JPH10177580A - Retrieval device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a retrieval device which is improved in picture expanding speed and can surely and quickly retrieve aimed picture information. SOLUTION: A retrieval device is provided with a displaying means 1 which displays a plurality of pages P1-P4 in a partially overlapping state, a display setting means 6 which sets the overlapping state of the pages P1-P4, an expanding means 4 which expands the picture information necessary for the display of each page from the picture information of each page stored in a storing medium M, and a switching means 9 which switches the page displayed on the displaying means 1 to another page.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a retrieval apparatus for retrieving image information stored in a storage medium divided into pages, and more particularly, to displaying the image information page by page and based on the display. The present invention relates to a search device suitable for searching a target page.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as this type of retrieval apparatus, as disclosed in JP-A-6-4581 and JP-A-2-307160, image information stored in a recording medium is read every page. There has been proposed an apparatus which can display a target page by displaying the display on a display and switching the display in a page order by operating a keyboard. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-4581 further discloses a technique in which display can be switched while skipping pages every predetermined number of pages, in addition to switching one page at a time. On the other hand, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-307160, instead of performing a page switching operation for each page, it is possible to continuously switch pages.
There is disclosed a technique for appropriately changing the page switching speed.

[0003]

However, in such a retrieval apparatus for displaying each page, the display of the next page can be started only after all the image information of each page is developed on the display. . Therefore, the actual screen switching speed depends only on the processing capability of the search device. In order to increase the search speed, it is necessary to improve the processing capability of the search device.

[0004] Further, in such a retrieval apparatus for displaying image information on a display and confirming the image information, it is impossible to judge the suitability of the image information unless the image information itself is displayed on the display. If the image information itself is skipped as in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. H10-115, a search cannot be reliably performed.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to develop a search device which can improve the screen development speed of the search device and can search the target image information reliably and quickly.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 3-184087 discloses a data processing apparatus for displaying a fixed portion of a plurality of pages on a single screen, and uses this device to search for pages. In order to do so, it is necessary to provide a heading or the like for distinguishing each page in the above-mentioned fixed portion of each page in advance. Since it is not possible to judge whether or not the target image information is obtained, it is not possible to reliably and quickly retrieve the target image information.

[0007]

That is, the present invention provides a display means for displaying a plurality of pages in a state where a plurality of pages are partially overlapped, a display setting means for setting the degree of overlap of the plurality of pages, and a storage. A search apparatus comprising: a developing unit that expands image information necessary for displaying each page from image information of each page stored in a medium; and a switching unit that switches pages displayed on a display unit. is there.

In the present invention, the display setting means may be any one which can set the degree of overlap of a plurality of pages displayed on the display means, but has a pointing input member such as a mouse, a stick, a trackball, and a touch pen. And
If the arrangement direction and the degree of overlap of a plurality of pages can be set according to the movement of the pointing input member, the display range of each page can be set efficiently, and the operability is improved.

In the retrieval device of the present invention, the display means displays a plurality of pages in a state where a plurality of pages are partially overlapped, while the developing means displays the image information of each page stored in the storage medium. , The image information necessary for displaying each page is expanded, so that it is not necessary to expand all the image information for each page stored in the storage medium in the expansion means, thereby reducing the load on the expansion means. Can be reduced.

On the other hand, in the image information retrieval apparatus of the present invention, the degree of page overlap in the display of the display means is changed by the display setting means, and necessary image information is developed in accordance with the change. Can set the display area of the page so that the characteristic portion of the target page is displayed, and easily and reliably determine whether or not the displayed page is the target page. Can be.

[0011]

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

Embodiment 1 FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an image forming apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The image forming apparatus includes an image reading unit IIT that reads an image on a document sheet as read image information, an image storage unit M that stores the read image information, and outputs one of the read image information or the stored image information as input image information. A mode selector S, an image processing unit IPS that converts the input image information into predetermined output image information, an image output unit IOT that forms an image on a sheet P based on the output image information, It comprises a user interface unit UI for setting operations and a main control unit MCTRL for appropriately operating each unit according to the settings.

In such an image forming apparatus, as shown in FIG. 2, an image reading unit IIT includes a platen glass 10 on which a document sheet is placed, and an illumination movably disposed below the platen glass 10. A lamp 11, a CCD sensor 12 that outputs read image information according to the received light, and an optical member 13 such as a mirror that causes the light reflected by the original paper of the light of the illumination lamp 11 to be incident on the CCD lamp 12. The reflected light corresponding to the image density of the original paper placed on the platen glass 10 is made incident on the CCD sensor 12, and the read image information corresponding to the incident light is output. The document tray 1 is placed on the platen glass 10.
An automatic document feeder 15 that supplies a plurality of document sheets placed on the platen 4 one by one to the platen glass 10 is provided, and the image reading unit IIT continuously converts images of many document sheets. Can be read.

The image output unit IOT, as shown in FIG.
The drive roller 1 is suspended over a plurality of drive rollers 16.
6, a charging corotron 18 for charging the photosensitive belt 17 to a uniform potential, and a laser exposure device 19 for exposing the charged photosensitive belt 17 according to output image information. And a developing unit 20 for supplying charged toner to the exposed photoreceptor belt 17. An electrostatic latent image corresponding to output image information is formed on the photoreceptor belt 17 by the charging corotron 18 and the laser exposure unit 19. Then, the electrostatic latent image is developed by the developing device 20 to form a toner image on the photosensitive belt 17. In the figure, reference numeral 21 denotes two paper trays capable of storing a large number of papers P, 2
Reference numeral 2 denotes a transfer corotron which is disposed to face the photoreceptor belt 17 and transfers the charged toner on the photoreceptor belt 17 to the paper P. Reference numeral 23 denotes a transfer corotron downstream of the transfer corotron 22 in the rotation direction of the photoreceptor belt 17. Paper P
, A fixing unit for heating and pressing the sheet P after separation, 25 a discharge tray for discharging the sheet P after fixing, and a sheet P carried out from the sheet tray 21 is a transfer corotron 22. Transfers the toner image,
Further, after the toner image is fixed by the fixing device 24, the toner image is discharged to the discharge tray 25. Therefore, the image output unit IOT sequentially forms the toner images on the photoreceptor belt 17 while sequentially carrying out the paper P from the paper tray 25, thereby continuously forming an image on a large number of papers P. can do. The reference numeral 26 in FIG.
Reference numeral 27 denotes a cleaner for removing residual toner and the like from the photoreceptor belt 17, and a toner image of a constant quality can be formed on the photoreceptor belt 17 by these functions.

Therefore, in the image forming apparatus having such a configuration, the image output unit IOT or the like is operated based on the read image information while reading the image of the original sheet by the original reading unit IIT, so that the original image After reading an image of a document sheet with a document reading unit IIT and storing the read image information in an image storage unit M, an image is output based on the image information stored in the image storage unit M. Part I
By operating the OT or the like, a copy of the previously read original sheet can be formed again.
Further, the image storage unit M recognizes and stores the image of each document sheet as one page, and when reading the images of a plurality of document sheets in one operation of the document reading unit IIT,
It is recognized and stored as a document consisting of a plurality of pages.

In the present embodiment, on the premise of an image forming apparatus having such functions, pages stored in the image storage unit M are called to the user interface unit UI, and image processing is performed by the user interface unit UI. By performing a correction operation and storing the processed page in the image storage unit M, the image forming apparatus can perform an editing operation and form an image of the edited document. Hereinafter, the user interface is appropriately described as UI.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the user interface UI is connected to a display (C) for displaying image information.
RT) 1, a video ram 2 for storing display information that is a source of display on the display 1, a UI screen storage memory 3 for storing various UI screens and appropriately outputting UI screen information, and an image storage unit. Expansion means 4 for expanding predetermined storage image information input from M into display image information; display output selector 5 for appropriately outputting UI screen information or display image information to video ram 2; An input means, an input determination means 7 for determining input information from these input means, and a UI control means 8 for appropriately operating the input information in accordance with the determination result of the input information. In the figure, arrows input from the UI control means 8 to the main control means MCTRL indicate various kinds of setting information and information specifying images to be called on the UI screen, and the main control unit MCTRL based on these information. A predetermined image is output to the image storage unit M. As shown in the figure, the position information of the pointer of the mouse 6 is directly input to the video ram 2 from the input discriminating means 7, and the display information is fed back from the video ram 2 to the input discriminating means 7. Thus, an input from a pointing member such as the crow 6 can be determined. Therefore, for example, by selecting an editing function using the mouse 6 when a screen for selecting a function of the image forming apparatus is displayed on the display 1, the image forming apparatus is switched to the editing mode.

In the editing mode for performing this editing operation, first, information such as the head pages of all the documents stored in the image storage unit M and the reading time of each document is called, and as shown in FIG. Are displayed as one icon I on the display (document selection screen). Then, when the user double-clicks an arbitrary icon I, the image information of the document corresponding to the icon I is called, and FIG.
(1), the head page P1 of the document is displayed at the center of the screen (page selection screen). FIG. 5 shows a display screen when one document is selected. When a plurality of documents are selected, the head pages of the plurality of documents are displayed at the same time.

On the page selection screen on which the head page 1 of the document is displayed, images of four pages of one document can be displayed simultaneously so that the page to be corrected of the document can be efficiently searched. . Specifically, as shown in FIG. 6, the mouse is moved while the edge of the head page 1 is clicked, so that the three page frames P from the bottom of the head page 1 are moved.
2, P3, P4 appear, and these page frames P2, P3,
By releasing the click when the display area of P4 becomes a desired one, images of four pages can be displayed at a time.

At this time, in the present embodiment, the display areas of the second display page P2, the third display page P3, and the fourth display page P4 are reduced to half the length of each side of the page. In addition to the restriction, each page is divided and stored in the image storage unit M into four parts of upper right, lower right, upper left, and lower left. Therefore, at the time of this search, the image storage unit M stores half or 3/4 of each page from the second display page P2 to the fourth display page P4 according to the spread of the document as shown in FIG. Since only the information is output, and the image expanding means 4 expands only half or 3/4 of the image information and sequentially overwrites it on the video ram 2, the first to fourth display pages P1 to P4 are displayed.
As compared with the case where all the images are output and developed, the switching time when switching the pages of the document is reduced.

Further, even when the display areas of the second to fourth display pages P2 to P4 are large, the display position of the head page P1 is changed as shown in FIG. It can also be moved to the edge.

After setting the display of the page selection screen as described above, the user operates the keyboard 9 to switch the pages of the document so that the documents are sequentially displayed four pages at a time, and when the target page is displayed. Double-clicking on the page switches to the editing screen. Further, on the editing screen, a predetermined page is processed / corrected, and the image information after the page is processed is stored in the image storage unit M by finishing the operation.

FIG. 9 shows an example of a display setting sequence on the page selection screen. In this display setting sequence, when a document is selected on the document selection screen of FIG. 4, the head page P1 of the document is displayed in the center of the screen of the display 1 (S
At the same time as 1), the address of the display center of the head page P1 is held in the register (S2). Then, if the user moves the head page P1 within the screen (S3, S4), the display center address of the moved head page P1 is calculated and overwritten on the register (S5). Next, when the user clicks and moves the head page P1 using the mouse 6 (S6), a movement vector is calculated from the initial position data held in the register and the moved position data after the movement (S7). ), The display areas of the second to fourth display pages P2 to P4 are calculated based on the degree of overlap when the vector is divided into three, and the display frame is set accordingly (S8). Finally, in the display frame,
By calling and displaying the image information of the page corresponding to the four display pages (S9), the images of four pages can be simultaneously displayed on the display screen.

After using the image forming apparatus having the above-described structure to test a document, the image of a page having a bad color or a page having a typographical error is corrected from the document, and the document is reprinted. An experiment to form was performed.

As a result, in the image editing work, the display screen is set so that the image of the characteristic portion of the page having the problem is displayed on the screen, and then the suitability of the image is determined based on the image. By switching the screens while doing so, the target page could be efficiently and reliably searched. In addition, since the screen switching speed of the image forming apparatus itself is increased by limiting the display range of the image of each page, the search operation can be completed within a short time.

In the image search operation, the search can be performed with the document itself expanded.
A search can be performed with the same feeling as a document search operation that is usually performed by humans, and even an unfamiliar search operator did not complain of annoying operability or uncomfortable operation.

[0027]

As described above, in the image information retrieval apparatus of the present invention, the display means displays a plurality of pages in a state where a plurality of pages are partially overlapped, while the developing means stores the plurality of pages in a storage medium. Since the image information necessary for displaying each page is developed from the image information for each page, the load on the developing means is reduced.
The expansion processing can be performed in a processing time shorter than the expansion processing time required when each image is expanded, and as a result, the screen expansion speed of the search device can be improved.

In the image information retrieval apparatus of the present invention, the degree of page overlap in the display of the display means is set, and the necessary image information is developed in accordance therewith. After arbitrarily setting the degree of page overlap so that the characteristic part of the page to be displayed is displayed,
It is possible to quickly and reliably determine whether the displayed page is the target page.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the image forming apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a detailed block diagram of a user interface unit and peripheral parts of the image forming apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an example of a document selection screen in an edit mode.

FIG. 5 is an example of a page selection screen in an edit mode (initial screen).

FIG. 6 is an example of a page selection screen in an edit mode (a screen in which a document is expanded).

FIG. 7 is an example of a variation of how to spread a document.

FIG. 8 is an example of a page selection screen in an edit mode (first example).
Screen where the displayed page has been moved).

FIG. 9 is an example of a display setting sequence of a page selection screen.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: display (display unit), 6: mouse (pointing input member, display setting unit), M: image storage unit (storage medium), 4: expansion unit, 9: keyboard (switching unit).

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Fumihiko Nakatani 3-2-1, Sakado, Takatsu-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture KSP R & D Business Park Building, Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. (72) Yoshihiko Tamura Hongo, Ebina-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture 2274, Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. (72) Nobuyuki Yamanaka, Inventor 2274, Hongo, Ebina, Kanagawa Prefecture, Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. (72) Atsushi Minoda, 2274, Hongo, Ebina, Kanagawa, Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. Inside

Claims (2)

[Claims] A display unit configured to display a plurality of pages in a state where a part of the plurality of pages is overlapped; a display setting unit configured to set a degree of overlap of the plurality of pages; and an image for each page stored in a storage medium. A retrieval apparatus comprising: a developing unit for developing image information necessary for displaying each page from information; and a switching unit for switching a page displayed on the display unit. 2. The display setting device according to claim 1, wherein the display setting means has a pointing input member, and sets the arrangement direction and / or the degree of overlap of the plurality of pages in accordance with the movement of the pointing input member. Search device.