JPS61121175A - Image file system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten the retrieving time with a high retrieving factor and also to attain the high efficiency with an information storage space, by storing the image information to an image file device for each item and with reduction. CONSTITUTION:An electronic file device 3 stores the image information supplied to an image input device 1 and the reduced images stored in a page memory 2a. Then the image information stored in the device 3 is supplied to a display device 4 in response to a display instruction of a control part 6. While a printer 5 prints the image information on a prescribed form in response to a print command. A command means 6a in the part 6 transmits a command for transfer of the reduced images in the memory 2a to the device 3. When the image information is edited again, the reduced images in the device 3 are transferred to the memory 2a in response to a transfer command of the part 6.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an image file system that records image information input from an image input means in an image information recording means and displays it on an image display means at any time.

[Prior art and its problems]

In recent years, office automation has progressed rapidly, and there is a growing tendency for computers and other office equipment to be interconnected through communication lines. In order to respond to such trends in computerization and communication, it is preferable that the information handled be stored in the form of electrical signals. Therefore, image file systems that use electronic files (optical disks, magneto-optical disks, etc.) that record image information in the form of digital signals have been attracting attention in recent years.

Image file systems have major features in that they can save space and perform high-speed searches, mainly because a large amount of image information can be recorded at high density in the form of electrical signals. Generally, in such an image file system, each time an image input means such as a reader is input, a keyboard is used to retrieve image information search data, that is,
Enter keywords, creation date, etc. of the information. This search data is stored in an external storage device such as a floppy disk along with an address (track number, etc.) for storing this information. The image information is then recorded on the disc ball of the electronic file device. When searching and reading out image information recorded on an electronic file, a keyword is input from the keyboard and the image information corresponding to the keyword is retrieved from the electronic file device. Such a search method is necessary to manage a large amount of image information, but the task of inputting search data every time you input one page of image information is characterized by a considerable amount of effort. In particular, when searching for information such as photographs, pictures, etc., it is often necessary to display input images one after another and perform the search while the operator observes them, rather than searching using search data. For example, when searching for a photo of a specific person, specific thing, etc. from among a large number of photos, it is almost impossible to search from the search data, and the operator needs to display each photo. It is easiest and most effective to select the desired information while observing the information. however,
Displaying hundreds or even dozens of images one by one is time consuming and inefficient.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been developed in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and includes an image editing section that sequentially reduces a series of image information sequentially stored in an image information storage means according to a predetermined six predetermined magnification ratio, and the image editing section. a page memory for sequentially storing a series of reduced images reduced in the section, and reduced image transfer command means for transferring the image information input from the image input means and the series of reduced images stored in the page memory to the image information storage means. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image file system that can display related image information at once and efficiently search for desired image information.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the configuration of an image file system showing an embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 1 denotes an image input device serving as image input means of the present invention, which converts a document to be read into an electrical signal (video signal). Reference numeral 2 denotes an image editing section, which has a page memory 2a that stores reduced image information related to each item.

Reference numeral 3 denotes an electronic file device serving as image information storage means of the present invention, which stores image information input to the image input device 1 and reduced images stored in the page memory 2a. As the electronic file device 3, for example, a magneto-optical disk is used. Reference numeral 4 denotes an image display device that displays image information stored in the electronic file 3 in response to a display command from the control section 6. 5 is a printing device that prints image information stored in the electronic file 3 on a predetermined sheet of paper in accordance with a print command from the control section 6; 6a is an image transfer command means, which is a control unit 6;
It sends a transfer command to transfer the reduced image stored in the page memory 2a to the electronic file device 3. Also, when re-editing the image information, the image transfer command means 6a
The reduced image stored in the electronic file device 3 is transferred to the page memory 2a of the image editing section 2 in response to the transfer command.

It should be noted that the page memory 2a can store, for example, 4 vertical pages and 4 horizontal pages of image information sequentially input from one image input device 1.
It is stored as a reduced image reduced to a total of 16 pages. In addition, the electronic file device 3 stores up to 16 pages (unit of each item) of a predetermined size manuscript, and also stores the above-mentioned reduced image (corresponding to one page), so the overall A total of 17 pages worth of information storage area is set for each item.

Next, a specific example of the image editing operation will be explained.

For example, when a document with item A consisting of 5 total pages is sequentially input to the image input device 1, one of the information storage areas of the electronic file device 3 is sequentially stored with a reduced image in response to a storage command from the control unit 6. An area corresponding to one page is left open, and image information is stored in order from the next page area. At this time, a video signal obtained by converting the original from the first page to the fifth page of item A into an electrical signal is input to the image editing section 2.
The reduced images obtained by thinning out the column and row bits of this video signal are sequentially stored in the page memory 2a of the image editing section 2 as shown in FIG. 2(a).

When this operation is completed for item A, the reduced image for item A stored in the page memory 2a of the image editing section 2 is sent to the electronic file device 3 in response to a transfer command from the image transfer command means 6a. File device 3
The reduced image storage area that is empty, that is, the first page of the page storage area of the electronic file device 3, is stored as the first page for search. Next, when the document for item B is input to the image input device 1, the image editing work is performed based on the same method as described above, and the reduced image and image information are extracted from the 18th page of the page storage area of the electronic file device 3. are stored sequentially.

On the other hand, if you want to add manuscript C, which has a total of 3 pages, to the manuscript of item A, first,
The reduced image stored on the first page of the image is reproduced, and this reproduced image is transferred to the page memory 2a in response to a transfer command from the image transfer command means 6a.Next, the image input device 1 transfers the original of item C. and save these image information to the final storage page (page 5) of item A in the electronic file device 3.
The image information of the input item C is stored sequentially from the sixth page, and the image information of the input item C is sent to the image editing section 2, and the reduced image is stored in the image editing section 2 as shown in FIG. 2(b).
The reduced images related to item A stored in the page memory 2a are sequentially stored, thereby one document consisting of item A and item C is stored in the electronic file device 3. Furthermore, if an erasable recording medium such as a magneto-optical disk is used as the recording medium of the electronic file device 3, the total number of pages recorded on the first page will be 5.
The reduced image related to item A consisting of pages is deleted,
The reduced image containing 8 pages, which is the sum of the reduced image stored in the page memory 2a of the image editing section 2 and the reduced image of item C whose total number of pages is 3 pages, is transferred to the image transfer command means 6a. In response to the transfer command, the reduced image regarding one item A is stored in the page area where it was stored.

In this way, by reducing and storing the image information stored in the electronic file device 3 for each item, first, a reduced image of a desired item is displayed on the image display device 4, and the displayed reduced image Select the required image while observing the
Desired one-image information corresponding to the reduced image can be read out from the electronic file device 3 and displayed on the image display device 4 or printed from the printing device 5.
Search work for image information can be performed efficiently.

FIG. 3 is a control block diagram of an information file system showing an embodiment of the present invention, 1, 2° 2a, 3.6 are the same as those in FIG. A frequency dividing counter 12 generates a timing for reducing the vertical direction (row) of the input image; 12 is for reducing the horizontal direction (column) of the same size image input from the image input device 1; 13 is a latch circuit for latching the image information input from the image input device 1; 14 is a latch circuit for storing the image information input from the image input device 1 in the page memory 2a; An address counter 15 that provides an address is a sequence controller that controls the bus of the image editing section 2 in accordance with various commands sent from the control section 6.

FIG. 3 is a control block diagram of an information file system showing an embodiment of the present invention, 1, 2° 2a, 3.6 are the same as those in FIG. a clock frequency division counter that generates timing for reducing the vertical direction (row) of the input image; 12;
13 is a clock frequency division counter that generates a timing for reducing the horizontal direction (column) of the same size image inputted from the image input device 1; 13 latches the image information inputted from the image input device 1; 14 is an address counter that provides an address for storing the image information input from the image input device 1 in the page memory 2a; 15 is an address counter that provides an address for storing the image information input from the image input device 1; and 15 is an image editing circuit according to various commands sent from the control section 6 This is a sequence controller that controls the bus of section 2. 16 is a changeover switch, and AND is an AND gate.

Next, the compression operation regarding lines of image information will be explained with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. Note that the image compression rate will be assumed to be 1/4 below.

゛In Fig. 4, (a) is clock divider counter 1
8 represents the value indicated by 2 in decimal form, (b) represents the clock signal to the clock frequency division counter 12, and (
C) represents the ripple carry output of the clock frequency division counter 12.

In FIG. 5, (a) represents the latch input signal input to the latch circuit 13, (b) represents the rough clock signal that provides the latch timing of the latch circuit 13, and (c) represents the latch output signal of the latch circuit 13. represents.

Once the image compression rate is determined, the sequence controller 1
5, a preset value is sent to the clock frequency division counter 12. At this time, the terminal of the changeover switch 16 is connected to the a side. If, for example, a TTL-C (74163) is used as the clock frequency division counter 12, the ripple carry output (C) shown in FIG. 4 becomes 1 when all 4 bits become ``1'', that is, 15. By using a signal obtained by inverting this ripple carry output (c) as a load signal for the clock frequency division counter 12, 16-n is loaded as a preset value, and when n=4, 12 is loaded. At this time, four clock signals (b
) is outputted, a ripple carry output (C) having a width of one cycle of the lock signal (b) is outputted from the L terminal of the clock frequency division counter 12. When this ripple carry output (C) is input to the AND gate AND,
The input d of the AND gate AND becomes HIGH level,
As shown in FIG. 5, the image information input from the image input device 1 becomes the latch input signal (a) of the latch circuit 13, and the signal strings Bn-+, Bn, Bn++ are generated.
, Bn+2, . . . are shot four clocks at a time in response to the rising edge of the latch clock signal (b) and become the latch output signal (c). In other words, the signal sequence Bn + Bn+ is obtained by thinning the latch input signal (A) to 1/4.
41 Bn*8 + "" is output. These signal sequences are stored in the page memory 2a according to the count number of the address output counter 14.

Next, a compression operation regarding a string of image information will be explained with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7. Note that the image compression rate will be assumed to be 1/4 below.

In FIG. 6, A represents the line width of one screen that can be displayed on the image display device 4, B represents the column width of one screen that can be displayed on the image display device 4, and C represents one page compressed to 1/4. represents the final address of the first line regarding the eye image, and D is l/
It represents the start address of the second line regarding the image of the first page compressed to 4. In FIG. 7, (d2 represents the horizontal synchronizing signal from the image input device 1, and (e) represents the horizontal synchronizing signal (d) which is divided into 1/2 by the clock frequency division counter 11.
This ripple carry output (e) represents the ripple carry output when the frequency is divided by 4, and this ripple carry output (e) is a 4-pulse horizontal synchronizing signal (
Every time d) occurs, l pulse pull carry output (e
) occurs. (f) is the ripple carry output (e
) represents a count signal by which the address counter 14 counts a clock signal generated in synchronization with the sequence controller 15, and (g) represents a load signal sent from the sequence controller 15 to the address counter 14.

With the changeover switch 16 connected to terminal a, when the sequence controller 15 detects that the address counter 14 has counted the number of row-direction addresses by A/4, the signal string thinned out to 1/4 is sent to the address counter 14. B
n, Bn. 4. A load signal (g) for loading . and is given as a preset value. By repeating this operation, the address counter 14 operates every four rows in the column direction, and the information compression operation is performed by empty-feeding the image information for three rows.
As shown in the figure, the image information of the first page compressed in the row and column direction is stored in the page memory 2a. Further, the position of each page to be displayed on the image display device 4 is determined by the total number of pages of image information input from the image input device 1, and the initial preset value (0) and Preset values (A/4, A/2, 3A/
4. A...) are sequentially sent to the address counter 14, and the position on the page memory 2a is determined. In this way, reduced images are accumulated one after another on the page memory 2a, and when a predetermined number of images have been accumulated, the changeover switch 16
from side a to side b, and sequence controller 1
The image information in the page memory 2a is stored on the magneto-optical disk of the electronic file device 3 in response to a command from the electronic file device 5.

Next, the operation when additionally recording image information will be explained.

First, the changeover switch 16 is switched to the b side, and the reduced image stored in the first page of the image information to be added is transferred from the electronic file device 3 to the page memory 2a.

At this time, the control unit 6 sends a signal indicating how many pages of reduced images are already stored in the page memory 2a as management information of this image information to the sequence controller 15, and the sequence controller 15 sends a signal to the sequence controller 15 as management information of this image information. The corresponding preset value is the clock frequency division counter 11.1
2, and thereafter operates in the same manner as described above.

In the above embodiment, the reduction rate is set to 1/4 and 1 page per page.
Although the case where reduced images of 6 pages are stored has been described, the reduction ratio and storage area can be set according to the user's request.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention includes an image editing section that sequentially reduces a series of image information sequentially stored in an image information storage means according to a predetermined magnification set in advance, and a series of images reduced by the image editing section. A page memory for sequentially storing reduced images, and an image transfer command means for transferring image information inputted from the image input means and a series of reduced images stored in the page memory to the image information storage means are provided, so that the displayed image can be displayed. Since desired image information can be searched for while observing related reduced image information, the time required to search for image information such as photographs and pictures that are difficult to search by inputting keywords is greatly reduced, and information search efficiency is improved. Further, even if image information is frequently added, there are fewer procedures to change the information space of the image information storage means, so there is an advantage that the information storage space can be used efficiently.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the configuration of an image file system showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2(a) is a block diagram of the configuration of an image file system. (b) is an explanatory diagram of the operation of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a control block diagram of an information file system showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 4 to 8 are explanatory diagrams of the operation of FIG. 2. In the figure, 1 is an image input unit, 2 is an image editing unit, 2a is a page memory, 3 is an electronic file device, 4 is an image display device, 5 is a printing device, 6 is a control unit, 6a is an image transfer command means,
11 and 12 are clock frequency division counters, 13 is a latch circuit, 14 is an address counter, 15 is a sequence controller, and 16 is a changeover switch. Figure 4 (c) b n b nφ
4Figure 6Figure 7Figure 8

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) In an image file system in which image information input to an image input means is stored in an image information storage means and desired image information is searched in response to a search command from a control unit, the image information is sequentially stored in the image information storage means. an image editing section that sequentially reduces a series of image information according to a predetermined magnification set in advance; a page memory that sequentially stores a series of reduced images that have been reduced by the image editing section; 1. An image file system comprising: image transfer command means for transferring said image information stored in said page memory and said series of reduced images stored in said page memory to said image information storage means. (2) The image file system according to claim (1), wherein the capacity of the page memory is set to the storage capacity of one image information stored in the image information storage means. (3) The image file system according to claim 1, wherein the transfer command from the reduced image transfer command means is sent out at the time when the series of image information is stored in the image information storage means.