JPH0721350A - Image processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the image processing system for executing the image retrieval/display of image data at a high speed which is compressed hierarchically. CONSTITUTION:A computer 10 having a storage device 15 and a display device 16 is connected mutually through a communication channel 1 to a computer 20 having a storage device 25 and a display device 26. An image control program 12 controls image compression data 151 in the storage device 15. The image compression data 151 is compressed, and divided into level 1 compression data 1511, level 2 compression data 1512 and level 3 compression data 1513. An image processing program 13 obtains a store position of the image compression data 151 corresponding to an image A through the image control program 12, reads out this data from the storage device 15, stores it temporarily in a buffer 14, expands it and obtains image data and displays it on a display device 16. As for the whole image compression data 151, its detail image 161 is displayed on the display device.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to the storage and storage of images, for example.
The present invention relates to an image processing system that performs processing such as transfer, editing, and display.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Since image data has a huge amount of data,
It takes a lot of time to transfer data, and it takes time to display the entire image and confirm the target. Therefore, in general, an image is often processed after being subjected to data compression.

In recent years, a technique has been developed in which image data is hierarchically compressed and handled in terms of image accuracy. For example,
This is compression / decompression in JPEG progressive mode. According to this, the image data is converted into three pieces of compressed data of the level 1 compressed data, the level 2 compressed data, and the level 3 compressed data in order of coarser image accuracy.

When the level 1 compressed data is expanded, level 1 image data having a rough image accuracy can be obtained. This allows a simplified image to be displayed. Further, by expanding based on the level 1 compressed data and the level 2 compressed data, level 2 image data with high image accuracy can be obtained. Further, by decompressing all the compressed data from level 1 to level 3, level 3 image data is obtained. This allows a detailed image to be displayed.

When the details of an image are to be verified, or when image accuracy is emphasized for the purpose of viewing the image, three compressed data from level 1 to level 3 are sequentially transferred to obtain a detailed image. Restore and use.

On the other hand, when the search speed is more important than the image accuracy when searching for an image, only the level 1 compressed data is transferred to restore and use the simple image.

[0007]

However, for example, when a certain image is searched from a plurality of image data, only the level 1 compressed data is transferred, each image is restored and the search target is selected, and then that image is selected. When viewing, transfer three compressed data from level 1 to level 3 again,
Detailed image will be restored and used, same level 1
There is a problem in that the compressed data must pass through the communication path many times, which deteriorates the utilization efficiency of the communication path.

When image data is collectively managed by a database of one computer and the images on the database are displayed by a computer or the like connected to a network, the data transfer rate of a wide area network or the like is low in the network. If there is a communication path, it will take a very long time even if only level 1 compressed data is transferred,
It wasn't easy to search for images. Also,
Even if the data transfer speed of the communication path connecting the networks is high, the actual data transfer speed will drop if a large amount of various data is being exchanged between other computers, and the site will be spread over a wide area network. When managing the image data collectively, it took a very long time to display the image data.

The present invention has been made in view of the above conventional example, and an object thereof is to provide an image processing system having a short image processing time.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, the image processing system of the present invention has the following configuration.
That is, a first processing device having storage means for storing all compressed data of image data, a storage means for storing basic compressed data of the image data, and a basic processing for storing the image data in the storage means of the first processing device. If compressed data is stored, select partial compressed data obtained by subtracting basic compressed data of the image data from all compressed data of the image data. If not stored, select all compressed data of the image data. A second processing device having a selecting means for selecting, the first processing device and the second processing device, the compressed data selected by the selecting means from the second processing device to the first processing. And a transfer means for transferring to the device.

Further, another invention is a first database server having storage means for storing basic compressed data of image data, and a second database server having storage means for storing all compressed data of the image data. And at least one image processing apparatus, the first database server, and the second database server each include a transmission unit for performing data transmission with each other.

[0012]

In the above structure, the storage means of the first processing device stores all the compressed data of the image data, and the storage means of the second processing device stores the basic compressed data of the image data. When the basic compression data of the image data is stored in the storage means of the first processing device, the selecting means of the processing device subtracts the basic compression data of the image data from all the compression data of the image data. If partial compressed data is selected and not stored, then all compressed data of the image data is selected, and the transfer means of each of the first processing device and the second processing device is selected by the selecting means. The compressed data is transferred from the second processing device to the first processing device.

In another invention, the storage means of the first database server stores basic compressed data of image data, and the storage means of the second database server stores all compressed data of the image data. Data transmission between the at least one image processing device, the first database server, and the second database server is performed.

[0014]

【Example】

(Embodiment 1) An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG.

First, the configuration of FIG. 1 will be described. Computer 10 to which storage device 15 and display device 16 are connected
Are interconnected via the communication path 1 with the computer 20 to which the storage device 25 and the display device 26 are connected.
The computer 10 and the computer 20 are equipped with a keyboard, a pointing device, a processing result output device, and the like, which are not shown. The communication path 1 is, for example, a local area network or a wide area communication network such as ISDN.

In the computer 10, the image management program 12 and the image processing program 13 are executed under the control of the supervisor program 11. The image management program 12 manages the compressed image data 151, 152, 153 stored in the storage device 15. The image compression data 151 is progressively compressed and is divided into three parts of level 1 compression data 1511, level 2 compression data 1512, and level 3 compression data 1513.
Similarly, each of the image compression data 152 and 153 is progressively compressed and divided into three parts.

The image processing program 13 compresses / decompresses image data and displays an image on the display device 16.
For example, the storage position of the compressed image data 151 corresponding to the image A is acquired via the image management program 12, this data is read from the storage device 15, and is temporarily stored in the buffer 14. Then, this is expanded to obtain image data and displayed on the display device 16. The detailed image 161 is displayed on the display device 16 for the entire image compressed data 151.

Next, a process of displaying an image stored on the computer 10 side on the computer 20 side will be described.

The computer 20 also executes the image management program 22 and the image processing program 23 under the control of the supervisor program 21.

The image processing program 23, like the image processing program 13, performs compression / expansion of image data and image display on the display device 26. Further, in order to retrieve the image on the computer 10 side, a request is made to transfer the level 1 compressed data of each image. This is realized by transmitting a request to the image management program 12 via the supervisor 21 and the supervisor 11, and the image management program 12 transferring the level 1 compressed data to the buffer 24 via the supervisor 11 and the supervisor 21. Next, the image processing program decompresses the data temporarily stored in the buffer 24 to obtain level 1 image data and displays it on the display device 16.

On the other hand, when a transfer request for only the image A is made, the level 1 compressed data 1511 is transferred to the buffer 24 and similarly expanded to generate level 1 image data. When this is displayed on the display device 26, an image 261 is obtained. Here, the image 161 is a simplified image so that it can be easily understood by comparing with the image 161. At this time, the image processing program 22 stores the level 1 compressed data 1511 transferred to the buffer in the storage device 25 via the image management program 22 as the level 1 compressed data 25 of the image A.
It is stored as 11.

Similarly, when a transfer request for the image B is made, the level 1 compressed data 1521 is transferred to the buffer 24, expanded similarly, and a simplified image (not shown) is displayed on the display device 25. Also at this time, the image processing program 22 causes the level 1 image data 15 transferred to the buffer
21 to the storage device 2 via the image management program 22.
5 and stores it as the level 1 compressed data 2521 of the image B.

Next, a process for determining an image to be viewed and then viewing the image in detail after searching for the simple image will be described.

When the image A is displayed in detail on the computer 20, the image processing program 23 first inquires of the image management program 22 whether basic compressed data of the image A is stored. Since the basic compressed data of the image A has already been stored as the level 1 compressed data 2511, this is first transferred to the buffer 24. Next, regarding the image A, the transfer request of the compressed data excluding the level 1 compressed data is issued by the supervisor 21 and the supervisor 11.
To the image management program 12 via. In response to this, the image management program 12 transfers the compressed data of level 2 and level 3 to the buffer 24 via the supervisor 11 and the supervisor 21. Since all the compressed data of the image A is now available in the buffer 24, the same image as the detailed image 161 can be displayed on the display device 26 by decompressing it.

When the compressed data of level 1 is not stored, the transfer request for all the compressed data is issued as usual.

The above processing will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The flowchart of FIG. 2 shows the processing of the image processing program 22 (FIG. 1). Here, the process for displaying the details of the image A on the display device 26 is performed.

In step S1, the image management program 2
2 is inquired whether the basic compressed data of the image A is stored. The image management program 22 checks whether the data of the image A is stored, and if there is, informs the image processing program 23 that the data of the image A is stored, and the image processing program 23 obtains this information. , To proceed to step S2 in order to transfer the image A to the buffer 24. If not, the process proceeds to step S7 to have all the compressed data transferred from the computer 10.

In step S2, the basic compressed data of the image A is transferred to the buffer 24.

In step S3, the remaining compressed data relating to the image A, that is, the transfer request of A level 2 and A level 3 is issued to the computer 10.

In step S4, the image management program 12 of the computer 10 accepts the transfer request for the compressed data of A level 2 and A level 3 of the image A, and transfers it to the computer 20 through the communication path 1. Image processing program 2
In 3, the transferred data is transferred to the buffer 24.
It should be noted that although the detailed display of the image A is described here, the compressed data of the level 2 and the level 3 of the image A is transferred. You may only transfer the data.

In step S7, a transfer request for all the compressed data relating to the image A is issued to the computer 10.

In step S8, the image management program 12 of the computer 10 accepts the transfer request for all the compressed data of the image A and transfers it to the computer 20 via the communication path 1. The image processing program 23 transfers the transferred data to the buffer 24.

In step S 5, the compressed data of the image A stored in the buffer 24 is expanded and stored in the buffer 24.

In step S6, the image data developed in the buffer 24 is displayed on the display device 25.

The level 1 image data is stored in the buffer 24.
At the same time when the transfer of the compressed data of the remaining level is requested to the computer 10 side at the same time when the transfer of the compressed data of the remaining level is performed in parallel, the time until the data is collected in the buffer 24 is shortened. , The time to display can be shortened.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the following effects can be obtained. In other words, it is not necessary to transfer the same level 1 compressed data again using the communication path,
Can reduce traffic on the communication path,
The time from image search to display can be greatly reduced. Further, in the above description, the decompression is performed after all the compressed data are arranged in the buffer, but the compressed data of each level may be decompressed sequentially.

[Second Embodiment] In the first embodiment, an example in which the level 1 compressed data is stored in the storage device 25 has been described, but in the second embodiment, a large capacity buffer 24 is prepared. This is an example of storing in a partial area. If level 1 compressed data is stored in this area, a transfer request for differential compressed data is made, while if not stored, a transfer request for all compressed data is made. In this case, the image management program 2
There is no need to go through 2.

In the first embodiment, it is described that the level 1 compressed data is stored when the simplified image is displayed. However, even when the detailed image is displayed, if only the level 1 compressed data is stored, the subsequent simplified Images can be displayed immediately.

In the description of the present invention, the basic compressed data is described as level 1 compressed data, but the level 1 and level 2 compressed data may be combined and treated as basic compressed data.

Although the target data has been described by taking a still image as an example, if the data is progressively compressed,
It goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to various types of data such as moving images and sounds.

As described above, according to the second embodiment, the following effects can be obtained. That is, by storing frequently used compressed image data of low resolution in the high-speed access memory, it is possible to search and display images faster than in the first embodiment.

[Third Embodiment] FIG. 3 is a block diagram for explaining a third embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, description will be given with reference to this figure.

The database server 100 is a disk 15
And is connected to the communication path 1, which are managed and controlled by the data management program 12 and the supervisor 11. In the disk 15, the first embodiment is provided.
As described above, the compressed data of the image A, the image B, and the image C is stored. Similarly, the database server 200 has a disk 25 built therein and is connected to the communication path 2, and these are managed and controlled by the data management program 22 and the supervisor 21. Disk 2
5, the level 1 compressed data of the image A, the image B, and the image C is stored in the same manner as described in the first embodiment.

A computer 30 and a computer 40 are also connected to the communication path 2.

A display device 36 and a display device 46 are connected to the computer 30 and the computer 40, respectively. Further, a keyboard (not shown), a pointing device, and an output device for outputting the processing result are provided.

The communication path 1 and the communication path 2 are connected by the communication path 3.

The communication paths 1, 2, and 3 use, for example, a local area network or a wide area communication network such as ISDN.

The database servers 100, 200 and the computers 30, 40 can exchange data via the communication paths 1, 2, 3 by the mutual action of the supervisor programs 11, 21, 31, 41, respectively. .

The database server 100 is executed by the data management program 12 under the control of the supervisor program 11. Similarly, the database server 200 also executes the data management program 22 under the control of the supervisor 21.

In the computer 30, the supervisor 31
Under the control of, the image processing program 33 executes. Similarly, in the computer 40, under the control of the supervisor program 41, the image processing program 43
To run.

The data management program 12 stores the compressed image data 1511, 1512, 1513 in the storage device 1.
Manage the storage location in 5.

The data management program 22 manages the storage location in the storage device 25 for the level 1 compressed data 2511, 2521, 2531.

The image processing program 33 compresses / decompresses image data and displays the image on the display device 36. Similarly, the image processing program 43 compresses the image data /
Decompression and image display on the display device 46 are performed.

First, the case where the detailed display of the image A is performed by the computer 30 will be described.

The image compression data 151 is read from the database server 100 and temporarily recorded in the buffer 34. In this case, the data is communication path 1, communication path 2, communication path 3
Is transferred to the buffer 34 via. Then, this is expanded to obtain image data and displayed on the display device 36.
For the entire image compressed data 151, the detailed image 361
Can be displayed as

Next, the case where the computer 40 simply displays the image A will be described.

Level 1 from the database server 200
The compressed data 2511 is read out and temporarily recorded in the buffer 44. Then, this is expanded to obtain image data and displayed on the display device 46. The compressed data 2511 can be displayed as a simplified image 461. In this case, since the data is transferred to the buffer 44 only via the communication path 3, high-speed data transfer is performed and the time until display can be shortened.

As described above, in the third embodiment,
An example has been shown in which the database server holding the detailed image and the database server holding the simplified image are distinguished, and the image processing program switches the reading destination of the data.

As described above, according to the third embodiment, the following effects can be obtained. That is, of all the compressed data of an image, only the frequently accessed data such as low resolution compressed data is stored in the database of the file server in the local network to which the computer that needs the data is connected. By doing so, the processing time for image search processing and full-resolution image display can be performed at high speed.

[Fourth Embodiment] In the fourth embodiment, basically, only simple images are registered in each database server, and reference information of the database server in which detailed images are registered is also registered. Therefore, the image processing program requests the nearby database server to transfer the image data regardless of whether the image is a detailed image or a simplified image.
If you plan to obtain a detailed image but only a simplified image can be obtained, change the registration destination of the detailed image and, according to it, compress the detailed image from the distant database server excluding the compressed data of the simplified image. Data (hereafter
Called as differential compressed data).

As described above, according to the fourth embodiment, the following effects can be obtained. That is, the image processing program does not need to manage each image storage destination, and the data management can be entrusted to the database at once.

Further, it is possible to mix detailed images and simple images in the same database server without separating the database server for detailed image registration and the database server for simple image registration. For example, image C
On the other hand, the database server 200 registers all the compressed data, and the database server 100 stores the level 1 data.
It is possible to register the reference information to the database server 200 that is the storage destination of the compressed image and all the compressed data. In this case, since detailed management can be performed by storing all the compressed data in a database server in the vicinity where a detailed image is often used, the utilization efficiency of the image is improved. [Fifth Embodiment] In the fourth embodiment, the registration destination of the detailed image is inquired prior to the transfer of the detailed image. If only simple images are registered in this database server, this database server is requested to transfer the simplified images, and the database server in which the detailed images are registered is requested to transfer differential compressed data. .

As described above, according to the fifth embodiment, the following effects can be obtained. That is, if the compressed data of the simplified image and the compressed data of the detailed image are transferred in parallel, the time until the data is collected in the buffer can be shortened and the time until the display can be shortened.

[Embodiment 6] In the above embodiments, the database servers are described as independent ones, but in the form of a so-called distributed database, the database servers 100, 200 (communication path 1, It may be connected by a network (composed of communication path 2 and communication path 3).

When the image processing program accesses each image, data is exchanged via a database client program coupled to the image processing program, not by specifying the database server.

In this distributed database, when the image is registered, the entire compressed data of the detailed image is stored. For example, when the image A is registered in the database server 100, it is registered as the image compressed data 151 as shown in FIG. At that time, the level 1 compressed data 2511 is not yet stored in the database server 200.

At this time, the image A from the computer 30
When there is a request to retrieve
The compressed image data 151 is transferred from the registration destination database server 100 to the computer 30. At the same time, only the simplified image data portion, that is, the level 1 compressed data 2 is stored in the database server 200 near the computer 30.
511 is stored and the storage destination information as the distributed database is updated. Thus, from the next time onward, when the computer 30 makes a request to retrieve the image A, the distributed database sends the level 1 from the database server 200.
The compressed data 2511 is transferred, and level 2 which is differential compressed data from the database server 10 of the registration destination.
Compressed data 1512 and level 3 compressed data 1513
Is transferred to the computer 30. By doing this,
In addition to shortening the time until display, the image processing program can take out the image without considering the image transfer source at all.

In the above description of the embodiment, the basic compressed data is described as level 1 compressed data, but the level 1 and level 2 compressed data may be combined and treated as basic compressed data. Further, although the present embodiment has been described by taking a still image as an example of target data, the present invention can be applied to any form of data such as a moving image and a sound as long as the data is progressively compressed.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the following effects can be obtained. That is, by registering the reference information for the database server in which the simplified image compressed data and the detailed image are registered in each database server, the image processing program does not need to manage the storage destination of each image. Easy to manage.

[0070]

According to the present invention, for example, image retrieval and image display can be performed at high speed.

[0071]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of first and second embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the processing contents of the first and second embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of Examples 3, 4, 5, and 6.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Communication Path 10,20 Computer 14,24 Buffer 15,25 Storage Device 16,26 Display Device 12,22 Image Management Program 13,23 Image Processing Program 151,152,153 Image Compressed Data 1511,1521,521,521 Level 1 Compressed data 1512 Level 2 compressed data 1513 Level 3 compressed data 161 Detailed image 261 Simplified image

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An image processing system for transferring image data between a plurality of devices, comprising: a first processing device having a storage means for storing all compressed data of the image data; and basic compressed data of the image data. A second processing device having a storage means; and the basic compression data of the image data stored in the storage means of the second processing device, the basic compression of the image data from all the compressed data of the image data. Select the partially compressed data with the data subtracted, and if it is not stored,
The second processing device further includes a selection unit that selects all the compressed data of the image data, and the first processing device and the second processing device further include:
A transfer unit that transfers the compressed data selected by the selection unit from the second processing apparatus to the first processing apparatus is provided, and the first processing apparatus and the second processing apparatus are separately provided. An image processing system characterized by being provided. 2. A database system for managing data with a plurality of database servers, comprising: a first database server having storage means for storing basic compressed data of image data; and storing for storing all compressed data of the image data. A second database server including means, and at least one image processing apparatus, the first database server, and the second database server include a transmission means for mutually transmitting data. system.