JPH0785084A - Picture storage system and picture retrieval system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To store remote picture data in the optical disk of a picture filing device by using a general facsimile equipment even when there is no dedicated communication terminal equipments and to obtain the picture data by retrieving picture data which are filed on the optical disk of the picture filing device from the distant place. CONSTITUTION:At the time of registration, a picture is sent from a facsimile device 3. By using an attached telephone set 3e, the retrieval key data by voice is sent. A picture filing device 1 recognizes the retrieval key data by voice and stores the picture corresponding to the recognized retrieval key data on an optical disk 20. At the time of retrieval, the retrieval key data by voice is sent by using the attached telephone set 3e of the facsimile equipment 3. The picture filing device 1 recognizes the retrieval key data by voice and retrieves the picture corresponding to the recognized retrieval key data from the optical disk 20 and sends it to the facsimile equipment 3.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image storage system and an image retrieval system each including a facsimile machine connected via a public line and an image filing apparatus.

[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 image filing apparatus, in order to store image data from a remote place in an optical disc or retrieve image data stored in the optical disc from a remote place to obtain the image data, it is dedicated. A communication terminal device was required.

Therefore, even if there is no dedicated communication terminal device or the like, a general facsimile device is used to store image data from a remote place in the optical disk of the image filing device, or from a remote place. There has been a demand for a device that can retrieve the image data stored in the optical disc and obtain the image data.

[0005]

As described above, even if there is no dedicated communication terminal device or the like, the image data from a remote place can be stored in the optical disk of the image filing device by using a general facsimile device. Or from a remote location,
There is a demand for a device that can retrieve the image data stored in the optical disk of the image filing device and obtain the image data. Even if there is no dedicated communication terminal device, a general facsimile device can be used. It is possible to store image data from a remote location on the optical disc of the image filing device or retrieve image data stored on the optical disc of the image filing device from a remote location to obtain the image data. The object is to provide an image search system capable of performing.

[0006]

An image storage system according to the present invention comprises first and second devices connected via a public line, wherein the first device inputs search information by voice. Voice input means, reading means for reading an original,
And a transmission means for transmitting the read image read by the reading means and the voice information input by the voice input means to the second device, wherein the second device is the same as the first device. Receiving means for receiving the transmitted image and voice information, determining means for determining search information from the voice information received by the receiving means, and storing the image received by the receiving means based on the search information determined by the determining means Storage means for

The image retrieval system of the present invention comprises first and second devices connected via a public line, wherein the first device is a voice input means for inputting retrieval information by voice. A transmitting means for transmitting the voice information input by the voice input means to the second device, a first receiving means for receiving a search image from the second device, and a search received by the first receiving means. The second device includes a print output unit that prints out an image.
Storage information for storing a plurality of images together with search information corresponding to each of these images, second receiving means for receiving voice information from the first device, search information from voice information received by the second receiving means Determination means for determining, the search means for searching the image corresponding to the search information determined by the determination means from the storage means, and the search image searched by the search means for transmitting to the first device
It is composed of the transmission means of.

The image storage system of the present invention comprises a facsimile device connected via a public line and an image filing device, wherein the facsimile device reads voices and voice input means for inputting search information by voice. The image filing apparatus includes a reading unit and a transmitting unit that transmits the read image read by the reading unit and the voice information input by the voice input unit to the image filing apparatus, and the image filing apparatus transmits the image transmitted from the facsimile apparatus. And a voice information, a determination unit that determines search information from the voice information received by the reception unit, and a memory that stores the image received by the reception unit based on the search information determined by the determination unit. Composed of means.

The image retrieval system of the present invention comprises a facsimile device connected via a public line and an image filing device, wherein the facsimile device connects to the image filing device by a line connecting means and a search. Voice input means for inputting information by voice, first transmitting means for transmitting the search information input by the voice input means to the image filing apparatus connected by the line connecting means, search from the image filing apparatus The image filing apparatus comprises a first receiving means for receiving an image and a print output means for printing out the retrieved image received by the first receiving means, and the image filing apparatus retrieves a plurality of images corresponding to each of these images. Storage means for storing together with information, receiving voice information from the above facsimile device 2 receiving means, determining means for determining search information from the voice information received by the second receiving means, searching means for searching the storage means for an image corresponding to the search information determined by the determining means, and The second transmission unit is configured to transmit the search image searched by the search unit to the facsimile device.

[0010]

According to the present invention, in the first and second devices connected through the public line, the first device inputs the search information by voice, reads the original, and reads the read. The image and the input voice information are added to the second
To the device, the second device receives the transmission image and the voice information from the first device, determines the search information from the received voice information, and determines the search information based on the determined search. The image received by the receiving means is stored.

According to the present invention, in the first and second devices connected via a public line, the first device inputs the search information by voice, and the input voice information is the above-mentioned. The search information is transmitted to the second device, the search image from the second device is received, the received search image is printed out, and the second device outputs a plurality of images to the search information corresponding to each of these images. Together with the first means
Receiving voice information from the device, determining search information from the received voice information, searching the storage unit for an image corresponding to the determined search information, and searching the searched image for the first search image. It is designed to be transmitted to the device.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of an image storage / retrieval apparatus of the present invention, for example, an image filing apparatus and a facsimile apparatus connected via a public line.

That is, the image filing apparatus 1 is connected to the facsimile apparatus 3 via the public line 2. The facsimile device 3 reads a document (document) two-dimensionally and transmits it to another device via the public line 2, or sends a search key (search information) as a voice signal (voice information) from the telephone to the public line. 2 to other devices,
Alternatively, it prints out an image transmitted from another device via the public line 2, and, for example, a key input unit 3a, a scanner unit 3b, a printing unit 3c, a compression / expansion circuit 3d, a telephone 3e, a transmission / reception unit 3f. , And a CPU 3g for controlling each unit.

The key input unit 3a is for inputting a FAX number of a transmission destination, a start instruction, and the like. The scanner unit (reading means) 3b obtains an electric signal (image data) corresponding to an image on the original by scanning the original (document) two-dimensionally.

The print unit 3c prints out the received image or the like on the paper P (hard copy; printout). The compression / expansion circuit 3d is a MH (Modified Huffma
Band compression or band expansion is performed by using the n) system or the MR (Modified Read) system.

The telephone 3e is used as a voice input means to input search key data (search information) corresponding to the read image read by the scanner section 3b by voice or search key data (search information) of a desired image. ) Is input by voice.

At the time of image registration processing, the transmission / reception unit 3f adds a voice signal of a search key corresponding to the read image from the telephone 3e to the read image read by the scanner unit 3b, and transmits it via the public line 2. Alternatively, during the image search processing, a voice signal of search key data corresponding to the image to be searched from the telephone 3e is transmitted, or the search image supplied via the public line 2 is received.

The CPU 3g controls each of the above parts. The image filing device 1 includes a control module 10, a memory module 12, and an image processing module 1.
4, communication control module 16, scanner device (reading means) 18, optical disk (storage means) 20, optical disk device 22, keyboard 23a, mouse 23b, CRT
Display device 24, printer device 25, magnetic disk 26 and magnetic disk device 27, system bus 3
0 and the image bus 32.

The control module 10 is a CPU 34 that performs various controls for image storage, retrieval, editing 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 serves as a main memory 38 for storing various control programs for image storage, retrieval, editing, etc., management information, etc., and an image memory having a storage capacity corresponding to images of several pages of A4 size document. Page memory 40, a display memory 42 as a display interface, and a display controller 44. A buffer memory area 40a is provided in a part of the page memory 40. 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.

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 / expansion circuit 50 includes an MH (Modified Huff).
The band compression or band expansion is performed by using the man (man) system, the MR (Modified Read) system, or the like, and is the same system as the compression / expansion circuit 3d in the facsimile apparatus 3, for example.

The communication control module 16 is constituted by a communication interface 58 such as a UCP (Universal Communication Processor) connected to the facsimile machine (FCP; facsimile connection mechanism) 3, for example.
Not only the facsimile machine but also an external device such as a personal computer may be connected.

Further, the communication control module 16 is provided with LA
BCP (Bus Com) connected to N via an interface
It may be provided with a munic-ation processor). The communication interface 58 is the facsimile device 3
After the completion of the incoming call operation to, the signal supplied through the public line 2 is discriminated whether it is a control signal for FAX transmission / reception or a voice signal. It is supposed to do.

A voice recognition device (VR) 29 is connected to the communication interface 58. Speech recognizer 29
Analyzes and recognizes a voice signal supplied from the communication interface 58 to convert it into search key data (search code) made up of code data, and returns the search key data to the communication interface 58.

Further, the CPU 34 judges the search processing from the facsimile machine 3 when only the voice signal is supplied from the facsimile machine 3 to the communication interface 58, and the registration processing when the voice signal and the image data are supplied. It is designed to judge.

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 a two-dimensional scanning device which obtains an electric signal (image data) corresponding to an image on the original by scanning the original (document) two-dimensionally with a laser beam.

The optical disk device 22 is the scanner device 18
The images of the document A read in step 1 are sequentially stored in the optical disc 20. Further, the optical disc 20 is searched for an image corresponding to the search code designated by the keyboard 23a or the like, or an image corresponding to the search key data (search code) transmitted from the facsimile apparatus 3.

The keyboard 23a is for inputting 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 arbitrarily moves a cursor (not shown) displayed on the display window of the CRT display device 24 in the vertical and horizontal directions,
(Various operation modes, area designation or icon for image editing, etc.) are selected or instructed.

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 top, bottom, and right ends of this display window.

The printer device 25 prints out (hard copy) the 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.

The magnetic disk device 27 stores various control programs in the magnetic disk 26 mounted on the magnetic disk device 27, and also retrieves the search code input from the keyboard 23a and the search key data (search code from the facsimile device 3). ), And search data (search information) including a storage address on the optical disc 20 in which an image corresponding to the search code is stored, an image size, and the like.

The search data is managed by a document management table. As shown in FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 2C, 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. 2A, the title management table 26a stores one document number corresponding to each search code (image name) including at least one search key. In the page management table 26b, (b) of FIG.
As shown in, the record number is stored page by page in one document, and one record number is stored corresponding to each page. Record management table 2
In 6c, as shown in FIG. 2C, the storage address (storage start position) of the image on the optical disc 19 and the document size (image size) are stored for each record number.

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.
Next, in such a configuration, a storage (registration) process for storing an image in the image filing apparatus 1 by transmitting the image data from the facsimile apparatus 3 and the search key as an audio signal to the image filing apparatus 1 3 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

For example, now, a document for registration is set on the scanner section 3b of the facsimile apparatus 3, and the facsimile apparatus 3 inputs the FAX number of the image filing apparatus 1 as the other party to instruct the start. Then, the facsimile device 3 dials the public line 2 to send the image filing device 1 of the other party.
And the line is connected (ST1). Then, the telephone 3e of the facsimile apparatus 3 speaks a search key for the image of the above-mentioned document to transmit a voice signal corresponding to the search key to the communication interface 58 of the image filing apparatus 1 via the public line 2. At this time, the facsimile machine 3 is switched to the image transmission mode.

As a result, the facsimile apparatus 3 starts reading the document (two-dimensionally scanned and photoelectrically converted) by the scanner section 3b. And the facsimile device 3
Compresses the image data as the content read by the scanner section 3b by the compression / expansion circuit 3d and transmits it to the communication interface 58 of the image filing apparatus 1 via the public line 2.

When the voice signal from the facsimile device 3 is received by the communication interface 58 of the image filing device 1 (ST2), the received voice signal is output to the voice recognition device 29 (ST3). The voice recognition device 29 converts the supplied voice signal into search key data, and outputs the converted search key data to the CPU 34 via the communication interface 58 and the control bus 30 (ST4). As a result, the CPU 34 stores the supplied search key data in the main memory 38.

When the image data from the facsimile apparatus 3 is received by the communication interface 58 of the image filing apparatus 1 (ST5), the received image data is supplied to the page memory 40 via the image bus 32 and stored therein. To be done.

At this time, since the CPU 34 is supplied with the voice signal and the image data from the facsimile apparatus 3,
Determine the registration process. Next, the CPU 34 supplies the image in the page memory 40 to the optical disc device 22 and stores it in the optical disc 20 (ST6).

When the storage of the image on the optical disc 20 is completed, the CPU 34 causes the physical track address where the image including the search code is stored, the logical address determined from the physical sector address, the image length represented by the block length, the image attribute, etc. Is stored in the main memory 38 in association with the search code (search information), and search data is created. Then,
The CPU 34 supplies the search data for the first page of the first document stored in the main memory 38 to the magnetic disk device 27.
As a result, the magnetic disk device 27 sends the supplied search data to the tables 26 a to 26 in the magnetic disk 26.
It is stored in c (ST7).

Further, when the registration of the image data is completed, the CPU 34 disconnects the line with the facsimile device 3 (ST8). Next, by transmitting a search key as an audio signal corresponding to the image to be retrieved from the facsimile device 3 to the image filing device 1, the corresponding image is retrieved from the image filing device 1 and transmitted to the facsimile device 3. A search process for outputting a search image by the facsimile apparatus 3 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

Now, for example, by the facsimile device 3,
The FAX number of the image filing apparatus 1 as the other party is input and the start is instructed. Then, the facsimile device 3 connects the line with the image filing device 1 of the other party by dialing to the public line 2 (ST11). By speaking a search key for a desired image on the telephone 3e of the facsimile apparatus 3, a voice signal corresponding to the search key is transmitted to the communication interface 58 of the image filing apparatus 1 via the public line 2. At this time, the facsimile machine 3 is switched to the image reception mode.

When the voice signal from the facsimile apparatus 3 is received by the communication interface 58 of the image filing apparatus 1 (ST12), the received voice signal is output to the voice recognition apparatus 29 (ST13). The voice recognition device 29 converts the supplied voice signal into search key data, and outputs the converted search key data to the CPU 34 via the communication interface 58 and the control bus 30 (ST14). As a result, the CPU 34 stores the supplied search key data in the main memory 38.

At this time, since the CPU 34 is supplied with only the voice signal from the facsimile apparatus 3, the CPU 34 judges the search processing and stores the search key data stored in the main memory 38 in the title management table 26a of the magnetic disk 26. Sequential comparison and collation with the existing search code, and whether or not the matching search code is stored is sequentially checked (S
T15).

Then, if there is a match (ST16), the CPU 34 refers to the document number stored in the title management table 26a corresponding to the matching search code, and corresponds to the document number. The record number is read using the page management table 26b of the magnetic disk 26, and the logical address corresponding to the read record number is recorded in the record management table 2 in the magnetic disk 26.
6c, the physical track address and the physical sector address corresponding to this address are calculated, and the image including the search code from the optical disc 20 is reproduced by the optical disc device 22 by these addresses (ST17).

Further, the CPU 34 sequentially supplies the image (compression information) for each scanning line supplied from the optical disk device 22 to the page memory 40. As a result, the search image is stored in the page memory 40.

Next, the CPU 34 makes the page memory 40
Of the search image data of the facsimile apparatus 3 via the image bus 32, the communication interface 58, and the public line 2.
(ST18).

When the facsimile apparatus 3 receives the retrieved image data from the image filing apparatus 1, the received image data is decompressed by the compression / decompression circuit 3b, and then printed on the paper P by the printing unit 3c. Is output.

The CPU 34 disconnects the line to the facsimile device 3 when the transmission of the search image data is completed (ST19). As described above, when the image data from the remote facsimile machine 3 is registered in the image filing machine 1, the registered image and the voice search key data are sent from the facsimile machine 3 to the image filing machine 1 via the public line 2. Then, the image filing device 1 analyzes the search key data from the transmitted voice,
The image transmitted corresponding to the analyzed search key data is stored in the optical disc 20.

When an image is retrieved from the image filing device 1 by the remote facsimile device 3, the facsimile device 3 transmits the registered image and the retrieval key data by voice to the image filing device 1 via the public line 2. Then, the image filing device 1 analyzes the search key data from the transmitted voice, searches the optical disc 20 for an image corresponding to the analyzed search key data, and transmits the image to the facsimile device 3 via the public line 2. The facsimile machine 3 prints out the retrieved image.

As a result, even if there is no dedicated communication terminal device or the like, a general facsimile device can be used to
Images can be registered on the optical disc of the image filing device.

That is, a search key corresponding to an image is easily received from a facsimile machine at a remote place and stored together with the image, so that the image can be remotely input. In addition, the remote facsimile device does not need to be modified at all, and it is possible to construct a remote input / search system at low cost using existing standard equipment.

Even if there is no dedicated communication terminal device,
It is possible to retrieve the image data filed on the optical disk of the image filing apparatus and obtain the image data from a remote location using a general facsimile apparatus.

In the above embodiment, the case where the database for storing the search data is a magnetic disk has been described. However, an area other than the area for storing the image on the optical disk may be used as the database for storing the search data. You can

The case where the compression / expansion method of the image filing apparatus and the facsimile apparatus is the same has been described.
The invention is not limited to this, and the image filing apparatus and the facsimile apparatus may have different compression / decompression methods. In this case, the image data retrieved from the optical disk of the image filing apparatus is decompressed, then compressed by a compression / decompression method suitable for the facsimile apparatus and transmitted to the facsimile apparatus.

Further, the facsimile device may be instructed to select the registration mode and the search mode in the image filing device. In this case, the image filing device switches between the registration mode and the search mode in accordance with the content of the selection instruction on the facsimile device.

[0059]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention,
Image data from a remote location can be stored in an optical disk of an image filing device or stored in an optical disc of an image filing device from a remote location using a general facsimile machine without a dedicated communication terminal device or the like. It is possible to provide an image search system capable of searching for image data that is present and obtaining the image data.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing the configurations of an image filing apparatus and a facsimile apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a storage example of a document management table stored in the magnetic disk of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an image registration process.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an image search process.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Image filing device 2 ... Public line 3 ... Facsimile device 3b ... Scanner part 3c ... Printing part 3d ... Compression / expansion circuit 3e ... Telephone 20 ... Optical disk 29 ... Voice recognition device 34 ... CPU 58 ... Communication interface.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A first and a second connected via a public line
In the image storage system including the above device, the first device inputs voice information to the search information by voice inputting means, reading means for reading a document, read image read by the reading means and the voice inputting means. And a receiving unit that receives the transmitted image and the voice information from the first device, the transmitting unit transmitting the voice information to the second device. An image storage comprising: a determination unit that determines the search information from the voice information received by the unit; and a storage unit that stores the image received by the receiving unit based on the search information determined by the determination unit. system. 2. A first and a second connected via a public line
In the image retrieving system including the above device, the first device includes a voice input unit for inputting search information by voice, and voice information input by the voice input unit for the second device.
And a first receiving unit that receives the search image from the second device, and a print output unit that prints out the search image received by the first receiving unit. A storage unit for storing a plurality of images together with search information corresponding to each of these images; and a second receiving unit for receiving a transmission image and audio information from the first unit, A determination unit that determines the search information from the voice information received by the second receiving unit, a search unit that searches the storage unit for an image corresponding to the search information determined by the determination unit, and a search by the search unit An image retrieval system comprising: a second transmission unit that transmits the retrieved image to the first device. 3. An image storage system comprising a facsimile device connected via a public line and an image filing device, wherein the facsimile device comprises voice input means for inputting search information by voice, and reading means for reading a document. The image filing apparatus includes a transmission image for transmitting the read image read by the reading section and the voice information input by the voice input section to the image filing apparatus. Receiving means for receiving the voice information, judging means for judging the search information from the voice information received by the receiving means, and storage for storing the image received by the receiving means based on the search information judged by the judging means. An image storage system comprising: 4. An image search system comprising a facsimile device connected via a public line and an image filing device, wherein the facsimile device connects a line connection means for connecting the image filing device with a line, and retrieves the search information by voice. Voice input means for inputting, the first transmitting means for transmitting voice information from the voice input means to the image filing apparatus connected by the line connection means, and receiving a search image from the image filing apparatus And a print output unit that prints out the search image received by the first reception unit, wherein the image filing apparatus stores a plurality of images together with search information corresponding to each of these images. Storage means for storing, second receiving means for receiving voice information from the facsimile device, Determining means for determining the search information from the voice information received by the second receiving means, searching means for searching an image corresponding to the search information determined by the determining means from the storage means, and searching by the searching means. An image retrieval system comprising: a second transmitting unit that transmits the retrieved image to the facsimile device.