JPH07271819A - Picture retrieving device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a picture retrieving device capable of easily confirming a picture without being complicated by a mutually similar part among successively displayed pictures at the time of successively retrieving and displaying pictures. CONSTITUTION:This picture retrieving device is provided with a storage means for storing plural pictures together with retrieving information, a retrieving means (S120) for retrieving a picture from the storage means based on the retrieving information, a 1st display means for displaying the picture retrieved by the retrieving means, an area specifying means (S122) for specifying a partial area in the picture displayed by the display means, a 2nd display means (S123) for uniformly displaying an area excluding the partial area specified by the specifying means out of the retrieved picture as a background, and a 3rd display means (S125) for retrieving a picture continued to the retrieved data displayed by the 1st display means, displaying a picture only in an area corresponding to the partial area in the retrieved picture and uniformly displaying the other area as a background.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image retrieval device,
In particular, the present invention relates to an image search device such as an image information filing device that registers and searches image information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, image information such as a large amount of documents is read by a scanner (two-dimensional scanning device), the read image information is stored in an optical disc, and any stored image information is searched. An image information filing apparatus has been put into practical use, which reads out and outputs it in a state in which it can be viewed by an output device such as a CRT display device or a recording device.

In such an apparatus, high-speed continuous search (fluttering), that is, page turning sequentially displayed for each page of a plurality of documents, or page document turning sequentially displayed for each first page of a plurality of documents is performed. , Is supposed to be done at high speed.

[0004]

When the images are continuously searched at high speed while looking at the screen as described above, it is difficult for the operator to recognize the images when similar images are registered. Therefore, an object of the present invention is, when high-speed search display of an arbitrary image is performed, by designating image development only in a specific area that represents the characteristics of the image and leaving other areas as margins, the images are similar to each other. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image retrieval device that can easily display an image without being confused by an extra portion of the image.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the image retrieval apparatus according to the present invention retrieves a plurality of images defined as a document in which one to a plurality of pages are one unit, corresponding to each of these images. Storage means for giving an image number and storing the information together with information, first extracting means for extracting a document number of a candidate image for search by designating the search information, and candidate images extracted by the first extracting means. Selecting means for selecting one image by the document number and page number; and searching means for searching the desired image selected by the selecting means from the storage means by the image number determined by the document number and page number. The first display means for displaying the image searched by the searching means, the area designating means for designating a specific area in the image displayed by the display means, and the area designating means. Instructing to display a second display unit that uniformly displays an area in the searched image except for a specified specific area and a display image that is continuous with the search image displayed by the first display unit. An image continuous with the search image by the instruction means and the document number of the candidate image extracted by the first extraction means in response to the instruction of the instruction means, the document number of the search image, and the page number. Of the image number corresponding to the specific area in the image corresponding to the image number extracted by the second extracting means. And a third display means for uniformly displaying the background.

[0006]

When the continuous image search is performed, the area is designated on the display screen, the developed image is displayed only for the designated area, and the area other than the designated area is a blank area and the searched image is not developed. Also, along with the image pattern,
The background display of the margin is changed.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2 show an example of the structure of an image search apparatus of the present invention, for example, an electronic filing apparatus. That is, the electronic filing device has a control module 1
0, memory module 12, image processing module 14,
Communication control module 16, scanner device 18, optical disk (storage means) 20, optical disk device 22, keyboard 23, CRT display device (display means) 24,
The printer device 25, the magnetic disk 26, the magnetic disk device 27, the mouse 29, the system bus 30, and the image bus 32 are included.

The control module 10 stores image information,
CPU 3 that performs various controls for search and edit processing
4. DMCA for controlling information transfer separately from CPU 34
(Direct memory address controller) 3
5, an optical disk device 22, a magnetic disk device 27, and an interface circuit 36 for connecting the CPU 34. The CPU 34 is also connected to the keyboard 23 and the mouse 29.

The memory module 12 has a main memory 38 for storing various control programs such as image information storage, retrieval and editing, and management information, and a storage capacity corresponding to image information for several pages of A4 size document. The image memory includes a page memory 40 as an image memory, a display memory 42 as a display interface and a display controller 44, and an address generator 60 for generating an address used by the page memory 40 and the display memory 42. Has been done. A buffer memory area 40a is provided in a part of the page memory 40. The buffer memory area 40a is the DMAC 35.
The writing and reading are controlled by the counter 39 which is counted up by the write pulse for every 1 byte from. The counter 39 has a buffer memory area 40.
An empty signal is output when the data of a is empty (none), that is, "0", and a full signal is output when the data is full. The empty signal and the full signal from the counter 39 are output to the compression / decompression circuit 50. The page memory 40 is a memory for temporarily storing, for example, image information stored in the optical disc 20 or image information read from the optical disc 20.

The display memory 42 is for temporarily storing image information displayed by the CRT display device 24. The display memory 42 enlarges or reduces the image information actually displayed in the display window of the CRT display device 24, for example, the image information from the page memory 40 or the image information from the buffer memory 40a. The image information that has been rotated, inserted, or inverted in black and white is stored. Display control unit 44
Controls the display processing of the CRT display device 24 using the address control circuit 44a.

The display memory 42 is, for example, a one-window display in which one image is displayed in the entire display memory 42, and when four pages of images are stored at the time of flipping pages such as the page turning described later, FIG. As shown in a) to (e), the storage areas 42a, 42b, 42c, 42 are respectively stored.
It is designed to be stored in d.

The image processing module 14 includes an enlarging / reducing circuit 46 for enlarging and reducing image information, a vertical / horizontal converting circuit 48 for rotating image information, and compressing image information (reducing redundancy). The compression / decompression circuit (CODEC) 50 that performs the encoding process that is performed and the decoding process that performs the decompression (to restore the reduced redundancy to the original), the scanner device 1
8 scanner interface 52, printer device 2
5, a printer interface 54, a scaling circuit 46, a vertical / horizontal conversion circuit 48, and a compression / decompression circuit 50.
The internal bus 56 connects the scanner interface 52 and the printer interface 54.

The compression / expansion circuit 50 includes an MH (Modify).
ed Huffman) method or MR (Modi)
Bandwidth compression or bandwidth expansion is performed using a fied read) method or the like. The communication control module 16 is, for example, a BCP (Bu
s Communication Process
r) and other communication interfaces 58. In addition, the communication control module 16 is used to interface with external equipment such as FCP (facsimile connection mechanism) and personal computer.
UCP (Universa) connected via a face
l Communication Process
r) may be provided.

The system bus 30 is a bus for control signals of various devices, and includes a control module 10 and a memory module.
The module 12, the image processing module 14, and the communication control module 16 are connected to each other. The image bus 32 is a bus for image information and connects the memory module 12, the image processing module 14, and the communication control module 16.

The scanner device 18 is, for example, a two-dimensional scanning device, which obtains an electric signal according to image information on a document by scanning a document (document) two-dimensionally with a laser beam.

The optical disk device 22 is a scanner device 18.
The image information read in step 1 is sequentially stored in the optical disc 20. Further, the optical disc 20 is searched for image information corresponding to the search information designated by the keyboard 23 or the like.

The keyboard 23 is for inputting specific search information corresponding to image information stored on the optical disk 20 and various operation commands for storage, search, edit processing and the like. The mouse 29 is, for example, the CRT display device 2
By moving the cursor (not shown) displayed on the display window of 4 up and down, left and right, and giving an instruction at the desired position, the display contents (various contents of the cursor are displayed) Operation mode, area designation or icon for image editing, etc.) is selected or instructed. CRT
The display device (cathode ray tube display device) 24 displays an image read by the scanner device 18 and an image retrieved from the optical disc 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.

Further, the CRT display device 24 is
It is a multi-window type display device capable of displaying images simultaneously using one, two, or four windows. The image displayed in each display window is
Editing processing such as image enlargement, reduction, rotation, scrolling, etc. is independently performed.

Further, when the display of a plurality of images, for example, four images is selected in a state where the page-turning is selected, such as when turning pages, when one window is displayed, as shown in FIG.
One window Wa is divided into four and four images are respectively displayed in the display areas a, b, c and d. When two windows are displayed, two windows W are displayed as shown in FIG.
One of the selected windows Wa ′ (Wb ′) of a ′ and Wb ′ is divided into four and four images are respectively displayed in the display areas a ′, b ′, c ′, d ′, When four windows are displayed, as shown in FIG. 6, one window Wd ″ (Wa ″ selected from the four windows Wa ″, Wb ″, Wc ″, and Wd ″)
″, Wb ″, Wc ″) are divided into four, and four images are displayed in each of the display areas a ″, b ″, c ″,
It is displayed on d ″.

Further, in the lower part of the window Wa, ...
As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, a display showing the contents of the function keys F1 to F10 of the key board 23 is provided.

For example, when searching for a desired image, as shown in FIG. 7, F1 is "page turning", F2 is "page turning", F3 is "page returning", F4 is "document returning", and F6 is "page turning". Confirm ”, F7 as“ Print ”, F8
"4 screens (1 screen)", F10 "Cancel"
Is displayed.

Further, when page-turning or the like is specified, as shown in FIG. 8, F1 is "page-turning", F2
"Document turning", F3 "Page return", F4 "Document return", F9 "Stop" are displayed, and the function key portion corresponding to the designation is highlighted.

The page turning means, as shown in FIG.
In the candidate document group, the images currently searched and displayed are displayed page by page and in document order at high speed in page units.

As shown in the figure, the document turning is the image of the first page of the document next to the image currently searched and displayed in the candidate document group at the time of search (current search image). It is possible to display at high speed from the first page of the document corresponding to the above) to the document unit (only the first page).

As shown in the same figure, the page return means that when searching,
In the candidate document group, the images currently searched and displayed are displayed in page reverse order and document reverse order at high speed page by page.

As shown in the figure, the document return means that the image on the first page of the document before the image currently searched and displayed in the candidate document group at the time of retrieval (currently searched image It is possible to display at high speed from the first page of the document corresponding to the above) to the document unit (only the first page).

Further, the storage position of each image in the display memory 42 in the case of four-page display, such as page turning, will be described with reference to the configuration diagram of the main part shown in FIG. That is, the image 1 retrieved and read from the optical disc 20 is first stored in the buffer memory 40a. The image 1 in the buffer memory 40a is reduced by the enlargement / reduction circuit 46 and output to the display memory 42. At this time, CP
The U 34 uses the address control circuit 44a of the display control unit 44 to specify a write address, so that the image supplied from the enlargement / reduction circuit 46 to the storage area 42a of the display memory 42 corresponding to the display area a (reduced image). ) 1
Is memorized.

Next, the image 2 stored in the buffer memory 40a is reduced by the enlargement / reduction circuit 46 and output to the display memory 42. At this time, the CPU 34 uses the address control circuit 44a of the display control unit 44 to specify the write address, so that the enlargement / reduction circuit 4 is stored in the storage area 42b of the display memory 42 corresponding to the display area b.
The image 2 supplied from 6 is stored.

Next, the image 3 stored in the buffer memory 40a is reduced by the enlargement / reduction circuit 46 and output to the display memory 42. At this time, the CPU 34 uses the address control circuit 44a of the display control unit 44 to specify the write address, so that the enlargement / reduction circuit 4 is stored in the storage area 42c of the display memory 42 corresponding to the display area c.
The image 3 supplied from 6 is stored.

Then, the image 4 stored in the buffer memory 40a is reduced by the enlargement / reduction circuit 46 and output to the display memory 42. At this time, the CPU 34 uses the address control circuit 44a of the display control unit 44 to specify the write address, so that the enlargement / reduction circuit 4 is stored in the storage area 42d of the display memory 42 corresponding to the display area d.
The image 4 supplied from 6 is stored.

.. are stored in the storage areas 42a, ... Corresponding to the display areas a ,. As a result, the display control unit 44 determines that the stored contents of the storage areas 42a, 42b, 42c, and 42d of the display memory 42 are the display area a of the CRT display device 24,
Displayed as b, c, d.

As a result, the images 1 to be flipped over such as page turning are reduced and displayed in the display areas a. The printer device 25 prints out (hard copy) the image information read by the scanner device 18, the image information retrieved from the optical disk 20, or the image information displayed on the CRT display device 24.

The magnetic disk device 27 stores various control programs in the magnetic disk 26 mounted on the magnetic disk device 27, and retrieves information input from the keyboard 23 and an image corresponding to the retrieved information. It stores search data including a storage address on the optical disk 20 where information is stored, an image size, a search frequency, and the like.

The above-mentioned search data is managed by a document management table, and this document management table is shown in FIG.
a, a page management table 26b, and a record management table 26c. Title management table above
In the bull 26a, one document number is stored corresponding to each piece of search information (image name) composed of a plurality of search keys. The page management table 26b stores a record number for each page of one document, and one record number is correspondingly stored for each page. In the record management table 26c, the storage address (storage start position) of the image information on the optical disk 19 for each record number, the document size (image size), the image attributes such as the compression method and the resolution, and the search are performed. The frequency (access frequency) is stored. The storage address is a logical address, and the physical track address and the physical sector address are calculated from this at the time of access.

The document management system in this embodiment has four layers of cabinet, binder, document, and page, and the cabinet corresponds to one side of the optical disk 19.
Up to 8 binders can be defined in the cabinet, and up to 30,000 documents can be stored in the binder. I have a title for each of these documents,
The structure is defined in binder units. The document is a basic unit of the file, and in addition to the title, an annotation (description of the document) can be added. The document is composed of up to 4095 pages.

Next, the operation of storing and retrieving image information in the electronic filing apparatus having such a configuration will be described. First, a storage process of image information will be described. For example, now with the keyboard 23, registration mode
The search information of the image information to be stored in the optical disc 20 is input. This search information is composed of a search key of a plurality of items, and the contents of the items of this search key are preset. CPU3
The number 4 is checked for validity according to a format defined in advance for the input search information.
Further, the double registration is checked by comparing with the search information already registered in the optical disc 20. The input search information is stored in the main memory 13 according to the result of this check.

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 image information such as a set document. The line information of the photoelectrically converted image information is sequentially stored in the page memory 40. The image information 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 information displayed on the CRT display device 24 are confirmed, and when the displayed image information is satisfactory, a memory key (not shown) is input. Then C
The PU 34 compresses the image information stored in the page memory 40 for each line information by a compression / expansion circuit (CODEC) 50.
Well-known MR (Modified Read)
Encoding processing is performed by band compression using a method or the like.
The image information that has been subjected to the encoding process is the optical disc device 22.
And is stored in the optical disc 20.

When the storage of the image information on the optical disk 20 is completed, the CPU 34 retrieves the physical track address where the image information is stored, the logical address determined from the physical sector address, the image length represented by the block length, the image attribute and the like. -Main memory 38 corresponding to search (search information)
Remember. 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 retrieves the supplied search data from the respective tables 26a to 26a in the magnetic disk 26.
26c.

Next, the flow of the entire operation of the search processing according to the present invention will be described by taking the case of selecting the above-described four-image display and page flipping as an example. As shown in FIG.
First, based on the search information corresponding to the image information to be searched, the image information is searched from the optical disc 20 (S12).
0). Furthermore, the screen is designated as a four-screen display, and a frame for dividing the screen of the CRT display device 24 into four is displayed.
Area where the retrieved image information is selected (display area a)
(S121). At this time, the retrieved image information is stored in the storage area 42a.

Next, a partial display area is designated on the display screen (S122). FIG. 12 shows how the partial display area is designated. Window W divided into four
The rectangular area 103 is designated in the display area a of a by using the mouse 29 or the keyboard 23. The designated area 103 is an area in which information determined by the operator to be suitable for the search is displayed. CPU
Reference numeral 34 displays the developed image only in the designated area 103, and leaves a blank area other than the designated area 103. That is, CPU3
Reference numeral 4 stores a value corresponding to the background pattern in all storage areas other than the area corresponding to the designated area 103 in the storage area 42a corresponding to the display area a. In this way, the area other than the designated area 103 is filled with the background pattern. At this time, the image displayed in the display area a is shown in FIG.
3 shows. This figure shows the case where a triangle like a pyramid is displayed on the screen. In this way, only the upper part of the triangle in the designated area is displayed, as shown by the dotted line,
Images other than the designated area are not displayed. Areas other than the designated area are uniformly displayed as a background pattern.

When a color such as white or black is designated by the keyboard 23 as the background pattern, C
The PU 32 is a designated area 103 in the storage area 42a.
A value corresponding to white or black is stored in all storage areas other than the area corresponding to. In this way, the designated area 10
Colors other than 3 are filled with the designated color (S12).
3).

Next, continuous display such as page turning is displayed on the keyboard 2.
3 is designated, the CPU 34 causes the display area a
The image having the record number next to the record number of the image currently displayed at is read from the optical disc 20, and the image is displayed in the display area b. Further, when the next page is designated through the keyboard 23, the CPU 34 reads out the image having the record number next to the record number of the image displayed in the display area b from the optical disc 20 and displays the image in the display area c. To do. The CPU 34 sequentially displays images in this way, but as shown in FIG. 12, only the images in the areas 104, 105, and 106 in the display areas b, c, and d corresponding to the designated area 103 are displayed ( S124). In this way, the designated areas 103, 104,
Only the developed images corresponding to 105 and 106 are displayed, and the images are not developed for the margins other than the above areas. In this way, by performing the page pagination by designating the area that represents the desired characteristics of the image, it is possible to easily display the image without being confused with a similar redundant portion.

Next, the display area designation search operation according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to an embodiment applied not only to the above-mentioned page turning but also to page turning, page turning and document turning. 14-
20 is a flow chart showing the operation when the present invention is applied to various continuous display modes. First, the search mode is set by the keyboard 23 and the search information corresponding to the image information to be searched is input (ST
1). The CPU 34 sequentially compares and collates the input search information with the search information stored in the title management table 26a (FIG. 21) of the magnetic disk 26, and the search information matching the input search information is stored. It is sequentially checked whether or not there is a relevant document number (ST2). As a result, the CPU 34 stores the extracted candidate document numbers in the main memory 38 as shown in FIG. 22 (ST3).

Then, the CPU 34 refers to the candidate document numbers in the main memory 38, creates a list (search information) of the relevant documents with the data read from the title management table 26a, and the CRT display device 24 Are displayed using (ST4). With this display, if the document for which you want to search the operator is not found, enter the search information again. If found, an image to be searched is designated from the list (designated by document number or the like), and a search execution is instructed (ST5). The CPU 34 assigns the record number corresponding to the designated image to the page management table 26 of the magnetic disk 26.
Read using b, the logical address corresponding to the read record number is read from the record management table 26c in the magnetic disk 26, and the physical track address and physical sector address corresponding to this address are calculated. The reproduction of the image information from the optical disc 20 is performed by the optical disc device 22 using these addresses (ST6).

Further, the CPU 34 supplies the image information (compression information) for each scanning line supplied from the optical disk device 22 to the compression / expansion circuit 50 and performs band expansion processing to perform the page expansion.
It is sequentially supplied to the 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 uses the display memory 42.
The stored contents of the above are displayed in the window Wa of the CRT display device 24 as shown in FIG. 7 (ST7). In such a search display state, when the page turning as the F1 key is instructed by the keyboard 23 or the mouse 29 (ST10), the CPU 34 performs the page turning operation and when the document turning as the F2 key is instructed (ST10). ST
11), the CPU 34 performs the document turning operation, and when the page return is instructed as the F3 key (ST12), the CPU 3
4 performs the page return operation, and when the document return as the F4 key is instructed (ST13), the CPU 34 performs the document return operation and the confirmation as the F6 is instructed (ST13).
8) If the CPU 34 returns to step 1 and the printing as F7 is instructed (ST14), the CPU 34 performs the printing process and the screen switching as F8 is instructed (S14).
(T15), the CPU 34 performs the screen switching process, and when the cancellation as F10 is instructed (ST9), the CPU 34
Ends the search process.

The screen switching process will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. That is, in response to the screen switching instruction, the CPU 34 determines whether the window currently selected for display is displayed using one screen or four screens (S
T110) If the display is made using one screen, select the display mode using four screens (ST111), and CRT
Display areas a, b for four screens on the display device 24,
c and d are set and the respective frames are displayed (ST11
2). Further, the CPU 34 sets the function key F8 to 1
Switch to the screen and switch F9 to "Select" (ST11
2).

Then, in accordance with the selection instruction, the CPU 34
Decides which of the four screens to use (ST
113), select the display mode using the screen instructed by the keyboard 23 or the mouse 29, and step 8
The process returns to the process confirmation state of ST15 (ST114, 115).

If it is determined in step 110 that the screen is currently displayed using four screens, the CPU 34
Select the display mode using one screen (ST 116),
A display area a for one screen on the CRT display device 24
Is set and the frame is displayed (ST117). Also, CP
U34 switches the function key F8 to 4 screens,
F9 is switched to "x", and the process confirmation state of steps 8 to 15 is returned (ST117).

The above print processing will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. That is, in response to the print instruction, the CPU 34 transfers the image data stored in the page memory 40 to the printer device 2 via the image bus 32, the internal bus 56, and the printer interface 54.
It outputs to 5 (ST100). As a result, the printer device 25 prints out the supplied image data (ST101).

The page turning operation will be described with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG. That is, in response to the page turning instruction, the CPU 34 refers to the candidate document number (see FIG. 22) stored in the main memory 38, the document number currently searched and displayed, and the record number, Page management table 26b of the magnetic disk 26 (see FIG. 21)
All pages having the relevant document number and their record number information are extracted and stored in the main memory 38. This allows
The CPU 34 creates a record calling table composed of record numbers as shown in FIG. 23 on the main memory 38 (ST20). In this case, the record calling table
The record numbers in the page unit correspond to the record number currently searched and displayed in order from the head of the bull.

Further, the CPU 34 sets the value of the pointer PTR for scanning the record calling table to "1" (ST21). Then, the CPU 34 reads the record number "10" corresponding to the pointer 1, and reads the logical address corresponding to the record number "10" from the record management table 26c in the magnetic disk 26. The physical track address and the physical sector address corresponding to this address are calculated, and the optical disk device 22 reproduces the image information from the optical disk 20 using these addresses (ST22). At this time, the CPU 34 determines whether the display mode is one screen or four screens (ST23), and when it is one screen, the image is displayed by fully using the window Wa currently in use (ST24).

That is, the CPU 34 supplies image information (compression information) for each scanning line supplied from the optical disk device 22.
Is supplied to the compression / expansion circuit 50 to perform band expansion processing, and thereafter, it is reduced by the enlargement / reduction circuit 46 according to the display size of the window Wa and sequentially supplied to the display memory 42. As a result, the image information stored in the display memory 42 is displayed on the CRT display device 24.

Then, the CPU 34 returns to step 21 and increments the value of the pointer PTR by "+1" to "2". Then, the CPU 34 reads the record number "17" corresponding to the pointer 2 and reads the logical address corresponding to the record number "17" from the record management table 26c in the magnetic disk 26. A physical track address and a physical sector address corresponding to this address are calculated, image information is reproduced from the optical disc 20 by the optical disc device 22 using these addresses, and displayed on the CRT display device 24 (ST22 to 24). .

Thereafter, every time the image information is displayed on the CRT display device 24, the pointer PTR is incremented by "+1" to sequentially display the image of the next page. Also, the above step 2
When four screens are determined in 3, the CPU 34 determines which display area a, ... In the currently used window Wa, in accordance with the value of the pointer PTR (the initial value at this time is 1). However, the display area a, ...
Storage areas 42a to 42 in the display memory 42 corresponding to
The image is displayed in the display area a, ..., Which is stored in d (ST26 to 33).

That is, as shown in FIGS. 3A to 3E and 4, when the value of the pointer PTR is "1", the image 1 is stored in the storage area 42a in the display memory 42 and is displayed. Image 1 is displayed in area a. Also, the pointer PTR
When the value of is “2”, the storage area 4 in the display memory 42
Image 2 is stored in 2b, and image 2 is displayed in display area b. When the value of the pointer PTR is "3", the image 3 is stored in the storage area 42c in the display memory 42,
The image 3 is displayed in the display area c. Also, the pointer PT
When the value of R is "4", the image 4 is stored in the storage area 42d in the display memory 42, and the image 4 is displayed in the display area d. When the value of the pointer PTR is "5", the image 5 is stored in the storage area 42a in the display memory 42, and the previous image 1 is erased and the image 5 is displayed in the display area a. Thereafter, images for each page are displayed in the order of display areas b, c, d, a, ....

After the image is displayed in the display area a, the display area designation (S122) and the background pattern designation (S123) according to the present invention are performed. As described above, the display area is specified for the display area a (S12
2) and the background pattern designation (S123), the display area designation and the background pattern designation are automatically performed for the other display areas b, c, d. When the end is instructed in the middle of page turning, the process returns to the process confirmation state of steps 8 to 15.

Next, the document turning operation will be described with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG. That is, in response to the document turning instruction, the CPU 34 refers to the candidate document number (see FIG. 22) stored in the main memory 38, the document number currently searched and displayed, and the record number, The page management table 26b of the magnetic disk 26 (see FIG. 21).
The first page and the record number information of the relevant document number (see the reference) are extracted and stored in the main memory 38. As a result, the CPU 34 creates a record calling table having record numbers as shown in FIG. 24 on the main memory 38 (ST40). In this case, the record numbers in the page unit correspond to the record numbers currently searched and displayed in order from the head of the record calling table.

After that, the same operation as in the case of page turning described above is performed, and the first page of the next document is sequentially displayed in document units (ST41 to 53). Next, regarding the page return operation, FIG.
This will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. That is,
In accordance with the document turning instruction, the CPU 34 causes the candidate document number stored in the main memory 38 (see FIG. 22).
And the document number and record number currently searched and displayed, the page management table 26b of the magnetic disk 26 is referred to.
All pages having the corresponding document number (see FIG. 21) and their record number information are extracted and stored in the main memory 38. As a result, the CPU 34 stores in the main memory 38 a record consisting of record numbers as shown in FIG.
A call table is created (ST60). in this case,
The record numbers in the page unit correspond to the record numbers currently searched and displayed in order from the head of the record calling table.

After that, the same operation as in the case of page turning described above is performed, and the pages are sequentially displayed from the previous page in page units (ST61 to ST7).
3). Next, the document returning operation will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. That is, in response to the document return instruction, the CPU 34 refers to the candidate document number (see FIG. 22) stored in the main memory 38, the document number currently searched and displayed, and the record number, Page management table 26b of the magnetic disk 26 (see FIG. 21)
The first page of the relevant document number and its record number information are extracted and stored in the main memory 38. This makes CP
The U34 creates a record calling table composed of record numbers as shown in FIG. 25 on the main memory 38 (ST80). In this case, the record numbers in the page unit correspond to the record numbers currently searched and displayed in order from the head of the record calling table. After that, the same operation as in the above-described page turning is performed, and the first document of the previous document is sequentially processed.
Pages are displayed in document units (ST81 to 93).

[0060]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention,
When searching for a desired image from a plurality of images while displaying it on a CRT screen, by designating a specific area that represents the characteristics of the image, it is not confused by the redundant parts that are similar to each other among the search images. Since the image can be easily confirmed, it is possible to provide the image search device having good operability.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing a control system of the electronic filing device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a storage example of a display memory.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a display example on a CRT display device.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a display example of a CRT display device.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a display example of a CRT display device.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a display example of a CRT display device.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining a display example of function keys of a CRT display device.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining page turning, document turning, page turning, and document returning.

FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining a storage example of a document management table.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart for explaining a search operation.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart for explaining a search operation.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart for explaining a search operation.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart for explaining a search operation.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart for explaining a search operation.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart for explaining a search operation.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart for explaining a search operation.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart for explaining a search operation.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart for explaining a search operation.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart for explaining a search operation.

FIG. 21 is a diagram for explaining a storage example of a document management table.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing a storage example of a document number in the main memory.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an example of storage of a record number calling table.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing an example of storage of a record number calling table.

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing an example of storage of a record number calling table.

FIG. 26 is a diagram showing an example of storage of a record number calling table.

[Explanation of symbols]

20 ... Optical disk (storage means) 18 ... Scanner device 22 ... Optical disk device 23 ... Keyboard 24 ... CRT display device 25 ... Printer device 26 ... Magnetic disk (storage means) 26a ... Title management table 26b ... Page management Table 26c ... Record management table 27 ... Magnetic disk device 34 ... CPU 38 ... Main memory 40 ... Page memory 40a ... Buffer memory 42 ... Display memory 44 ... Display control unit 44a ... Address control circuit 46 ... Enlarge Reduction circuit 50 ... Compression / decompression circuit.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A storage means for storing a plurality of images together with search information, a first search means for searching one image from the storage means based on the search information, and an image searched by the first search means. First to display
Display means, area designating means for designating a partial area in the image displayed by the first display means, and an area in the searched image excluding the partial area designated by the area designating means. A second display unit that uniformly displays the background, a second search unit that searches for an image that is continuous with the search image displayed by the first display unit, and an image searched by the second search unit, An image search apparatus comprising: a third display unit that displays a search image only in an area corresponding to the partial area, and uniformly displays the other area with the other areas as a background. 2. A storage means for storing a plurality of images together with search information, a first search means for searching one image from the storage means based on the search information, and an image searched by the first search means. First to display
Display means, area designating means for designating a partial area in the image displayed by the first display means, and an area in the searched image excluding the partial area designated by the area designating means. A second display means for displaying in a color designated as a background; a second search means for searching an image continuous with the search image displayed by the first display means; and an image searched for by the second search means And a third display unit for displaying the search image only in the area corresponding to the partial area and displaying the other areas in the color designated as the background.