JPS6261168A - Image information retrieval network system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To use effectively an image filling device and to reduce a setting space and cost by providing the retrieval and supply of images filed in one image filling device to code processing terminals arranged on plural positions comparatively separated each other in common. CONSTITUTION:An image processor IIP 5 executes the working processing of an output image part of image data to be outputted which are read out from the image filing device 1, stored in an image file 31 of a terminal control equipment 3 and then stored in a memory of an image retrieving terminal 2 and is used in common by respective image retrieving terminals 2 connected to a communication circuit LAN 4. The image processor 5 includes an encoding/ decoding mechanism for compressing/expanding image data, a density converting mechanism for converting dot density, an expanding/contracting mechanism for expanding/contracting the image, a separating mechanism for optionally and selectively extracting an image, an image buffer for storing image data processed by said respective mechanical parts, etc.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to an image information retrieval network system in which an image retrieval device using an optical disk as a recording medium is shared by a plurality of image retrieval terminals via a communication line.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems] In recent years, image filing devices using optical disks as recording media have been widely mentioned and used.

This type of image filing device has a so-called stand-alone configuration in which each device is used independently because the purpose is to store a large amount of images and search and output them at high speed. Therefore, if the devices are used frequently in relatively separate locations, such as in an office, it is necessary to install the devices separately in each location, which reduces installation space, costs, and Various problems arise in terms of operational efficiency, etc.

[Objective of the Invention 1] The present Komei was developed in consideration of the above-mentioned circumstances, and has a system configuration in which a single image filing device can be shared by image search terminals located at multiple locations. An object of the present invention is to provide an image information retrieval network system in which images stored in one image filing device can be commonly searched and supplied.

[Summary of the Invention 1] The present invention connects an image filling device using an optical disk as a recording medium and a terminal control device via a communication line, and allows the terminal control device to compress/receive images transmitted and received on the communication line.
An image processing device that performs decompression processing, image search conditions specified by a terminal device, and image numbers that manage file images in the image filing device correspond to each other.
Then, the terminal system 1iIl device refers to the image directory, obtains the image number of the image filing device, obtains image information from the image filing device based on the image number, and sends the same image information. Imaged with the above image processing device @
As for the system configuration that processes and outputs to the corresponding terminal device, code processing terminals placed in multiple relatively distant locations are used as a single image)? This is an image retrieval system that allows users to commonly receive the search and supply of images filed in filing devices, thereby making effective use of image filing devices, reducing installation space, and reducing costs by 1. can be constructed.

Examples of the invention An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an image information retrieval network system according to the present invention.

In Fig. 1, 1 is an image filing device (IFD) shared by multiple image search terminals, which stores registration side @ (image data) on an optical disk, and stores search information for each image on a magnetic disk. /2... is a plurality of high-performance workstations (8~...~'S) that share this image filing device 1, and is referred to here as the end of image retrieval.3,3. ... is a distributed processing computer <DP that controls the same image search terminal/2...
), and is referred to here as a terminal control device. 4 is each terminal control device 3, 3... which controls the image search terminal/2...
A communication line (L
AN).

5 is an image processing device (IIP) provided in a predetermined specific terminal control device 3; 6 is also a file directory (FID);
The configuration is such that it is shared by the control device 3.

Here, the configuration of each of the above parts will be explained.

The image filing device 1 includes a controller 11 that controls the entire device, a CRT display 12 that provides image display 7/operation guidance/trouble display, etc., numeric keys and cursor keys for inputting various data, Furthermore, there is a keyboard (KB) 13 equipped with function keys including image keys (enlarge/reduce, /rotate/'reverse, etc.) and kana-kanji conversion keys, a scanner (SCN) 14 for reading the original to be filled, and an image. a printer (PR lower) 15 that prints out files and lists, an optical disk drive unit 16 that records images, and this optical disk drive unit 16
It consists of a magnetic disk device (DISK>17) that stores search information for images registered in the , and an optical disk storage that stores optical disks.

As shown in FIG. 2, the image search terminal 2 includes a microprocessor (μCPU) 21 that controls the internal terminal device,
A memory 22 that stores image data of a specified page to be output.
, CR7 display section 23, microprocessor 21 and CR7
A graphic display controller (GDC) 24 configured with an LSI (for example, μPD 7284 made by Nippon Tsumeki Co., Ltd.) that controls the interface with the display unit 23, and a CR under the control of the graphic display controller 24.
7 Bitmap memory (BMM) 25 that stores display image data for one screen (partial area within a page) displayed on the display screen of the display unit 23; A bit mover (11) that transfers data to the bitmap memory 25 at high speed
BMV) 26, an arithmetic circuit 27 that performs operations on the image data on the bitmap memory 25, and a parallel-to-serial conversion circuit (P/
5) 28, and further includes components such as an input device 29 consisting of an operation input section such as a keyboard (KB) and a mouse, and its controller (KBC).

The terminal control device 3 receives input from the corresponding image search terminal 2 (
An image of reading multiple pages of image data from the image filing device 1 using the specified image search condition (data to be a keyword or data corresponding to a keyword) as a parameter and copying it via a communication line (LAN) 4. It is in charge of a series of controls that are imported into a file, and here it is configured by a distributed processing computer (for example, DPlo). Each of the terminal control devices 3 has an image file section 31 (referred to as ``two-souji image file'') for storing multiple pages of image data read out from the image filing device 1, and a famous name for search processing. An external memory 1 (for example, a magnetic disk) having a code file section (CF: hereinafter referred to as screen information file) 32 that stores display screen information, etc., and an image file 31 of the external memory or an image search terminal. The device has an image printer (GP) 33 that prints out image data stored in the memory 22 in the image search terminal 2 in units of pages. , 2... provides an image data file area for three pages (the page to be output processed and the pages before and after it) for each terminal control device 3, 3- is provided by the communication company 11 (company). device ([child CP: etherne
communication process)
It is connected to the communication line (LAN>4) via the terminal control device 3. Also, each terminal control device 3, 3...
Image processing unit (IIP) shared by 5. and a file directory (FID) 6.

The image processing device (I I P ) 5 is read out from the gap filing device @ 1, and the image processing device (I I P ) 5 is read out from the gap filing device @ 1, and the asthma control! 1lli place 3
This process processes the output image portion of the image data stored in the image file 31 of the image search terminal 2 and the output target image data stored in the memory 22 of the image search terminal 2. Image search terminal 2, 2...
shared by This image processing device 5 includes an encoding/decoding processing mechanism that compresses/expands image data;
A density conversion mechanism that converts dot density, an enlargement/reduction processing mechanism that enlarges/reduces an image, a cropping mechanism that selectively extracts an image, and an image buffer that stores image data processed by each of the above mechanisms. The specific structure and operation thereof are disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 59-228528 filed by the same applicant as this invention.
and Japanese Patent Application No. 59-228530 entitled "Image Data Processing Apparatus", detailed explanation thereof will be omitted here. This image data processing device includes an image data decoding unit that expands input compressed image data into uncompressed image data, and a conversion control unit that performs density conversion, enlargement, and reduction processing of this expanded image data (uncompressed image data). an input image data converting section comprising an image cutting section for cutting out the converted image data; an output image data conversion section comprising a conversion control section that performs density conversion, enlargement, and reduction processing of the cut out image; an image data encoding section that compresses the converted image data in a predetermined compression format; It has a generation part of characters and figures that are patterned into code information including codes, and is used for expansion 7' compression of input/output image data, and for cutting/extracting the output target image (image developed in the qubit map memory 25+). Performs various data processing processes such as enlargement/reduction processing.

Also, the above file builf 1 (F I I))
6 has a table structure that corresponds to the image search conditions specified by the image search terminal 2 and the image numbers that manage the file images in the image filing i location 1, and is input from the keyboard 29 of the image search terminal 2. The image number information for multiple pages or a single page that corresponds to the various search conditions (category designation, item designation, date designation, screen designation, etc. will be given later) is sent to the terminal control device 3 corresponding to the image search terminal 2.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the components of the image search terminal 2 described above, and since each component has already been described in detail, its explanation will be omitted here.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the processing state in the above embodiment. Here, the image program is divided into three phases, consisting of a main program and two subprograms (i.e., a file driver and a print driver), and the processing from image data reading to output is executed simultaneously and in parallel. This is intended to speed up image processing. That is, of the two subprograms mentioned above, the file driver (F
ILE DRIVER> aims to shorten the processing time by importing the output target page and the pages before and after it (total of 3 pages) into the image file 31 during the initial display period of the main program. Also, print driver (PRINT
DRIVER) aims to improve the efficiency of image output processing by performing print output in parallel while image processing is being executed. These two subprograms allow smooth image processing.

FIG. 4 shows a function selection menu 5 displayed at the image quoting position (here, the right edge of the screen) on the CRT display section 23 of the image search terminal 2.
1, and a diagram showing display point guidance 52,
Here, the corresponding function key is selected based on the display contents of the function selection menu 51.

By operating the PF/...), any one of 12 functions can be selected with a single touch operation.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the relationship between the display of the display point guidance 52 and its in-page display area. Here-C is the display surface of the display point guidance 52, which is divided into three sections (nine sections) vertically and horizontally as shown by broken lines in the figure, and is one page of image data stored in the memory 22 of the image search terminal 2. The current display position within the page (hatched area in the figure) is simply and clearly expressed in black (lined area F44 in the figure).

FIG. 6 shows a specific screen-based processing flow for explaining the image search processing procedure in the above embodiment.
A) to (G) are shown.

Of these seven types of screens (A) to (G), (A) to (E)
(F) and CG') are screens developed based on the code-based display screen data read from the screen information file 32 of the terminal control device 3, and (F) and CG') are the screens developed from the optical disk drive unit 16 of the image filing device 1. This is a screen that is overlaid on the basis of the image-based image data that has been read out and the code-based display screen data that has been read out from the screen information file 32. To give an overview of these screen displays, image-based image data that corresponds to the search conditions specified by the input device 29 of the image search terminal 2 is retrieved from the specified page from the optical disk drive unit 16 of the image filing device 1. Including 3 pages (however, only for the first time, a total of 2 pages, the first page and the next page) are read in advance and filed in the image file '31 via the communication line (LAN > 4), of which the page to be output. After the image data is stored in the memory 22 of the image search terminal 2 that started the image search, the image data for one screen to be displayed is stored in the image processing device 5.
The image is decompressed and restored, expanded in the bitmap memory 25F under the control of the bit mover 26, and then displayed on the CR7 display section 23.

In addition, the screen information file 32 is stored under the control of the terminal controller @3.
The code-based display screen data including character codes read from the character code is converted into an image by the image processing device 5, and then developed (overwritten) on the bitmap memory 25 under the control of the bit mover 26.

Here, the image search processing operation of the above embodiment will be explained according to the screen processing flow shown in FIG.

A menu selection screen as shown in FIG. 6(A) is displayed on the CR7 display section 23 of the image search terminals 2, 2 as an initial screen. That is, after the system start-up processing, the terminal control device 3 reads the display screen data for menu selection from among the code-related display screen data blocks stored in the screen information file 32 as the initial screen display, and displays the same screen data. is input to the image processing device 5, code/image converted, and the image data is sent to the image search terminals 2, 2, . . . to be controlled. When the microprocessor 21 of the image search terminal 2 receives the display screen data, it transfers control to the bit mover 2G, and develops an image in accordance with the display screen data on the bitmap memory 25 under the control of the bit mover 2G. The image data developed on the bitmap memory 25 is supplied to the CR7 display section 23 via a parallel-serial conversion circuit 28 under the control of the graphic display controller 24. As a result, a menu selection screen as shown in FIG. 6(A) is displayed on the CRT screen of the CR7 display section 23 as an initial screen.

This menu selection screen here consists of a selection item for search classification and a selection item for processing selection. It will be done. In other words, by operating the return key in the input branch [29] after selecting an item for search classification, it becomes possible to select an item for processing selection. The message shown in the diagram will be displayed in the message display area, and the message "Yes j
By selecting (yes), C'RT
The following screen will appear on the screen. At this time, if the item ``Special/Actual Publication Publication'' is selected in the search category item selection, ``Direct Search'' can be specified in the next function search item selection, and also, in the search category item selection, When the item “Special/Real Publication Abstracts” is selected, “
It is possible to specify ``direct search'' or ``functional search.''

If the "Direct Search" item is selected here, a message will be displayed prompting you to specify the announcement number, and if the "Functional Search" item is selected, a message will be displayed prompting you to set the search conditions.
The ``1 Function Search Specification Item'' screen shown in Figure (B) is displayed.

Further, for example, when the technical term (AAB in the figure) is set by input operation on the input device 29 on the "Function search specification item J screen" in FIG. 6(B), the message display il/
The message shown in the diagram is displayed in area i, and by selecting "yes" prompting the user to proceed to the next screen according to the message, the specified technical term (AAB) as shown in Figure 6<C> is displayed. The corresponding list of publications is CR
displayed on the T screen.

At this time, if you wish to refer to the list of technical terms, applicants, etc., after selecting the technical term specification or applicant specification item, select the help key (HELP) on the input device 29. The technical term list as shown in Figure 6 (D) or the applicant code list as shown in Figure 6 (E) is CR.
displayed on the T screen. The process of extracting the display screen data and developing the image at this time is the same as the process of displaying the menu selection screen described above, so the explanation thereof will be omitted here.

When the sequence number (SEQ) corresponding to the desired technical term is specified from the input device 29 of the image search terminal 2 and the return key is operated in the screen display state shown in FIG. 6(C) above, the third The image program shown in the figure is activated and image search processing is started. In this image search process, the terminal control I device 3 first refers to the file builf 1 to 6, and registers it in the optical disk drive unit 16 of the image filing device 1 using a specified sequence number (SEQ) as a search key. The image number of the corresponding image is retrieved, and the optical disk drive unit 16 of the image filing device 1 is accessed based on the image number information, and the registered image data corresponding to the image number is read out.

In this case, when the specified material (that is, the patent publication according to the specified sequence number here) is displayed on the screen for the first time, the first page of the material (page 1) and the next page (page 1) are displayed first. 2 pages) in total are read out uniquely. Here, an abstract page is added to each publication that should be the original material, and this is used as the first page of the material, so first the image data of the abstract on the first page is read, and then the second The image data of the page publication is read out.

In addition, while the image data is being read to the image filing device i11, the CR1 display section 23 of the image search terminal 2
The message "Image reading in progress" is displayed in the message display area.

As described above, the image data read from the optical disk drive unit 16 of the image filing device 1 is input to the terminal control device 3 via the communication line (LAN) 4, and the image data is input to the terminal control device @3. is stored in the image file 31 under the control of.

Of the two pages worth of image data stored in this image file 31, the image data of the first page is first sent to the image search terminal 2 that initiated the image search, that is, issued the image search instruction. , are stored in the memory 22 under the control of the microprocessor 21 of the image search terminal 2.

Further, the image data stored in the memory 22 is read out under the control of the microprocessor 21 in a cutout area of one screen based on the upper left corner of the page, and is read out by the image processing device under the control of the terminal control device 3. The compressed image data input to the image processing apparatus 5 is decompressed and then temporarily stored on an image buffer within the image processing apparatus 5.

During the decompression process of the compressed data by the image processing device 5, a message "II IP processing in progress" is displayed in the message display area of the CR1 display section 23 of the image search terminal 2.

When the image processing bag @ 5 finishes expanding the image data for one screen, the image data stored on the image buffer in the image processing device 5 is sent back to the image search terminal 2 . The microprocessor 21 of the image search terminal 2 uses a bit mover 26 to receive the image data decompressed by the image processing device 5.
Pass control to. Thereafter, the image data is developed on the bitmap memory 25 under the control of the bit mover 26.

When this image data development processing is completed, the display screen data of the function selection menu 51 and point guidance 52 shown in FIG. 4 are read out from the screen information file 32 by the terminal control device 3 and converted into image data by the image processing device 5. After that, the image data (here, abstract ii!in data) on the bitmap memory 25 is overwritten (or written). The image data developed on the bitmap memory 25 is displayed on the CR1 display unit 23 under the control of the graphic display controller 24. As a result, the CR1 display section 23 displays the information shown in FIG.
As shown in F), the abstract, the function selection menu 51 shown in FIG. 4, and point guidance 52 are displayed. At this time, the point guidance 52 includes the image data of one page area stored in the memory 22 of the image search terminal 2 and the screen to be output processed, that is, the C of the image search terminal 2.
This shows the positional relationship with the area of 1 #i plane displayed on the R1 display section 23, and a specific example of the display is shown in FIG. Here, display point guidance 52
The display surface of is divided into three parts vertically and horizontally as shown by the broken lines in the figure, and the current display position within the page (the shaded part in the figure) of one page of image data stored in the memory 22 is blacked out (
It is clearly and concisely expressed in the diagram (hatched area).

In this way, both image data corresponding to the search conditions specified by the input device 29 of the image search terminal 2 are stored in the optical disk drive unit 16 of the image filing device 1.
Multiple pages (in this case, 2 pages for the first time and 3 pages thereafter) including the specified page are read in advance and filed in the image file 31 via the communication line (LAN) 4, and the pages to be output are read in advance. After the image data is stored in the memory 22 of the image search terminal 2 that started the image search, the image data for one screen to be displayed is decompressed by the image processing device 5, and the image is restored. I, Pi-
After being developed in the bitmap memory 251 under the control of the mover 2G, it is displayed on the CR7 display section 23. Further, code-based display screen data including character codes successively outputted from the screen information file 32 under the control of the terminal control device 3 is converted into an image in the image processing bag @5, and then converted to an image under the control of the bit mover 26. The map is expanded (overwritten) onto the map memory 25 and displayed on the CR7 display section 23.

Furthermore 1. F2 On the screen shown in Fig. 6 (F), refer to the displayed function selection menu 51 and press the function key (PF) to retrieve the publication corresponding to the abstract displayed at the same time.
13) is operated, the display screen of the CR7 display section 23 is switched from the screen shown in FIG. 6(F) to the screen shown in FIG. 6(G).

That is, at this time, under the control of the terminal control device 3, the next page (second
Page) image data (first publication image data) is read out, the same data is transferred to the image search terminal 2, and the image for one page stored in the memory 22 in the image search terminal 2 is stored in the memory 22 of the image search terminal 2. Data is rewritten. That is, the page to be processed is updated. Furthermore, part of the image data of the page to be processed on the updated memory 22 is cut out (here, unless the screen position, enlargement/reduction, etc. are specified, the image data is predetermined based on the upper left corner of the page). 1 display screen area), and the extracted image data is processed by the image processing device 5.
The image is input into the image and decompression processing is performed. Then, the decompressed one screen worth of gazette image data is stored in the bitmap memory 25 under the control of the bit mover 26 in the same manner as above.
The image is developed above and displayed on the CR7 display section 23 under the control of the graphic display controller 24.

Furthermore, at this time, as shown in FIG. 3, the image file 31 is updated in parallel with the display process, and here, for the page to be processed (page 2),
The image data of the next page (third page) is read out from the optical disk drive units i to 16 of the image filing device 1, and the image file 3 is read out from the optical disk drive units i to 16 of the image filing device 1.
It can be stored in 1.

That is, at this time, under the control of the terminal control device 3, the optical disc drive unit 1 of both image filing devices 1 is
is accessed, the image data of the page (third page) next to the page currently being output (page 2) is read out, and is received by the terminal control device 3 via the communication line <LAN> 4. After that, the image file 31 is read in advance. As a result, a total of three pages of image data, including the processing target page and its preceding page, are stored in the image file 31 for each image search terminal.

In addition, on the publication display screen shown in FIG. 6(G), if the function key (PF3) for specifying the next page is to be operated from the displayed function selection menu 51, an image has already been set in the same way as above. The image data of the next page (page 3) that has been prefetched in the file 31 is read out, and the same data is transferred to the image search terminal 2 and used as the output target stored in the memory 22 in the image search terminal 2. The image data for one page is rewritten, and the page to be processed is updated. Furthermore, a part of the image data of the page to be processed on the updated memory 22 is cut out (for example, one display screen area based on the upper left corner as above), and the cut out image data is subjected to image processing. The image is input to the device 5 and the image is expanded. Then, the decompressed one-screen publication image data is developed as an image on the bitmap memory 25 under the control of the Gotmover 26 in the same manner as described above, and is displayed on the CR7 display section 23 under the control of the graphic display controller 24. Is displayed.

Furthermore, in this case as well, as shown in FIG. 3, the image file 31 is updated in parallel with the screen display process, and here, the process target page (third page) is On the other hand, the image data of the next page (fourth page) is stored in the optical disk drive unit 16 of the image filing device 1.
and stored in the image file 31 under the control of the terminal control device 3.

In this way, image data for the page to be processed and a total of three pages before and after it are always stored in the image file 31 for each image search terminal, excluding the first image data file, and the image data is always stored first. By reading, display screen processing and image file processing can be performed simultaneously.

Image search processing as described above is performed at each image search terminal 2,
2... are independently executed while sharing the image processing device 5 and file directory 6.

In addition, the screen displayed on the CR1 display section 23 can be enlarged, reduced,
To change the cutting position (top, bottom, left, right), etc., refer to the function selection menu 51 displayed at the stereo position @ (here, the right edge of the screen) on the CR7 screen and press the function key (PFl) specific to the switching screen.

This is executed by selectively operating PF/...). That is, you can use the function key (PFl) to enlarge or reduce the screen, change the cropping position, etc.

PF/...), the image data to be processed stored in the memory 22 is subjected to image processing in the image processing device 5 according to the instructions, and the image processed data is sent to the Got Mover. The image is developed on the bitmap memory 25 under the control of the C
It is displayed on the R1 display section 23. Incidentally, various display forms of the in-page display area of the point guidance 52 accompanying the screen switching at this time are shown in FIG.

Further, when printing is designated by referring to the function selection menu 51 displayed on the CR7 screen, the CR1 display section 23
A print processing selection screen is displayed, and the image of each page or part of it is displayed on the image printer 3 according to the selection.
Purine 1-ara 1- is made by 3. As shown in FIG. 3, the printing process at this time is performed by the print driver independently of the image processing and screen display processing.

In the embodiment described above, a plurality of image search terminals 2, 2, . and file directory (FID) 6 are shared, but each terminal control device 3 may have one or both of them.

Further, in the above embodiment, an image data area of three pages is secured for each image search terminal 2 in the image file 31, and one page is stored in the memory 22 of the image search terminal 2, but the memory of the entire system is It can be set arbitrarily in page units taking into account acid capacity, etc. Further, in the above embodiment, the image file 31 and the screen information file 32 are provided separately for each of the plurality of terminal control devices 3, but both the image file 31 and the screen information file 32, or A configuration may also be adopted in which one of them is shared by a plurality of terminal control devices 3.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the memory 2 of the image search terminal 2
2 stores image data before restoration (that is, compressed data before decompression processing), but if memory capacity M allows, page-by-page image data after restoration (image data after decompression processing) is stored.
It may also be configured to store.

[Effects of the Invention] As detailed above, according to the image information retrieval network system of the present invention, an image filing device using an optical disk as a recording medium and a terminal control device are connected via a communication line, The control ii'iI device includes an image processing device that compresses/decompresses images transmitted and received on the communication line, and a correspondence between image search conditions specified by the terminal device and image numbers that manage file images of the image filing device. The terminal control device obtains the image number of the image filing device by referring to the image buffers 1 to 1, and the terminal control device obtains the image number of the image filing device based on the image number. The system configuration is to obtain image information from the processing device, process the image information using the image processing device, and output it to the corresponding terminal device. By making it possible to commonly receive the search and supply of images filmed in one image filing device, the image filing device can be used effectively, and the installation space and cost can be reduced. You can build a search system.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the system configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of an image search terminal in the above embodiment, and Fig. 3 is a processing state in the above embodiment. An explanatory diagram, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing display examples of the function selection menu and point guidance in the above embodiment, and FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining various display forms of point guidance in the above embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a screen-based processing flow in the above embodiment. 1... Image filing device (IFD), 2... Image search terminal (AWS), 3... Terminal control device (DP)
), 4... Communication line (LAN), 5... Image processing device (IIP), 6... File directory (F
ID), 11... Controller (CTL), 12...
・CRT display, 13...Keyboard (KB)
, 14... Scanner (SCN), 15... Printer (PRT), 16... Optical disk drive unit,
17...m=disk device (DISK), 21...
Microprocessor (μCPU), 22... memory,
23... CRT display unit, 24... Graphic display controller (GDC), 25... Bitmap memory (BMM-), 2G... Bit mover (B
MV), 27... Arithmetic circuit, 28... Parallel-serial conversion circuit (P/S), 29... Input device, 31
...Image file, 32...Screen information file, 33...Image printer, 51...Function selection menu, 52...Display point guidance. Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue 4 Figure 5 Procedure Neho official document (Method) 604/-6, 1925 Patent Office Commissioner 5'1 Uga Michibe Tono 1, Patent application for indication of matter 1 1986-202105 No. 2, Name of the invention Image information retrieval network system 3, Relationship with the supplementary iF case Patent applicant (307) Toshiba Corporation 4, Agent 1-26-5 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo 17th Mori Building 6, drawings subject to correction 7, details of correction

Claims (6)

[Claims] (1) An image filing device that uses an optical disk as a recording medium, a terminal device that shares this image filing device, a communication line that connects the image filing device and the terminal device, and transmission and reception on this communication line. An image processing device that compresses/decompresses images, an image directory that matches image search conditions specified by the terminal device with image numbers that manage file images of the image filing device, and a system that refers to this image directory. a terminal control device that obtains an image number of the image filing device, obtains image information from the image filing device based on the image number, processes the image information with the image processing device, and outputs it to a corresponding terminal device; An image information retrieval network system comprising: (2) The image information search network system according to claim 1, wherein the image processing device is shared by a plurality of terminal devices connected to the communication line. (3) The image information search network system according to claim 1, wherein the image directory is shared by a plurality of terminal devices connected to the communication line. (4) Image information retrieval according to claim 1, wherein the image processing device has an encoding/decomposition processing mechanism for compressing/expanding an image and a density conversion mechanism for converting dot density. network system. (5), Claim 1, wherein the image processing device comprises an encoding/decomposition processing mechanism for compressing/expanding an image and an enlargement/reduction processing mechanism for enlarging/reducing the image. image information retrieval network system. (6) The image processing device according to claim 1, wherein the image processing device has an encoding/decomposition processing mechanism for compressing/expanding the image and a cutting mechanism for optionally extracting the image. Image information retrieval network system.