JPH06251084A - Electronic filing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To accelerate retrieval processing and to efficiently retrieve image information. CONSTITUTION:Plural pieces of image information stored in an optical disk 19 are managed by the image managing table 1, the image managing table 2, the key word correspondence table 3, the key word correspondence table 4 of a magnetic disk 26. A CPU 34 executes the primary retrieval and the second retrieval from a primary retrieval result of the plural pieces of image information stored in the optical disk 19 from a key word for retrieval inputted from a keyboard 23 by an operator according to a program loaded on main memory 38 by using each table stored in the magnetic disk 26.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic device for storing image information and the like in an external storage device such as an optical disk by adding a keyword and a sentence (title) showing an outline, and specifying the keyword to retrieve image information. Regarding a filing device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an electronic filing apparatus, when searching for desired image data (image information), a keyword for searching is input and a keyword search or search for selecting image data to which this keyword is added There is a method such as a free text search in which a character string for input is input and image data to which a title including this character string is added is selected.

In the electronic filing apparatus, a keyword or title added to each image data to be managed is recorded on the same optical disk as the recording destination of the image data, or
It is recorded on another hard disk. When performing the above search with the electronic filing device, the keywords and titles added to all the managed image data are read from the optical disk or hard disk and compared with the input search keyword or search character string to perform the search process. It is carried out. Usually, a keyword number is assigned to the keyword added to the image data, and this keyword number is recorded for each image data.

For example, if the total number of managed image data is 1000, and each image data is added with an average of 5 keywords and the keyword number is represented by 2 bytes, it is 10 bytes per image data. Become. Therefore, a total of 10000 bytes (10 KB) of data is read and compared with the search keyword.

If the length of the character string of the title added to the image data is 100 bytes, the total length is 1
Data of 00000 bytes (100 KB) is read and compared with the search character string.

The number of image data to be managed increases,
When the number of keywords added to the image data increases or the length of the added title character string becomes long, the amount of data to be compared with the search keyword or search character string becomes enormous and the search processing takes time. was there.

The image information retrieval device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-86947 is to re-examine the classification information added to the already stored image.
It is not intended to improve search speed.

Therefore, there is a method such as Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-90054 in which the keywords are divided into several groups in numerical order and the search speed is improved by using a group keyword having a smaller number of bits than the search information. When grouping, only the keyword number is used, so the primary search result using the group keyword could only be used to narrow down the number of images to be the secondary search target.

[0009]

As described above, conventionally, the number of image data managed is increased, the number of keywords added to the image data is increased, and the length of the title character string added is reduced. If it becomes long, there is a problem that the amount of data to be compared with the search keyword or the search character string becomes huge and the search processing takes time. Further, when grouping keywords for the purpose of improving the search speed, the primary search result using the group keyword using only the keyword number can be used only for narrowing down the number of images to be the secondary search target. There was a problem. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic filing device capable of speeding up a search process and efficiently searching for image information.

[0010]

The electronic filing apparatus of the present invention includes first storage means for storing search information composed of a plurality of keywords for searching each image corresponding to each image, and the first storage means. Similarity calculation means for calculating the similarity between the keywords of the search information stored in the storage means,
Group dividing means for grouping the high similarity keywords calculated by the similarity calculating means into the same group, and generating means for generating a group keyword for each group grouped by the group dividing means,
Second storage means for storing a group keyword generated by the generation means from the plurality of keywords of the search information stored in the first storage means in association with each image, and a keyword for search And an input means for inputting a group keyword generated by the generating means from the keyword input by the input means.
The first extraction means for extracting the image including the keyword in units of groups by sequentially comparing the group keywords stored in the storage means, and the image extracted by the first extraction means. Correspondingly, the above first
By sequentially comparing the keywords stored in the storage means with the keywords input by the input means, and second extraction means for extracting an image in which the keywords match, and the second extraction means. Images,
Alternatively, it comprises a selecting means for selecting a desired image from the images extracted by the first extracting means.

[0011]

According to the present invention, the search information composed of a plurality of keywords for searching each image corresponding to each image is stored in the first storage means, and the similarity between the keywords of the stored search information is calculated. , The calculated keywords having a high degree of similarity are grouped into the same group, a group keyword is generated by the generation unit for each grouped group, and a plurality of pieces of search information stored in the first storage unit are generated. A group keyword generated from the keyword by using the generating unit is stored in the second storage unit corresponding to each image, a keyword for search is input, and the generated keyword is generated by using the generating unit. Keys in units of groups by sequentially comparing each group keyword stored in the second storage means with the group keyword to be stored. An image including a code is extracted by the first extraction means, and the keywords stored in the first storage means corresponding to the extracted images are sequentially compared with the keywords input by the input means. The second extraction means extracts an image having the same keyword, and a desired image is selected from the images extracted by the second extraction means or the images extracted by the first extraction means. It is something that is done.

[0012]

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 configuration of the electronic filing apparatus of the present invention. That is, the electronic filing apparatus includes the control module 10 and the memory module 1.
2, image processing module 14, communication control module 1
6, a scanner device 18, an optical disk 19 and an optical disk device 20, a keyboard 23, a CRT display device 24, a printer device 25, a magnetic disk 26 and a magnetic disk device 27, a mouse 29, a system bus 30, and an image bus 32. .

The control module 10 includes a CPU 34 for performing various controls for storing, retrieving and editing images.
And the optical disk device 20, 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 has a main memory 38 for storing various control programs for image storage, retrieval, editing, etc., management information, etc., a character recognition section 39 for recognizing image characters, and several pages of A4 size originals. A page memory 40 as an image memory having a storage capacity corresponding to an image,
It is composed of a display memory 42 as a display interface, a display controller 44, and the like. A buffer memory area 40a is provided in a part of the page memory 40. The page memory 40 is, for example, the optical disc 19
The memory is a memory for temporarily storing the image stored in the optical disc 19 and the image read from the optical disc 19.

The display memory 42 is for temporarily storing an 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 (restoring the 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 with the compression / expansion circuit 50, the scanner interface 52, and the printer interface 54. The compression / expansion circuit 50 uses the MH (Modified Huffman) method, the MR (Modified Read) method, or the like to perform band compression,
Alternatively, band extension is performed.

The communication control module 16 is composed of a communication interface 58 such as a BCP (Bus Communication Processor) connected to a local area network (Local Area Network). Further, the communication control module 16 is connected to an external device such as an FCP (facsimile connection mechanism) or a personal computer through an interface, and a UCP (Universal Communication Process).
r) 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, which obtains an electric signal corresponding to an image on the original by scanning the original (document) two-dimensionally with a laser beam.

The optical disk device 20 is a scanner device 18
The images read in step 1 are sequentially stored in the optical disc 19. The optical disc 19 is searched for an image corresponding to the search code designated by the keyboard 23 or the like.

The keyboard 23 is used to input a unique search code corresponding to an image stored in the optical disk 19 and various operation commands for storage, search, edit processing and the like. Further, 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, title or area designation or icon for image editing, etc.) are selected or designated.

The CRT display device (cathode ray tube display device) 24 displays the image read by the scanner device 18 and the image retrieved from the optical disk 19. Icons and the like are displayed at the upper end, the lower end, and the right end on the display window of the CRT display device 24.

The printer device 25 prints out (hard copy) the image read by the scanner device 18, the image retrieved from the optical disk 19 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 code input from the keyboard 23 and an image corresponding to the search code. Search data (search information) including a storage address on the optical disc 19, an image size, a search frequency, and the like is stored.

In the present embodiment, the image data (image information) recorded on the optical disc 19 is the image management table 1 shown in FIG. 2, the image management table 2 shown in FIG. 3, and the keyword correspondence table 3 shown in FIG. , And the keyword correspondence table 4 shown in FIG. These tables are provided for the magnetic disk 2 for each managed optical disk 19.
It is recorded on page 6.

The image management table 1 stores the name of the optical disc 19 on which the image data is recorded and the total number of recorded image data. The name of the optical disc 19 shown in FIG. 2 is “1990 patent data”, and the total number of images is 100.

The image management table 2 shown in FIG. 3 shows, for each image data (image information), an image No. (image number), an image size, and a head on the optical disc 19 indicating from where the image is recorded on the optical disc 19. An address, a title added to this image data, 10 keyword numbers, and a group keyword are stored.

The title of the image management table 2 is SJI.
Expressed in S code, 100 bytes of area is reserved, and in case of Kanji 2-byte code, maximum 50 digits, ANK
In the case of a 1-byte code, it is possible to store up to 100 digits.

The keyword No. of the image management table 2 is
It is expressed by 2 bytes (16 bits), and when "0" is set, it means that no keyword is set. 65535 at maximum (2 to the 16th power-1)
It is possible to set the type of keyword.

The group keyword of the image management table 2 is the keyword number of the keyword added to the image.
From the group keyword calculation process described later. The group keyword is composed of 2 bytes (16 bits) and indicates which group keyword is added to this image data.

For example, the image No. in FIG. The image data of No. 1 has an image size of A4, the image data is stored from the 0th address on the optical disc, the title is added with the SJIS character string "electronic filing device", and the keyword is the keyword No. ． Those shown by 1 and 2 are added, and the group keyword is "0.
x0003 "(hexadecimal number). The keyword correspondence table 3 shown in FIG. 4 stores the total number of types of keywords added to image data.

The keyword correspondence table 4 shown in FIG.
The keyword No, the keyword name corresponding to this, and the group No to which this keyword belongs are stored for the total number of types of keyword No. 4 and 5, the total number of types of keywords is 50.
The keyword name of 1 is "optical disc" and the group number is "0".

FIG. 6 shows the structure of a group keyword. In this embodiment, the keywords are classified into 16 groups, the group keyword has a 16-bit (2 byte) length, and the group number is "0" to "1".
Up to 5 ”, the group number is associated with the bit position. It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to 16 groups, and the point is to configure group keywords. Next, processing for newly registering image data will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, an original of a document to be registered (document) is set on the scanner device 18, and a title and some keywords are input from the keyboard 23 to instruct registration. The CPU 34 performs the following processing according to the program loaded in the main memory 38.

The image data obtained by reading the original with the scanner device 18 is written in the empty area of the optical disc 19 of the optical disc device 20. Next, “1” is added to the total number of images in the image management table 1, one line is added to the image management table 2, a new image No is assigned, the image size written in the optical disc 19 and the written start address. Set. The title input by the operator is the image management table 2
To the keyword N from the keyword name input by the operator using the keyword correspondence tables 3 and 4.
0 is set in the image management table 2. Next, if the keyword name input by the operator is new, the CPU 34 performs the following processing.

"1" is added to the total number of types of keywords in the keyword correspondence table 3, one line is added to the keyword correspondence table 4, a new keyword No is assigned, and a keyword name is set. Further, the degree of similarity between keywords is calculated and divided into groups to determine which group each keyword belongs to (group division processing). Further, a group keyword is generated from the keyword No set in the image management table 2 (group keyword generation processing described later) and set in the image management table 2. Then C
The group division processing by the PU 34 when adding a new keyword will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

First, using the image management table 2 shown in FIG. 3, the co-occurrence frequency is calculated for all combinations of two keywords, and the co-occurrence frequency which is the maximum is 100, and the frequency is normalized. The co-occurrence frequency is the number of images to which two keywords are added together.

FIG. 9 is a normalized co-occurrence frequency table 5 in which the co-occurrence frequencies for all combinations of two keywords are normalized. In FIG. 9, for example, the keyword No. The normalized co-occurrence frequency number of 1 and 3 is 70.

Next, from the values in the first row of the normalized co-occurrence frequency table 5 (those having a high degree of similarity to the keyword 1), those points that exceed a certain value (for example, 50) are selected, and these are designated as the keyword 1. The keyword correspondence table 4 is updated as the same group. In the example shown in FIG. 9, keyword 1 and keyword 3 are set as the same group. The above processing is performed for each row to update the keyword correspondence table 4. At this time, if the number of groups exceeds 15, all remaining keywords are set as group 15.

The present invention is not limited to the method of finding the degree of similarity between keywords, but may use a synonym dictionary, or a method of calculating by checking whether or not the same word is included. Next, the group keyword generation processing by the CPU 34 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

First, all the bits of the group keyword are turned off, the group number in the keyword correspondence table corresponding to each inputted keyword number is obtained, and the bit on the group keyword corresponding to the obtained group number is turned on. .

For example, keywords No. 1 and No. 2 are added to the image data of the image No. 1 in the image management table 2 shown in FIG. 2, and the keyword correspondence table 4 shown in FIG.
Since the group numbers are "0" and "1" respectively, the group keyword 0x0003 (hexadecimal number) obtained by the group keyword generation processing is set.

Further, the keyword Nos. 3 and 4 are added to the image data of the image No. 3, and the group Nos. Are "0" and "1" from the keyword correspondence table 4, respectively, which are the same groups as the keyword Nos. 1 and 2, respectively. Group keyword 0x which is the same as image No1 because it belongs to
0003 is set. Next, the processing at the time of search in this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

The operator inputs a number of keywords for searching and instructs a keyword search. CPU34
Performs the following processing according to the program loaded in the main memory 38.

First, a keyword No. is obtained from the several keyword names for retrieval inputted by the operator using the keyword correspondence table 4, and a group keyword for retrieval is obtained from these keyword Nos. This process is similar to the group keyword generation process described above.

The logical product of the group keyword for retrieval obtained here and the group keyword for each image data in the image management table 2 is obtained, and all the image data whose result has the same value as the group keyword for retrieval Image N
Store o temporarily. (Primary search)

Next, with respect to the temporarily stored image No., the keyword No. in the image management table 2 is read out, and the image data including all that match the above keyword No. for search are selected. (Secondary search) After that, according to the instruction of the operator, the first or second
The image retrieved by the next retrieval process is displayed on the CRT display device 24.

For example, when the operator inputs "optical disk" and "scanner" as keywords for retrieval, the images No. 1 and 3 are retrieved during the primary retrieval, and further narrowed down during the secondary retrieval. Only the image of image No. 1 is searched. In this case, "optical disk" and "optical disk device", "scanner" and "scanner device"
Is a keyword name that belongs to the same group. Next, a CRT at the time of search processing in this embodiment
The screen display of the display device 24 will be described.

FIG. 12 shows an initial screen displayed on the CRT display device 24 during the search process. The left side of the initial screen includes a search condition setting area 61 and search result hit count display areas 62 and 63.
The keyword set from the keyboard 23 is displayed in the search condition setting area 61, and the first number is displayed in the hit number display area 62.
The number of hits in the next search result, the second in the hits display area 63
The number of hits of the next search result is displayed. In the example shown in FIG. 12, five keywords can be set, and the area 62a in which the number of inter-item and results of keyword search is the last row,
63a, respectively.

On the right side of the initial screen is an area 64 in which the document image is displayed. On the lower side of the initial screen are function keys corresponding to the function keys of the keyboard 23, which are the F1 key 65, the F2 key 66, and the F4 key 6.
7, F9 key 68. For example, when the F1 key 65 is pressed, the primary search process is executed from the keyword set in the search condition, and the result is displayed in the hit count display area 62. If you press the F2 key 66, the first
The secondary search process is executed for the next search result, and the result is displayed in the hit count display area 63. When the F4 key 67 is pressed, the screen switches to the search result screen shown in FIG. 14 or 15. If the F9 key 68 is pressed, the search process ends.

FIG. 13 shows a display screen of the search condition after the search keyword is set by the operator and the primary and secondary search processes are executed. “Optical disk” is set as the first keyword, and “10” is displayed as the primary search processing result by the group keyword No to which the keyword of “optical disk” obtained using the keyword correspondence table 4 belongs. Second
Similarly, “8” is displayed as the primary search result for the keyword “scanner”.

When the keyword "optical disc" is set, a document to which the keyword "optical disc device" belonging to the same group is added is also extracted as a corresponding document in the primary search. Similarly, for the “scanner”, the document to which the keyword “scanner device” is added is also extracted. The number of documents to which the group keywords corresponding to "optical disc" and "scanner" are added is displayed as "4" in the inter-item and result area 62a. For these numbers, set each keyword and press F1 key 6
It is processed and displayed after the input of 5.

Next, when the F2 key 66 is pressed, the number of results is displayed in the secondary hit count display area 63. In this example, the number of documents to which the keyword “optical disc” is added is “5”, and the number of documents to which the keyword “scanner” is added is “3”. Then, the number of documents to which the keywords “optical disk” and “scanner” are added is “2” in the area 63a of the inter-item and result
Is displayed.

FIG. 14 shows a display screen of the primary search result. In the area 71 on the left side, No, title, and keyword of each document image, which is the primary search result, are displayed. The area 72 on the right side is a document image display area, and the document image corresponding to the shaded area “No. 1” of the area 71 is displayed.

On the display screen of the primary search result, F1
Key 73 is a key for switching the primary and secondary search result screens, F2 key 74 and F3 key 75 are keys for selecting a document image to be displayed, F4 key 76 is a key for returning to the search condition screen, and F5 key. Reference numeral 77 is a key for printing the displayed document image, and F9 key 78 is a key for ending the search processing.

On the display screen of the primary search result, the four document image information extracted in the primary search, that is, the keyword "optical disc" or "optical disc device" is attached, and "scanner" or "scanner" or "optical disc device" is added. A document image with the keyword "scanner device" is displayed.

FIG. 15 shows a display screen of the secondary search result. Here, two pieces of document image information of only those with the keywords “optical disk” and “scanner” among the document images extracted by the primary search are displayed.

Thus, the first by the group keyword
By displaying the next search result and the secondary search result by the keyword, it is possible to compare the search result under the loose condition with the search result under the tight condition with only the specified keyword, and the document image targeted by the operator can be displayed. It is possible to search more efficiently.

For example, when the target document image is not included in the secondary search result, the target document image can be obtained by referring to the primary search result, and the primary search is further performed. It is also possible to set more accurate search conditions by using the keywords added to the document image extracted as a result.

As described above, the degree of similarity between the keywords is obtained, the keywords having a high degree of similarity are classified into the same group, the group corresponding to each keyword added when the image is registered is obtained, and the group corresponding to the group is obtained. A value in which the position bit is turned on and the other bits are turned off is created, and this value is stored as a group keyword of the image in a pair with the registered image.

When searching by specifying a keyword, a group keyword for searching in which the bit corresponding to the group is turned on is obtained from the individual keywords specified for searching,
The group keyword of the image created at the time of storing the image is compared with the group keyword for the search, and the candidate image to be searched is extracted with the plurality of grouped keywords as a unit (first search process).

Further, a conventional search (secondary search process) is performed on the extracted candidate images using the keyword itself as a unit, and a desired image is extracted from the candidate images. It was done. That is, when the group keyword is expressed by 2 bytes (16 bits) as described in the above embodiment, the keyword is classified into 16 groups.

For example, assuming that the total number of images is 1000 and each of the image data has an average of 5 keywords, the conventional number is 1000 × 5 × 2 bytes = 1000.
I had to read out 0 bytes (about 10 KB) of data and compare them.

However, when the present invention is applied, first, 1000 bytes × 2 bytes, 2000 bytes (about 2 KB).
Data is read out, a primary search process is performed using a group keyword, and a secondary keyword search is performed only on the image data selected in this process.

Here, how much image data is selected in the primary search process depends on how the keywords of the recorded image data are attached and to which group the keywords are classified. However, in the above example, when 80% or less of the entire image data is selected in the primary search, the total comparison data amount in the primary and secondary is smaller than that in the conventional keyword search.

For example, when 10% of image data is selected in the primary search, 2000 bytes (primary search) +
Total of 100 cases x 5 pieces x 2 bytes (secondary search) 300
Since 0 bytes of data will be compared, the amount of comparison data will be reduced to about 30% compared to the conventional case.

As described above, by performing the rough search using the group keyword, the number of image data for the normal keyword search can be greatly reduced.
It is possible to speed up the keyword search.

Further, since the keywords having a high degree of similarity are classified into the same group, the image data obtained by the primary search process has a keyword having a great relation with the keyword inputted by the operator added. By selectively using the primary and secondary search results, desired image data can be efficiently extracted.

As described above, according to the above embodiment,
By performing a rough search process using a group keyword, the number of image data items for which a normal keyword search is performed can be significantly reduced, and the keyword search can be speeded up.

Further, since the keywords having a high degree of similarity are classified into the same group, the image data obtained in the primary search process has a keyword having a great relation with the keyword inputted by the operator added. By selectively using the primary and secondary search results, desired image data can be efficiently extracted.

[0072]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention,
It is possible to provide an electronic filing device capable of speeding up the search processing and efficiently searching for image information.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an image management table.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining an image management table.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a keyword correspondence table.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a keyword correspondence table.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the structure of group keywords.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining an operation of registering image data.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of group division processing.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining a normalized co-occurrence frequency table.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of group keyword generation processing.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a processing operation during search.

FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining an initial screen at the time of search processing.

FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining a display screen of search conditions after the search processing is executed.

FIG. 14 is a diagram for explaining a display screen of a primary search result.

FIG. 15 is a diagram for explaining a display screen of secondary search results.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 2 ... Image management table 3, 4 ... Keyword correspondence table 5 ... Normalized co-occurrence frequency number table 18 ... Scanner device 19 ... Optical disk 23 ... Keyboard 24 ... CRT display device 26 ... Magnetic disk 34 ... CPU 38 ... Main memory

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A first storage for storing search information composed of a plurality of keywords for searching each image corresponding to each image
Storage means, a similarity calculation means for calculating the similarity between the keywords of the search information stored in the first storage means, and the high similarity keywords calculated by the similarity calculation means in the same group. Group dividing means for grouping, generating means for generating a group keyword for each group grouped by the group dividing means, and a plurality of keywords of the search information stored in the first storage means, Second storage means for storing the group keyword generated by using the generation means in association with each image, input means for inputting a keyword for search, and the generation means for the keyword input by this input means The group keywords stored in the second storage means are sequentially compared with the group keywords generated using The first extraction means for extracting an image containing a keyword in units of groups, and the keywords stored in the first storage means corresponding to the image extracted by the first extraction means A second step of extracting images in which the keywords match by sequentially comparing the keywords input by the input means
And an selecting unit for selecting a desired image from the images extracted by the second extracting unit or the image extracted by the first extracting unit. Electronic filing equipment