JPH06318241A - Electronic filing device and server system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent speed for extracting image information from being decelerated even when the quantity of the stored information is increased and to construct an inexpensive system in an electronic filing device and a server system connected to a LAN. CONSTITUTION:Sub data such as code information effective for classification or retrieval are added to the image information inputted by the image information input of a scanner 3 or the like, the image information is stored in an optical disk 9 by the optical disk device(ODD) of a pattern information storage means, the sub data are separately stored in a magnetic disk by a magnetic disk device (HD) 7 of a sub data storage means, and they are related with each other by the ID numbers. Then, that information is managed so as to be retrieved and extracted from a terminal equipment connected to the LAN through a LAN connection part 6.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a LAN in which image information such as a document is input and stored in a storage medium together with information for classification or retrieval, and the stored data can be retrieved and retrieved from the outside. Electronic file device connected,
The present invention also relates to a server system which is connected to a LAN to which such an electronic file device and a terminal device such as a personal computer or a workstation are connected and which stores and manages image information and text information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, offices, factories, research laboratories, government offices,
To reduce the storage space for a large number of documents created and accepted in schools, etc., and to allow many people to easily utilize the information, letters, figures, or photographs recorded or printed on paper. An electronic file device has been developed and used in which image information such as the above is digitized and the document is registered and stored in a large-capacity information storage medium such as a magnetic disk or an optical disk (including a magneto-optical disk).

In order to improve the usability of such an electronic file device, the electronic file device is connected to a plurality of terminal devices such as personal computers and workstations via a LAN (local area network). It is also possible to use it as a server system so that the image information stored therein can be freely searched and retrieved from each terminal device.

Further, the image information created by the electronic file device and to which the information for classification or retrieval is added is used as LAN information.
There is also used a server system that transfers / stores data via a computer and stores / manages it so that it can be used by a terminal device such as a personal computer or a workstation connected to a LAN.

[0005]

However, in such a conventional electronic file device or server system, the data storage location does not depend on image information, voice information, or code information as shown in FIG. 8, for example. , Were usually stored in the same physical location (storage medium). Also, in the conventional server system, handling of pattern information such as image information and voice information is small,
As for the amount of information, the image information was less than the code information.

In recent years, a device (server system) that centrally manages image information by an electronic filing device or the like has attracted attention, and such a server system has also been connected to a LAN. Under such circumstances, pattern information such as image information and code information such as characters are put together in one place and operated as a server, but the following problems have arisen.

The information such as an image is much larger than the code information, and the storage capacity is increased by mixing and storing the information in one place, and the access time cannot be ignored.
Further, it has been found that the handling of code information is completely different from that of pattern information such as image information. For example, the image information is the final data, and most of the information processing can be performed by the information (sub-data etc.) that is useful for classification or search added to the image information, and the image data is the final confirmation meaning. Often used only for viewing or outputting to the outside.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and in an electronic file device or a server system connected to a LAN, even if the storage amount of image information is increased, the speed at which the information is retrieved does not slow down. West,
The objective is to be able to construct an inexpensive system.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention is useful for image information input means such as a scanner for inputting image information from the outside, and for classifying or searching the image information input by the means. Means for adding sub-data such as code information, data storage means for storing the image information to which the sub-data has been added by the means as a file, and the data stored in the means can be retrieved and retrieved from the outside. An electronic file device having a LAN connection section for connecting to a LAN is configured as follows.

As the data storage means, a pattern information storage means for storing pattern information such as an image and a sub data storage means for storing sub data such as code information are separately provided, and the input image data is a pattern. The sub-data added to the image data is stored in the information storage means in association with each other in the sub-data storage means. Further, as the pattern information storage means, a small-capacity high-speed storage unit and a large-capacity low-speed storage unit,
It is preferable to temporarily store information that is frequently searched or information that is newly stored in the high-speed storage unit.

Further, in a server system which is connected to a LAN to which an electronic file device and a terminal device such as a personal computer or a workstation are connected and which stores and manages image information and text information, a pattern such as an image is used as a data storage means. The pattern information storage means for storing information and the code information storage means for storing code information such as text information are separately provided, and the image information sent from the electronic filing device is attached to the pattern information storage means. A server system is also provided in which the code information and other text information to be stored are respectively stored in the code information storage means.

Further, in the server system, a small-capacity high-speed server and a large-capacity low-speed server are provided as the pattern information storage means, and information frequently searched or newly stored information is temporarily stored in the high-speed server. It should be stored.

[0013]

The electronic file device and the server system according to the present invention are both pattern information having an enormous amount of data such as image information, and auxiliary data or management information accompanying it or coded information such as a word processing document. Alternatively, since information having a small amount of data is stored in different information storage means (storage devices), most processing such as image information retrieval processing is performed by the information stored in the sub data storage section or the code information storage section. It can be processed. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the speed of retrieving required information from being slowed in proportion to the increase in the storage amount of image information, which has been a problem in the past.

Further, by storing the pattern information such as an image and the coded information such as characters in the storage means (storage device) according to their characteristics, an inexpensive server system can be constructed.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT An embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of an electronic file device according to the present invention. This electronic file device includes an information processing device (main body) 1 for processing image information and classification / search information, a keyboard 2 for an operator to input information, and a scanner 3 for capturing image information such as a document from the outside. A display device 4 such as a CRT for displaying image information, a printer 5 such as a laser printer for printing the image information processed by the information processing device 1 on a sheet and outputting it to the outside, and this electronic file. The LAN connecting device 6 is a communication device for connecting the device to a LAN and transmitting and receiving data.

The electronic file device is a LAN
It also plays the role of a server system for a plurality of terminal devices such as personal computers and workstations connected to it by receiving a search request from each terminal device and necessary image information and sub-data added to it (contents thereof). Will be described later) and the like.

A computer having a CPU, a ROM, a RAM and the like (not shown) in the information processing device 1 and a magnetic disk device which is a sub-data storing means for storing sub-fuku data which will be described later and is useful for classifying or retrieving image information. (HD) 7 and an optical disk drive device (ODD) 8 for reading / writing a writable / readable optical disk (magneto-optical disk) 9. The optical disk drive device 8 is a pattern information storage means for storing pattern information such as image information.

When registering image information (image data) in such an electronic file device, the image information of a document such as a document is read into the information processing device 1 from the scanner 3, and the image information is displayed by the display device 4. Is displayed on the screen. When the operator confirms it and presses the confirmation key on the keyboard 2, the optical disk drive device 8
Thus, the image information is written on the optical disc 9.

At this time, the sub-data, which is search information for the image information, is written on the magnetic disk (hard disk) by the magnetic disk device 7. This is to increase the search speed, and when the optical disk 9 is taken out from the information processing apparatus 1, the sub data is also written to the optical disk 9 in the form of take-out processing.

In this case, the image information stored on the optical disc 9 and the sub data stored on the magnetic disc are
They are associated with each other by an identification number (hereinafter referred to as "ID number"). As a method of bringing out the image information to the outside, there are a method of bringing out by the optical disk 9 as described above, a method of printing out on paper by the printer 5 and bringing out, and a method of bringing out by the communication of LAN via the LAN connection unit 6.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining the operation of the information processing apparatus 1 of such an electronic file device in more detail, and the portions corresponding to those in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals. . Here, the CPU 10 and the program memory (ROM) 11, the image memory (RAM) 12, the video memory (video RAM) 13 and the like are connected by a bus line 14 to form a computer. In this example, the keyboard 2 is connected to the mouse 15, which is a pointing device.

The program memory 8 has a CPU
10 reads the image information from an image reader such as the scanner 3, writes the information as file information on the optical disk 9 by the optical disk drive device 8 or reads the information written on the optical disk 9, and Stores software (programs) for classifying and searching image information.

Therefore, when registering the image information, the image information read from the scanner 3 or the LAN
The image information transferred via the connection unit 6 is temporarily stored in the image memory 12. At this time, sub data is automatically created and added to the image information, but the sub data is stored in the magnetic disk device 7.

Information in the image memory 12 is stored in the CPU.
Video memory 1 for displaying on display device 4 by 10
Expanded to 3. The operator looks at the image information displayed on the display device 4 and decides whether to store the image information on the optical disc 9 or discard it, and further decides to which classification destination the image information should be registered when the image information is stored. .

In this state, the image information is in the image memory 12, the sub data including the classification information is in the magnetic disk device 7, and when the optical disk device 8 registers it in the optical disk 9, only the image information is stored in the image memory. It is written from 12 to the optical disc 9. The image information and the sub data are kept in a relationship by having a common ID number.

Here, the sub-data added to the image information will be described. In this electronic file device, the data to be registered is the body data M as shown in FIG.
D, sub-data SD and rear header RH,
The post-header RH is post-processing information such as error detection and reproduction, which is a part of a known technique, and will be considered to be included in the main body data MD in the following description.

Therefore, in the electronic file device, image information input or created by using a peripheral device such as a scanner is used as the body data MD, and information useful for classification and retrieval is added to the body data MD as sub-data SD. And register.

The sub-data SD indicates not only the data structure of the body data MD but also information useful for classification and retrieval of all body data including control information and the like described below. Further, in the sub-data, information that is not clearly used for retrieval / classification and that is closely related to the main body data may be captured in the main body data.

This sub data SD is, for example, body data M.
Information indicating the situation when D is entered or created, such as creation date, time, editing application used, creator's (human) five senses information (temperature, humidity, brightness, document color and thickness, etc.) It can be configured by a combination.

As described above, the information is composed of the main body data and the sub-data for the classification / search, so that the classification can be automated regardless of the human operation. The configuration information of the sub data will be described more specifically. In the case of date information, that date is a date or due date related to the body data, and is a date required as search information. You can search the file information directly from this date,
It is also possible to indirectly search by estimating the date from the contents of the schedule, such as the conference name.

The information of the editing application can be retrieved from the application name that created the file information, and can also be used as information for displaying or changing / adding the information. In this way, by adding to the body data the information as to which application the body data was created with in the form of sub-data, the management and processing of the information becomes dramatically easier.

Human sense information is the information about human and machine
It is information for searching that is added to facilitate the machine interface. In addition, information that controls the output of part or all of the main body data, the application name of the search application and the source information of the search information or information (the ID number of the created device), etc. are added to the main body data as sub-data. It

Considering the case where file information is newly created, the date it was created, the name of the application software used for editing, the information that could be mechanized by the information about the human senses, the device name (ID number) at the time of creation. ), Low-level information (file structure information of body data, etc.), etc.
It is automatically written as sub data. Further, when the application software is used to perform output control information of a printer or the like and ranking of importance, the information is also taken into the sub data.

The output control information is information for controlling the output of the body data of the file information in whole or in part. For example, when the body data is image information, a part of the image screen (a secret portion) When it is desired to display or print) as a blank, the blank information and the coordinate information of the blank range are added to the sub data. In that case, output control information can be added so that a certain portion can be output and viewed on the display screen but cannot be printed.

Further, information for controlling the output of data by ranking each part (coordinates and rank information of each part whose output of the image screen is desired to be controlled) can be added to the sub-data. Then, by inputting the password of the user, display and printing can be controlled according to the rank such as the position.

When the information is received from the outside, the file information is obtained in the form of the sub-data. Therefore, if the same system (electronic file device) can read the content of the sub-data, it can be automatically read. being classified. Also, in different systems, application information or application software is added to the sub-data, so when file information is registered in the electronic file device, conversion software is run based on this sub-data for conversion.

If the same search application software is used, it is automatically registered. Since different systems have different sub-data structures, at this time, sub-data can be rearranged and deleted / changed by passing the sub-data together with the sub-data control information for controlling the sub-data.

FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 are flowcharts showing an example of an operation at the time of registering information by this electronic file device, which is divided into two diagrams for convenience of illustration, but is a diagram showing a series of operations. . Then, it operates as follows. When data is input by the scanner 3 or the like, it is first determined whether the data is an image or a code, and if it is a code, it is sent to the magnetic disk device 7 and a magnetic disk (HD) is sent.
Write it to a high-speed medium such as and store it.

In the case of an image, the necessary sub-data as described above is created, and after adding it to the image data, it is confirmed whether or not to store it. When storing, code data (sub data) and image data (main data)
Are physically separated, and common ID numbers are added to each other. Then, the sub data is sent to the magnetic disk device 7 and written and stored in a high speed medium such as a magnetic disk (HD),
The image data is sent to the optical disk drive device 8 and written and stored in a low speed medium such as a magneto-optical disk (MOD).

If the input data is not stored, it is checked whether or not the data is taken out. If not, the data is discarded. When extracting to the outside, the sub data + body data (image data)
The data is sent from the AN connection unit 5 to the outside (such as a terminal device or a server system connected to the LAN). Floppy disk (F
It may be stored in an external medium such as D).

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the relationship between sub-data such as search classification information written in HD which is a high-speed storage means and image data written in MOD which is a medium-low speed storage means. The relationship between the sub data and the image data is
Basically, they are related by ID number. Therefore, after the necessary information is searched by the sub-data on the magnetic disk device (HDD) side, the location of the image data is searched and read from the management information on the magneto-optical disk (MOD) by the ID number of the search result. become.

Thus, this electronic filing device is
A magnetic disk device (H) serving as a sub-data storage means also serving as a saver system on the N, and as a storage means dedicated to pattern information such as image data for that purpose.
An optical disc that uses a large-capacity storage medium (magneto-optical disc) 9 that has a lower search speed, that is, a read / write time or an access time than DD) but is cheaper in terms of storage capacity.
It is characterized in that a drive device (ODD) 8 is provided.

By doing so, the sub-data search classification information can be handled at high speed on the HD, and the image information can be called up from the MOD when it is really needed, whereby the total speed can be increased. As a storage means dedicated to pattern information, a combination of an optical disk drive device (ODD), which is a large-capacity low-speed storage part, and a magnetic disk drive device (HDD), which is a small-capacity high-speed storage part, is provided. High information or newly stored information may be temporarily stored in the high speed storage unit.

As a result, when a certain image information is called, the free time of the CPU is used, and it is assumed that the information related to the image information will be called, and is stored in the high-speed storage unit. You can speed up the search by storing the frequently used image information in the high-speed storage.

The MOD management information section shown in FIG. 6 may store the search classification information on the HD for backup. Further, the image data portion may be pure image data, or may be information to which sub data is added for backup. Since this is much smaller than the main data whose sub-data and classification information are image information, there is no problem even if such a backup is taken. Recently, as search classification information, there is a tendency to treat reduced information of image information (the amount of data is reduced by lowering the resolution) as classification information. However, this reduced information is used as sub-data, and HD as a sub-data storage means.
It can also be stored in the HD by D7.

Next, an embodiment of the server system according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. This server system
The personal computer or workstation 20 is provided with a LAN connection unit 21, and an electronic file device and another terminal device such as a personal computer or workstation are connected via the LAN 22 to store and manage image information and text information.

As data storage means therefor, pattern information storage means 2 for storing pattern information such as images.
3 and code information storage means 24 for storing code information such as text information are separately provided, and image information sent from the electronic file device is stored in the pattern information storage means 23.
The code information and other text information associated with the image data are stored in the code information storage means 24, respectively, and managed so that they can be searched and retrieved from other terminal devices via the LAN 22.

The pattern information storage means 23 includes an optical disk device 25 (a MOD having a plurality of magneto-optical disks 26 as a storage medium) which is a large capacity low speed server and a magnetic disk device (HDD) which is a small capacity high speed server. And a magneto-optical disk 26 of the optical disk device 25.
A large amount of image information is stored in the magnetic disk device 2
In 7, the information frequently searched and the information to be newly stored are temporarily stored. However, the magnetic disk device 27 may be omitted.

On the other hand, the code information storage means 24 is also a magnetic disk device (HDD) which is a small-capacity high-speed server.
By doing so, the search classification information such as the sub-data is handled at high speed on the HD, and the image information is called up from the MOD when it is really needed, so that the total speed can be increased.

[0050]

As described above, in the electronic file device and the server system according to the present invention, pattern information having an enormous amount of data such as image information and sub-data or management information accompanying it or Since the coded information such as a word processing document or the information having a small amount of data is stored in different information storage means (storage devices), most of the processing such as image information retrieval processing is performed by the sub data storage unit or the code. It can be processed by the information stored in the information storage unit. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the speed of retrieving required information from being slowed in proportion to the increase in the storage amount of image information, which has been a problem in the past.

Further, by storing the pattern information such as an image and the coded information such as characters in the storage means (storage device) according to their characteristics, an inexpensive server system can be constructed.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a block configuration diagram for explaining the same operation.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of information stored in this embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of information storage processing in the electronic file device shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the same continuation.

FIG. 6 is sub-data such as search classification information written in HD, which is a high-speed storage unit, and MO, which is a medium-low-speed storage unit.
It is a figure which shows the relationship of the image data written in D.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a server system according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration example of a file on a storage medium in a conventional electronic file device or server system.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: Information processing device (main body) 2: Keyboard
3: Scanner 4: Display device 5: Printer 6: LAN connection part
7: Magnetic disk device (HD) 8: Optical disk drive device (ODD)
9: Optical disk 10: CPU 11: Program memory (ROM)
12: Image memory (RAM) 13: Video memory (RAM) 1
4: Bus line 15: Mouse 20: Personal computer or workstation 21: LAN connection part 22: LAN 23: Pattern information storage means 24: Code information storage means 25: Optical disk device
26: Magneto-optical disk 27: Magnetic disk device

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location H04N 1/21 7232-5C

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An image information input means such as a scanner for inputting image information from the outside, a means for adding sub-data such as code information useful for classification or retrieval to the image information input by the means, and the means. An electronic filing apparatus provided with a data storage means for storing the image information added with sub-data by converting it into a file and a LAN connecting portion for connecting to a LAN so that the data stored in the means can be retrieved and retrieved from the outside. In the above, as the data storage means, a pattern information storage means for storing pattern information such as an image and a sub data storage means for storing sub data such as code information are separately provided, and the input image data is the pattern. The sub data added to the image data in the information storage means are related to each other in the sub data storage means. Electronic filing apparatus being characterized in that so as to store respectively Te. 2. The electronic file device according to claim 1, wherein the pattern information storage means has a small-capacity high-speed storage section and a large-capacity low-speed storage section, and information frequently searched or newly stored information. Is stored in the high-speed storage unit temporarily. 3. A server system which is connected to a LAN to which an electronic file device and a terminal device such as a personal computer or a workstation are connected and which stores and manages image information and text information. A pattern information storage means for storing information and a code information storage means for storing code information such as text information are separately provided,
The image information sent from the electronic file device is stored in the pattern information storage means, and the code information and other text information attached to the image data are stored in the code information storage means. . 4. The server system according to claim 3, wherein the pattern information storage means has a small-capacity high-speed server and a large-capacity low-speed server, and temporarily stores information that is frequently searched and information that is newly stored. A server system characterized in that it is stored in the high-speed server.