JPH08137890A - Combining method for image attributes - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To efficiently store image information regarding more products and speedily retrieve it by retrieving and combining the best matched data between image data and image attribute data which are separately registered and not combined yet. CONSTITUTION: When the start of the combining function for image data and image attribute data is indicated to an image attribute registration device 51, the retrieving function 43 of a control part 42 retrieves image attribute data 47 having no index number in an image attribute data base 46 and displays it on an input/output device 41. When an operator specifies an image retrieval indication key 49 on an image attribute data combination screen 48, the transmitting function 44 of a controller 42 sends retrieval conditions of an image to the image attribute registration device 51 to retrieve an image data base 53, relative image data are outputted, and the index number of the image is stored in the corresponding image attribute data. When there are plural corresponding image data, data contents other than a retrieval key are collated and data having more coincidence in data contents are combined.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to image index data of image attribute data relating to an image of a computer such as a workstation or a personal computer which is separately registered and image data registered in a recording medium of an image registration apparatus. The present invention relates to a method for combining image attributes, which enables images to be searched at higher speed from a computer such as a workstation or a personal computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as described in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-46661, when registering image data or image attribute data, it is necessary to previously register a keyword for searching. Therefore, in order to utilize the image attribute data having no image index number (keyword) together with the image data for the search, the following method is used. While inputting the image attribute data on the computer,
In this method, the images to be combined are read by the image registration device, that is, registered at the same time, and the image index number of the image data is added to the image attribute database.

However, there are cases where it is difficult to execute the method of registering at the same time, such as one in which only image registration has already been completed or one in which the management department of image data and image attribute data is different. In such a case, it is necessary to re-output the image data and then register the both data.
For this reason, the registration work of the image data is duplicated, resulting in the occurrence of registration errors and lack of work efficiency.

[0004]

With the increasing number of models and functions of products, it is unavoidable to use information on many failures and parts in order to improve customer satisfaction such as speeding up failure diagnosis. . However, these types of information are issued to multiple departments, and there are various storage locations for the information. Also, some information has already been registered in the image registration device. In order to facilitate the retrieval of information from a computer such as a workstation or a personal computer, it is necessary to combine the image attribute data relating to the image stored in the database on the computer such as a workstation or a personal computer with the image data in advance. However, it is difficult to collect all the images or information on a computer having a combining function in order to perform the work.

In the prior art for this purpose, the information issued one after another or the image data already registered in the image registration apparatus cannot be effectively used.

[0006] An object of the present invention is to efficiently store image information about such many products and enable quick retrieval.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a function capable of registering image data and image attribute data in each department. Also, the image data and uncombined image attribute data on the computer, or the image attribute data and uncombined image data are output to the image registration device, and the examination conditions are automatically output to the other database from these uncombined data. By sending the image data to the corresponding image data or image attribute data, a function is provided to combine them by the image index number if appropriate.

[0008]

With the above construction, it is not necessary to collect and re-register simultaneously both the image data and the image attribute data that have been separately registered, and it is possible to perform the combining work between the two data. As a result, it is possible to register image data more efficiently, shorten the work time, and expect to accumulate more image information.

[0009]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

The system according to the present embodiment includes means for registering images and constructing an image database, means for registering image attributes and constructing an image attribute database, and corresponding data from the database constructed by these means. And means for searching and combining.

The basic configuration of the system of this embodiment is shown in FIG. The system of this embodiment includes an image registration device 1 and an image attribute registration device 2.

The image registration device 1 includes an image registration section 3 for registering image data, an image output section 4 for outputting image data, and
An image database 5 that holds information about images.

The image attribute registration device 2 includes image attribute data input / output units 6 and 7 for inputting / outputting image attribute data, and an image attribute database 8 for holding detailed information regarding images.
It has a control unit 9 for controlling an operation required to combine the image data and the image attribute data.

The control unit 9 sets a search function 10 for searching an image attribute database that is not combined with image data, and a part of the data searched by the search function 10 from the image attribute registration device 2 to the image registration device 1 as a search condition. It has a data transmission function 11 for sending and a combining function 12 for combining image data and image attribute data.

In this embodiment, the image attribute registration device 2
Has a data transmission function 11 for sending a search condition, but the image registration device 1 may be provided with a search function capable of searching for data similar to the data in the image attribute database, and the above functions may be shared.

The data input section 6 receives an input from the operator, searches the image attribute database for only the image attribute data which is not combined with the image data by the search function of the control device, and outputs the information. FIG. 2 shows an image attribute data combination screen displayed on the data output unit 6.

Reference numeral 21 denotes an image attribute data output area, which is registered in the image attribute database in advance.
Those that are not combined with the image data are output in order.

The icon 2 is displayed on the image attribute data combination screen.
It has 3 to 30, and can be instructed by an icon with a mouse. The icon may be designated by an input means other than the mouse.
The icon 23 is an image display instruction key, and when the key is input, the icon 23 instructs to return from the image displayed on the screen of the image output unit 4 of the image registration apparatus 1 to the image on the previous page. Like the icon 23, the icon 24 is an image display instruction key, and by inputting the key, an instruction to display the image of the next page is given. The icon 25 is an instruction key for displaying image attribute data, and when the key is input, it is instructed to display the next image attribute data. Like the icon 25, the icon 26 is an instruction key for displaying the image attribute data, and when the key is pressed, it is instructed to display the previous image attribute data. The icon 27 is an image search instruction key, and when the key is input, the search condition is sent to the image registration apparatus 1 to instruct to start the image search. Icon 2
Reference numeral 8 denotes a data control key, which is instructed to connect the image data and the image attribute data by inputting the key.
The image search conditions may be input from the image registration device 1, the image database 5 may be searched, and the data of the search result may be searched for the data of the image attribute database 8 with the search key. The icon 29 is a cancel key, and by inputting the key, an instruction to cancel the combination of the image data and the image attribute data is given. The icon 30 is an end key, and when the key is input, the end of acceptance of the image attribute combination work is instructed.

The image attribute data combination screen 21 shown in FIG.
The data displayed in is stored in the image attribute database, and the data necessary for the combining work is displayed.

FIG. 3 shows an explanatory diagram of the image attribute database. The image attribute database 31 stores information about images, and data is registered from the input / output units 6 and 7. The item of image information can be set according to the needs of the user. The image attribute database 31 has 3
Items indicating the type of document, such as 2, and 33 and 34
It is uniquely defined by an item indicating the contents of the document such as "," and an index number of 35 images. After combining the image attribute data and the image data, the index number data is sent from the image database 5 of the image registration apparatus 1 and stored in 35.
It should be noted that the data registration is not performed by the data input unit 7, but a database registered by another device may be stored as it is in the image attribute database.

Next, a method of combining the image data and the image attribute data will be described. FIG. 4 shows a data combination processing flow. The processing contents are shown in FIG. When the operator instructs the image attribute registration device 51 to start the combined function, the operation is started.
The search function 43 included in the control unit 42 of the input / output device 41 searches the image attribute database 47 for the image attribute data 47 having no index number and displays the image attribute data 47.
When the operator designates the key 49 for instructing to search for an image included in the image attribute data combination screen 48, the transmission function 44 included in the control device 42 sends the image search condition to the image output device 51, and the image registration is performed. The image database 53 of the device 51 is searched, and the image data considered to be related is output. Regarding the search key of 47, a unique search key may be set for each type of image data. If there is the corresponding image data, the index number of the image is stored in the corresponding image attribute data. When there are a plurality of corresponding image data, the data contents other than the search key are collated and combined with the one having a large number of matching data contents. Further, the operator confirms the corresponding data, and designates the key 50 that instructs the data combination in the image attribute data combination screen 48,
The combination function 45 of the control unit 42 may be activated. The combining function 45 sends the index number 52 from the image attribute database 52 to the image attribute database. The sent index number is stored in the corresponding image attribute data.

In this way, if the index number is transmitted by the image combining function, the image data and the image attribute data which have already been registered separately can be combined by the index number, and the image data can be efficiently stored and further An image search based on image attribute data can also be performed quickly.

[0023]

According to the present invention, it is possible to combine image data and image attribute data that are separately registered. According to the present invention, the image attribute data not combined with the image data or the image data not combined with the image attribute data is searched, and the search condition is transmitted from the uncombined data to the other database. Can be automatically searched. In this way, the image registration work time can be shortened. Further, according to the present invention, by combining both data by the method of storing the image index number in the image attribute data, it is possible to efficiently perform a search from a computer such as a workstation or a personal computer, thereby reducing the image search time. It can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a basic configuration of a system.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an image attribute data combination screen.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the structure of an image attribute database.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a processing method for combining image attribute data and image data.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a procedure for linking image data and image attribute data.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Image registration device, 2 ... Image attribute registration device, 3 ... Image registration part, 4 ... Image output part, 5 ... Image database, 6 ... Data input part, 7 ... Data output part, 8 ... Image attribute database, 9 ... Control device, 10 ... Search function, 11 ... Transmission function, 12 ... Coupling function.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Shigeru Sato 292 Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Stocks, Institute of Industrial Science, Hitachi, Ltd. (72) Inventor Mikio Nakai 1-chome, Kandanishiki-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Hitachi Building System Service Co., Ltd.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. When the image data and the image attribute data that are separately registered are uncombined, the data having the best matching data contents are automatically searched for and combined. Characteristic image attribute combination method. 2. An image registration device, wherein the image index number of the image data stored in the recording medium of the image registration device is added to the image attribute data separately registered on a computer such as a workstation or a personal computer. A method for combining image attributes, which is characterized by combining. 3. The data in which the image data and the image attribute data that are separately registered are unjoined are searched, and a search key is sent from either data to the other database,
A method for combining image attributes, which is characterized by searching for data that best matches it. 4. An image attribute combining method characterized in that the index number of an image is stored in an image attribute database simply by designating a combine button. 5. An image attribute combining method, characterized in that the image index number is stored in the image attribute data to reduce the time required for image retrieval from a computer such as a workstation or a personal computer.