0 bit/pixel.

Then, the CPU 34 converts the image information stored in the page memory 40 into a compression/decompression circuit (C0D) for each line information.
EC) 50, decoding processing is performed by band expansion corresponding to the third mode of 4.0 bits/pixel of the ACODEC method.

In addition, when the above-mentioned searched image is image information processed with 32 gradations, in the processing property sheet 60,
Dithering, 32 gradations, etc. are specified. In this case, if the number of gradations remains unchanged, the search time tends to be long. Therefore, flexibility can be provided by selecting binary values or the number of gradations depending on the image information. In other words, when search time is an issue, by selecting binary
You can search in a short time. Furthermore, when image quality is a problem, the gradation conversion circuit 57 performs gradation conversion to enable a search with high image quality (for example, 64 gradations).

Therefore, from the optical disc 20, 16 gradations, 32 gradations,
Alternatively, when image information processed with 64 gradations is retrieved, the number of gradations to be stored can be changed in consideration of search time and image quality.

Further, when the number of gradations or dither patterns of images recorded on the optical disc 20 differ, image quality deterioration such as moiré occurs. At this time as well, determine whether or not to convert the number of gradations described above.
The image can be specified by the user and converted into a high-quality image without moiré (the dither pattern matches the gradation expression on the optical disc 20) and output. Furthermore, it is possible to output the image as is without performing gradation conversion, and even if image quality deterioration such as some moiré occurs, the image can be output as is. There are three types of conversion of the number of gradations: (1) which converts the dither matrix and the linear density, (2) which converts only the dither matrix, and (2) which converts only the linear density. ■
is output to the same size as the original without moiré, ■
The size has become larger than the original size, and the image with ■ has moiré and significant deterioration. These are selected by the user and used depending on the content to be processed. That is, when the size is an issue, the user can select ``■'' or ``■'', and when the image quality is an issue, the user is presented with the option ``■'' or ``■''. In particular, if the device does not have the function ``■'', ``■'' and ``■'' will be displayed for selection.

When storing or retrieving image information, the user can select encoding processing, decoding processing, and gradation number changing processing for image information according to the user's purpose. This allows the user to select image encoding processing, decoding processing, and gradation number changing processing according to the user's purpose.In other words, depending on the type of image, the compression rate, expansion rate, compression method, number of gradations, etc. The contents of processing can be changed, making it possible to create a flexible system.

In the above embodiment, the case where a normal image is handled is explained, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the case where an abstract image is handled is also possible. That is, when storing drawings with large image sizes (AI size, A2 size), by storing the reduced image on the optical disk in addition to the original image information, the abstract image can be used when searching. By searching for a desired image and then searching for a light image, the search time can be shortened. In this case, it may be possible to change the compression rate, expansion rate, compression method, number of gradations, etc. when storing or retrieving the abstract image. This allows changes to be made taking into consideration the storage capacity of the optical disc, image quality, and search time.

Also, when searching and displaying multiple documents and documents at high speed,
In other words, it may be possible to change the expansion rate, compression method, number of gradations, etc. when turning the pages of an image. This allows changes to be made taking into consideration image quality and search time.

[Effects of the Invention] As detailed above, according to the present invention, when storing information,
Alternatively, it is possible to provide an information storage device and an information retrieval device that can select image encoding processing, decoding processing, and gradation number changing processing according to the user's purpose at the time of search, and can be made into a flexible system. .

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a flowchart for explaining the registration operation, FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the search operation, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of the electronic filtering device. Block diagram schematically shown, No. 4
(Figure 5 is a diagram for explaining a storage example of a document management table, Figure 5 is a diagram showing a processing property sheet, Figure 6 is a diagram showing compression ratio properties, and Figures 7 and 8 are for a CRT display device). FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of displaying image information corresponding to a compression ratio of the number of ships. 20... Optical disk (storage medium), 18... Scanner device, 22... Optical disk device, 23... Keyboard, 24... CRT display device, 25...
Printer device, 26...Magnetic disk, 27...Magnetic disk device, 34...CPU, 38...Main memory, 40...Page memory, 46...Enlargement/reduction circuit, 5[]. - Compression/expansion circuit, 57th floor, M conversion circuit, 0... processing property sheet, ... compression ratio prohaai.

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) A storage means for storing image information; a first processing means capable of performing a plurality of encoding processes on the image information stored in the storage means; and an encoding performed by the first processing means. An information storage comprising: a selection means for selecting an encoding process; and a second processing means for performing the encoding process selected by the selection means on the image information stored in the storage means. Device. (2) In an information retrieval device that stores image information in a storage means together with search information corresponding to this image information, and retrieves image information corresponding to this search information from the storage means by specifying the search information, a first processing means capable of performing a plurality of decoding processes on the image information retrieved from the means; a selection means for selecting a decoding process to be performed by the first processing means; An information retrieval device comprising: second processing means for performing a decoding process selected by the selection means on the retrieved image information. (3) a storage means for storing image information; a first processing means capable of performing a plurality of gradation number changing processes on the image information stored in the storage means; A selection means for selecting a gradation number changing process to be performed; and a second processing means for performing the gradation number changing process selected by the selection means on the image information stored in the storage means. An information storage device characterized by: (4) In an information retrieval device that stores image information in a storage means together with search information corresponding to this image information, and retrieves image information corresponding to this search information from the storage means by specifying the search information, a first processing means capable of performing a plurality of gradation number changing processes on the image information retrieved from the means; a selection means for selecting a gradation number changing process to be performed by the first processing means; An information retrieval device comprising: second processing means for performing a gradation number changing process selected by the selection means on the image information retrieved from the storage means.