JPS62226375A - Picture information retrieving system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To efficiently retrieve picture information by forming a reduced picture reduced in a prescribed reduction ratio when storing picture information, storing this reduced picture in an optical disk by relating to original picture information and displaying the plural reduced pictures according to retrieving information during a retrieval. CONSTITUTION:Initially, directory information (memory management information) is recorded on the optical disk 3, thereby the management characteristic of the directory information is improved. When the picture information is stored, the reduced picture obtained by reducing it in the prescribed reduction ratio is formed, this reduced picture is stored in the optical disk 3 by relating to the original picture information and the plural reduced pictures are displayed on a screen display means according to the retrieving information during the retrieval. Thereby, the picture information can be efficiently retrieved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field] The present invention relates to an image information retrieval method applied to an image file system using an optical disk as a storage medium in which data cannot be rewritten in the same storage area.

[Prior Art] In recent years, optical disk devices that use disk-shaped optical disks as storage media have been put into practical use, and have been applied to image file systems that store large amounts of image information.

Now, on the surface of an optical disc, the track pitch is 1 to 2.
A recording track of μm is formed, and data is recorded by changing the surface condition (for example, reflectance) of the recording track in accordance with the data to be recorded. In addition, in many cases, optical discs cannot be rewritten to the same storage area, so when updating recorded data, the original recorded data is deleted and the updated recorded data is transferred to another storage area. It is necessary to record it again.

Generally, one file (data file) is stored in a continuous storage area on an optical disc, but in reality, the file is divided into sectors of a predetermined bit, and data is recorded in units of sectors.

By recording data in sectors in this way, you have more freedom in accessing files.

Error correction processing for correcting data errors can be performed efficiently.

In order to efficiently access the data recorded in this way, a memory consisting of the file name, file length, sector number (sector address) of the first sector of the optical disk that stores the file, sector address of the last sector, etc. It forms management information (directory information).

By the way, as mentioned above, since rewriting is not possible on optical discs, storage management information that is frequently rewritten has conventionally been stored in rewritable storage means other than optical discs,
For example, it was stored in a fixed magnetic disk device or a flexible magnetic disk device.

However, if the storage management information of the optical disc is stored in a separate device in this way, the storage management of the information is poor.
There was a problem in that managing the storage management information required time and effort. There is also the inconvenience that it is not possible to efficiently search for desired image information.

[Objective] The present invention has been made to solve the problems of the prior art described above, and is capable of improving storage management of image information.
The purpose of this invention is to provide an image information search method that can efficiently search for target image information.

[Configuration] In the present invention, first, directory information (storage management information)
The manageability of directory information is improved by recording the information on an optical disc. In addition, when storing image information, a reduced image is created by reducing it at a predetermined reduction ratio, and this reduced image is stored in an optical disk in association with the original image information, and when searching, the reduced image is Since a plurality of images are displayed on the screen display means, one image information can be efficiently searched.

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

FIG. 1 shows an image file system according to an embodiment of the present invention. This image file system consists of a data processing device 1 that performs various data processing, an image input device such as an image scanner or a television camera that inputs images, 2) an optical disk device that stores images, and 3. It consists of an image recording device 4 such as a laser printer for recording and outputting images, and a terminal device 5 for operating this data processing system.

The data processing device 1 is a CP that executes various calculation processes, etc.
U (central processing unit) 11, program memory 12°C that stores program data to be executed by CPU II
A work memory 13 that constitutes a work area when the PU 11 executes various processes, an input/output circuit 14 for exchanging data with the image input device 2. An input/output circuit 15 for exchanging data with the optical disk device 3; an input/output circuit 1 for exchanging data with the image recording device 4;
6 and an input/output circuit 17 for exchanging data with the terminal device 5. Note that an external storage device such as a magnetic disk device can be added to the data processing device 1, and such an external storage device can be used for the program memory 12. Further, the work memory 13 and the program memory 12 may be composed of the same storage device, and furthermore, the image processing mechanism for executing various image processing in the data processing device 1 may be changed. However, in this embodiment, such image processing is also performed using CI.
'U 11 executes.

The optical disk device 3 includes an optical disk drive section 31 that rotates the set optical disk and records and reproduces data.
．． The data processing unit 1 outputs the movement information from the data processing unit 1 to the designated target sector and the recording data to the optical disc transferred from the data processing unit 1 to the optical disc drive unit 31, and also outputs the data read by the optical disc drive unit 31 as data. A read/write control unit 31 that outputs to the processing unit 1, and an input/output circuit 3 that exchanges data with the data processing unit 1.
It consists of 3. Note that the read/write control unit 32
It also performs processing such as modulation/demodulation processing and error correction processing when recording and reproducing data on an optical disk.

The terminal device 5 includes a keyboard 51 for an operator to input data, a screen display section 52 for displaying data to the operator, and a process for inputting data from the keyboard 51 and displaying data on the screen display section 52. It is comprised of a control section 53 for processing data, and an input/output circuit 54 for exchanging data with the data processing section 1. The screen display section 52 has a high resolution that can display one page of the image input from the image input device 2, and the keyboard 51 has a keyboard 51 that allows you to specify any point on the screen display section 52. It is equipped with a pointing device, etc.

In addition, in this image file system, when an image input by the operator from the image input bag @2 is stored on the optical disk set in the optical disk device 3, an abstract image is formed by reducing the input image, and an abstract image is formed by reducing the input image. Abstract images are also stored on the optical disk. Note that this abstract image is used when searching for images (described later).

FIG. 2 shows an overview of the data recording format on an optical disc.

As mentioned above, an optical disk has a recording track for recording data, and this recording track is divided into sectors of a predetermined length, and at the beginning of each sector there is a mark for identifying the sector. Flag data indicating the sector address, the recording state of data in the sector, etc. is added. This flag data includes a write flag that indicates that data is recorded in the sector, a deletion flag that indicates that the data recorded in the sector is no longer valid due to updating, etc. (i.e., deleted state), etc. There is.

Therefore, the write flag is set to "1" in a sector where data has been recorded, and the deletion flag is set to "1" in a sector where recorded data has been deleted. This flag data is written and read by the read/write control unit 32 similarly to other sector areas.

Now, with one or more configurations, the data processing unit 1 has a physical directory for recording the recording state of one image file (actual image file) on the optical disk, a logical directory for managing image files for each user, and a physical directory. Directory information is composed of a search information directory consisting of data for searching logical directories.

As shown in FIG. 3(a), the search information directory includes an empty area sector address indicating the first sector of an empty area (that is, an area where no data is recorded) on the optical disc, and an empty area sector address indicating the first sector of the physical directory on the optical disc. a physical directory sector address, a physical directory size indicating the length of the physical directory, - a username (also called username) corresponding to the user;
On the optical disc, a logical directory sector address indicating the first sector of the logical directory for the user with the user name and a logical directory size indicating the length of the logical directory are set in a continuous storage area. Also,
The portion from the user name to the resize to logical block 1 is formed by the number of users (in this case, n pieces).

The physical directory is as shown in Figure 3(b).

For example, the physical directories of m images are set in a continuous storage area, and each physical directory has the actual image file name (described later) as shown in FIG. 3(C).
, the sector address indicating the first sector of the image file on the optical disc, the length of the image file, and one image data format are set in a continuous storage area.

Image data format 1- is a format that includes image attribute information such as multivalued/binary data identification information and color/monochrome image identification information, image screen configuration, and image data compression method. Consists of information.

Here, as for the types of screen configurations of images, in addition to those in which one screen simply constitutes one image, there are also types in which the screen is divided into four parts, or one in which one screen is divided into four parts, as shown in FIG.
There are two types of image orientation: vertical writing, horizontal writing, etc.

Also, the amount of data for the two images is huge.

I guess it was stored in its original form on an optical disc.

The number of image files that can be created is extremely small.

Therefore, in order to use optical discs efficiently, the characteristics of one image data are generally used to encode it and compress the amount of data. Furthermore, since there are many types of compression methods, it is necessary to memorize the methods.

A logical directory is created for each user, as shown in FIG. 3(d). One user logical directory is as shown in FIG. 3(e).

A logical directory for images registered or designated by the user is set in a continuous storage area on the optical disk for the number of registered or designated images (for example, 2).

Note that these logical directories for a plurality of users are not necessarily stored in consecutive storage areas on the optical disc (see FIG. 3(d)).

As shown in FIG. 3(f), one image logical directory contains the logical image name that is the name given to the image by the user, the actual image file name added to the image, and the abstract image of the image. It consists of the actual image file name added to the image, the access frequency indicating how often the image was accessed, and other search information. Images are searched based on access frequency and other search information.

Here, the actual image file name is specified by the CPU when registering the image.
t i is a name that is automatically added, and is added to each of the original image and the abstract image obtained by reducing it.

In addition, in order to clearly identify the original image and the abstract image, for example, the actual image file name of the original image is
F### (#### is the number that indicates the registration order; 1
The actual image file name of the abstract image can also be written as AB####.

In addition, the access frequency is calculated by adding a certain value when the image file (logical image file) is accessed by searching, modifying, updating, etc., and dividing it by a predetermined value every predetermined period (for example, one day or one week). and formed. Other search information is set according to the characteristics and types of images filed by this image file system, such as dates and various names for identifying the images. Unique items are set, and these are the same items as in a normal file search system or database system (and matching system).

As shown in Figure 5, the search information directory is initially stored at the final address of the optical disk, and each time it is updated, it is sequentially moved from the final address toward the first address (i.e., address O). At the same time, the old version search information directory is deleted from the optical disc by setting the deletion flag in the flag data of the sector of the optical disc in which it was stored.

In addition, image files, physical directories, and logical directories are stored sequentially from the first address of the optical disc to the final address H. Similarly to the search information directory, these image files, physical directories, and logical directories are stored in the same way as the search information directory. deleted from the optical disc. Note that the data in the search information directory is large enough to fit in one sector, although it varies depending on the number of users.

Now, the CPU 11 executes processing such as image registration. Note that when an operator uses this image file device, information necessary for the operation, such as the operator's user name, is input in advance by the operator.

That is, for example, when an operator sets an image original on the image input device 2 and selects image registration processing from the terminal device 5 (at this time, it is possible to specify whether to read in binary or multi-value), the CPU 11 registers the image. The input device 2 is operated to read the image of the set image original in a specified mode, display it on the terminal device 5, and allow the operator to modify or edit the image. Note that during the operator's operation, the image processing functions (for example, reduction/enlargement processing, image enhancement processing, etc.) provided in the CPU 1i can be used as appropriate.

When the operator has finished manipulating the image and the operator inputs to memorize the displayed image, the CPU
I provides the operator with the image file name (logical image file name) and other search information (hereinafter also referred to as attached information).
When the input is completed, the real image file name is added to the image being displayed at that time, an abstract image is created by reducing the image, and the real image file name is added to this abstract image. The images and abstract images are each compressed and stored sequentially from the top address of the empty area of the optical disc. In addition, the operator
It is also possible to specify that the directly read image be filed in the optical disk device 3.

Then, a physical directory and a logical library are created in the work memory 13 for the images stored at this time.

When the operator completes a series of image registration operations and inputs that the use of the optical disk device 3 is terminated, CI'U
11 sequentially stores the final physical directory and logical directory in the empty area of the optical disk, forms a search information directory by referring to the storage addresses of the physical directory and logical directory at this time, and stores this search information directory on the optical disk. Store at final address H.

Also, at the time of this registration, the write flag of the flag data of the sector in which the new data is written is set to "1".

Next, when searching for images stored (registered) on the optical disk in this way, cpult executes the following processing.

First, when the operator specifies image search processing, the operator is prompted to enter the operator's user name.

As shown in FIG. 6, in order to find the search information directory, the sector address of the sector from which to start reading (usually about the final sector address at this time) is set in the optical disk device 3 (process 101).

A sector flag read command for reading the flag data of the sector is output to the optical disk device 3 (process 10
2).

As a result, the flag data of the sector selected from the optical disk device 3 is input to the CPt 111. CPU11
check the Delete Flag data flag and make sure it is '
103.
), when the result of this judgment 103 is YES, the optical disc is loaded with the sector address updated by decrementing it by one [! 3 again and execute process 104) and process 102. In this way, sectors are scanned from the last sector to the first sector to detect the sector in which the search information directory is stored.

When the result of the judgment 103 is YES and the search information directory is detected, the CPt1ll instructs the optical disk device 3 to read the data of the sector and stores the data of the sector in the work memory 13 (processing 10
5).

Next, an empty area sector address is identified from the data of the search information directory stored in the work memory 13, and the data is set as the contents of a variable for storing the empty area sector address (process 106). Similarly,
By identifying the physical directory sector address and physical directory size.

These data are respectively set in the contents of variables for storing the physical directory sector address and physical directory size (process 107).

Then, the optical disk device 3 is accessed based on the contents set in the work memory 13, the physical directory stored in the optical disk is read out, and the physical directory is set in the work memory 13 (process 108).

Next, set the value of variable i to "1" (process 109), subtract the first user name (i) from the search information directory data stored in the work memory 13, and compare it with the user name of the accessing user. and searches for a match (process 110, judgment 111, process 112).

As a result, the logical directory sector address and logical directory size of the searched user name are set to the contents of each variable (113), and the user accesses the optical disk device 3 based on the contents and stores them on the optical disk. The logical directory is read out and set in the work memory 13 (processing 114).

In this way, when the logical directory corresponding to the accessing user is developed in the work memory 13, the CPU
II prompts the user to input data serving as a search key (input 201; see FIG. 7).

When the user inputs a search key, cputt looks at the logic blocks 1-1 in order of frequency of access and searches for those that have the same other search information as the input search key (process 202).

Then, it finds a physical directory that has the same real image file name as the real image file name of the abstract image in the searched logical directory, and accesses the optical disk drive @3 based on the contents of the physical directory.
The abstract image of the image is read out and displayed (processing 203).

Further, as shown in FIG. 8, since a plurality of abstract images can be displayed on the screen display section 52, the process 202,
Step 203 is performed as many times as can be displayed to form display data for one screen. In addition, at the bottom of each abstract image, the attached information added to the original image of the abstract image, that is, the contents of other search information stored in the logical directory, is also displayed (process 204). .

After one screen's worth of display information is formed and displayed in this way, the CPU II instructs the operator to select one of the abstract images, and in response, when the operator selects one of the abstract images (judgment 205 result is YES), identify the real image file name of the logical directory that has the selected abstract image, find the physical directory that has the same real image file name as the real image file name, and based on the contents of the physical directory. The optical disk device 3 is accessed, and the image is read out and displayed (process 206). At this time, if output to the image recording device 4 is specified, the read image is transferred to the image recording device 4 and printed out.

In addition, if the desired image is not found among the displayed abstract images and the operator inputs a negative response, and the result of judgment 205 is No, the process returns to step 202 and the abstract image of the image with the next access frequency is displayed on one screen. The process is repeated until the result of judgment 205 becomes YES.

In this way, when an image is specified by an operator, the CPU II prompts the operator to make modifications to the image.
In addition to carrying out work such as updating.

Update the access frequency in the logical directory corresponding to the image.

Furthermore, since a plurality of abstract images of the image having the search key inputted by the operator are displayed on the terminal device 5 according to the access frequency, the operator can give instructions while confirming the desired image, and therefore the image search can be carried out efficiently. be able to.

At this time, when registering the modified content as another image, the same process as described above is used.

When the image is registered on the optical disc, a new logical directory is created in the work memory 13.

In addition, when the content of the image is changed due to correction etc.,
When the changed contents are registered on the optical disk, the old version logical directory is updated in the work memory 13. Note that when the image is changed, the deletion flag of the flag data in all sectors of the optical disk in which the old version of the image was stored is set, and the old version of the image file is deleted from the optical disk.

Now, if an operator accesses an optical disk and one or more physical directories and logical directories are changed, when the operator finishes accessing the optical disk, the CPU 11 updates the changed physical directory and logical directory. is stored on the optical disk and the search information directory is stored in the work memory 13.
The updated contents are stored on the optical disc as a new version of the search information directory.

When updating the search information directory like this,
The CPU II executes the processing shown in FIG.

That is, first, the sector address of the current search information directory is specified to the optical disk device 3 (301).
, In this state, "1" is written and set to the deletion flag of the flag data (process 302).

Then, the sector address is decreased by one and updated (process 303), and the newly created search information directory is written to the optical disc (process 304).

As a result, the new version of the search information directory is updated and stored on the optical disc.

Furthermore, when updating data files, physical directories, and logical directories, the same processing as when updating the search information directory is performed.

In this way, images are stored on the optical disc, various types of directory information for managing the storage status are stored on the optical disc, and the stored images are searched.

As described above, the directory information that manages the data storage state of the optical disk is stored in the data file (
The system is hierarchically divided into a physical directory that stores the physical storage state of image information) and a logical directory that stores data files registered or specified by each user, so data files can be shared by multiple users. Furthermore, even if the method for managing the storage state of data files is changed, it can be handled relatively easily.

In addition, the header information of the physical directory and logical directory is formed as a search information directory that fits in one sector of the optical disk, and this search information directory is stored starting from the last sector of the optical disk, so it is possible to search for the desired image at high speed. I can do it.

Furthermore, since a plurality of abstract images are displayed according to the access frequency of the image information, the operator can quickly find the desired image that is frequently accessed, and can perform a five-image search efficiently.

Note that when searching for image information, it is also possible to directly read out the desired image by inputting, for example, "user name/logical image file name."

However, "/" is a character to separate the user name from the logical image file name.

Also, if you want to register an image registered by another user as your own image, you can do this by entering 1, for example, copy ``Username 1/Logical image file name'' and ``Username 2/Logical image file name.'' can. However, username 1 indicates the username of the user who registered the image, and username 2 indicates the user's own username. Note that this operation requires 1
It uses instructions that can be executed by an operator in the image file system. Normally, such commands that can be executed by an operator are set in the operating system of each image file system.

[Effects] As described above, according to the present invention, first, directory information is recorded on an optical disc, thereby improving the manageability of directory information.

Also, when storing one image information, a reduced image is created by reducing it at a predetermined reduction ratio, and this reduced image is associated with the original image information and stored on the optical disk, and when searching, the reduced image is used according to the search information. Because multiple items are displayed on the screen display means.

Various effects such as being able to efficiently search for image information can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an image file system according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating the storage state of data on an optical disk, and FIG. 3(a) is an example of a search information directory. The signal arrangement diagram shown in the same figure (
b) and (c) are signal layout diagrams showing an example of a physical directory, (d) to (f) are signal layout diagrams showing an example of a logical directory, and Figure 4 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the screen configuration. , Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating the storage state of data on an optical disk, Fig. 6 is a flowchart 1-1 illustrating an example of processing when a directory is expanded, and Fig. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing when searching for an image. , FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing an example of display during a search, and FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an example of updating the search information directory. I...Data processing device, 2...Image input device, 3.
...Optical disk device, 4... Image recording device, 5...
Terminal device, 11...CPU, 12...Program memory, 13...Work memory. Agent Patent Attorney Crest 1) Makoto Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 (a) (b)
(d) Figure 4 Figure 6 Figure 7

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In an image information retrieval method in which image information stored on an optical disk is searched and displayed on a screen display means, a reduced image is formed by reducing the image information stored on the optical disk at a predetermined reduction ratio, and the image information and physical directory information consisting of a first image name, storage position and size on the optical disk, which are set for each of the reduced images when storing them on an optical disk, and physical directory information that is created for each user of the optical disk and that the user can use the image information. logical directory information consisting of the second image name added to the image information, the first image name corresponding to the image information, the first image name corresponding to the reduced image of the image information, and search information; A search information directory consisting of the storage location and size of the directory information on the optical disc and the storage location and size of the logical directory information for each user on the optical disc is stored on the optical disc, and the logic of the corresponding user is determined from the contents of the search information directory. It is characterized by inputting the storage position and size of the directory information on the optical disk, reading out the logical directory information from the optical disk, and displaying a plurality of reduced images of the image information on the screen display means according to the search information of the read logical directory information. image information retrieval method. (2) The image information search method according to claim 1, characterized in that when displaying the reduced images, image information search information corresponding to each reduced image is displayed in close proximity to each other.