JPH06139290A - Picture data managing method and device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a picture data managing method by which a user can independently construct a data base for picture data recorded in an outside storage medium. CONSTITUTION:A proper CD identification code is added to a compact disk(CD) 10, and one sheet of card of a one frame picture destination card type data base is prepared for the picture recorded in the compact disk 10. The CD identification code, picture identification code to specify the frame of the picture, and retrieval condition data to feature a retrieval condition such as the content of the picture are entered in the card, and the card is stored in a hard disk 16. The correspondence of the picture recorded in the compact disk 10 to the card is attained by using the CD identification code and the picture identification code as an index. The retrieval of the picture is operated by the card data of the hard disk 16 with the CD identification code, picture identification code, or retrieval condition data as a key word. After the retrieval, an access to the picture of the pertinent compact disk 10 can be performed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an image data management method,
For example, the present invention relates to an image data management method particularly suitable for managing image data recorded in a read-only storage medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, not only music data but also various data such as images and computer data can be recorded in large amounts on a compact disc (CD) of Sony Philips standard. For example, in Kodak-Philips Photo CD, images are hierarchically recorded at various resolutions, such as basic (base) images with high resolution, for example, 16 base image image data or reduced image data with the base images thinned out. it can. Therefore, building a database using these large-capacity storage media is very effective in terms of data retrieval.

[0003]

By the way, in a database for retrieving image data recorded in a read-only external storage medium such as a read-only compact disc (CD-WO), the external storage medium itself has a search keyword or the like. If the data of is not stored from the beginning, the database cannot be constructed by the storage medium alone. Therefore, it has been impossible for the user of the external storage medium in which the image data is already stored to later construct a user's own database. This is because such a read-only storage medium cannot later add a keyword such as an index thereto.

For example, even if the above-mentioned Photo CD is provided to the user in the form of a read-only CD, the user cannot add data such as a keyword for searching to itself, so that the user can build an original database. There wasn't.

In view of such demands, the present invention has an object to provide an image data management method by which a user can independently construct a database for image data recorded in an external storage medium.

[0006]

According to the present invention, an image data management method for managing image data recorded in a large-capacity first external storage medium is a first unique to the first external storage medium. A step of providing a card of a card-type database for one frame of an image recorded in the first external storage medium, and a step of giving the first identification code to this card. Second, specifying the image frame
Identification code and search condition data characterizing the search condition such as the content of the image, and a step of storing this card in a large-capacity rewritable second external storage medium.

The image data management method according to the present invention also includes
The method includes the step of writing the image data recorded in the first external storage medium on a card.

The image data management method according to the present invention further includes a step of editing the image data recorded in the first external storage medium prior to the step of writing the image data in the card, and writing the image data in the card. In the step of, the edited image data is written on the card.

[0009]

According to the present invention, the image recorded on the first external storage medium can be associated with the card by using the first and second identification codes as indexes. This card has
In addition to the first and second identification codes, search condition data that characterizes search conditions such as image contents is entered, and this is stored in a rewritable second external storage medium. The image search is performed using the first and / or the second identification code and / or the search condition data as the second keyword.
Of the external storage medium card data. After the search is performed on the second external storage medium, the corresponding image on the first external storage medium can be accessed.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, an embodiment in which the image data management method according to the present invention is applied to a photo CD will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Referring to FIG. 1, an image data management apparatus according to a specific embodiment of the present invention retrieves an image recorded on, for example, a Kodak Phillips standard photo CD 10 by operating an operation display unit 12 and retrieves the image. Image display area
12 or a device for displaying on the video monitor 14. The present apparatus also has a function of creating search data such as a keyword for image search by operating the operation display unit 12, for example, in the form of a card-type database. The search data thus created is stored in the hard magnetic disk 16 in this embodiment.

In the Photo CD 10, high-resolution image data such as a 16-base image from the base image and reduced image data such as a 1/16 base image obtained by thinning out the base image are progressive layers for each image. It is recorded in the structure. The compact disc 10 may of course be a write-once type or a read-only type. In the present embodiment, a unique CD identification code such as a serial number is given to each compact disc 10 and recorded as data. If the disc 10 is a read-only type, the identification code is recorded during data recording or during pressing. If it is a write-once type,
The user may record the identification code as data.

This device has a CD drive 18 to which the compact disc 10 is detachably mounted. The CD drive 18 is an input device that reads image data from the disk 10 under the control of the main controller 20 and inputs the image data to the main memory 22 through the connection line 24. The CD drive 18 may be of a type in which the compact disc 10 is manually attached or detached, or may have an automatic changer function of automatically selecting and reading one of the compact discs 10.

The main memory 22 is a main storage device that forms a work area for temporarily storing and processing image data and temporarily storing and processing search data described later. It is connected to the main controller 20 by a data line 26. The main control unit 20 is a control device that controls the entire apparatus, and is configured by a central processing unit. This is connected to the CD drive 18, the main memory 22, the hard disk 16 and the video monitor 14 by the connection line 28, and also the operation display unit 12
Are connected to each other by a connecting line 30.

The main control section 20 has a card processing section 32 and an image processing section 34 as functional sections particularly related to the present invention. The card processing unit 32 is a data processing function unit that creates search condition data for searching the image data stored in the compact disc 10 in the form of a card-type database in this embodiment. Further, the image processing unit 34 performs various image processing such as creating an edited image by performing image processing such as retouching on the image data accumulated in the main memory 22, or combining a display image from the image data. Is a functional unit that performs. In the present embodiment, the image data thus processed is also incorporated into the card data by the card processing unit 32.

This card data is a hard magnetic disk.
Accumulated in 16. In the storage area of the hard disk 16 for recording card data, a session is formed corresponding to the compact disk 10. In the present embodiment, that is, one session is correspondingly assigned to one disk 10.
Of course, the present invention is not limited to the hard disk 16, but can be advantageously applied to rewritable large-capacity storage media such as diskettes and write-once optical disks. The card processing unit 32 also has a search processing function of searching for an image that matches the search condition using the database of the hard disk 16 thus created.

In the present embodiment, the operation display unit 12 is used to input data such as a search condition by a manual operation, or to input various instructions such as a search start and designation of an editing type such as a keyboard (not shown). Functions and retrieved data and images,
It is an input / output device that has a display function, such as a CRT display device, for visually or audibly displaying the system status to the operator. Video monitor 14 is a compact disc
The image display device visually displays the images recorded in 10. Basically, the video monitor 14 may not be provided, and this function may be replaced by the display function of the operation display unit 12. Further, instead of or in addition to the video monitor 14, an image data output device such as a printer or a communication line (not shown) may be connected.

Referring to FIG. 2, the card 50 is created by the card processing unit 32 for each image recorded on one compact disc 10. The card 50 includes the above-described CD identification code unique to one compact disc 10 and an image identification code unique to each image (frame) recorded on the disc 10, for example, an image number. This image number corresponds to the logical block address on the compact disc 10. Therefore, the card processing unit 32 can establish the correspondence with the image data stored in the compact disc 10 from this image number when searching for the image data.

The card 50 also relates to the individual images:
Keywords in various categories are recorded. In the present embodiment, the film type as the image source of the original image, the type of the subject being photographed, the background, the weather and the color are included. The film type is, for example, the manufacturer name or model number of the film, and the type of subject is, for example, gender, Japanese or foreigner. The background is a landscape,
It may be a mountain or the sea. Further, as the color, a rough color tone of the entire image or a color of a characteristic portion may be designated by, for example, 7 colors, or may correspond to a color palette. These search data may be classification results by a plurality of persons.

Further, the number of times the card 50 is searched is numerically recorded, and the date and time when the card 50 is most recently searched is updated and recorded. Both of these search data are used to set a path for searching the searched one more frequently and recently in the subsequent search. In the present embodiment, further, the search conditions are learned by majority voting for various categories such as film type, subject type, background, weather and color. Regarding the learned search condition, the search path is preferentially set, and in the later search, the card 50 on this path is displayed first.
These learning and path setting are realized by the search program executed by the card processing unit 32.

The characteristic feature of this embodiment is also that the card 50
That is, the image data can be recorded in.
This image data may be an original image 52 such as an index image, as shown in FIG. 2, and / or an edited image that has undergone other image processing. Such image processing is performed by the image processing section 34 in response to an operator's instruction from the operation display section 12 on the image data temporarily stored in the main memory 22. The image data recorded on the compact disc 10 is first stored in the main memory 22 by the CD drive 18.
Read in. The data of a 1/16 base image or a 1/4 base image of a frame, for example, is taken into the main memory 22, and the card processing unit 32 uses this as the original image data 52 for card data.
Can be recorded on the card 50 as. If other image data that has undergone the desired image processing is required, the image data shown in FIG.
As shown in, the original image data 52 is used to perform various image processes 60 such as retouching, close-up, panning, framing, etc. to create edited image data 62. The image processing unit 34 then takes the difference between the edited image data 62 and the original image data 52 (box 64) and sets the difference data 54, 56 and / or the difference data 54 and 56 according to the type of the edited image data 62.
Forming 58. The card processing unit 32 uses the difference data 54,
Store 56 and / or 58 on card 50. The type of image processing performed at this time is recorded in the card 50 as editing method data. To reproduce the edited image data 62 from the difference data 54, 56 or 58, these difference data
It suffices to add 54, 56 or 58 to the original image data 52. This addition process is also performed by the image processing unit 34.

In operation, referring to FIG. 4, when creating the database card 50 for a desired Photo CD 10, the operator loads the Photo CD 10 into the CD drive 18 (step 101). Therefore, the main controller 20 controls the CD drive 18 to read the CD identification code from the disc 10 (102). The main control unit 102 then searches the card data in the hard disk 16 to see if there is a card session corresponding to this CD identification code (103). If the session does not exist, the card processing unit 32 allocates a new session to the disc 10 (104). If the session already exists, the card processing unit 32 reads the data of the session and visually displays the list of cards included in the data on the operation display unit 12.

Then, the operator inputs from the operation display section 12 the number of the desired frame among the frames recorded on the disc 10, that is, the image number (106). Card processing unit 32
In response to this, the card data of the hard disk 16 is searched to check whether or not there is a card 50 corresponding to the image number (107). If there is no card 50, a new card 50 is assigned to the frame (108). If the card 50 exists or a new card 50 is assigned, the card 50 is displayed on the operation display unit 12 (109).

Here, the control is performed along the jump symbol A as shown in FIG.
Then, the operator inputs the search data to be recorded in the card 50 from the operation display unit 12 (110). Further, when an instruction to edit an image is given from the operation display device 12 (111), the image processing section 34 responds to the instruction to edit the image 60 (112). Search data entered, and / or
Edited image difference data 54, 56 and / or
The card 58 is edited into the card 50 under the control of the card processing unit 32 (113). These card editing operations are performed using the storage area of the main memory 22. In this way, the operator can edit the card 50 by successively inputting other image numbers. This causes control to cycle through steps 106-114 as indicated by the jump symbol B. Thus, the cards 50 are completed in the main memory 22 one after another for the desired images recorded on the compact disc 10.

When the creation of the card 50 for the desired image is completed, the operation display unit 12 is instructed to end (115). In response to this, the main control unit 20 controls the hard disk 16, reads the card 50 of the corresponding session created in it from the main memory 22, and stores it in the hard disk (115).
As described above, in the present embodiment, the card-type database is additionally created in the large-capacity external storage device such as the rewritable hard disk 16 corresponding to the identification code such as the serial number of the compact disk 10. Therefore, the user can independently create the database of the compact disc 16. This is particularly effective when the compact disc 16 is a read-only storage medium.

In order to search for images on the compact disk 10 by using the card 50 stored in the hard disk 16 in this way, as shown in FIG. 6, a search mode is designated from the operation display section 12 and search conditions are input. (120). The search condition data can specify images by CD identification code, image number, etc., but instead of these, arbitrary logical conditions for various categories such as film type, subject type, background, weather and color can be specified. It can be specified by combining. For example, the object is a car, and the color is red and the logical sum condition is set and input from the operation display unit 16. that time,
The card processing unit 32 preferentially displays the cards included in the learned path according to the number of searches of the card 50, the latest search date and time, or another search keyword category.
According to this input search condition, the card processing unit 32 accesses the card database of the hard disk 16, reads the corresponding card 50 into the main memory 22 and displays it on the operation display unit 12 (121). Then, the operator operates the operation display unit 12 to scroll the display of the card 50 to display the desired card 50 (122). If the desired card 50 is not obtained, the operation display unit 12 is further operated to indicate the narrowing down of the search condition or the condition change, if any (123).

When the operation display device 12 is instructed to display an image of the displayed card 50 (124), it is possible to specify whether the image is displayed simply or the original image is displayed (125).
When the display of the original image is designated, the main control unit 20 controls the CD drive 18 to read the CD identification code of the compact disc 10 and determine whether or not it matches the CD identification code of the designated card 50. Examine (130) If the disc 10 is not loaded in the drive 18 or if the read identification code does not satisfy the search condition, the operation display device 12 is instructed to display a message prompting the correct loading of the disc (131). If the drive 18 has an autochanger function, the main controller 20 selects the corresponding disc and loads it at the read position.

If the disk 10 loaded in the drive 18 is a desired one, the main controller 20 determines the logical block address in the compact disk 10 from the image number contained in the card 50 currently displayed. Derives the image data of the resolution hierarchy specified by that image number to the main memory
Read to 22. This image data is read out to the video monitor 14 or the operation display unit 12 under the control of the main control unit 20 and displayed on them as a visible image (132). Reading and displaying an image from the compact disc 10 takes a relatively long time, especially in the case of a fine image such as a 16-base image, because the amount of data is large.

By the way, such a compact disc
Prior to displaying the actual image recorded in 10,
If you want to understand the recorded contents with a rough image such as an index image, specify the simple display or quick display in step 125. At this time, the display of the original image 52 or the edited image 62 (FIG. 3) can be designated (126).
In response to this, in the case of displaying an original image, the main control unit 20 reads out the original image data 52 from the corresponding card 50 temporarily stored in the main memory 22 and causes the operation display unit 12 to display this as a visible image. (129). The operator can quickly know the outline content of the recorded image on the compact disc 10 by looking at the displayed image. It is advantageous in that it takes less time than reading an image directly from the compact disc 10. When the display of the edited image 62 is instructed in step 126, the main controller 20 causes the image processor 34 to display the original image data of the card 50.
Add the specified difference data 54, 56 or 58 to 52 and edit
Restore 62. The restored edited image 62 is temporarily stored in the main memory 22 and is displayed on the operation display unit 12 or the video monitor 14 as a visible image. For these displayed images, the same image data may be output to another image data output device such as a printer or a communication line (not shown).

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention, a user arbitrarily and independently constructs a database for a rewritable large-capacity external storage device for image data recorded on an external storage medium such as a compact disc. You can do it. Therefore, image data management unique to the user is realized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing an embodiment in which an image data management method according to the present invention is applied to a photo CD.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a card data format in the embodiment shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of image data editing processing in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of an operation flow for creating a card database of image data in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a continuation of the operation flow shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of an operation flow for searching image data in the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a continuation of the operation flow shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Compact disk 16 Hard disk 20 Main control unit 22 Main memory 32 Card processing unit 34 Image processing unit 50 Card 52 Original image data 54 Difference data

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An image data management method for managing image data recorded in a large-capacity first external storage medium,
The method includes the step of assigning a unique first identification code to the first external storage medium and the step of adding 1 to the image recorded in the first external storage medium.
The step of preparing one card of the card-type database for the image of the frame, the first identification code on the card, the second identification code for identifying the frame of the image, and the search condition such as the content of the image An image data management method comprising: a step of entering search condition data to be characterized; and a step of storing the card in a large-capacity rewritable second external storage medium. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method includes a step of writing image data recorded in a first external storage medium on the card. 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the method includes a step of editing image data recorded in a first external storage medium prior to the step of writing the image data in the card. An image data management method, wherein the step of writing the image data on the card writes the edited image data on the card. 4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the first external storage medium is a compact disc. 5. The image data management method according to claim 1, wherein the second external storage medium is a hard magnetic disk.