JPH07200613A - Image retrieval device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an image retrieval device which excels in the operability by outputting the images registered at random in terms of page order after arranging them in the page order described on each image. CONSTITUTION:The images corresponding to the record numbers to be printed are successively read out of an optical disk 20 and then expanded and stored in a page memory 40. The numbers of the page number recognizing areas included in the images stored in the memory 40 are recognized at a character recognizing part 29. These recognized page numbers are stored in a page table against the record numbers of images. When a print-out instruction is received, a CPU 34 reads the corresponding record numbers out of the page table in order of pages recognized for each document. Then the CPU 34 reads the images corresponding to the record numbers out of the disk 20 and stores them in the memory 40 after expansion. These stored images are outputted to a printer device 25 via a print interface 54. Then the device 25 prints out the images in order of actual page numbers.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

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

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, an image such as a large amount of documents is read by a scanner (two-dimensional scanning device), the read image is stored in an optical disk, and any stored image is searched and read out. Output it to an output device, eg C
2. Description of the Related Art An image filing device which outputs an RT display device or a recording device in a visually recognizable state has been put into practical use.

In such an apparatus, which page of which document is registered for each image registered on the optical disk is managed by a page management table in the document management table stored in the magnetic disk. In the page management table above,
A record number (image number) is stored page by page of one document, and one record number is stored corresponding to each page. In this page management table, pages are added in the order of registration.

In such an apparatus, when the images registered on the optical disk are output to a printer, they are output in the order of registration of the optical disk. For example, suppose a document (image) with pages is registered separately on an optical disc. When this document is printed out, the page numbers are output in a disordered manner, making it impossible to print on both sides.
Also, in single-sided printing, the pages had to be realigned.

[0005]

As described above, when the page order of the images registered in the storage medium is out of order, the pages must be realigned when the image is to be output. However, it eliminates the disadvantages of complicated operations and poor operability.When outputting an image in which the page order is registered in a random order, the images can be displayed on the image even if the operator does not realign the pages. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image search device that can output pages in the order described and that has good operability.

[0006]

An image retrieval apparatus of the present invention stores a plurality of images defined as a document in which one to a plurality of pages are one unit in a storage medium together with retrieval information corresponding to each image. Then, in a case where a desired image is searched from the storage medium by designating search information, an input unit for inputting search conditions, a search condition input by this input unit and the search information are compared to obtain a desired document. Searching means for searching, 1 of documents searched by this searching means
A reading means for sequentially reading images in page units from the storage medium,
The reading means comprises a recognizing means for recognizing the page numbers described in the image read by the reading means, and an output means for reading out and outputting the images corresponding to the page order of the page numbers recognized by the recognizing means from the storage medium. To be done.

The image retrieving apparatus of the present invention stores a plurality of images defined as a document with one to a plurality of pages as one unit, together with retrieval information in a storage medium corresponding to each of these images, and designates retrieval information. In which a desired image is searched from the storage medium by input means for inputting search conditions, search means for searching the desired document by comparing the search conditions input by this input means with the search information, Reading means for sequentially reading from the storage medium the images of one page of the document retrieved by the retrieval means, instructing means for instructing the recognition area in the image read by the reading means, and the reading means. A recognition means for recognizing the page number described in the recognition area designated by the designation means from the image, and a pair of page numbers of the page numbers recognized by the recognition means. An image and an output means for outputting reads from the storage medium.

The image retrieval apparatus of the present invention stores a plurality of images defined as a document in which one to a plurality of pages are set as one unit in the storage medium together with the retrieval information corresponding to each of these images, and designates the retrieval information. In which a desired image is searched from the storage medium by input means for inputting search conditions, search means for searching the desired document by comparing the search conditions input by this input means with the search information, Read-out means for sequentially reading the image of each page of the document searched by the search means from the storage medium, recognition means for recognizing the page number described in the image read by the read-out means, and this recognition means It corresponds to storage means for storing the recognized page number in comparison with the page order of the image stored in the storage medium, and the page order of the page number stored in this storage means. An image and an output means for outputting reads from the storage medium.

The image storage device of the present invention stores a plurality of images defined as a document with one to a plurality of pages as one unit, and also provides search information for searching each image corresponding to each of these images. In what is stored, the supply means for supplying the image having the page number described, the recognition means for recognizing the page number described in the image supplied by the supply means, and the image supplied by the supply means are The processing means stores the page number recognized by the recognition means in association with the search information of the image.

The image storage device of the present invention stores a plurality of images defined as a document with one to a plurality of pages as one unit, and also provides search information for searching each image corresponding to each of these images. In what is stored, a supply means for supplying an image having a page number described, an instruction means for instructing a recognition area in the image supplied by the supply means, and the above-mentioned instruction from the images supplied by the supply means. The recognition means for recognizing the page number described in the recognition area designated by the means and the image supplied by the supply means are stored, and the page number recognized by the recognition means is used as search information for the image. Correspondingly, it comprises processing means for storing.

The image storage device of the present invention stores a plurality of images defined as a document in which one to a plurality of pages are one unit in the first storage medium and retrieves each image corresponding to each of these images. In which the search information for performing the search is stored in the second storage means, the supply means for supplying the image having the page number described therein, and the recognition for recognizing the page number described in the image supplied by the supply means. Means and the image supplied by the supply means are stored in the first storage medium, and the page number recognized by the recognition means is stored in the second storage means corresponding to the search information of the image. Processing means for

[0012]

According to the present invention, a plurality of images defined as a document with one to a plurality of pages as one unit are stored in a storage medium together with search information corresponding to each of these images, and a desired image is designated by specifying the search information. In the above-mentioned storage medium, search conditions are input, the input search condition is compared with the above-mentioned search information to search for a desired document, and an image of each page of the searched document is searched. The page numbers described in the read image are sequentially read from the storage medium, and the images corresponding to the page order of the recognized page numbers are read from the storage medium and output. .

According to the present invention, a plurality of images defined as a document having one to a plurality of pages as one unit are stored and search information for searching each image corresponding to each of these images is stored. , Supplying the image with the page number described, recognizing the page number described in the supplied image, storing the supplied image, and searching the image with the recognized page number The information is stored in correspondence with the information.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of an image storage device of the present invention, for example, an electronic filing device. That is, the electronic filing apparatus includes the control module 1
0, memory module 12, image processing module 14,
Communication control module 16, scanner device (image reading means) 18, optical disk (storage means) 20, optical disk device 22, keyboard 23a, mouse 23b, CRT
A display device 24, a printer device 25, a magnetic disk 26, a magnetic disk device 27, a character recognition unit (recognition means) 29, a system bus 30, and an image bus 32 are included.

The control module 10 is a CPU 34 that performs various controls for image storage, retrieval, edit processing, and the like.
The optical disk device 22, the keyboard 23a, the mouse 23b and the magnetic disk device 27 and the CPU 34 are connected to the interface circuit 36. The memory module 12 is a main memory 3 that stores various control programs such as image storage, retrieval, and editing, and management information.
8, a page memory 40 as an image memory having a storage capacity corresponding to several pages of an A4 size document, a display memory 42 as a display interface, a display control unit 44, and the like. Page memory 40
A buffer memory area 40a is provided in a part of the area. The page memory 40 is a memory that temporarily stores, for example, an image stored in the optical disc 20 or an image read from the optical disc 20. A page table 38a is provided in the main memory 38. The page table 38a stores the recognition result of the page number described in each image with respect to the images whose page order is registered in the optical disc 20 in a random manner. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the recognized page number is stored for the record number of each image.

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 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 / decompression circuit 50 is a MH (Modified Huff).
Band compression or band expansion is performed using a man (man) method, an MR (Modified Read) method, or the like. The communication control module 16 is configured by a communication interface 58 such as a BCP (Bus Communication Processor) connected to a LAN. 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).
or) may be provided.

The character recognition unit 29 detects and cuts out image data (image data) read by the scanner device 18 for each character, and the detected and cut out character pattern and a character pattern stored in a dictionary (not shown). Character recognition is performed by comparison with.

When the page number recognition mode is set, the character recognition unit 29 determines a predetermined page number recognition area (main memory) of the decompressed image read from the optical disk 19 and stored in the page memory 40. The coordinate information is stored in 38; default value). In this area, the first searched image is displayed for confirmation, the area is displayed as shown by a broken line in FIG. 3, and it can be changed (movement processing) by the keyboard 23a or the mouse 23b.

The area for character recognition may be designated by the keyboard 23a or the mouse 23b. 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 equipped with a document feeding device 18a. To obtain an electric signal (image data) according to the image.

The optical disk device 22 is a scanner device 18.
The images of the original document O read in step 1 are sequentially stored in the optical disc 20. Also, the optical disc 20 is searched for an image corresponding to the search condition expression specified by the keyboard 23a or the search sheet C.

The keyboard 23a is used to input a unique search code corresponding to an image stored in the optical disk 20 and various operation commands for storage, search, edit processing and the like. In addition, the mouse 23b moves the cursor (not shown) displayed on the display window of the CRT display device 24, for example, in the vertical and horizontal directions and gives 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 20. 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 includes an image read by the scanner device 18,
The image retrieved from the optical disk 20 or the image displayed on the CRT display device 24 is printed out (hard copy).

The magnetic disk device 27 stores various control programs in the magnetic disk 26 mounted on the magnetic disk device 27, and stores the search code determined from the definition sheet B read by the scanner device 18 and the search code. Optical disc 2 on which the corresponding image is stored
The search data (search information) including the storage address of 0, the image size, and the like is stored.

The search data is managed by a document management table. As shown in FIGS. 4A, 4B, and 4C, the document management table includes a title management table 26a and page management. It is composed of a table 26b and a record management table 26c. As shown in FIG. 4A, the title management table 26a stores one document number corresponding to each search code (image name) composed of a plurality of search keys.
In the page management table 26b, as shown in FIG. 4B, record numbers are stored page by page of one document, and one record number is stored corresponding to each page. ing. As shown in FIG. 4C, the record management table 26c stores a storage address (storage start position) of an image on the optical disc 19 and a document size (image size) for each record number.

The above-mentioned storage address is a logical address, and the physical track address and physical sector address are calculated from this at the time of access.
Next, an operation of image storage and retrieval processing in the electronic filing device having such a configuration will be described. First, the image storage (registration) process will be described.
For example, now, the registration mode is selected and set by the keyboard 23, and the search code of the image to be stored in the optical disc 20 is input. This search code is composed of multiple items of search keys, and the contents of this search key item are as follows:
It is set in advance. The CPU 34 checks the validity of the input search code according to a format defined in advance. Further, the double registration is checked by comparing with the search code already registered in the optical disc 20. Depending on the result of this check, the entered search code is stored in the main memory 13
Memorized in.

Next, the original is set on the scanner device 18, and the CPU 34 operates the optical disk device 22 and the scanner device 18. The scanner device 18 two-dimensionally scans and photoelectrically converts an image of a set document or the like. The line information of the photoelectrically converted image is sequentially stored in the page memory 40. The image stored in the page memory 40 is stored in the display memory 42 and displayed on the CRT display device 24. The skew, density, resolution, etc. of the image displayed on the CRT display device 24 are confirmed, and when the displayed image is satisfactory, a memory key (not shown) is input. Then, the CPU 34 causes the compression / expansion circuit (CODEC) 50 to process the image stored in the page memory 40 for each line information by a known MR.
Encoding processing is performed by band compression using a (Modified Read) method or the like. The encoded image is supplied to the optical disc device 22 and is then transmitted to the optical disc 2.
Stored in 0.

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

The original document is placed on the original document feeder 18a and sequentially supplied to be registered in the optical disc as described above. At the time of this registration, the title of each document may be read, recognized, and input by using a partition sheet (cover) in which the search title is described. When registering the image, the number of pages in the page management table 26b is set in the order of registration, and does not necessarily match the page number described in the actual image.

Next, a process of searching for an image stored on the optical disk 20 along an actual page number and printing the image will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, the print mode based on the search mode and the page number recognition mode is set by the keyboard 23, and the search code corresponding to the image to be searched and printed is input. The CPU 34 sequentially compares and collates the input search code with the search code stored in the title management table 26a of the magnetic disk 26, and sequentially checks whether or not the search code that matches the input search code is stored. Then remove the relevant document number. This allows the CPU
34 stores the extracted candidate document numbers in the main memory 38.

Then, the CPU 34 refers to the document numbers of the candidates in the main memory 38, creates a list (search title) of the relevant documents with the data read from the title management table 26a, and uses the CRT display device 24. To display. With this display, if the operator does not find the document he or she wants to print, the search code is input again. If you can find it, specify the search title to print on the list (specify by document number, etc.),
Instruct to execute search print.

The CPU 34 reads the first record number corresponding to the retrieved print image using the page management table 26b of the magnetic disk 26, and manages the logical address corresponding to the read record number in the magnetic disk 26. The physical track address and the physical sector address corresponding to this address are read out from the table 26c, and the optical disk 20 is calculated from these addresses.
Playback of the image including the search code from the optical disc device 2
Do in 2.

The CPU 34 also supplies the image (compression information) for each scanning line supplied from the optical disk device 22 to the compression / expansion circuit 50, performs band expansion processing, and sequentially supplies it to the page memory 40. The image stored in the page memory 40 is reduced by the enlargement / reduction circuit 46 and output to the display memory 42, and the image is stored in the display memory 42. Therefore, the display control unit 44 controls the display memory 4
The stored contents of No. 2 are displayed on the CRT display device 24.

At this time, the page number recognition area is shown on the CRT display device 24 so that it can be confirmed and changed. When the start is instructed after this confirmation or change, the page number of the page number recognition area stored in the page memory 40 is recognized using the character recognition unit 29, and the record number of the image and the actual page number are recognized. And page table 3
8a.

Thereafter, the image corresponding to the record number to be printed is sequentially read from the optical disc 20, expanded and stored in the page memory 40, and the page number of the page number recognition area in the image stored in the page memory 40 is written as a character. Recognition unit 29
Is stored in the page table 38a by associating the record number of the image with the actual page number (recognized).

Therefore, the record number of the image to be searched and the actual page number are stored in the page table 38a in correspondence with each other for each document (see FIG. 2). Then, when the page number recognition processing for all the images to be printed is completed or when the printout is instructed, the CPU 34 causes the record numbers corresponding to the actual page numbers (recognized) in the document unit of the page table 38a in the order. Is read out, the image corresponding to this record number is read out from the optical disc 20, decompressed and stored in the page memory 40, and the image stored in the page memory 40 is output to the printer device 25 via the printer interface 54. As a result, the printer device 25 prints out in the order of the actual page numbers.
In particular, in the case of double-sided printing, images of pages that are not consecutive numbers are not printed on both sides, and images of consecutive pages are reliably printed.

Further, although the retrieval image is printed out in the above example, it can be similarly displayed. As mentioned above, when printing out the search image from the optical disc,
A page formed by reading each image from the optical disk, recognizing the page number described in each image by the character recognition unit, and the recognized actual page number for the number of pages registered in the page management table of the magnetic disk. A table is created, and images corresponding to the actual page numbers of the created page table are read out from the optical disk and printed out.

As a result, when an image in which the page order is registered separately is output, it is possible to print out the page order described in the image without the operator having to rearrange the pages. Good nature. In this case, the registration can be performed without worrying about the page order of the images at the time of registration, and the registration process can be simplified.

That is, when a registered image (of a document consisting of a plurality of pages) is read from the optical disc, page information on the image is character-recognized to create a page map, and the image is recorded from the optical disc in page order based on this page map. By retrieving and outputting, it is not necessary to arrange page-order documents at the time of registration, and the registration process can be reduced.

When the search is printed, the pages can be displayed in order when displayed. That is, the page number can be automatically sorted by the page number reading function of the character recognition unit. In the above embodiment, the case where the database in which the search data is stored is the magnetic disk has been described. good.

Although the page number recognition result for each image is stored in the page table of the main memory, the page number recognition result may be stored corresponding to the record number in the page management table of the database. . Further, in the above example, the page number is recognized from the image registered in the optical disc at the time of search, and the page table is created, but the invention is not limited to this.
When registering an image, the page number may be recognized from the image read by the scanner device to create a page table, or the number of pages in the page management table of the database may be changed with the actually recognized page number.

As a result, the registration can be performed without worrying about the page order of the images, the registration process can be simplified, and especially when each page of the document is printed out (displayed) in sequence later, it is particularly special. Even if the process is not performed, the pages are printed out (displayed) in page order. That is, when the image read by the scanner device 18 is stored in the page memory 40 during the registration process, the characters in the page number recognition area are displayed in the character recognition unit 2.
The main memory 38 is recognized as a part of the title.
As a result, the page management table 2 is stored.
The page number actually recognized is also stored corresponding to the record number 6b.

[0045]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention,
When outputting an image in which the page order is registered separately, it is possible to output the page order described in the image without the operator having to rearrange the pages, and an image search device with good operability can be provided. Can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of storage of a page table.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a page number recognition area.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a storage example of a document management table.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a search print process.

[Explanation of symbols]

 20 ... Optical disk 22 ... Optical disk device 23a ... Keyboard 23b ... Mouse 24 ... CRT display device 25 ... Printer device 26 ... Magnetic disk 27 ... Magnetic disk device 34 ... CPU 38 ... Main memory 38a ... Page table

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of images defined as a document having one to a plurality of pages as one unit are stored in a storage medium together with search information corresponding to each of these images, and a desired image is specified by specifying the search information. In an image retrieval apparatus for retrieving from a storage medium, an input means for inputting search conditions, a search means for comparing the search conditions input by this input means with the above-mentioned search information, and searching for a desired document, The reading means for sequentially reading from the storage medium the image of each page of the document searched by the means, the recognizing means for recognizing the page number described in the image read by the reading means, and the recognizing means. An image retrieving apparatus comprising: an output unit that reads out an image corresponding to the page order of the recognized page number from the storage medium and outputs the image. 2. A plurality of images defined as a document with one to a plurality of pages as one unit are stored in a storage medium together with search information corresponding to each of these images, and the desired image is specified by designating the search information. In an image retrieval apparatus for retrieving from a storage medium, an input means for inputting search conditions, a search means for comparing the search conditions input by this input means with the above-mentioned search information, and searching for a desired document, The reading means for sequentially reading from the storage medium the images of one page of the document searched by the means, the indicating means for indicating the recognition area in the image read by the reading means, and the reading means for reading. A recognition means for recognizing the page number described in the recognition area designated by the designation means from the image, and an image corresponding to the page order of the page number recognized by the recognition means An image retrieval device comprising: an output unit that reads out from the storage medium and outputs it. 3. A plurality of images defined as a document having one to a plurality of pages as one unit are stored in a storage medium together with search information corresponding to each of these images, and a desired image is specified by designating the search information. In an image retrieval apparatus for retrieving from a storage medium, an input means for inputting search conditions, a search means for comparing the search conditions input by this input means with the above-mentioned search information, and searching for a desired document, The reading means for sequentially reading from the storage medium the image of each page of the document searched by the means, the recognizing means for recognizing the page number described in the image read by the reading means, and the recognizing means. Storage means for storing the recognized page numbers in comparison with the page order of the images stored in the storage medium, and an image corresponding to the page order of the page numbers stored in the storage means are displayed. An image retrieval apparatus comprising: an output unit that reads out from the storage medium and outputs the read out output. 4. An image storage device for storing a plurality of images defined as a document having one to a plurality of pages as a unit and storing search information for searching each image corresponding to each of these images. Supply means for supplying an image with the page number described, recognition means for recognizing the page number described in the image supplied by the supply means, and storing the image supplied by the supply means. An image storage device comprising: a processing unit that stores the page number recognized by the recognition unit in association with search information of the image. 5. An image storage device for storing a plurality of images defined as a document having one to a plurality of pages as a unit and storing search information for searching each image corresponding to each of these images. , Supplying means for supplying an image in which the page number is described, instructing means for instructing a recognition area in the image supplied by the supplying means, and the instructing means for selecting from the images supplied by the supplying means. The recognition means for recognizing the page number described in the designated recognition area and the image supplied by the supply means are stored, and the page number recognized by the recognition means corresponds to the search information of the image. An image storage device, comprising: 6. A plurality of images defined as a document having one to a plurality of pages as one unit are stored in a first storage medium, and search information for searching each image corresponding to each of these images is stored. In the image storage device for storing in the second storage means, a supply means for supplying an image having a page number described thereon, and a recognition means for recognizing the page number described in the image supplied by the supply means, Processing means for storing the image supplied by the supply means in the first storage medium, and for storing the page number recognized by the recognition means in the second storage means corresponding to the search information of the image. An image storage device comprising: