JPH05266094A - Image retrieving device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To successively and continuously display the list of retrieval informa tion without performing any key operation and to shorten time for retrieving the retrieval information by providing a display means to successively display the retrieval information extracted by an extracting means one by one at every prescribed time. CONSTITUTION:As the list of titles, the number of articles, retrieval number, total number of pages and contents of each retrieval key are displayed. When set time is measured by a timer 34a after this display, a CPU 34 reads the document number of the next candidate from a main memory 38, and the contents of the title list corresponding to this document number are prepared by data read from a title managing table 26a and displayed by using a CRT display device 24. Afterwards, each time, the display time of the title list is turned to the set time measured by the timer 34a, the title list to the next document is successively displayed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image retrieving apparatus such as an image filing apparatus for registering and retrieving images.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, an image such as a large amount of documents is read by a scanner (two-dimensional scanning device), and the read image is stored in an optical disc in association with a search title composed of a plurality of search keys. 2. Description of the Related Art An image filing apparatus has been put into practical use in which an arbitrary image is searched for by a search key input and read out, and the image is output in a state where it can be viewed on an output device such as a CRT display device or a recording device.

In such an apparatus, a plurality of related search titles are extracted by inputting a part of the search keys during the search processing, and a title list of the extracted search titles is displayed one by one. It has become. When the displayed contents are changed (page break) to the title list of another extracted search title, the key operation of the page break key is performed. Therefore, there is a problem that a key operation is required for each page break of the searched title list, and it is difficult to find a target search title and it takes time.

[0004]

As described above, a key operation is required to switch the list of extracted search information one by one, and it takes time to search the target search information. was there.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is possible to successively display a list of extracted search information one by one without key operation, and search for desired search information. An object of the present invention is to provide an image search device that can reduce time.

[0006]

The image search apparatus of the present invention has a storage means for storing a plurality of images corresponding to each of these images together with the search information, and indicates at least a part of the search information. Instructing means, extracting means for extracting a plurality of related search information by comparing the content instructed by the instructing means with the search information stored in the storage means, and the search information extracted by the extracting means Are sequentially displayed at predetermined time intervals.

The image retrieving apparatus of the present invention has a storage means for storing a plurality of images corresponding to each of these images together with the retrieval information, and an instructing means for instructing at least a part of the retrieval information, and this instructing means. Extracting means for extracting a plurality of related search information by comparing the contents instructed by the search information stored in the storage means, and the search information extracted by this extracting means
Each of the display units includes a display unit for sequentially displaying the search information at predetermined time intervals and a stop unit for stopping the display of the search information by the display unit.

The image retrieving apparatus of the present invention has a storage means for storing a plurality of images corresponding to each of these images together with the retrieval information, and an instructing means for instructing at least a part of the retrieval information, and this instructing means. Extracting means for extracting a plurality of related search information by comparing the contents instructed by the search information stored in the storage means, and the search information extracted by this extracting means
Display means for sequentially displaying each one at predetermined time intervals, selection means for selecting one of the search information displayed by this display means, and an image corresponding to the search information selected by this selection means are read from the storage means. It is composed of an output means for outputting.

[0009]

According to the present invention, in a storage means for storing a plurality of images corresponding to each of these images together with search information, at least a part of the search information is instructed by the instructing means and A plurality of related search information is extracted by comparing with the search information stored in the storage means, and the extracted search information is sequentially displayed one by one at predetermined time intervals.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the structure of an image retrieval apparatus of the present invention, for example, an electronic filing apparatus. That is, the electronic filing device includes a control module 10, a memory module 12, an image processing module 14, a communication control module 16, a scanner device 18, and an optical disk 20.
The optical disk device 22, the keyboard 23, the CRT display device 24, the printer device 25, the magnetic disk 26 and the magnetic disk device 27, the mouse 29, the system bus 30, and the image bus 32 are included.

The control module 10 includes a CPU 34 for performing various controls for storing, retrieving and editing images.
And the optical disk device 22, the magnetic disk device 27 and C
The interface circuit 36 connects the PU 34. A keyboard 23 and a mouse 29 are connected to the CPU 34.

The memory module 12 serves as a main memory 38 for storing various control programs for image storage, retrieval, editing, etc. and management information, and as an image memory having a storage capacity corresponding to images of several pages of A4 size document. Page memory 40, a display memory 42 as a display interface, and a display controller 44. A buffer memory area 40a is provided in a part of the page memory 40. The page memory 40 is a memory that temporarily stores, for example, an image stored in the optical disc 20 or an image read from the optical disc 20.

The display memory 42 is for temporarily storing the image displayed by the CRT display device 24. In the display memory 42, an image actually displayed in the display window of the CRT display device 24, for example, an image from the page memory 40 or an image from the buffer memory 40a is enlarged, reduced, rotated, inserted or inserted. An image subjected to black-and-white reversal or the like is stored. The display control unit 44 controls the display processing of the CRT display device 24 and the like.

The image processing module 14 includes an enlarging / reducing circuit 46 for enlarging and reducing an image, a vertical / horizontal converting circuit 48 for rotating an image, and an encoding process for compressing an image (reducing redundancy). A compression / decompression circuit (CODEC) 50 for performing a decoding process for applying and decompressing (recovering reduced redundancy), a scanner interface 52 for the scanner device 18, a printer interface 54 for the printer device 25, and scaling. The internal bus 56 connects the circuit 46 and the vertical / horizontal conversion circuit 48, the compression / expansion circuit 50, the scanner interface 52, and the printer interface 54. The compression / decompression circuit 50 uses the MH (Modified Huffman) method, the MR (Modified Read) method, or the like to perform band compression,
Alternatively, band expansion is performed.

The communication control module 16 is, for example, an LA.
It is configured by a communication interface 58 such as a BCP (Bus Communica-tion Processor) connected to the N.
Further, the communication control module 16 is connected to an external device such as a FCP (facsimile connection mechanism) or a personal computer through an interface, and a UCP (Universal Communication).
Processor) may be provided.

The system bus 30 is a bus for control signals of various devices and connects the control module 10 with the memory module 12, the image processing module 14, and the communication control module 16. The image bus 32 is an image bus, 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 obtains an electric signal according to an image on the original by scanning the original (document) two-dimensionally with a laser beam.

The optical disk device 22 is a scanner device 18
The images read by the method are sequentially stored in the optical disc 20. The optical disc 20 is searched for an image corresponding to the search title designated by the keyboard 23 or the like.

The keyboard 23 is used to input a unique search title corresponding to an image stored on the optical disk 20 and various operation commands for storage, search, edit processing and the like. In addition, the mouse 29 moves the cursor (not shown) displayed on the display window of the CRT display device 24, for example, vertically and horizontally to give an instruction at a desired position so that the cursor is positioned. The display contents (various operation modes, area designation or icon for image editing, etc.) are selected or designated.

The CRT display device (cathode ray tube display device) 24 performs various displays such as image display and operation guidance. For example, the image read by the scanner device 18, the image searched from the optical disk 20, the search title at the time of registration, the contents of the search key at the time of search, the setting contents of various modes, etc. are displayed.

As shown in FIG. 2, the display screen 24a of the CRT display device 24 includes a display area 24b as a processing scene for displaying an image being processed, a list of relevant titles at the time of retrieval, and various frames. The display area 24c is a frame area for displaying a menu, the display area 24d is for displaying function keys, and the display area 24e is for displaying the current processing mode.

For example, in the case of FIG. 2, the display area 24
In b, a list of applicable titles at the time of retrieval, binder name, cabinet name, number of documents, and remaining capacity are displayed, and in the display area 24c, a document selection menu and title list as a frame menu indicating the current setting mode. The display menu, title list print menu, page automatic display / print menu, fluttering page menu, and output destination menu are displayed. The stop key is displayed as the F8 key in the display area 24d and the current processing mode is displayed in the display area 24e. For example, it is displayed that documents for search are being selected.

In this case, the document selection is set to the title turning, the title list display is set to no sorting, the title list printing mode is set, the page automatic display / printing mode is set, and the palapering turning is set to one screen. Was
The output destination is set to the printer. In the corresponding title list, the number of hits, the search number, the total number of pages, and the contents of each search key are displayed.

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

The magnetic disk device 27 stores various control programs on the magnetic disk 26 mounted on the magnetic disk device 27, and also stores a search title input from the keyboard 23 and an image corresponding to the search title. The search data (search information) including the storage address on the optical disc 20, the image size, the search frequency, and the like is stored.

The search data is managed by a document management table, which is a title management table 26a, as shown in FIG.
Page management table 26b and record management table 2
6c.

The title management table 26a stores one document number corresponding to each search title (image name) consisting of a plurality of search keys. In the page management table 26b, record numbers are stored page by page of one document, and one record number is stored corresponding to each page.

In the record management table 26c, the storage address (storage start position) of the image on the optical disk 19 for each record number, the document size (image size),
Image attributes such as the compression method and resolution, and the number of searches (search frequency: access frequency) are stored. The storage address is a logical address, and a physical track address and a physical sector address are calculated from this at the time of access. A parameter for determining the display time of each search title list can be set.

For example, a property sheet for designating the display time is opened on the CRT display device 24 and the display time is set to an arbitrary time (predetermined time). This display time is measured by a timer 34a provided in the CPU 34. Next, the operation of image storage and retrieval processing in the electronic filing apparatus having such a configuration will be described. First,
The image storage process will be described.

For example, the registration mode is now selected and set by the keyboard 23, and the search title of the image to be stored in the optical disk 20 is input. This search title is composed of a plurality of search keys, and the contents of the items of this search key are set in advance. C
The PU 34 is checked for validity according to a format defined in advance for the input search title.

Further, the double registration is checked by comparing with the search title already registered in the optical disc 20. Depending on the result of this check, the input search title is stored in the main memory 13.

Next, the original is set on the scanner device 18, and the CPU 34 operates the optical disk device 22 and the scanner device 18. The scanner device 18 two-dimensionally scans and photoelectrically converts an image of a set document or the like. The line information of the photoelectrically converted image is sequentially stored in the page memory 40. The image stored in the page memory 40 is stored in the display memory 42 and displayed on the CRT display device 24.

The skew, density, resolution, etc. of the image displayed on the CRT display device 24 are confirmed, and when the displayed image is satisfactory, a memory key (not shown) is input. Then, the CPU 34 causes the page memory 4
An image stored in 0 is encoded by line compression in a compression / expansion circuit (CODEC) 50 for each line information by a well-known MR (Modified Read) method or the like. The encoded image is supplied to the optical disc device 22 and stored in the optical disc 20.

When the storage of the image on the optical disk 20 is completed, the CPU 34 makes the logical address determined from the physical track address and the physical sector address where the image is stored,
The image length represented by the block length, the image attribute, and the like are stored in the main memory 38 in association with the search title (search information). Then, the CPU 34 supplies the search data stored in the main memory 38 to the magnetic disk device 27. As a result, the magnetic disk device 27 sends the supplied search data to the tables 26a to 26c in the magnetic disk 26.
Remember.

Next, the search processing of the image stored in the optical disk 20 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, the search mode is set by the keyboard 23, and the search key corresponding to the image to be searched is input. The CPU 34 sequentially compares and collates the input search title with each search key in the search title stored in the title management table 26a (FIG. 3) of the magnetic disk 26, and finds a search key that matches the input search key. It is sequentially checked whether or not the retrieved title is stored and the corresponding document number is extracted. This gives C
The PU 34 stores the extracted candidate document numbers in the main memory 3
Store in 8.

Then, the CPU 34 refers to the candidate document numbers in the main memory 38 to display a list of relevant documents (a list of relevant titles) in the title management table 26a.
It is created by using the data read from, and is sequentially displayed using the CRT display device 24.

First, a corresponding title list as shown in FIG. 2 is displayed. In FIG. 2, the number of hits, the search number, the total number of pages, and the contents of each search key are displayed as the hit title list.

After this display, the set time is set by the timer 34.
When measured by a, the CPU 34 reads the document number of the next candidate from the main memory 38, creates the contents of the corresponding title list corresponding to this document number from the data read from the title management table 26a, and the CRT display device. Display using 24. After that, every time the display time of the corresponding title list reaches the set time measured by the timer 34a, the title list for the next document is sequentially displayed.

As described above, when the stop key is pressed in the state where the title list for the candidate documents is sequentially displayed, the currently displayed title list continues to be displayed.

As described above, even if the title list for the candidate documents is sequentially displayed, if the document (page) desired by the operator cannot be found, the search key is input again. If found, the search key is instructed after inputting the above stop key.

In response to this search execution instruction, the CPU 34
The record number corresponding to the designated image is recorded on the magnetic disk 2
6 is read using the page management table 26b, and the logical address corresponding to the read record number is read from the record management table 26c in the magnetic disk 26.
The physical track address and the physical sector address corresponding to this address are calculated, and the image including the search title from the optical disc 20 is reproduced by the optical disc device 22 using these addresses.

The CPU 34 also supplies the image (compression information) for each scanning line supplied from the optical disk device 22 to the compression / expansion circuit 50, performs band expansion processing, and sequentially supplies the page memory 40.

The image stored in the page memory 40 is reduced by the enlargement / reduction circuit 46 and output to the display memory 42, and the image is stored in the display memory 42. Therefore, the display control unit 44 displays the stored contents of the display memory 42 on the CRT display device 24.

The image stored in the page memory 40 may be supplied to the printer device 25 via the printer interface 54 and printed out.

As described above, at the time of searching, when displaying a list of retrieved candidate titles one by one,
A list of search titles is sequentially switched and displayed using a timer.

As a result, the list of extracted candidate search titles can be successively displayed without key operation, and the time for searching for the target search title can be shortened.

[0048]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to provide an image search device that can sequentially display a list of extracted search information one by one without performing a key operation and can reduce the time for searching for target search information.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of an image search device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a display example of the CRT display device shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a storage example of a document management table in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining a search process of the image search device of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

20 ... Optical disk, 23 ... Keyboard, 24 ... CRT display device, 25 ... Printer device, 26 ... Magnetic disk, 26a ... Title management table, 26b ... Page management table, 26c ... Record management table, 34 ... CP
U, 34a ... Timer, 38 ... Main memory.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An image retrieval apparatus having a storage unit for storing a plurality of images corresponding to each of these images together with retrieval information, and an instruction unit for instructing at least a part of the retrieval information, and an instruction unit instructed by the instruction unit. Extracting means for extracting a plurality of related search information by comparing the contents of the search with the search information stored in the storage means, and the search information extracted by the extracting means one by one at predetermined time intervals. An image retrieval apparatus comprising: a display unit for displaying. 2. An image retrieval apparatus having a storage unit for storing a plurality of images corresponding to each of these images together with retrieval information, and an instruction unit for instructing at least a part of the retrieval information, and an instruction unit instructed by the instruction unit. Extracting means for extracting a plurality of related search information by comparing the contents of the search with the search information stored in the storage means, and the search information extracted by the extracting means one by one at predetermined time intervals. An image search apparatus comprising: a display unit for displaying and a stop unit for stopping display of the search information by the display unit. 3. An image retrieving apparatus having a storage means for storing a plurality of images corresponding to each of these images together with retrieval information, and an instructing means for instructing at least a part of the retrieval information, and instructed by the instructing means. Extracting means for extracting a plurality of related search information by comparing the contents of the search with the search information stored in the storage means, and the search information extracted by the extracting means one by one at predetermined time intervals. Display means for displaying, selecting means for selecting one of the search information displayed by the displaying means, and output means for reading out and outputting an image corresponding to the search information selected by the selecting means from the storage means. An image retrieval apparatus comprising: