JPH03230271A - Picture data file retrieving device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce memory capacity for the program of a retrieval processing by displaying a correspondent picture while selecting picture data to be next displayed based on coordinate point data and program data on a display picture corresponding to desired picture retrieval. CONSTITUTION:A data reading means 2 reads the first picture data and the program data to be paired with this picture data from a picture data recording means 1 and the correspondent picture is displayed on a display 8. Then, the program data is stored in a memory 6. When a coordinate point designating means 9 designates a coordinate point on the display picture corresponding to the desired picture retrieval, the coordinate point data is fetched by an input means 3. Based on the coordinate point data and the program data stored in the memory 6, the picture data to be next displayed is selected by a display picture selecting means 12 and displayed on the display 8. Thus, the memory capacity for the program of the retrieval processing can be reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image data file search device for searching image data files recorded on a recording medium such as a magnetic disk.

Conventional technology In recent years, compact discs (Compact Discs)
CD-ROM (hereinafter abbreviated as CD) is used as a storage device for computer data, etc.
A playback device has been developed that records a large amount of still image data using a recording medium such as a yMemory and plays back the image.

In addition, electronic still cameras and CCD (Charge
There is also an image recording and reproducing system in which still image data obtained by a solid-state image sensor (couplecl device) is recorded by an image recording device using a magnetic disk as a recording medium, and the image data is read from the image recording device by a reproducing device and the image is reproduced. It has already been put into practical use.

For example, when searching for desired image data among a large amount of image data recorded on a recording medium such as the above-mentioned CD-ROM, one image is played back one by one from the beginning until the desired image is displayed. Alternatively, the playback device needs to have a search function that searches for and displays a desired image in one go.

Conventionally, for example, a search function in a playback device uses a menu screen that displays the contents of all image data recorded on the recording medium in a format equivalent to a table of contents in a book, using a microcomputer that controls the entire operation of the playback device. and an icon, which is an index for selecting a desired data item from the menu screen, are displayed on the display, and a pointing device such as a mouse is used to specify a position on the screen, that is, a coordinate point. It is well known that a desired image is searched by having the user select one icon and displaying the next menu screen or image to be displayed based on the selected icon.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention As mentioned above, when searching for desired image data from a large number of image data recorded on a CD-ROM or floppy disk, it is difficult to search by repeatedly reproducing each image. This is very inconvenient as it takes a lot of time.

In addition, when the above-mentioned search process is executed by the microcomputer of the playback device, the image data recorded on the CD-40M or floppy disk is known in advance, and the menu screen and icons corresponding to the image are displayed. Not only does this place a heavy burden on the microcomputer, but it also has the problem of lack of versatility because menu screens and other settings must be changed depending on the content of the image data recorded on the CD-ROM or floppy disk. be.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an image data file retrieval device that can perform a search for image data files using a simple process and a common process even when the recorded image data files have different contents. It is.

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention provides an image data recording means that records data for a plurality of screens, with image data for one screen and program data related to the image data as one set; and an image data recording means. a display for displaying an image of one screen's worth of image data read from the display, a memory for storing program data that is paired with the image displayed on the display, and a coordinate point specifying means for specifying a coordinate point on the screen of the display. , an input means for taking in the coordinate point data specified by the Jil1 point specifying means, and image data recorded in the image data recording means based on the program memory stored in the memory and the coordinate point data taken in by the input means. Display image selection means for selecting the image data to be displayed next; and data reading means for reading out the image data selected by the display image selection means and program data related to the image data from the image data recording means. This is an image data file search device characterized by the following features.

According to the present invention, the data reading means reads out the first image data and the program data paired therewith from the image data recording means, the corresponding image is displayed on the display, and the program data is stored in the memory. . When the coordinate point specifying means specifies a coordinate point on the display screen corresponding to a desired image search, the coordinate point data is input by the input means. Based on the coordinate point data and the program data stored in the memory, the image data to be displayed next is selected by the display image selection means, and the selected image data, that is, the image data to be searched, is selected by the image data reading means. The image data is read out from the image data recording means and displayed on the display.

Embodiment FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an image data file search device which is an embodiment of the present invention. CD
- On the disk 1, which is a ROM recording medium, data for a plurality of screens are recorded by combining each screen of image data with program data related to the search process for that image data. The servo device 2 is a device for reading image data and program data combined therewith from the disk 1.

The data input circuit 3 is connected to the disk 1 by the servo device 2.
This is a circuit that takes in the data read from and inputs it to the next stage data separation circuit 4. The data separation circuit 4 separates the data sent from the data input circuit 3 into image data and program data paired with this. This is a circuit that does this.

The demodulation circuit 5 is a circuit for demodulating the image data separated by the data separation circuit 4 into a signal before recording, and the memory 6 is for temporarily storing the program data separated by the data separation circuit 4. It is a memory circuit.

The display circuit 7 is a circuit that converts the image data demodulated by the demodulation circuit 5 into a signal suitable for display, and an image corresponding to the image data is displayed on the display 8 using the converted signal.

The mouse 9 is a pointing device for specifying an arbitrary position on the screen of the display 8, that is, a coordinate point on the screen, and the position input circuit 10 is a circuit for importing coordinate point data specified by the mouse 9.

The determination circuit 11 is a circuit for determining the next image to be displayed based on the program data stored in the memory 6 and the coordinate point data taken in by the position input circuit 10.

The control circuit 12 is a circuit for controlling the operation of the servo device 2 in order to read out the image data to be displayed next, determined by the discrimination circuit 11.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the search operation of the image data file search device. The general search operation of the image data file search device will be described below with reference to this flowchart.

First, in step n1, the first image data of the data recorded on the disk 1 and the program data paired therewith are read by the servo device 2.

In the next step n2, the read data is sent from the data input circuit 3 to the data separation circuit 4, where it is separated into image data and program data.

Furthermore, in the next step n3, the image data is demodulated by the demodulation circuit 5, and the program data is written into the memory 6.

The demodulated image data is converted into a signal that can be displayed by the display circuit 7 in the next step n4, and an image corresponding to the image data is displayed on the display 8 based on the converted signal.

In step n5, when a desired coordinate point on the screen of the display 8, that is, a coordinate point suitable for retrieving a desired image, is specified by the mouse 9, the coordinate point data is taken into the position input circuit 10 and discriminated in step n6. The signal is sent to circuit 11.

Next, in step n7, the determination circuit 11 determines which image should be displayed next, based on the program data read from the memory 6 and the coordinate point data sent from the position input circuit 10.

In the next step n8, the image data selected by the discrimination circuit 11 and the program data related thereto are read from the disk 1 under the control of the servo device 2 by the control circuit 12. The read data is separated into image data and program data by the same procedure as the initial data processing, and an image corresponding to the image data is displayed on the display 8. In this way, desired image data is retrieved and displayed.

3 and 4 are diagrams showing the display screen of the display 8 during a specific search operation in the image data file search device, of which FIG. 3 shows a screen of a map of Japan, and FIG. A screen shot of a map of Hokkaido is shown.

That is, this case shows the operation of searching and displaying images of sightseeing spots around Sapporo, Hokkaido from a CD-ROM disc 1 that records many photos of sightseeing spots in Japan.

Explaining according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 2, the map of Japan shown in FIG. 3 is displayed on the display 8 as the first image by the operations from step n1 to step n4. At this time, in step n3, the data separation circuit 4
The program data separated by is as follows.

The general form of each of the above data enclosed in parentheses is (XO, YO
-XI, Yl-N) and the coordinates on the screen (XO, Y,
It represents an area within a quadrilateral whose diagonals are O) and coordinates <Xi, Yl), and also indicates that if this area is specified or clicked with the mouse 9, the image with number N should be displayed next. It shows.

Therefore, in step n5, when the area of Hokkaido on the screen of FIG. 3 is clicked with the mouse 9, the determination circuit 1
2, the program data (65, 0-114, 39-1
It is determined that the area corresponding to 00) has been specified, and the image number N=1 shown in this program data.
The next step n is to spread out the image data of 00 next.
At 8, the servo device 2 is controlled. Note that the numerical values of each coordinate in FIG. 3 are not displayed on the actual screen.

As a result, the operations from step n2 to step n4 are repeated, and the fourth image with image number N=100 is
A screen of the Hokkaido map shown in the figure is displayed on the display 8.

Further, in this search operation, the data separation circuit 4 separates the following program data.

In this case, when the area of Sapporo on the Hokkaido map screen in FIG. 4 is clicked with the mouse 9 in step n5,
Based on the coordinate point data and the program data written in the memory 6, the determination circuit 11 determines in step n7 that the image with image number N=130 should be displayed next. Image number N=13 in this case
Image 0 is a photo of a tourist spot around Sapporo, and the image of that tourist spot will be displayed in the next display. In this way, images of the target tourist spot are finally retrieved. The numerical values of each coordinate on the screen of FIG. 4 are also not displayed on the actual screen.

Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the image data file search device of the present invention, the first image data and the program data paired therewith are read out from the image data recording means and the corresponding image is displayed on the display. At the same time, the program data is stored in the memory, and the coordinate point specifying means specifies the coordinate point on the display screen corresponding to the desired image search, and based on the coordinate point data and the program data stored in the memory, the following Since the image data to be displayed is selected and the corresponding image is displayed next, the storage capacity for the search processing program is small, and there is no need to create a special menu screen. This reduces the burden on the microcomputer responsible for the process, and as long as the recording formats of the image data and program data are the same, searches can be made even if the recorded image data differs in content, increasing versatility.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an image data file search device which is an embodiment of the present invention! FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a search operation by the image data file search device, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are diagrams showing display images in specific search operations. . DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Disk, 2...Servo device, 4...Data separation circuit, 6...Memory, 8...Display, 9
... Mouse, 10 ... Position input circuit, 11 ... Discrimination circuit, 12 ... Control circuit

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] Image data recording means that records data for a plurality of screens, with one screen of image data and program data related to the image data as one set, and one screen's worth of data that is read from the image data recording means. a display for displaying an image of the image data; a memory for storing program data that is paired with the image displayed on the display; a coordinate point specifying means for specifying a coordinate point on the screen of the display; An input means for importing designated coordinate point data, and a method for selecting the next image data to be displayed from among the image data recorded in the image data recording means, based on the program memory stored in the memory and the coordinate point data imported by the input means. and a data reading means for reading out the image data selected by the display image selection means and program data related to the image data from the image data recording means. image data file search device.