JPH03229368A - Image displaying/retrieving system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the storage capacity and to shorten the displaying/retrieving time by retrieving one or plural ones out of those feature image data in place of each original image and retrieving a desired original image out of the displayed feature images. CONSTITUTION:An image processor 2 produces the feature image data 6 on the binarized images, the envelope images, the contour images, etc., from the original image data 5. These data 6 are stored in a storage 3 together with the data 5. When a key word is inputted from an input part 9, the processor 9 selects the stored data 6 and displays a feature image 7 on a display 4. Then the processor 2 discriminates the presence or absence of a desired image by reference to the image 7. when the desired image is displayed, the processor 2 reads the data 5 corresponding to the image 7 out of the storage 3 and displays the data 5 on the display 4. In such a constitution, the storage capacity is reduced and the displaying/retrieving time is shortened.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an image display search method, and in particular, a method for displaying and searching a plurality of images (hereinafter referred to as original images) stored in a storage device on a display. This invention relates to an image display search method for searching original images.

[Prior Art] FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram showing an example of a conventional image display and search device. First, with reference to FIG. 6, a method of searching for an original image using a conventional image display and search device will be described.

Image data 5 of the original image 1 is stored in the storage device 3, and is reduced by the image processing device 2, and reduced image data 8 is stored in the storage device 3. And Fig. 6(a)
Original image data 5 as shown in FIG. 6(b) or one or more reduced image data 8 as shown in FIG. 6(b) are displayed on the display 4.
are displayed in sequence, and the desired original image is searched.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In the conventional method shown in FIG. 6, it is necessary to create reduced image data 8 of the original image 1 and store it in the storage device 3 together with the image data 5 of the original image 1. Therefore, the storage device 3 needs to have a large storage capacity. Furthermore, when displaying the original image 1 and many reduced images on the display 4, the amount of image data increases, so there is a drawback that it takes time to display and search.

Therefore, the main object of the present invention is to provide an image display and search method that can reduce the amount of image data and shorten the time required for display and search.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention is an image display search method for displaying and searching image data stored in a storage device on a display device, and in which one or more stored original images have one or more The feature image data created by extracting the features of is sequentially displayed on the display device,
The system is configured to search for recorded original images by specifying characteristic image data corresponding to the desired image when it is displayed.

[Operation] When searching for original images, the image display search method according to the present invention uses necessary feature image data such as binarized images, envelope images, and contour images instead of each original image. One or more characteristic images are displayed, and the desired original image is searched from those characteristic images.

Since the feature image data has a much smaller amount of data than the original image data, the storage capacity can be reduced and the display and search time can be shortened.

[Embodiment of the Invention] FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing an embodiment of the invention. In FIG. 1, original image data 5 of a plurality of original images 1
is provided to the image processing device 2 and the storage device 3. The image processing device 2 creates feature image data 6 such as a binarized image, envelope line image, and contour image from the original image data 5, and this feature image data 6 is stored in the storage device 3 together with the original image data 5. be remembered. The input section 9 is used to input titles, keywords, etc. necessary for the search. Original image data 5 and characteristic image data 6 stored in storage device 3 are provided to CRT display 4.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, in particular, FIG. 2(a) shows a storage procedure, and FIG. 2(b) shows a retrieval procedure.

Next, with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, a specific operation of an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

As shown in FIG. 2(a), original image data 5 of original image 1
is stored in the storage device 3 and given to the image processing device 2, and feature image data 6 representing only the outline of the object in the image is extracted from the original image data 5. The extracted feature image data 6 is stored in the storage device 3. At this time,
The title, keyword, etc. of the image are input from the input unit 9 and are stored in the storage device 3 together with the characteristic image data 6.

Next, when searching for the original image 1, processing is performed according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 2(b).

That is, when a keyword is input from the input unit 9, the image processing device 2 selects the characteristic image data 6 stored in the storage device 3, and causes the CRT display 4 to display the characteristic image 7. This characteristic image 7 is looked at to determine whether it is the desired image, and if it is not the desired image, a command is given from the input unit 9 to display the next characteristic image. By repeating this operation, the desired image is displayed on the CRT display 4.
When the original image is displayed, the input unit 9 commands the display of the original image. In response, the image processing device 2 reads the original image data 5 corresponding to the characteristic image 7 displayed on the CRT display 4 from the storage device 3 and displays it on the CRT display 4.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram showing another embodiment of the invention.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the characteristic image data 6 is also stored in the storage device along with the original image data 5, but in the embodiment shown in FIG. 5 is stored, and at the time of retrieval, the original image data 5 is read out from the storage device 3, the characteristic image data 6 is extracted by the image processing device 2, and the characteristic image 7 is displayed on the CRT display 4. .

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 3; in particular, FIG. 4(a) shows a storage procedure, and FIG. 4(b) shows a retrieval procedure.

First, as shown in FIG. 4(a), the original image data 5 of the original image 1 is stored in the storage device 3. At this time, input section 9
Titles, keywords, etc. are input from the storage device 3.
is stored together with the corresponding original image data 5.

Next, when performing a search, the procedure shown in FIG. 4(b) is followed. That is, when a keyword is selected by the input unit 9, the original image data 5 is read out from the storage device 3, the characteristic image data 6 used for the search is created by the image processing device 2, and the characteristic image 7 is displayed on the CRT display 4.
will be displayed as . It is determined by looking at the display whether or not it is the desired image, and if it is not the desired image, a command is given from the input unit 9 to display the next image. When the desired image is displayed by repeating this operation, the image processing device 2 supplies the original image data 5 corresponding to the characteristic image data 6 to the CRT display 4 to display the original image.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing various examples of feature image extraction by the image processing device. In the embodiments shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 described above, the characteristic image is an image that only shows the outline of the object, but there are many types of characteristic images obtained from the original image. Original images can be searched using various feature images. In the example shown in FIG. 5, for example, the following characteristic image 7 is created by the image processing device 2 from the image data 5 of the original image 1. That is, Fig. 5 (a
The example shown in ) is a binarized image in which the original image is represented only in white and black, and the example shown in FIG. Figure 5(c) is an image showing only the outline of the figure in the original image, Figure 5(d) is an image representing the envelope of the figure in the original image, and Figure 5(e) is the original image. This is a line image from which edge information, which is the point of change in features such as the shading and color of the figure, is extracted.

In addition, the features extracted from the original image are not limited to those expressed as feature images as mentioned above, but are also expressed numerically, such as density histograms, area per perimeter of figures in the original image, Euler number, fillet diameter, etc. There are also characteristics, and it is possible to display these values in numbers or graphs and search for the desired original image.

Furthermore, by combining these methods, it is also possible to display and search for the most suitable feature data for searching for the desired original image.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, feature image data created by extracting one or more features of an original image are sequentially displayed, and feature image data corresponding to the desired image is displayed. The corresponding original image can be searched for depending on what has been done. The amount of characteristic image data is much smaller than the original image data, so the storage capacity required to store the characteristic image data can be reduced, and display and search times can also be shortened. Furthermore, when a high-speed image processing device is used to create a feature image during a display search, there is no need to store feature image data, and the storage capacity can be further reduced. Furthermore, since various characteristic image data can be obtained from one original image, searching can be facilitated by using data that represents the remarkable characteristics of the desired original image.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a flow diagram for explaining the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of the invention. FIG. 4 is a flow diagram for explaining the operation of another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing various examples of feature image extraction by the image processing device. 6th
The figure is a schematic block diagram showing an example of a conventional image display and search device. In the figure, 1 is an original image, 2 is an image processing device, 3 is a storage device, 4 is a CRT display, 5 is original image data, and 6
denotes characteristic image data, 7 denotes a characteristic image, and 9 denotes an input section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In an image display search method that displays and searches image data stored in a storage device on a display device, characteristic image data created by extracting one or more features of the stored original image is sequentially displayed. Displayed on the device, in response to the display of characteristic image data corresponding to the desired image,
An image display search method characterized by searching for a recorded original image by specifying it.