JPH10124521A - Image data base retrieving device and image data base device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate necessity to reload the service control procedure of an image data base retrieving device even when plural persons add and delete image information separately at any arbitrary time in a distributed image data base which can be retrieved from a facsimile terminal or the like. SOLUTION: When a facsimile terminal 1 is connected to a line, first of all, an image data base retrieving device 3 performs voice guidance according to initial service control information. Thus, when a push-button(PB) signal is inputted from the facsimile terminal 1, according to the information shown by that PB signal, the image data base retrieving device 3 dynamically reads secondary service control information stored in any relevant one of distributedly arranged respective image information storage device 4 and executes facsimile information provision service according to this secondary service control information. When adding or deleting the image information stored in the respective image information storage devices 4, only the service control information stored in the relevant image information storage device 4 is changed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention belongs to the technical field of retrieving an image database from a facsimile terminal or the like via a network constituted by telecommunications facilities.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In order to realize a facsimile information providing service for retrieving image information from an image database by a facsimile terminal via a network constituted by telecommunication facilities, an image database search device such as a facsimile BOX has been conventionally used. It has been proposed and put into practical use. In general, input / output means of a facsimile terminal includes input / output of image information and audio information, and input of numbers 0 to 9 and * and # symbols by a push button (hereinafter, PB). However, the only reliable means for inputting data from the facsimile terminal to the image database search device is PB.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic configuration of an image database having such a conventional image database device. This conventional image database includes a conventional image database search device 103 and an image information storage device 104, and provides a single facsimile information providing service to a facsimile terminal 101 connected to the image information storage device 104 via a line. Do.

Here, in the conventional image database search apparatus 103, basically, voice guidance is transmitted to the facsimile terminal 101, and P
Search (specify) desired image information by transmitting B signal
Had gone. For example, the image database search device 1
03 is connected to the facsimile terminal 101, the image database search apparatus 103 first uses the facsimile terminal 101 as a voice guidance for an option corresponding to PB.
To send to. When the search user presses a PB corresponding to an option on the facsimile terminal 101 side, a corresponding PB signal is issued, and the image database search device 103 analyzes the received PB signal to recognize which PB has been pressed. Then, the image information corresponding to the option corresponding to the PB is read out from the image information storage device 104 and transmitted to the facsimile terminal 101.

[0005] A processing procedure based on voice guidance and PB for searching for such desired image information is called a voice response control procedure or a service control procedure. Conventionally, service control information describing this service control procedure as shown in FIG.
3 had been accumulated. That is, the conventional facsimile image database search device 103 operates according to one static service control procedure. Therefore, when a change such as addition or deletion occurs in the image information stored in the image database, the service control information stored in the image database search device 103 is simultaneously transferred to the image database search device 103. The administrator needed to change it. That is, in the related art, since the service control information is collectively stored in the image database search device 103, it is necessary to manage the service control information collectively on the image database search device 103.

[0006]

The image database of the prior art shown in FIG. 5 has a single image information storage device. This is applied to a distributed image database having a plurality of image information storage devices. Here are some problems. FIG.
FIG.

In the example of FIG. 6, a plurality of image information storage devices 1
., 104-L and the image database search device 103 are distributed and arranged via the network 105, and single facsimile information is transmitted to the facsimile terminal 101 connected to the image database device 103 via a line. We are building a decentralized image database to provide services.

[0008] In this case, when a plurality of persons individually add or delete image information to each image information storage device 104 at an arbitrary time, the administrator responds accordingly to the administrator of the image database search device. There is a problem that the service control procedure of 103 needs to be rewritten. This is not only complicated, but if the addition and deletion of image information and the change of service control information are not properly coordinated, there is a possibility that desired image information cannot be correctly transmitted to the facsimile terminal 101. there were.

The present invention is directed to an image database which can be searched from an image communication terminal such as a facsimile terminal, even if a plurality of persons separately add or delete image information at an arbitrary time. It is an object of the present invention to realize an image database device and an image database search device that do not require rewriting the service control procedure of the search device.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an initial service control information storage section in which initial service control information is stored in advance, and a secondary service control information storage section for storing secondary service control information. A service control information storage unit and, through a line connection, output of guide information according to a service control procedure between the image communication terminal, input of a user designation signal based on the guide information, and output of image information as a search result. A response that operates according to the service control procedure indicated by the initial service control information stored in the initial service control information storage unit or the secondary service control information stored in the secondary service control information storage unit. Unit, and reads the secondary service control information from the corresponding image information storage device by an instruction from the operation of the response unit, A search processing unit that outputs the information to the service control information storage unit for storage, or reads image information from the image information storage device as the search result and outputs the image information to the response unit. At the time of line connection with the image communication terminal, guidance information is output to the image communication terminal according to the service control procedure indicated by the stored initial service control information, and when a user's designated signal is input from the image communication terminal or the secondary service An image database search device having control means for instructing the search processing unit to read the secondary service control information from the image information storage device or to search for image information when the control information is stored. Means.

Alternatively, the image communication terminal is a facsimile terminal, the guide information is voice information, and the user designation signal is a push button signal of the facsimile terminal. .

Further, the present invention provides an image database search device, one or more secondary service control information,
A single or a plurality of image information storage devices for storing the above image information, and a communication network connecting the image database search device and the image information storage device, wherein the image information is stored in the image database search device. The initial service control information describes a service control procedure irrespective of a change in image information stored in the image information storage device, and the secondary service control procedure stored in the image information storage device includes the image information storage device. An image database device is described, which describes a service control procedure that is changed in accordance with a change in part or all of the image information stored in the device.

In the present invention, the secondary service control information corresponding to the information providing service such as facsimile information stored in the image information storage device is dynamically read into the image database search device, and the secondary service control information is read. By executing an information providing service such as facsimile information in accordance with the above, the image information stored in the image information storage device can be arbitrarily added or deleted, and if the service control information needs to be changed, If only the related secondary service control information is changed, the service control procedure of the image database search device can be modified. In other words, even if a plurality of persons separately add or delete image information at any time in the image database, there is no need to rewrite the service control procedure of the image database search device each time. To realize an image database search device having The difference from the conventional technology is that in the conventional technology, one image database search device operates according to one stored service control information and statically supports a single facsimile information providing service. On the other hand, in the present invention, an information service such as a plurality of facsimile information is dynamically realized by dynamically calling arbitrary service control information from the image information storage device to the image database search device as needed. It is a point.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of an embodiment of a distributed image database according to the present invention. The image database according to the present embodiment includes a plurality of image information storage devices 4-1, 4-2, and 4 -L connected to an image database search device 3 via a network 5. Initial service control information is stored in the image database search device 3 according to the embodiment, and a plurality of secondary service control information and image information are stored in each image information storage device 4. The secondary service control information corresponds to one facsimile information providing service, and the facsimile terminal 1 connected to the image database search device 3 can receive a separate facsimile information providing service corresponding to each image information storage device 4. it can.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration example of the initial service control information (FIG. 2A) and a configuration example of the secondary service control information (FIG. 2B) of the embodiment. The initial service control information and the secondary service control information include voice information A, B, and voice information indicating voice guidance to be transmitted to the facsimile terminal 1.
The service control procedure is determined by a combination of A ′, etc., and execution information A, B, A ′, etc., indicating what operation should be performed when the user designates a number indicating a response to the voice guidance by PB. is described.

The operation of this embodiment will be described below.
When a line is connected from the facsimile terminal 1 to the image database search device 3, first, the image database search device 3 reads initial service control information and performs service control according to the initial service control information. The initial service control information describes a service control procedure for searching for secondary service control information corresponding to a desired facsimile information providing service, and the image database search device 3 executes the service control indicated by the initial service control information. Provide voice guidance according to the procedure. Guided by the voice guidance, the user specifies, from the facsimile terminal 1, secondary service control information corresponding to a desired facsimile information service. When the secondary service control information desired by the user is specified, the image database search device 3
Reads the secondary service control information from one of the corresponding image information storage devices 4. In the secondary service control information, a service control procedure for searching for image information or another secondary service control information is described. The image database search device 3 executes the service control indicated by the secondary service control information. Provide voice guidance according to the procedure. The user is guided by the voice guidance to obtain desired image information,
Or, specify desired (another) secondary service control information. Then, the image database search device 3 searches and reads out the specified image information from the previous image information storage device 4 and sends it to the facsimile terminal 1 or reads the specified secondary service control information. The operation is continued according to the indicated service control procedure.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the operation described above. Note that (1) to (9) are numbers indicating the processing procedures in FIG. First, when a line is connected from the facsimile terminal 1 to the image database search device 3 (1), first, the initial service control information is read (2), and the voice information A indicates "This is a facsimile information providing service.
1 # if you want weather information, 2 if you want traffic information
Press #. Is sent to the facsimile terminal 1 (3). Then, the user inputs a number (1 # in this example) corresponding to the option indicated by the voice guidance from the PB. The facsimile terminal 1 uses the P
The B signal is transmitted to the image database search device 3 (4),
The image database search device 3 converts the input PB signal into a number. The execution information A is obtained from this number.
To determine the next action to take. In this example, since 1 # is input, the image database search device 3 reads the secondary service control information stored at the storage address α (5), and performs service control according to this.
In other words, the voice guidance indicated by voice information A 'is "This is a weather information service. If you want to know the weather in the Kanto region, press 1 #, and if you want to know the weather in the Tokai region, press 2 #." (6). When the user presses 2 # from the PB, the PB signal is transmitted from the facsimile terminal (7). The image database search device 3 uses the P
The B signal is converted into a number, and the next operation is determined with reference to the execution information A '. That is, in this example, the image database search device 3 reads out the image information stored at the storage address ω (8) and sends it to the facsimile terminal 1 (9).

As described above, in the present embodiment, the secondary service control information corresponding to a plurality of facsimile information providing services is dynamically read into the image database search device 3, and the facsimile according to the secondary service control information is used. The information service is executed by the image database search device 3. Therefore, when the image information stored in the image database is added or deleted, and the service control information needs to be changed, only the secondary service control information related to the image information needs to be changed. That is, in the distributed image database, even if a plurality of people separately add or delete image information at any time,
In each case, it is possible to realize an image database search device that does not require rewriting the service control procedure of the image database search device.

Next, a detailed configuration example and an operation example of each device in the above embodiment will be described.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration. 1 is a facsimile terminal, 2 is an image database device, and 3 is an image database search device, 3 is an image database search device, 4-1 to 4-L are image information storage devices, and 5 is a network unit. As components of the image database search device 3, 3-1 is a facsimile response unit, 3-2 is a search processing unit, 3-3 is an initial service control information storage unit, and 3-4 is a secondary service control information storage unit. As a component of the facsimile response unit 3-1, 3-1-1 is a control unit, 3-1-2 is a communication interface unit, 3-1-3 is a facsimile image output unit,
1-4 is an audio information output unit, and 3-1-5 is a PB signal input unit. Further, as constituents of the image information storage devices 4-1 to 4-L, 4-1-1 to 4-1-M,.
−1-1 to L-1-M are secondary service control information storage units,
4-2-1 to 4-2-N, ..., L-2-1 to L-2-N
Denotes an image information storage unit. Initial service control information is stored in the initial service control information storage unit 3-3 in advance in the secondary service control information storage units 4-1-1 to 4-1-M,.
L-1-1 to L-1-M store secondary service control information in advance, and image information storage units 4-2-1 to 4-2.
It is assumed that image information is previously stored in -N,..., L-2-1 to L-2-N.

In order to operate the database device 2 of this embodiment, first, a line connection is made from the facsimile terminal 1 to the communication interface 3-1-2. When a line is connected from the facsimile terminal 1, the communication interface unit 3-1-2 sends a service start request signal to the control unit 3-1-1.
Output to Upon receiving the service start request signal, the control unit 3-1-1 receives the initial service control information storage unit 3-3-1.
3, the initial service control information is read out, and according to the service control procedure described in the initial service control information,
The audio information is output to the audio information output unit 3-1-4. The voice information output unit 3-1-4 converts the voice information into a voice signal that can be heard by telephone, and
Output to the facsimile terminal 1 via -1-2.

On the facsimile terminal 1 side, the user listens to the voice signal and inputs a number corresponding to the reply from the PB of the facsimile terminal 1. The facsimile terminal 1 transmits a PB signal corresponding to the PB to the communication interface unit 3-1.
-2. When receiving the PB signal, the communication interface unit 3-1-2 outputs the PB signal to the PB signal input unit 3-1-5. PB signal input unit 3-1-5
Converts the PB signal into corresponding number information and outputs the number information to the control unit 3-1-1.

When the control unit 3-1-1 receives the number information, the control unit 3-1-1 retrieves the storage address information of the corresponding secondary service control information according to the corresponding execution information of the initial service control information. -2. Search processing unit 3
-2, the secondary service control information storage units 4-1-1 to 4-1-M on the image information storage devices 4-1 to 4-L indicated by the storage address information via the network unit 5, 4-L
The secondary service control information is read from -1 to 4-LM, and is temporarily stored in the secondary service control information storage unit 3-4 of the image database search device 3.

The control unit 3-1-1 reads out the secondary service control information stored in the secondary service control information storage unit 3-4, and according to the service control procedure described in the secondary service control information. Voice information output unit 3-1
-4. The voice information output unit 3-1-4 converts the voice information into a voice signal that can be listened to by telephone, and outputs the voice signal to the facsimile terminal 1 via the communication interface unit 3-1-2.

On the facsimile terminal 1 side, the user listens to the voice signal and inputs a number corresponding to a desired reply from the PB of the facsimile terminal 1. The facsimile terminal 1
Outputs a PB signal corresponding to the PB to the communication interface unit 3-1-2. The communication interface unit 3-1
-2, when receiving the PB signal, outputs the PB signal to the PB signal input unit 3-1-5. PB signal input unit 3-1
-5 converts the PB signal into corresponding number information, and outputs the number information to the control unit 3-1-1.

Upon receiving the number information, the control section 3-1-1 outputs the storage address information of the corresponding image information to the search processing section 3-2 according to the execution information of the secondary service control information. I do. The search processing unit 3-2 is connected to the image information storage units 4-2-1 to 4-L on the image information storage devices 4-1 to 4-L indicated by the storage address information via the network unit 5.
-2-N, ..., image information stored in L-2-1 to L-2-N is read and output to the control unit 3-1-1. Upon receiving the image information, the control unit 3-1-1 outputs the image information to the facsimile image information output unit 3-1-3. The facsimile image information output unit 3-1-3 performs facsimile encoding on the image information and outputs the image information to the facsimile terminal 1 via the communication interface unit 3-1-2.

In the present embodiment, the above-described operation is enabled by the above configuration, so that the secondary service control information corresponding to a plurality of facsimile information providing services is dynamically sent to the image database search device 3. The facsimile information providing service that is read in and according to the secondary service control information can be executed by the image database search device 3.

In FIG. 4, the initial service control information storage unit and the secondary service control information storage unit are separately described in the image database search device. Similarly, the secondary service control information storage unit is stored in the image information storage device. Although the unit and the image information storage unit are described as different units, it is needless to say that each information can be stored using the same storage unit. Further, in the above embodiment, an example is shown in which the present invention is applied to a facsimile information providing service for a facsimile terminal, but the present invention is also applicable to an image information providing service to another image communication terminal. further,
In the above embodiment, an example in which the present invention is applied to a distributed image database using a plurality of image information storage devices has been described. However, the present invention is also applicable to an image database using a single image information storage device.

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the image information stored in the image information storage device is added or deleted, and the service control information needs to be changed, the image information is deleted. In connection therewith, there is an effect that only the secondary service control information stored in the image information storage device needs to be changed. That is, in the image database,
Even if a plurality of persons separately add or delete image information at an arbitrary time, an image database search device and an image database device that do not need to rewrite the service control information of the image database search device each time are realized. It has the effect of being able to do so. The present invention has a remarkable effect particularly in a distributed image database in which change of service control information tends to be complicated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an overall embodiment of a distributed image database according to the present invention.

FIG. 2A is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of initial service control information of the embodiment, and FIG. 2B is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of secondary service control information.

FIG. 3 is a service processing flowchart showing an operation example of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a detailed configuration example of each device in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an image database having a conventional image database device.

6 is an explanatory diagram showing a problem when the conventional example of FIG. 5 is applied to a distributed image database having a plurality of image information storage devices.

[Explanation of symbols]

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 facsimile terminal 2 image database device 3 image database search device 3-1 facsimile response unit 3-1-1 control unit 3-1-2 communication interface unit 3-1-3 facsimile image output unit 3 -1-4 Voice information output unit 3-1-5 PB signal input unit 3-2 Search processing unit 3-3 Initial service control information storage unit 3-4 Secondary service control information storage unit 4-1 ... 4-L... Image information storage device 4-1-1 to 4-1-M,..., 4-L-1 to 4-LM
... Secondary service control information storage units 4-2-1 to 4-2-N, ..., 4-L-1 to 4-L-N
… Image information storage unit 5… Network unit

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Tsutomu Sasaki 3-19-2 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An initial service control information storage section in which initial service control information is stored in advance, a secondary service control information storage section for storing secondary service control information, and an image communication terminal through a line connection. Means for outputting guide information in accordance with the service control procedure, inputting a user's designation signal based on the guide information, and outputting image information as a search result, stored in the initial service control information storage unit. A response unit that operates in accordance with the service control procedure indicated by the initial service control information or the secondary service control information stored in the secondary service control information storage unit; Whether the secondary service control information is read from the information storage device and output to the secondary service control information storage unit for storage. Or a search processing unit that reads image information as the search result from the image information storage device and outputs the read image information to the response unit, wherein the response unit is configured to store the stored initial information when a line is connected to the image communication terminal. The guide information is output to the image communication terminal according to the service control procedure indicated by the service control information, and when the user's designated signal is input from the image communication terminal or when the secondary service control information is stored, the guidance information from the image information storage device is An image database search device, comprising: control means for instructing the search processing unit to read secondary service control information or search for image information. 2. The image database search according to claim 1, wherein the image communication terminal is a facsimile terminal, the guidance information is voice information, and the user designation signal is a push button signal of the facsimile terminal. apparatus. 3. An image database search device according to claim 1 or 2, a single or a plurality of image information storage devices storing one or more secondary service control information and one or more image information, A communication network connecting the image database search device and the image information storage device, wherein the initial service control information stored in the image database search device changes the image information stored in the image information storage device. The secondary service control procedure stored in the image information storage device is changed according to a change in part or all of the image information stored in the image information storage device. An image database device, which describes a service control procedure to be performed.