JPH04336671A - Data retrieval device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the retrieval efficiency of the data retrieval device for data including many pages or data groups composed of many collected data stored in storing mediums such as storage devices composed of semiconductor memories and optical disks. CONSTITUTION:Picture data with plural pages are reduced to be displayed on as many divided display screens. For example, when an execution of multi searching is designated from an input device 13 and number of partitions P on a display screen is specified, a CPU 11 divides the display screen of a display device 30 into P-number of screen areas and prepares picture data respectively reducing and displaying P-number of pages out from a storage device 20 in the divided screen area divided into P-number of screen areas on a picture buffer 12. As this result, one screen constructed from the P-number of reduced pictures is displayed on a display device 30.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to materials composed of a large number of pages and a group of materials composed of a large number of such materials, such as a storage device consisting of a semiconductor memory or an optical disk. The present invention relates to a material retrieval device that enables material retrieval by sequentially displaying images of each page of materials stored in a storage medium using a suitable display device.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art This type of document retrieval device generally has a search function called a cover search function or a page search function. Here, what is the cover search function?
This is a function for sequentially displaying images of only the first page of each document for a document group consisting of the above-mentioned large number of documents, and turning the pages. On the other hand, page search is a function of sequentially displaying images of each page constituting a designated material and turning the pages.

[0003] The operation of such a material retrieval device having two search functions will be explained below.

For example, in such a document retrieval device, when the searcher first specifies the Jth page of the Ith document that he/she wishes to view, the I.th page is displayed on the display screen of a CRT (cathode ray tube) display device or the like. Display page J of the th document. Here, when the execution of the above-mentioned cover search is specified, the cover of the first document is displayed on the screen, and then only the covers of the documents after the first or before the first are displayed on the screen. Display sequentially. On the other hand,
When execution of the above-mentioned page search is specified, the pages after the Jth page or before the Jth page of the I-th document are sequentially displayed on the screen.

As a result, these search functions allow the searcher to relatively quickly search each page of each document on the screen, as if flipping through a book.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In general, it is desired that a material search device has higher search efficiency and can search quickly and easily.

[0007] However, in the above-mentioned conventional document retrieval device, images are displayed for each page, so when you want to compare previous and next pages or separate pages, or when you want to check information that spans multiple pages, etc. It is extremely inconvenient for
There was a problem that searching took time and effort.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a material retrieval device that can improve retrieval efficiency.

[0009]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above-mentioned problems, the material retrieval device of the present invention provides a memory that stores materials having a large number of pages that can be displayed as one screen on the display screen of the display means. A document retrieval device that retrieves pages from a storage means and displays them on a display means, wherein the display screen is divided into at least a plurality of n screen areas, and each of the n pages retrieved from the storage means is reduced within the divided screen areas. The present invention is characterized by comprising a control means for controlling the display means to enable display.

0010

[Operation] According to the document retrieval device of the present invention, the control means:
The display screen is divided into at least a plurality of n screen areas, and the display means is controlled so that the plurality of n pages retrieved from the storage means can be displayed in reduced sizes within the divided screen areas.
A plurality of n pages will be displayed simultaneously on the display screen as necessary. Therefore, the searcher can view multiple pages simultaneously on the same screen. As a result, it is extremely convenient when you want to compare previous and subsequent pages or pages that are far apart, or when you want to check information that spans multiple pages, and it is possible to improve search efficiency.

[0011] From the following examples of the present invention, these effects of the present invention will become clearer, and other effects of the present invention will become clearer.

0012

Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the main configuration of a material retrieval device that is an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an explanation showing the state of the screen of a display device when a multifaceted search is executed by the material retrieval device. 3 are flowcharts showing the operation of the material retrieval device of FIG. 1.

In FIG. 1, the material retrieval device 10 includes a CP
It includes U11 (central processing unit), an image buffer 12, an input device 13, and a memory 14. The material retrieval device 10 is connected to a storage device 20 as an example of a storage device on the one hand, and a display device 30 as an example of a display device on the other hand.
It is connected to the.

The storage device 20 stores materials having a large number of pages made up of data that can be displayed as one screen on the display screen of the display device 30. The storage device 20 is, for example, a semiconductor memory device such as a ROM (read-only memory) or a RAM (read-write memory), a hard disk, a magneto-optical disk, an LD (laser disk), or a CD (compact disk). It consists of a storage device that stores and retrieves materials using storage media such as disks.

The display device 30 is, for example, a CRT display device,
It consists of an LCD (liquid crystal display) device, an EL (electroluminescence) display device, etc. The display device 30 stores an image buffer 12 under the control of the CPU 11 as described below.
An image corresponding to the image data created in the above is displayed.

The input device 13 not only specifies the execution of the above-mentioned cover search and page search for the material retrieval device 10, but also specifies the execution of a multifaceted search as described below. More specifically, it includes a multi-face search key that specifies the execution of a multi-face search, and parameters related to the multi-face search function such as the number of screen divisions P and search direction as described below. It consists of a numeric keypad switch, a keyboard, etc. for specifying the data from the outside.

The memory 14 is composed of, for example, a ROM, a RAM, etc., and a part thereof stores a predetermined program to be executed by the CPU 11, and the other part is used as a work area for the CPU 11.

The CPU 11 constitutes an example of a control means, and in a state where execution of a multi-page search is not specified, that is, when execution of a cover search or a page search is specified, Similarly to the conventional example, the material stored in the storage means 20 is displayed page by page on the display device 30 via the image buffer 12. Therefore, in this case, in order to enable the cover search and page search, the CPU 11 takes out appropriate data from the storage means 20 and stores the data for each page to be displayed on the image buffer 12. Create image data corresponding to the image.

The image buffer 12 is composed of, for example, a RAM, and temporarily stores predetermined image data corresponding to a page retrieved from the storage device 20 under the control of the CPU 11. The display device 30 displays the image data created in the image buffer 12 on its screen.

Here, for example, execution of a multifaceted search is specified by the input device 13, and the number of divisions P of the display screen is 6.
As shown in FIG. Image data for displaying each page in a reduced size is created on the image buffer 12. Here, the display position on the display screen 30a is assumed to be N (N=1 to 6). As a result, one screen composed of six reduced images is displayed on the display device 30.

Next, with reference to Table 1 and the flowchart of FIG. 3, the operation of the document retrieval device 10 configured as described above, particularly the operation and detailed configuration related to the multi-faceted search function, will be explained. explain.

Now, as shown in Table 1, the storage device 20 stores each material number I (I=1 to 1) in the material list of the storage device 20.
A total of Imax materials are stored, each with a page number J (J
= 1 to JImax) and has a total of JImax pages.

[0023]

[Table 1]

When performing a material search for materials such as those shown in Table 1 using the material retrieval device 10, first, if a cover search or a page search is specified, the material number I is used. The image of the page with page number J of the document will be displayed as one screen on the display screen of the display device 30. In this case, the searcher can search for materials as if turning over a book page by page.

[0025] Here, for the data group shown in Table 1,
When a document search is performed using the multi-faceted search function of this embodiment, first, in step S1 in FIG.
3 multifaceted search key is turned on. Next, input device 1
The number of divisions P is specified as 6 in step S2 via the keyboard 3 or the like. Such a designation of the number of divisions P may be set in advance in the memory 14 before the start of the multifaceted search, or it may be specified interactively to the CPU 11 using the display device 30 and input device 13 at this stage. You may also specify it for. The number of divisions P is preferably determined appropriately, such as 2, 3, 4, 8, or 10, taking into account the resolution of the display device 30, the visibility of the display screen, the search method, and the like.

In step S3, the CPU 11 confirms the material number I and its page number J currently displayed on the display device 30. Further, at this point, the input device 13 may be used to specify the document number I and the number of pages J that are preferable for the display screen at the start of the multi-page search.

Next, in step S4, based on the division number P=6, the CPU 11, memory 14, and image buffer 1
2, the display screen is reconfigured. In other words, this document number I is displayed in one screen area divided as shown in Figure 2.
Image data for displaying the image Sij corresponding to page number J of the document in a reduced size is created on the image buffer 12. Subsequently, in this embodiment, the position where such image Sij should be displayed is specified as N=1 (step S5). still,
Any of N=2 to 6 may be used as such a display position. Furthermore, such designation of the display position N may be set in advance in the memory 14, or may be designated interactively at this point. The display position N is moved in a fixed order in the search direction, as will be described later, so that the reduced images Sij are displayed in sequence on the display screen 30a.

Next, in step S6, the image buffer 1
Using the image data created on 2, the image Sij is displayed in a reduced size at the display position N designated in this way.

Next, in step S7, the CPU 11 determines whether the multi-face search key is still on.
If the multi-face search key is off (NO), the multi-face search is ended. On the other hand, if this is still on (YES), the process advances to step S8, and the input device 13
It is determined whether the specified search direction is the forward direction or the backward direction. Such designation of the search direction may also be set in advance in the memory 14.
It may also be specified interactively at this point. Here, if the forward direction is specified (YES), step S
After proceeding to 9 and setting N=N+1, in step S10,
Determine whether N>P. If N>P (YE
S), after setting N=1 in step S11, step S1
On the other hand, if N>P is not satisfied in step S10 (NO), the process directly advances to step S12.

In step S12, it is determined whether or not the display key of the input device 13 is on. If it is on (YES), the process proceeds to step S13, where I=I+1,
Let J=1. If this is off (NO), the process proceeds to step S14 and J=J+1 is set.

Subsequently, in step S15, J≦JIm
ax (however, JImax is the maximum number of pages of the I-th document), and if J≦JImax (YES
), the process returns to step S6 and the image of Sij is displayed at the display position N. On the other hand, in step S15, J≦JImax
Otherwise (NO), the process proceeds to step S13. In step S16 following step S13, I≦Imax
It is determined whether or not, and if I≦Imax, (Y
ES), the process returns to step S6 and the image of Sij is displayed at the display position N. Also, in step S16, I≦Ima
If not (NO), an error message is displayed on the screen indicating that an error has occurred, and the multifaceted search is canceled (step S17).

On the other hand, if the backward direction is specified in step S8 (NO), the process advances to step S18, and the
=N-1, then it is determined whether N<1 (step S19). If N<1 (YES), the process proceeds to step S21 after setting N=P in step S20, and on the other hand, if N<1 in step S19 (NO), the process directly proceeds to step S21.

In step S21, it is determined whether the display key is on, and if it is on (YES),
Proceeding to step S22, I=I-1 and J=1 are set. In the following step S23, it is determined whether I≧1, and if I≧1 (YES), the process returns to step S6 and the image of Sij is displayed at the display position N. Also, step S
If I≧1 in step S23 (NO), an error message is displayed on the screen indicating that an error has occurred, and the multifaceted search is canceled (step S24).

On the other hand, if the display key is not on (NO) in step S21, the process advances to step S25, and J=
After setting J-1, it is determined whether J≧1 (step S26). If J≧1 (YES), the process returns to step S6 and the image of Sij is displayed at the display position N. Moreover, if J≧1 is not determined in step S26 (NO),
Proceed to step S27, I=I-1, J=JImax
After that, it is determined whether I≧1 (step S
28). Here, if I≧1 (YES), the process returns to step S6 and the image of Sij is displayed at the display position N. On the other hand, in step S28, if I≧1 (NO)
, an error message is displayed on the screen indicating that an error has occurred, and the multifaceted search is canceled (step S29).

As described above, according to this embodiment, by specifying multi-face search using the input device 13 and appropriately specifying the number of divisions P, search direction, etc., the display device 30 can be divided into Images corresponding to multiple pages of multiple materials can be displayed sequentially on the screen according to certain rules, so you can easily compare previous and subsequent pages of one material, separate pages, or even pages included in different materials. This is extremely useful when searching for information that spans multiple pages.

In the above embodiment, the image Sij of the reduced page is displayed in all of the divided screen areas, but a part of the screen area is displayed in other ways, for example, the materials shown in Table 1. The area may be allocated to list display, specified parameter display, memo area, etc.

[0037]

As described above in detail, according to the document retrieval device of the present invention, the control means divides the display screen into at least a plurality of n screen areas and retrieves data from the storage means within the divided screen areas. Since the display means is controlled so that a plurality of n pages can be displayed in a reduced size, the searcher can view multiple pages at the same time on the same screen. This is extremely convenient when searching for information that spans multiple pages, and can improve search efficiency.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a material search device that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a display screen of the display device in FIG. 1;

[Fig. 3] Flowchart showing the operation of the material retrieval device shown in Fig. 1.
It is.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Material search device 11 CPU 12 Image buffer 13 Input device 14 Memory 20 Storage device 30 Display device 30a Display screen

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A material retrieval device for retrieving a page from a storage means storing a material having a large number of pages that can be displayed as one screen on a display screen of a display means and displaying the page on the display means, control means for controlling the display means so that the display screen is divided into at least a plurality of n screen regions, and each of the plurality of n pages retrieved from the storage means can be displayed in a reduced size within the divided screen regions; A document retrieval device characterized by: