JPH0833897B2 - Image retrieval device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an image retrieval apparatus for retrieving and displaying still image data such as black and white photographs, color photographs, printed matters, films and the like.

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional image search apparatus performs a search by designating several attributes, and reduces the searched image at a uniform magnification to display the image on an image display device.

In this conventional device, when multiple images are searched,
A plurality of images are displayed simultaneously on the image display device, in which case there may be similar images.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In the above-described conventional apparatus, if a plurality of similar images are displayed as a result of the search, the displayed images have many common features, so that which image should be selected for the searcher? There is a problem that judgment is difficult.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention relates to the still image data deleted after the predetermined still image data among the still image data retrieved and displayed on the display device is erased from the image display device. The re-display control means for re-displaying is displayed.

[Operation] According to the present invention, of the still image data retrieved and displayed on the display device, after deleting predetermined still image data from the image display device, the erased still image data is displayed again. Can be used to recover the erase
The judgment of image selection becomes easy, and the image search time is shortened.

[Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing an embodiment of the present invention.

The image reading device 10 corresponds to an image scanner, a TV camera, or the like used when an original image is registered in the original image storage device 14.

In addition, a keyboard 11 for inputting a search request and an image registration request, a CPU 12 for performing various controls, an index file 13 for storing attributes of each image data, an original image storage device 14, and a reduced image from the original image. Image reduction device to create
15, an erased image storage device 16 for storing the still image to be erased when the still image data is erased by using the erase method in the image data displayed on the image display device 17, and the retrieved still image data. The image display device 17 is used to display image data and further narrows down still image data, and is used as a guide screen for designating attributes used for search requests and setting attributes when registering still image data. CRT19
And a digitizer 20 used for setting attributes and selecting displayed still image data.

Here, the CPU 12 is an example of a data search means for searching still image data satisfying a predetermined attribute from the still image database, and is arbitrarily designated from the still image data searched and displayed. It is an example of display control means for erasing still image data from the image display device and displaying other still image data, and is also an example of redisplay control means for displaying the erased still image data again on the image display device. But also.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a relationship between the index file 13 and still image data and a relationship between the image storage device 14 and still image data in the above embodiment.

When the original image is input from the image reading device 10 at the time of registration and the still image database administrator inputs a predetermined attribute from the keyboard 11 and the digitizer 20, the CPU 12 generates an identification code 22 and is set as this identification code 22. The attributes 23 and 23 are registered in the index file 13 as one record 21. Further, the identification code 22 is added to the head of the original image data 25 and stored in the original image storage device 14 as a still image data file 24. Therefore, the attribute and the still image data for one original image are associated with each other by the same identification code 22.

Next, the operation at the time of retrieval in the above embodiment will be described.

When a desired attribute is input as a search request via the keyboard 11 and the digitizer 20, the CPU 12 opens the index file 13 to search for still image data satisfying the request, and obtains its identification code 22. And the original image storage device
The still image data in 14 and the still image data having the same identification code 22 is obtained, and the original image data 25 is transferred to the image reducing device 15. In this case, the identification code 22 of the hit (retrieved) still image data is held in the array (not shown) of the memory (not shown) in the CPU 12, and the image reducing device 15 displays the original image data. The image is reduced to 1/16 of the size and displayed on the image display device 17 via the CPU 12.

3 (1), (2), (3), and (4) redisplay the function of the image reducing device 15 in the above embodiment and still image data erased by the erasing method on the image display device 17. It is a figure which shows a function.

FIG. 3A shows that a screen 51 of the image display device 17 is provided with an image display area 52 and a display area 53 for menus and the like. The image display area 52 is the horizontal direction 51.
RG with 2 pixels, 480 pixels in the vertical direction, 8-bit gradation per pixel
Color display of B 3 planes is possible. According to the function of the image display device, in the above-described embodiment, the image reading device has 512 x 480 pixels in the vertical and horizontal directions, each 8 bit gradation, and RGB3 plane.
An image is input from 10, and this still image data is used as original image data. In addition, in the display area 53 such as menus,
The commands for screen control and commands for search assistance are listed.

Figure 3 (2) shows 16 out of the hit still image data.
This shows a state in which pieces of still image data are reduced and displayed in the image display area 52. The reduced image is one that has been reduced by a factor of 4 in each of the vertical and horizontal directions by the image reducing device 15, and is sequentially displayed from the upper left of the display screen to the right.

A desired image is selected by the digitizer 20 from the displayed reduced images, and the image data is narrowed down. When the image data is narrowed down in this way, a situation often arises in which there are a plurality of images desired by the searcher and a plurality of images which are obviously unnecessary. In this case, the digitizer 20 is used to specify the erase mode (not shown) displayed in the menu field 58, and an unnecessary image, for example, the image A in the screen of FIG. 3 (3) is specified. To do. As a result, the CPU 12 first causes the image data A
Is erased, the portion where the image A is displayed on the screen is erased, and the images B to K are redisplayed by packing them one by one as shown in the screen of FIG. 3 (4). To do. If there are more undisplayed images, the undisplayed images are read out from the image storage device 14, reduced by the image reduction device 15, and designated by the symbol L.
Display in the part indicated by.

In the process of narrowing down the image data using the erasing method mode as described above, if it is desired to display again the still image data that has already been erased and compare them with each other, the digitizer 20 is used to display in the menu field 58. A mode (not shown) of the history function is designated, and the erased still image data is sequentially re-displayed in an arbitrarily designated portion in the image display area 52 shown in FIG. 3 (5).

In the above-described embodiment, when the erased still image data is deleted due to an operation error, the erased still image data is considered so that the erased still image data can be returned to the screen, and the erased still image data is displayed again in order.

Further, in order to distinguish it from other displayed image data (image data displayed before the above-mentioned re-display), it is re-displayed as indicated by reference numeral 55 in FIG. 3 (5). The image is displayed with a frame around it.

5 (1), (2) and (3) are diagrams showing the operation in the erase mode and the operation of the erased image storage device 16. FIG.

In the erase mode, first, the still image data to be erased is designated (S1), the still image data to be erased is deleted from the hit data array (S2), and the still image data to be erased is transferred to the erased image storage device 16. , Store (S
3). Then, a pointer is set in an erase data array (not shown) in the CPU, transferred to the array pointed to by the pointer, and the head address in the erase image storage device 16 of the stored still image data is stored (S4), and moved up. Displays still image data (S5), displays an image to be displayed next (S6, S7), and returns.

Here, when one image (for example, its data is data 1) is erased, the erased data array has a pointer to the start address (address 1) of the data 1 as shown in FIG. 5 (2). Store it at the position indicated. here,
If five still image data are erased from the screen, the state of the erased data array is as shown in FIG. 5 (3).

6 (1), (2), (3), (4), (5)
It is a figure which shows the operation | movement of the mode of a history function, and the state of erase data arrangement | sequence.

For example, if you erased five still images,
The state of the erased data array in this case is shown in FIG. 5 (3). When the history mode is specified and the position to be redisplayed is input (S11), the image displayed at that redisplay position is , Memory in CPU12 (not shown)
Is temporarily saved (S12), and the image of the data 5 obtained from the address 5 indicated by the pointer at the redisplay position is displayed at the redisplay position (S13).

At this point, the system waits for the input of a subcommand (S14). This subcommand includes "end history", "next image display", "previous image display", and "cancel erasure".
Is displayed in. For example, when "next image display" is specified, the pointer is changed by one (S15), and the image of data 5 obtained from address 4 is displayed at the redisplay position (shown in FIG. 6 (2)). ).

If "Next image display" is further specified, the image of data 3 obtained from address 3 is displayed at the redisplay position, and the pointer points to address 3 (shown in FIG. 6 (3)).

At this time, if it is determined that the data 3 has been erased from the screen before, it is specified that "cancellation of deletion" is specified, and the identification code of the data 3 is added to the array holding the identification code of the hit data. Register again (S16). Further, the data 3 is erased from the erased image storage device 16 (S1
7), erase address 3 from the erase data array, rewrite the array (S18), and change the pointer down by one (S15).
As shown in FIG. 6 (4), the image of data 2 is displayed at the designated position and the subcommand input waiting state is entered.

On the other hand, if "end history function" is specified (S1
4) The pointer is changed to the end (S19), and the temporarily saved image data is displayed at the designated position (S20).

When the image is finally narrowed down to one, the CPU 12 causes the corresponding original image data 25 from the original image storage device 14 to be displayed on the image display device.
Transfer to 17 and display.

As described above, 1 out of many still image data
One image can be searched.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an image input / output memory prepared inside the CPU 12. As shown in FIG.

Image memory (1) 34 to image memory (8) 41
Each has a structure of 512 × 512 × 8 bits, and CPU3
The processor 43 operates according to a command from 2, and the image memories 34 to 41 can be arbitrarily selected and input / output via the image controller 33. Further, still image data transfer and real-time operation can be performed between arbitrary memories. Reference numeral 42 denotes an image input / output interface.

In the above embodiment, even if the storage method of the still image data, the input image size, the reduced image creation method, etc. are appropriately changed,
Similar results are obtained as above.

Further, without using the erased image storage device 16, the identification code 22 of the erased still image data is stored in the memory (not shown) of the CPU 12 or the like, and the stored identification code 22 of the original image storage device 14 is stored. The corresponding still image data may be displayed on the portion 55 shown in FIG. 3 (5) through the image reducing device 15.

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, the reduced image erased from the display unit can be compared again with other reduced images, and thus only the required reduced images can be displayed and the required reduced images can be displayed. Since the comparison can be performed with, there is an effect that an operation of narrowing down a desired image becomes easy.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the relationship between the index file and the still image data and the relationship between the image storage device and the still image data in the above embodiment. FIGS. 3 (1), (2), (3), (4), and (5) are diagrams showing the image reducing function and the function of re-displaying the erased image in the above embodiment. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the periphery of image input / output in the above embodiment. FIGS. 5 (1), (2), and (3) are a flowchart showing the operation of the erase mode and a state of the erase data array in the above embodiment. FIGS. 6 (1), (2), (3), (4) and (5) are a flowchart showing the operation of the history function mode and the state of the erase data array in the above embodiment. 12 …… CPU, 14 …… Original image storage device, 13 …… Index file, 16 …… Delete image storage device, 17 …… Image display device, 20 …… Digitizer.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An image retrieving apparatus for retrieving and displaying an image stored in a recording medium, an input unit for inputting a desired retrieval attribute; and a plurality of images satisfying the retrieval attribute input by the input unit. Search means for reading from the storage medium; reduced image forming means for forming a reduced image for searching the image based on the image read by the searching means; and reduced image forming means for forming the reduced image Display means for displaying a plurality of reduced images; first designation means for designating an unnecessary reduced image from the plurality of reduced images displayed on the display means; reduction designated by the first designation means An image retrieval apparatus comprising: a display control unit that erases an image from the display of the display unit while maintaining the display of another reduced image. 2. A storage means for storing a reduced image erased from said display means by said display control means according to claim (1); a reduced image erased from said display means by said display control means. Second designation means for designating a reduced image to be displayed again on the display means, and the display control means includes the second image in addition to the reduced image already displayed on the display means. An image retrieval apparatus for reading a reduced image designated by a designating unit from the storage unit and re-displaying it on the display unit without using the reduced image forming unit. 3. The image retrieval apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising third designating means for designating a redisplay position for redisplaying the reduced image designated by the second designating means. .