JPH0537748A - Picture storage device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To facilitate the file retrieval when a file name is not clearly stored by reading an original for retrieval at retrieval of a picture and comparing the read picture with each file picture. CONSTITUTION:At the retrieval of a picture file, the scanning of a scanner 1 is started based on a command from a CPU 12 to read the original picture by a CCD 101 and the picture data is stored in a bit map memory 108 via a picture processing unit 21. Then the picture data stored in a magneto-optical disk is read and sent to a selector 106 of the unit 21 and stored in a bit map memory 110. Then a coincident circuit 109 compares contents in the memories 108,110 and the picture data in the magneto-optical disk is read one after another till the contents are coincident and the result is set to the memory 110 and the operation of comparing it with the content of the memory 108 is repeated. Thus, even when a file name is not strictly stored, the file is easily retrieved.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image storage device for retrieving an image from a storage medium such as a magneto-optical disk.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an electronic file system for filing various images, when retrieving filed image data, the file name assigned when the file is stored Is displayed on the display unit, the operator visually judges whether this is the desired file, and if it is the desired file,
It was output, and if it was not the desired file, it was processed by the procedure of calling another file.

[0003]

However, when such a search method is used, if the file name is forgotten, it is not possible to narrow down the search to a small number of files and search for many files blindly. It is necessary to read out and search for a desired file, which makes the work extremely complicated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an image storage device that can be searched easily without having to remember the file name strictly.

[0005]

According to the present invention, there is provided a reading means for reading image data from a storage medium storing a plurality of image data, a reading means for reading a document image, and a reading means for reading the image data based on an instruction from an operator. It is characterized by further comprising image retrieval means for retrieving an image by comparing the read image data with all or a predetermined page of the image data stored in the storage means.

[0006]

1 is a block diagram showing the system configuration of a first embodiment of the present invention.

The image forming apparatus 5 in this system is provided with a scanner 1, a printer 2 and a document feeding device (hereinafter referred to as DF) 6, and normally, the document set in the DF 6 is read from the scanner 1 and this image is read. The data is output from the printer 2. When filing the image data read from the scanner 1, the data is transferred to the magneto-optical disk drive 4 via the communication line 3. The image forming apparatus of this embodiment can process the read image data with a digital signal, and can handle various image processes.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration for controlling the filing operation in such an image forming apparatus.

The device body 5 has a CP for controlling the entire device.
A U12, an image processing unit 21 that controls various image processes on the image data, a scanner controller 16 that controls the scanner 1, and an operation panel 10 that performs various inputs and displays are provided.

On the other hand, on the magneto-optical disk drive 4 side,
A filing unit 11 as shown is provided, and the filing unit 11 includes a CPU 15 that controls the magneto-optical disk drive 4, a disk controller 19 that controls the operation of the magneto-optical disk drive 4, and a magneto-optical disk. Disk drive unit 20 for reading / writing data with the disk set detachably
And a memory 18 for expanding image data.

A filing interface 13 connects between the apparatus body 5 and the filing unit 11.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the scanner 1 and the image processing unit 21 in the apparatus body 5.

The CCD sensor 101 reads an image on a document and converts it into an electric signal (image signal) of three colors of red (R), green (G) and blue (B).

The A / D converter 102 converts the analog signal output from the CCD sensor 101 into a digital signal.

The shading correction unit 103 performs shading correction on the digital signal from the A / D converter 102, and the color recognition unit 104 outputs a marker on the original from the output of the shading correction unit 103. It recognizes a predetermined color area such as. Then, the coordinates of the area read by the color recognition unit 104 are stored in the RAM in the CPU 12.

When the color recognition section 104 recognizes the color area, the image data excluding the recognition area is input to the light color density conversion section 105. The light color density conversion unit 105 converts the image data into density information. Where the concentration is
For example, it is determined that the multi-valued image data of 16 gradations is converted, and if the value is “0”, it is the lightest, and if it is “15”, it is the darkest.

Next, the multi-valued image data is sent to the selector 1
It is input to 06. This selector 106 is the scanner 1
The image data input from the optical disk and the image data read from the magneto-optical disk are selected.

The editing unit 107 compares each pixel of the image data selected by the selector 106 with a predetermined threshold value to convert it into binary image data, and analyzes the spatial frequency of the image to characterize the original. It is possible to separate the data portion and the halftone or halftone portion, or to separately extract only the marker designation area identified by the color recognition unit 104.

The image data output from the editing unit 107 is output to the two bitmap memories 108 and 110. That is, the image data from the scanner 1 is output to the bit map memory 108, and the image data from the magneto-optical disk is output to the bit map memory 110, and the matching circuit 10 is applied to the images expanded in the memories 108 and 110.
9 performs pattern matching in 1-bit units to determine whether the two image data match.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the structure of the operation panel 10.

The operation panel 10 has a file operation key 40 for instructing filing of image data, an LCD display section 41 for displaying various operation screens, an enlargement / reduction key 43, and cursor / set keys 43 to 46. A numeric keypad 47, a reset key 48, a start key 49, etc. are provided. Further, the operation screen as the image forming apparatus is usually displayed on the display unit 41.

Next, the operation of such an apparatus will be described.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the image filing operation.

First, the file operation key 40 of the operation panel 10 is pressed (S1) to call the menu selection screen shown in FIG. 4 on the display unit 41 (S2). If image input is selected here (S3), the screen moves to the image number input screen shown in FIG. 5 (S4), and the image number 3 is input with the ten keys 47 (FIG. 6). Then, by pressing the "#" key 43 (S5), the image input operation is performed with one or a plurality of originals registered in the DF 6 as one set (S6).

That is, the CPU 12 sends the multi-valued image data read by the scanner 1 to the filing unit 11 via the image processing unit 21 and the filing interface 13 (S7). Therefore, the CPU 15 of the filing unit 11 uses the disk controller 19
The multi-valued image data is stored in the magneto-optical disk set in the disk drive unit 20 via the (S)
8).

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the image output operation.

Also in this case, first, when the file operation key 40 is pressed (S21) to display the screen shown in FIG. 4 (S22) and the image output is selected (S23), the image selection screen shown in FIG. 5 is displayed. (S24). And FIG.
Select the desired image data as shown in (S2
5) When the "#" key 43 is pressed (S26), the CPU 12
Sends the instruction to the CPU 15 and sends the image data stored in the magneto-optical disk to the filing interface 1
3 to the image processing unit 21 (S2
7). As a result, the CPU 12 outputs the image data (S28).

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the image file search operation.

Also in this case, first, the file operation key 40 is pressed (S41) to display the screen shown in FIG. 4 (S42). If image search is selected here (S43),
The screen shifts to the search guide screen shown in FIG. 10 (S44), the document image to be searched is registered in the DF6 accordingly, and the copy key ("#" key 43) is pressed (S46).

Then, based on the command from the CPU 12,
The DF 6 sets the original image at the image reading position of the scanner 1 (S47), the scanner controller 16 starts scanning of the scanner 1 and reads the original image with the CCD 101 (S48), and the multi-valued image is obtained via the image processing unit 21. The data is stored in the bitmap memory 108 (S4
9).

Next, from the CPU 12 to the interface 13
A command is sent to the CPU 15 via the, and the multi-valued image data of the first file stored in the magneto-optical disk is
It is read by the disk controller 19 (S5
0), is sent to the selector 106 of the image processing unit 21 via the memory 18 and the interface 13, and is stored in the bitmap memory 110 (S51).

Therefore, the coincidence circuit 109 compares the contents of the bit map memories 108 and 110 (S5).
2). If they do not match, the image data of the magneto-optical disk are read one after another and set in the bitmap memory 110, and the bitmap memory 10 is read.
The operation of comparing with the contents of 8 is repeated (S53).

In this comparison process, the matching of all bits may be compared, or, for example, when 90% of the entire data match, it may be determined that both match. Further, the original image for search may be a partial image instead of the entire image for one page stored in the disc.

When a match signal is sent from the matching circuit 109 to the CPU 12, the CPU 12 displays the image number of the matched image data on the display unit 4 as shown in FIG.
No. 1 is displayed (S54). In this manner, by placing the document to be searched on the scanner 1, it is possible to search without visually confirming the image data of the magneto-optical disk.

In the above embodiment, the structure of comparing the read original document image data for searching and the image file data of the magneto-optical disk as a whole when searching for an image has been described. As the data, for example, only the display page may be read, and this may be compared with the first data of each image file of the magneto-optical disk to perform the search.

This can be carried out by reading only the image data of the first sheet of each file in S50, and the other operations are the same as in the above embodiment. In this way, the speeding up of the processing can be achieved by searching only the first page. In addition, each bitmap memory 108,
Since the capacity of 110 can be reduced, it is also advantageous in terms of cost.

In the above embodiment, the multi-valued image data are compared with each other, but the compressed image data may be compared with each other. In this case, the multi-valued image data read in S48 is compressed and converted into binary image data by the editing unit 107 and stored in the bitmap memory 108, and the multi-valued image data read from the magneto-optical disk in S50 is edited. The unit 107 compresses and converts it into binary image data and stores it in the bitmap memory 110. After that, a search is performed by comparing both image data and searching for a matching image by the same operation as in the first embodiment. In this way, the amount of data to be compared can be reduced from multi-valued to binary, and processing can be speeded up. Further, the capacity of each bit map memory 108, 110 can be reduced, which is advantageous in terms of cost.

[0038]

According to the present invention, when an image is searched, a search original is read and compared with each file image to perform the search. Therefore, even when the file name is not clearly remembered, the file can be easily searched. There is an effect that can be done.

When comparing the images, the search time can be shortened by comparing only the preset specific pages or comparing the compressed data of both.
Further, the capacity of the bitmap memory used for comparison can be reduced, and the cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration in a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration for performing a filing operation in the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a scanner, an image processing unit and the like in the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a configuration of an operation panel in the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing an image selection screen of the display unit in the first embodiment.

6 is a plan view showing a state in which an image number is designated on the image selection screen shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a filing operation in the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an image output operation in the first embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an image search operation in the first embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a plan view showing a guide display at the time of image search in the first embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a plan view showing a search result display at the time of image search in the first embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Scanner, 2 ... printer, 3 ... communication line, 4 ... Magneto-optical disk drive, 5 ... Device body, 6 ... Document feeder (DF), 10 ... Operation panel, 11 ... Filing unit, 13 ... Filing interface, 12, 15 ... CPU, 16 ... Scanner controller, 18, 108, 110 ... Memory, 19 ... Disk controller, 20 ... Disk drive unit, 21 ... Image processing unit, 40 ... File operation key, 41 ... Display, 43 ... Enlargement / reduction key, 43-46 ... cursor / set key, 47 ... numeric keypad, 48 ... Reset key, 49 ... Start key, 101 ... CCD sensor, 102 ... A / D converter, 103 ... Shading correction unit, 104 ... Color recognition unit, 105 ... Light color density converter, 106 ... selector, 107 ... editorial department, 109 ... Matching circuit.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A reading unit for reading image data from a storage medium storing a plurality of image data; a reading unit for reading a document image; an image data read by the reading unit based on an instruction from an operator; An image storage device for searching an image by comparing all or a predetermined page of the image data stored in the device. 2. The image storage device according to claim 1, further comprising compression means for compressing the image data read by said reading means, wherein said image search means compares and searches compressed image data. . 3. The image storage device according to claim 1, wherein the image data of a predetermined page that the image search means performs comparative search is image data of a cover page.