JPH08272820A - System for storing and editing picture with index - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a storing and editing system of picture data with indexes capable of easily maintaining access to relation information even when editing and working processings such as cutting, copying, sticking, magnification and reduction, etc., are executed to pictures provided with the relation information and the new pictures are generated. CONSTITUTION: An index picture I provided with picture elements i(x, y) in one-to-one correspondence with the respective picture elements f(x, y) of the picture F is prepared and information for the access to the relation information defined by the picture element unit of the picture F is stored in the corresponding picture elements (i). In the case of executing the editing and working processings such as the cutting and the copying, etc., to the picture F, the editing and working processings are similarly executed to the picture element (i) of the index picture I corresponding to the picture element (f) which is the object of the editing and working processings and the picture element value of the picture element f' after the processing and the information for the access to the relation information of the picture element i' are stored as new picture data.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an indexed image storage / editing system, and belongs to a technical field of searching related information from another database using an image or a technical field of searching a desired image from an image database. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a system for retrieving other related information using an image has been constructed, for example, as follows.
First, N specific areas Hj (hereinafter referred to as hot points) (j = 0, 1, ..., N−1) are defined on the image F, and area information Q (H
j) and a corresponding address C (j) of the associated information Cj corresponding to each hot point Hj in the storage medium are prepared in advance. Area information Q (Hj)
Is composed of geometric information indicating the position and shape of the hot point Hj on the image F. Hereinafter, this correspondence table will be referred to as link management information. The information type of the related information Cj is
For example, image information, text information, voice information, etc. may be used.

When the image F is displayed on the display device and the operator designates the position p on the displayed image F with a pointing device such as a mouse, the position p is determined whether or not the position p is within the hot point. Area information Q (H
j) is determined to be within the range indicated, and if it is within the range, the related information Cj accumulated at the address a (Cj) corresponding to Q (Hj) on the correspondence table is displayed on the display device. Was.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory view of the above conventional technique.
For example, as shown in FIG. 9, it is assumed that the hot point Hj is defined in the person portion on the image F, and information relating to the place of origin of the person is stored in the storage medium as the related information Cj. When the operator points a person on the display device with the mouse, the link management information 91 determines whether the position p is within the range indicated by the area information Q (Hj), and if it is within the range. , Information about the birthplace of this person is presented on the display device.

As described above, according to the conventional technique, the image F and its link management information 91 are managed separately, and the hot point area information is represented by geometric information indicating the position and shape of the hot point on the image F. It had been. For this reason, when the image F is subjected to editing processing such as cutting, copying, pasting, enlarging and reducing, and an image F ′ different from the image F is created, the area information of the link management information 91 becomes The corresponding relationship between the hot points shown and the hot points shown by the pixels of the image F ′ is different. Therefore, there is a problem that related information cannot be accessed correctly.

For example, as shown in FIG. 9, when only the head of a person is cut out and attached to another image to create a new image F ', the inside of the person's head on the image F'is Even if the position p is pointed by the mouse, the position p is the link management information 9
Since it does not fall within the range indicated by any area information Q (Hj) of 1, it is not possible to obtain the storage address of the related information Cj.

In order to update the link management information 91 so that it can be applied to the image F ', when the image F is edited and processed by the image editing processing device, cutout, copy, paste, enlargement, reduction, etc. Link management information 91 according to the change in the position or shape of the hot point Hj on F
The geometric structure of the upper area information Q (Hj) must be changed, which requires extremely complicated processing.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to access relevant information even if a new image is generated by performing edit processing such as cutting, copying, pasting, enlarging and reducing the image. It is to provide a means for storing / editing indexed image data that can be easily maintained.

[0009]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration example of the present invention. The indexed image storage means 10 is
M × n pixel value storage means 11-1 to 11 that store the pixel values of m × n pixels f (x, y) forming the image F.
-M × n image storage means 11 and the image F
M × n index storage units 12-1 to 12-1 for storing access information for accessing related information defined in each pixel unit
An index image storage unit 12 composed of 12-m × n is provided.

The image editing means 20 performs editing processing in pixel units on each pixel value stored in the image storage means 11 in response to operations such as cutting, copying, pasting and moving on the image F. , And a processing means for performing similar editing processing on access information for accessing each related information which is a pixel of the index image stored in the index image storage means 12.

In the indexed image storage means 10,
You may make it store the image information which combined each pixel value of the m * n pixel which comprises the image F, and the information for access to the relevant information defined in the said pixel for every pixel. The image editing unit 20 performs a pixel-by-pixel editing operation process on the image information stored in the indexed image storage unit 10, and a pixel value of a pixel to be the object of the editing process and a relationship corresponding to the pixel value. Editing and processing are simultaneously performed on a set of information for access to information.

[0012] Instead of directly using the storage address of the related information as information for accessing the related information, a lookup table storing the storage address of the related information corresponding to a predetermined specific area defined for the image F. It is also possible to provide a storage means and use the entry address indicating the storage address storage position of the relevant information in the lookup table storage means as the access information for accessing each related information stored in the indexed image storage means 10.

[0013]

Now, as shown in FIG. 1, the image F has m × n pixels f (x, y) (x = 0, 1, ..., M-1; y = 0,
1, ..., N−1), and luminance information and color information of the pixel are stored in f (x, y). Here, m × n pixels i corresponding to each pixel f (x, y)
An index image I having (x, y) is prepared. Then, the pixel i on the index image I corresponding to each pixel f (x, y) included in each hot point Hj of the image F
In (x, y), the storage address a (Cj) of the related information Cj
To store.

That is, instead of managing the storage address a (Cj) of the related information for each area information Q (Hj) of each hot point Hj as in the prior art, each pixel f (x, y) of the image F is managed. The storage address a (C
j) is managed.

If the storage address of the related information is stored in such a format, as shown in FIG. 1, the image F is subjected to editing processing such as cutting, copying, pasting, enlarging and reducing, When the image F ′ is created, the index image I ′ can be automatically generated by performing the same editing process on the index image I. If the image F ′ is displayed on the display device and the pixel f ′ (x, y) on the image F ′ is pointed by the mouse, f ′ (x,
pixel i ′ (x, of the index image I ′ corresponding to y)
By reading the storage address a (Cj) stored in y), it becomes possible to call the related information Cj related to the pixel f ′ (x, y).

Therefore, the same processing as the editing processing simply applied to the image F is performed without performing the complicated processing such as changing the geometrical structure of the area information of the hot points, which is required in the prior art. Just give it to I,
It becomes possible to access the related information from the image F ′ after the editing process.

The pixel f (x, y) of the image F and the pixel i (x, y) of the index image I are connected as shown in FIG. 2 to form a new pixel g (x, y). , This pixel g
If the image composed of (x, y) is G, the image G is subjected to the edit processing using the existing image editing means, and the pixel g ′ (x, y) of the image G ′ after the edit processing is calculated. Again, even if the pixel value of the image data and the storage address are separated, the same effect can be obtained. Especially in this case, the existing image editing means can be used as it is without any hardware or software modification.

As the storage address a (Cj) to be stored in the index image I, not only the storage address of the related information Cj stored in one local database but also the storage of the related information in the database via a network such as the Internet. The address can also be stored. That is, the storage address is composed of the network address of the database on the network and the storage address of the related information in the database.

In this way, the image F and the index image I associated with the related information Cj accumulated in a database A are edited and processed by a computer W ',
An image F ′ and an index image I ′ are created, and further the image F ′ and the index image I ′ are transmitted to another computer W ″ via a network, and the editing process is performed again on this computer W ″ to perform the image F ″. No matter how many times the operations such as creating the index image I ″ and the index image I ″ are repeated, if the image F ″ is displayed on the display device and the pixel f ″ (x, y) is pointed by the mouse, the pixel f ″ (x, pixel i "(x, y) corresponding to y)
The storage address of the database A and the storage address of the related information in the database A can be obtained from the storage address stored in.

If the storage address of the index image I includes a network address and the like, the data amount of the index image I becomes comparable to the data amount of the image F. For example, normally, full-color image data requires a data amount of 3 bytes per pixel, but the network address of the Internet is 4 bytes.
Therefore, for each pixel of the index image, 4 bytes + the amount of information required to represent the storage address in the database are required.

Therefore, each pixel i of the index image I
If the lookup table of the storage address is prepared and the entry address is stored in i (x, y) without directly storing the storage address of the related information in (x, y), the data amount of the index image can be calculated. Can be significantly reduced.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the lookup table. As shown in FIG. 3 (B), corresponding to the entry address of the lookup table corresponding to each hot point Hj, the storage address a (C
A lookup table storing j) is prepared.
Then, as shown in FIG. 3A, the entry address of the lookup table is stored in each pixel i (x, y) of the index image I. At the time of search, the entry address obtained from the index image I is used to refer to the lookup table to obtain the storage address a (Cj) for the related information.

For example, if the total number of hot points on the image F is eight, by preparing a lookup table of the storage address as shown in FIG. 3B, 3 bits per pixel of the index image + database It is possible to reduce the amount of information required to express the storage address in the storage device.

[0024]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGS. The target image data is composed of m × n pixels. In addition, N hot points composed of a set of pixels are defined in the image data,
It is assumed that the related information related to each hot point is stored in the related information storage means 40.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration example of the image storage means with an index and the image editing means in the first embodiment. The indexed image storage means 10 comprises an image storage means 11 and an index image storage means 12.

The image storage means 11 is composed of m × n pixel value storage means 11-1 to 11-m × n, and each pixel value storage means 11-1 to 11-m × n stores image data. The pixels are arranged in an order that corresponds to each of the m × n pixels that form the pixel.

The index image storage means 12 has m × n
Each of the index storage means 12-1 to 12-m is composed of the index storage means 12-1 to 12-m × n.
Xn is each pixel value storage means 11-1 of the image storage means 11.
.About.11-m.times.n in a one-to-one correspondence.

Each pixel value storage means 11 of the image storage means 11
The pixel values of the corresponding image data are stored in −1 to 11-m × n. Pixel value storage means 11 corresponding to each pixel forming each hot point defined on the image data
Index storage means 1 corresponding to -1 to 11-m * n
In 2-1 to 12-m × n, storage addresses of the related information corresponding to the hot points in the related information storage means 40 are stored.

The image data stored in the indexed image storage means 10 is edited as follows. First, the input unit 21 of the image editing unit 20 reads out the pixel values stored in the respective pixel value storage units 11-1 to 11-m × n of the image storage unit 11 in the indexed image storage unit 10 in order from the beginning. , The pixel value storage means 22-1 to 22-m × n of the image storage means 22 are sequentially stored from the beginning. Next, the input means 21 reads the storage addresses stored in the respective index storage means 12-1 to 12-m × n of the index image storage means 12 of the indexed image storage means 10 in order from the beginning, and the index image storage means 23, each index storage means 23-
1 to 23-m × n are sequentially stored from the beginning.

The image display means 24 reads out each pixel value accumulated in each pixel accumulation means 22-1 to 22-m × n of the image accumulation means 22, converts the pixel value into a luminance signal and a color signal, and displays an image. Display as. The operator uses the image display means 2
While viewing the image displayed on the screen 4, the area information indicating the specific area to be edited and processed on the image is input to the area information input means 25.
To enter. Further, the operator inputs edit / edit command information (cut, copy, paste, move, etc.) to the edit area to the edit / modify command information input means 26.

When the area information is input from the area information input means 25 and the editing operation command information is input from the editing operation command information input means 26, the editing operation processing means 27 enters a specific area of the image indicated by the area information. Corresponding image storage means 2
Edit processing according to the edit processing command information is performed on a pixel-by-pixel basis for the pixel values stored in each of the pixel value storage units 22-1 to 22-m × n.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining an example of copying a specific area of an image. For example, when the area information and the edit processing command information indicate that “the specific area A of the image is to be copied and pasted to another place B”, the edit processing unit 27 corresponds to the specific area A. The pixel values of the respective pixel value accumulating means 22-2 to 22-3 are written in the respective pixel value accumulating means 22-6 to 22-7 corresponding to B.

Further, the edit processing means 27 is now in the pixel value storage means 22-1 to 22-mx of the image storage means 22.
The same pixel-unit edit processing as that performed on n is performed on the corresponding index storage units 23-1 to 23-m × n of the index image storage unit 23. For example, the edit processing means 27 reads the contents of the index storage means 23-2 to 23-3 corresponding to the pixel value storage means 22-2 to 22-3 corresponding to the specific area A and corresponds to B. Pixel value storage means 22-6 to 22-
7 corresponding to the index storage means 23-6 to 23-
Write to 7.

As a result, the contents of the image direct means 22 and the index image storage means 23 shown in FIG. 5A before copying become as shown in FIG. 5B after copying. When the editing process is completed, the image data stored in the image storage means 22 and the index image data stored in the index image storage means 23 are output from the output means 28.

With such a structure, the pixel values accumulated in the image accumulating means 22 are clipped,
When pixel-based editing processing such as copying, pasting, and moving is performed, the same processing is performed by the index image storage means 23.
It is performed for each storage address stored in.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration example of the related information searching means in the first embodiment. The image data and the index image data stored in the indexed image storage unit 10 are input to the input unit 31 of the related information search unit 30, and the pixel value of each pixel forming the image data is set to the pixel value of the image storage unit 32. The storage means 32-1 to 32-m × n are sequentially stored, and the storage addresses forming the index image data are sequentially stored in the index storage means 33-1 to 33-m × n of the index image storage means 33.
Here, each index storage means 33-1 to 33-mx
An index storage means identification number is attached to n.

The image data stored in the image storage means 32 is displayed on the image display means 34, and the operator sets the specific position of the image displayed on the image display means 34 to the image position designating means 3
Enter from 5. The address conversion means 36 outputs the index storage means identification number corresponding to the pixel corresponding to the specific position input from the image position instruction means 35 to the search processing means 37.

When the index accumulating means identification number is input, the search processing means 37 receives the index accumulating means 33-1 to 3 of the index image accumulating means 33 corresponding thereto.
The storage address is read out from 33-m × n, and the related information stored in the storage address of the related information storage means 40 is read out and displayed on the related information display means 38. Therefore, when the edit processing is performed on the image data, the position of the pixel that constitutes the first defined hot point moves, or even if a copy of such a pixel is pasted to another position, it moves. Alternatively, if the position of the copied pixel is designated, it becomes possible to retrieve the related information.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a processing flow of the image editing means in the first embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, description will be given according to (1) to (10) shown in FIG. (1) to (4) The image editing means 20 reads image data from the image storage means 11 in the indexed image storage means 10 and stores the image data in the image storage means 22 in order. Also, the index image data is read from the index image storage means 12 of the indexed image storage means 10 and stored in the index image storage means 23 in order.

(5) After reading, the image display means 24 converts the pixel value into a luminance signal and a color signal based on the image data in the image storage means 22 and displays it as an image. (6) Image display means 24 by area information input means 25
The area information indicating the specific area to be edited and processed, which is instructed by the operator on the image displayed in, is input. Further, the editing / processing instruction information input means 26 inputs the editing / processing instruction information to be performed on a specific area such as cut, copy, paste, move, etc., which is instructed by the operator.

(7) The editing / processing means 27 edits the image data in the image storage means 22 corresponding to the specific area of the image indicated by the specified area information in pixel units according to the editing / processing instruction information. Perform processing.

(8) Further, the same editing processing for each pixel as that performed on the image data of the image storing means 22 by the editing processing means 27 is performed on the corresponding index image data of the index image storing means 23. Do against.

(9) to (10) The image storage means 1 of the indexed image storage means 10 stores the image data after the editing process.
1, and the index image data that has been similarly edited and processed is written in the index image storage means 12 of the indexed image storage means 10.

In the above processing, as shown in FIG. 2, the pixel f (x, y) of the image F and the pixel i of the index image I are
When using image data composed of a new pixel g (x, y) that is connected to (x, y), the processing (1), (2)
And processing (3), (4) and processing (7) and processing (8) and processing
(9) and processing (10) can be executed simultaneously.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention. The image storage unit with index 50 of this embodiment is
Image storage means 51 and index image storage means 52
And a lookup table storage means 53.

The image storage means 51 is composed of m × n pixel value storage means 51-1 to 51-m × n, and each pixel value storage means 51-1 to 51-m × n constitutes image data. Are arranged in an order corresponding to each of the m × n pixels.

The index image storage means 52 is composed of m × n index storage means 52-1 to 52-m × n, and each index storage means 52-1 to 52-m ×.
n is each pixel value storage means 51-1 to 51-1 of the image storage means 51.
51-m × n are arranged in a one-to-one correspondence. Each pixel value storage means 51-1 to 5 of the image storage means 51
Each pixel value of the corresponding image data is stored in 1-m × n.

In the look-up table storage means 53,
Storage addresses in the related information storage unit 40 that stores related information corresponding to hot points are stored in a table format corresponding to entry addresses. The index value storage means 52-1 to 52-m × n corresponding to the pixel value storage means 51-1 to 51-m × n corresponding to each pixel forming each hot point defined on the image data are The entry address of the storage address in the related information storage means 40 that stores the related information corresponding to the hot point is stored according to the lookup table.

The image data thus stored can be edited and processed by the image editing means 20 similar to that of the first embodiment, and the lookup table can be referred to even after the editing and processing. It goes without saying that the related information stored in the related information storage means 40 can be read by doing so.

Further, the pixel value storage means 51-1 to 51-m
By combining xn and the index storage means 52-1 to 52-m × n and considering them as one pixel value storage means, the same effect as the first embodiment and the second embodiment can be obtained. It goes without saying that you can do it. in this case,
The index image storage means 23 of the image editing means 20 becomes unnecessary. That is, the conventional general image editing means can be used.

[0051]

EFFECT OF THE INVENTION The index image is subjected to the same processing as the editing processing simply applied to the image F, without performing the complicated processing such as changing the geometric structure of the hot point area information required in the prior art. It is possible to access the related information from the image F ′ after the editing process only by performing the processing on I. A pixel f (x, y) of the image F and a pixel i (x, y) of the index image I are connected as shown in FIG. 2 to form a new pixel g (x, y). (X, y)
Letting G be an image composed of, the image G is subjected to editing processing by using an existing image editing means, and the pixel g ′ (x, y) of the image G ′ after the editing processing is again processed in the image data. Even if the pixel value and the storage address are separated, the same effect can be obtained. In particular, in this case, the existing image editing means can be used as it is without any hardware or software modification.

As the storage address a (Cj) to be stored in the index image I, not only the storage address of the related information Cj stored in one local database but also the storage of the related information in the database via a network such as the Internet. It is also possible to store the address.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a connection between pixels of an original image and pixels of an index image.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a look-up table of accumulated addresses.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a process of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a processing flow of the image editing means in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Image Storage Means with Index 11 Image Storage Means 11-1 to 11-m × n Pixel Value Storage Means 12 Index Image Storage Means 12-1 to 12-m × n Index Storage Means 20 Image Editing Means 30 Related Information Retrieval Means 40 Related information storage means 21,31 Input means 22,32 Image storage means 22-1 to 22-m × n, 32-1 to 32-m × n Pixel value storage means 23,33 Index image storage means 23-1 to 23 -M × n, 33-1 to 33-m × n index storage means 24, 34 image display means 25 area information input means 26 edit processing command information input means 27 edit processing processing means 28 output means 35 image position instruction means 36 address Conversion means 37 Search processing means 38 Related information display means

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An image storage means comprising m × n pixel value storage means for storing pixel values of m × n pixels forming an image, and related information defined for each pixel unit of the image. Image storage means with index image storage means composed of m × n index storage means for storing access information for access, and pixel values stored in each pixel value storage means of the image storage means Pixel-by-pixel edit processing is performed on the same, and similar edit processing is performed to access each related information stored in each index storage means corresponding to the pixel value storage means stored in the index image storage means. An image storing / editing system with an index, characterized in that the image storing / editing method is provided with image editing means for applying to the usage information. 2. An image storage unit with an index for storing image information which is a set of pixel values of m × n pixels forming an image and information for accessing related information defined in the pixel unit, When performing edit processing on a pixel-by-pixel basis with respect to the image information stored in the indexed image storage means, a pixel value of a pixel to be subjected to the edit processing and information for accessing related information corresponding to the pixel. Image storing / editing method with an index, characterized by comprising: 3. The indexed image storing / editing method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a look-up table for storing a storage address of related information corresponding to a predetermined specific area defined for the image. A storage means, and the access information for accessing each related information stored in the indexed image storage means is an entry address indicating a storage address storage position for the corresponding related information in the lookup table storage means. Characterized image storage / editing system with index.