JPH0950436A - Method and device for retrieving video image - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily retrieve a desired video file from plural video files at a high speed. SOLUTION: A file management table provided with the fundamental information of a video file, that is the respective pieces of the information of key word, file name, directory, starting time and date and ending time and date, is stored in a video storage device 14. Video communication equipments 10-1 to 10-6 extract the pertinent video file from the inputted key word and display the fundamental information in a list. A user selects one or more video files to be displayed from the displayed fundamental information. The video images of the selected one or plural video files are simultaneously displayed by using plural moving image display windows set on a monitor screen.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a video search method and device, and more particularly to a video search method and device for searching and displaying video information stored in a storage device at high speed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The processing capacity of a computer has been remarkably improved, and various inexpensive secondary storage devices having large capacity and high speed can be used. At the same time, with the improvement of image processing technology, especially image compression technology, it has become common to store moving image data in a secondary storage device and display the reproduced image on a computer monitor.

In the conventional example, a video display window for displaying a video is set, the video data stored in the secondary storage device is sequentially reproduced from the beginning, and the video data is displayed in the video display window. The operation of the video file is also
It is exactly the same as the file operation of a normal file. That is, the method of confirming the file name of the target video file on the operating system or opening the video display application software by designating an arbitrary video file and displaying the contents can be displayed. .

[0004]

However, in the conventional example,
The only way to estimate the content of video data is by the file name, and in the end, there is no choice but to play and display it.
The file name has a length constraint (for example, in MS-DOS (trademark), the file name has a maximum of 8 bytes in the main body and a maximum of 3 bytes in the extension, up to 11 bytes in total). It's difficult to name enough to guess, and allowing too long a file name can make the file manipulation process cumbersome and slow down the output of results.

In some video display application software, when a video file is designated, a representative image (usually, the first one frame) of the video image is displayed for confirming the contents. However, the video files are designated one by one. There is no choice but to do, it is very troublesome and the workability is poor.

An object of the present invention is to solve these problems and to provide a video search method and apparatus which can easily search for an arbitrary video file from a plurality of video files.

[0007]

According to the present invention, a wide range of search keywords can be added to each video information stored in the video storage device by the search keyword addition step or means. Desired video information is extracted by using the input search keyword and this search keyword, and the extraction result is displayed by the basic information display step or means as basic information, specifically, the added search keyword, file name and List start date and time. As a result, it is possible to select the video information that is truly desired to be displayed in the extraction result, based on more detailed information as compared with the conventional example.

Video information desired to be displayed is selected by the selecting step or means, and a plurality of video information is simultaneously displayed on the same screen by the video displaying step or means. Since a plurality of pieces of video information are displayed at the same time, desired video information can be selected based on the contents of the video.

[0009]

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

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. Multiple video communication devices (essentially computers or workstations) 10-1 to 10-6
Is a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WA) including telephone network, ISDN and leased line.
N) to the data network 12. A video storage device 14 that stores a plurality of video files, that is, a video server is connected to the network 12, and each video communication device 10-1 to 10-6 can freely access the video storage device 14 via the network 12. Then, an arbitrary video file stored in the video storage device 14 can be read and displayed on the monitor screen of the own station. Each of the video communication devices 10-1 to 10-4 includes a video camera 1
6-1 to 16-4 can be connected to input video for a desired object, and input video can be input to other video communication devices 10-1 to 10-.
6 and the video storage device 14 can be freely transmitted.

FIG. 2 shows the video communication devices 10-1 to 10-4.
FIG. 2 shows a schematic block diagram of the configuration. Video communication device 10-1 to
Reference numeral 10-6 denotes a CPU 20, a main memory 22, an operating device 24 including a keyboard and / or a pointing device (for example, a mouse), a secondary storage device 26 such as a hard disk device, a bitmap display 28, and a video to be connected. A video input control device 30 for controlling the cameras 16-1 to 16-4, converting the video output thereof into a digital signal and taking in the digital signal, a video encoding / decoding device 32 for compressing / decompressing digital video information, and The communication control device 34 controls communication via the network 12. Since no video camera is connected to the video communication devices 10-5 and 10-6, if the device corresponding to the video input control device 30 is not provided, other
Basically, it is the same as the video communication devices 10-1 to 10-4.

The video storage device 14 is also essentially a high-performance personal computer or workstation equipped with a large-capacity auxiliary storage device such as a hard disk device, an optical disk drive device, a magneto-optical disk drive device, and a magnetic tape drive device. Composed of a combination.

In addition to the video files, the video storage device 14 stores a search file management table for searching the stored video files. FIG. 3 shows an example of the structure and contents of the file management table. Each of the video communication devices 10-1 to 10-6 that intends to store the video file in the video storage device 14 can add information regarding the video file to be stored to the file management table, and the information is stored in the video storage device 14. The video communication devices 10-1 to 10-6, which are trying to retrieve the video file to be read, can read the information in the file management table.

The file management table shown in FIG. 3 includes, as data items, a keyword, a file name, a directory in the video storage device 14, a video start date / time, and an end date / time. The end date and time may be an absolute value or a relative time from the start date and time. Multiple keywords can be registered. The start date and time may be 0 if there is no particular requirement. The end date and time may also be 0 if there is no particular need to specify it.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a search keyword setting screen for setting keywords in the file management table shown in FIG. The window 40 is provided with a field 42 for displaying a file name together with a directory path, a keyword input field 44, an existing keyword display field 46 for displaying a list of existing keywords, an OK button 48 and a cancel button 50. If the existing keywords cannot be displayed in the existing keyword display field 46 at once, the display list can be scrolled up and down by moving the notch or the slider 52 up and down. As a keyword input method, there are a method of selecting from the keywords displayed in the existing keyword display field 46 and a method of directly typing in the keyword in the input field 44. One or a plurality of selected or input keywords are input in the keyword input field 44 in series. The keyword selected in the existing keyword display field 46 is highlighted.

After entering the necessary keywords, OK
Select button 48. Then, the input information is transferred to the corresponding item of the file management table shown in FIG. If a keyword is set when the video is stored in the video storage device 14, it is apparent that the information of the start time and the end time is also added to the file management table. That is, the keyword can be set in the file management table not only when the video file is stored in the video storage device 14, but also at any time after the storage.

When it is desired to stop inputting the keyword, the cancel button 50 is selected. Then, the operation performed on the window 40 until then becomes invalid.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a search keyword input screen for searching a target video file. This search keyword input window 60 is the same as the keyword setting window 40 shown in FIG. 4 except that there is no file name display field 42. That is, the window 60 is provided with a keyword input field 62, an existing keyword display field 64 for displaying a list of existing keywords, an OK button 66, and a cancel button 68. If the existing keywords cannot be displayed in the existing keyword display field 64 at once, the display list can be scrolled up and down by moving the notch or the slider 70 up and down. As a keyword input method, there are a method of selecting from the keywords displayed in the existing keyword display field 64 and a method of directly typing in the keyword in the input field 62. 1 selected or entered
Alternatively, a plurality of keywords are input in series in the keyword input field 44. The keyword selected in the existing keyword display field 46 is highlighted.

After entering the necessary keywords, OK
Select button 66. Then, based on the input keyword, using the file management table shown in FIG. 3,
The search will start.

When the cancel button 68 is selected regardless of whether or not the keyword is input, the keyword input for the search is stopped and the search is not started.

Each of the video communication devices 10-1 to 10-6 searches the keyword column of the file management table shown in FIG. 3 according to the keyword input in the search keyword input window 60 shown in FIG. A video file having any one of one or more keywords is picked up. FIG. 6 shows a related file list table including the picked up information. FIG. 6 shows the information of the video file containing the keywords “company”, “travel” or “tennis” as keywords in the search keyword input window 60 shown in FIG. 5 in the file management table shown in FIG. Become. The related file list table shown in FIG. 6 includes a display flag item in addition to the items of the file management table shown in FIG.
It is a nominal item used for actual display.

FIG. 7 shows a flowchart of a procedure for creating the related file list table shown in FIG. 6 from the file management table shown in FIG. First, the file management table (FIG. 3) stored in the video storage device 14 is acquired via the network 12 (S1). Whether or not there is a search keyword input through the search keyword setting window (FIG. 4) is checked (S2), and if there is a search keyword (S2), individual keywords are acquired from the input character string in the search keyword setting window. (S3).

Then, for each keyword, S1
Is compared with the keyword registered in the keyword column of the file management table copied in step S1, and the record information of each file having the matching keyword is extracted from (the copy of) the file management table to construct the related file list table (S4 to S9). ). That is, the keywords of each video file are sequentially read from the keyword column of (copy of) the file management table (S5) and compared with the search keyword 8
S6). If the keywords match (S7), it is checked whether they have been registered in the related file list table (S8). If they have not been registered (S8), they are registered in the related file list table (S9). If the keywords do not match (S7),
Even if the keywords match, if they are already registered in the related file list table (S8), they are compared with the keywords of the next video file (S5 to S9).

If there are no video files to be investigated (S
4) Check whether the search keyword still exists (S
2) If there is a search keyword (S2), S3 and subsequent steps are repeated, and if there is no search keyword (S2), the process ends.

FIG. 8 shows an example of a screen displayed as a result of the search operation shown in FIG. On the screen shown in FIG. 8, information of the items of the items of the related file list table shown in FIG. 6 excluding the item of the display flag is displayed. The user selects one or more videos to be actually displayed from this file list. You can select multiple video files. You can select all video files at once by using the select all button. When the OK button is pressed, the selection of the image to be displayed ends.

When the image to be displayed is selected, flag information indicating whether or not to display is written in the display flag column of the related file list table (FIG. 6). FIG. 9 shows an example of the contents of the related file list table when a video file other than the second and third video files is selected.

The related file list table, particularly the display flag column thereof, can be changed at any time. Needless to say, by searching the file management table under new search conditions, a completely new related file list table can be created at any time.

FIG. 10 shows a flowchart of the operation routine of the related file list table. If there is any event (S11), it is determined which of the OK button, the all selection button, and the file selection (S12, S1).
3, S14). For the operation of the OK button (S1
2), this process ends. For the operation of the all selection button (S13), the display flag column of all files in the related file list table is set to "display" (S14). In response to the file selection (S15), the display flag column of the file is checked (S16). If it is "display", it is set to "non-display" (S17), and if it is "non-display", it is "display". (S18).

FIG. 11 shows a display example of one or more video files searched and selected according to this embodiment. In this embodiment, six moving image display windows 82 are set in the window 80. Below each moving image display window 82, a field 84 for displaying the keywords set in the video displayed therein is set. When the keywords cannot be displayed in the column 84 at one time, a notch or a slider 86 is displayed below the column 84, and the display content can be scrolled left and right. A video end button 88 for instructing the end of the video is set on the right side of the column 84.

Obviously, the same operation buttons as those on the operation panel of the video table recorder may be arranged for each moving image display window 82.

In the moving image display window to which the video file is not assigned, a character indicating that, "in FIG.
"No image" is displayed.

When there are seven or more images to be displayed,
The window 80 itself may be switched. In addition, the remaining 1
You may assign one video.

FIG. 12 shows a flowchart of a process of simultaneously displaying one or more image files selected for display as a moving image as shown in FIG. Initialize the variable df with 1,
The variable dn is initialized to 0 (S21). Variables df and dn
Are both IDs that specify one of the six moving image display windows 82.

When the video file is completely displayed in one of the moving picture display windows 82 and the processing is finished (S23), whether or not there is a video file to be displayed next is checked by the display flag column of the related file list table (S2).
6). Further, if the display end button is operated during display (S24), the ID indicating the corresponding moving image display window is acquired and substituted for dn (S25), and similarly, there is a video file to be displayed next. Is checked in the display flag column of the related file list table (S26).

If there is no video file to be displayed next (S26), "no video" is displayed in the moving picture display window displayed to the end of the file or the moving picture display window that has been halfway displayed (S34).

Video files whose display flag is "displayed" are sequentially extracted from the related file list table (S26, 27, 28).

When the video file to be displayed is extracted (S28), the value of dn is checked (S29). If dn is other than 0, the next moving image display window is designated.
The value of dn is substituted for df (S30).

It is checked whether or not there is a space in the moving image display window (S31), the image file is displayed in the moving image display window indicated by df (S32), df is incremented (S33), and the next event is waited for ( S22).

In the above embodiment, the video file is searched using the keyword as the search key, but the search start time may be used as the search key. Furthermore, by setting various items such as camera position information and weather information at the time of shooting in the file management table, it becomes possible to search under a wider range of conditions.

The existing video transmission technology can be used for transmitting and receiving the video data via the network.

About the desired video file searched and displayed according to this embodiment, the file name is given to another software or another module in the same software so that it is displayed in full screen. It is clear that

[0042]

As can be easily understood from the above description, according to the present invention, a desired video file can be easily and quickly searched and displayed from a plurality of video files. Also, by displaying a plurality of videos on one screen at the same time, the contents of a plurality of video files can be checked at the same time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a network configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of video communication devices 10-1 to 10-4.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the structure and contents of a search file management table.

FIG. 4 is a search keyword setting screen.

FIG. 5 is a search keyword input screen.

FIG. 6 is a structure and content example of a related file list table.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of related file list table creation processing.

FIG. 8 is an example of a display screen of search results.

FIG. 9 is an example of contents of a related file list table after display selection.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of related file list table update processing.

FIG. 11 is an example of a video display screen.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a video display process.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10-1 to 10-6: video communication device 12: data network 14: video storage device 16-1 to 16-4: video camera 20: CPU 22: main memory 24: operating device 26: secondary storage device 28 : Bitmap display 30: Video input control device 32: Video encoding / decoding device 34: Communication control device 40: Search keyword setting window 42: File name display field 44: Keyword input field 46: Existing keyword display field 48: OK button 50: Cancel button 52: Notch or slider 60: Search keyword input window 62: Keyword input field 64: Existing keyword display field 66: OK button 68: Cancel button 70: Notch or slider 80: Window 82: Video display window 84: Keyword display column 8 6: Notch or slider 88: Image end button

Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Office reference number FI Technical display area H04N 5/91 L

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A method of storing a plurality of video information in a video storage device and searching for desired video information from the plurality of video information, wherein each video information stored in the video storage device has a search keyword. And a search keyword giving step of inputting a search keyword indicating desired video information, and comparing the search keyword given in the search keyword giving step with the search keyword, An extraction step of extracting desired video information from a plurality of stored video information, a basic information display step of displaying basic information of the video information extracted by the extraction step, and an image displayed in the basic information display step. A selection step of selecting video information to be displayed from the information, and a predetermined number of one or more video information selected in the selection step. Image retrieval method characterized by comprising the image display step for image display on the simultaneous display freely screen image. 2. A video search device method for searching desired video information from a plurality of video information stored in a video storage device, wherein a search keyword is added to each video information stored in the video storage device. The desired keyword information is extracted from a plurality of image information stored in the relevant image storage device by comparing the entered keyword with the search keyword provided by the relevant search keyword providing means. Extracting means, basic information displaying means for displaying basic information of the video information extracted by the extracting means, and selecting means for selecting video information to be displayed from the video information displayed by the basic information displaying means. And a video display means for displaying one or more pieces of video information selected by the selection means on a screen capable of simultaneously displaying a predetermined number of videos. Image retrieval apparatus.