JPS6379178A - Electronic document image file device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simultaneously display plural graphic keywords corresponding to plural document images at the time of retrieving by reducing an area and registering it as a graphic keyboard when the part area of a document image is designated except a conventional keyword is designated at the time of storing a document image. CONSTITUTION:At the time of storing a document, a document image from an image input means 12 is displayed by a display means 13. At this time, a user uses a coordinate input means 16 and designates of the arbitrary area of an input document image. A CPU15 sends the designated area to an image reducing means 17 and reduces it. Next, the CPU15 files a reducing image to an index image file means 18 as the index image. Further, an original document image is filed to a document image filling means 14 and the correspondence of respective images of the document and index is stored into a table means 19. At the time of retrieving, the user watches the index image and searches the document.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to document image electronic file devices for storing and retrieving document images.

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the development of external storage devices, document image electronic file devices that electronically file large amounts of document images are becoming popular.

An example of the above-mentioned conventional document image electronic file device will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an example of a conventional document image electronic file device. In FIG. 2, 21 is a command input means, 22 is an image input means, 23 is an image display means, 24 is a document image file means for filing an input document image, and 25 is a CPU that controls each means.
It is.

The operation of the document image electronic file device configured as described above will be described below. First, when storing
The document image input from the image input means 22 is
It is filed in the document image file means 24 together with a plurality of keywords input through the command input means 21. Next, when searching, a keyword related to the document image to be retrieved is inputted from the command input means 21.

The CPU 25 displays the number of document images having the specified keyword on the image display means 23. When a command to display a document image is input from the command input means 21, the CPU 25 sequentially displays the corresponding document images on the image display means 23 to obtain the desired document image. If the number of document images having the specified keyword is too large, a keyword related to the document image to be retrieved is further inputted from the command input means 21 to narrow down the number of document image candidates to be retrieved. , a command for displaying document images is input from the command input means 21, and the corresponding document images are sequentially displayed on the image display means 23 to obtain the desired document image.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, with the above configuration, when storing a document image, it is necessary to input as many appropriate keywords as possible that are easy to search, and furthermore, when searching, it is necessary to input multiple keywords. If the number of narrowed-down document image candidates is still large, the searcher must page through the candidates one by one to retrieve the desired document image, which requires a lot of effort and time on the part of the searcher. It had a point.

In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present invention makes it possible to easily store and search document images by specifying an area of the document image when storing the document image and automatically using a reduced image of that area as a graphic keyword. The purpose of this invention is to provide a document image electronic file device that can be used.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an image input means, a command input means, a coordinate input means, an image display means, and a document image input by the image input means. document image file means for filing;
An image reduction means for reducing an image at an arbitrary magnification, an index image file means for filing an index consisting of images, a document image filed in the document image file means, and an index image filed in the index image file means. The system is equipped with a table means for associating each other and a CPU that controls each means.

Operation According to the above-described structure, when storing a document image, if a partial area of the document image is specified in addition to the conventional keyword, that area is reduced and registered as a graphic keyword, and when searching, multiple keywords corresponding to multiple document images are specified. graphical keywords are displayed simultaneously, allowing document images to be easily searched in a short time.

EXAMPLE Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a document image electronic file device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 11 is a command input means, 12 is an image input means, 13 is an image display means, 14 is a document image file means for filing an input document image, 15 is a CPU that controls each means, and 16 is a coordinate input means. Means, 17 is an image reduction means for reducing an image at an arbitrary magnification, 1
8 is an index image file means for filing an index consisting of images; 19 is a table means for associating document images filed in the document image file means with index images filed in the index image file means.

The operation of the document image electronic file device configured as described above will be described below. First, when storing
The document image input from the image input means 12 is
The image is displayed on the image display means 13. At this time, the user uses the coordinate input means 16 to specify an arbitrary area of the input document image.

This area will serve as an index image, so choose, for example, a part of a diagram or a large font area. Next, the CPU 15 sends the designated area to the image reduction means 17. The image reduction means 17 reduces a partial area of this document image to a predetermined size. In order to designate an area of arbitrary size, the user reduces the image at an arbitrary reduction rate to create an image of a constant size. Next CPU15
files the reduced image in the index image file means 18 as an index image. Further, the original document image is filed in the document image file means 14, and the correspondence between the document image and the index image is stored in the table means 19. Further, as in the conventional example, a character keyword is input from the command input means 11.

Next, at the time of retrieval, the character keyword related to the document image to be retrieved is entered into the command input means 11 as in the conventional example.
Enter from. The CPU 15 displays the number of document images having the specified keyword on the image display means 13. Generally, after narrowing down the number of candidate document images to an appropriate number using a plurality of character keywords, a command to display an index image is inputted from the command input means 11.

Then, the CPU 15 simultaneously displays a plurality of index images corresponding to the document image candidates narrowed down using the information stored in the table means 19 on the image display means 13. The user searches for a desired document image by looking at the reduced image of the characteristic area. The document image to be retrieved is displayed by pointing at the position of the index image using the coordinate input device 16 or by inputting symbols from the command input means 11. With the above steps, the user can easily create a distinctive index image when filing document images, and when searching, multiple index images with these characteristics are displayed simultaneously on the display, making it possible to quickly retrieve the desired document image. It becomes possible. Note that in the above example, one index image was created for one document image, but a plurality of index images may be created for one document image. It is also possible to designate and set the size of the reduced index image using the command input means 11 or the coordinate input means 16, and to vary the number of index images displayed simultaneously during a search.

Effects of the Invention As described above, the present invention includes an image input means, a command input means, a coordinate manual means, an image display means, a document image file means for filing a document image input by the image input means, and an image input means. an image reduction means for reducing an image at an arbitrary magnification, an index image file means for filing an index consisting of images, a document image filed in the document image file means, and an index image filed in the index image file means. By providing table means for making correspondences and a CPU for controlling each means, users can easily create index images with characteristics when filing document images, and when searching, multiple index images with characteristics can be displayed simultaneously. Because it is displayed, document images can be easily searched for in a short time. When a searcher searches for a certain document image several times, he or she can naturally associate the original document image with a reduced image of a portion of the document image, making it possible to perform an effective search even with a fairly small index image. For example, it is possible to display 50 index images simultaneously on the display, which requires only one page turn, compared to the time-consuming 50 page turns required with conventional methods, and allows the operator to store the document image. Although this method hardly increases the burden on users, it is extremely effective at the time of retrieval, and can achieve the excellent effect of greatly reducing the effort and time required to retrieve document images.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a document/image electronic file device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an example of a conventional document image electronic file device. 11...Command manual means, 12...
Image input means, 13... Image display means, 14... Document image file means, 15.
...CPU, 16...Coordinate input means, 1
7... Image reduction means, 18... Index image file means, 19... Table means, 21... Command input means, 22...
... Image input means, 23 ... Image display means, 24 ... Document image file means, 2
5...cpu. Name of agent: Patent attorney Toshio Nakao (1 person) Figure 1

Claims (1)

[Claims] an image input means, a command input means, a coordinate input means, an image display means, a document image file means for filing a document image inputted by the image input means, and an image reduction means for reducing the image at an arbitrary magnification. , an index image file means for filing an index consisting of images, a table means for associating document images filed in the document image file means with index images filed in the index image file means, and controlling each means. and a CPU, the image reduction means reduces an arbitrary area of the document image corresponding to a plurality of coordinate values inputted by the coordinate input means at the time of image input, and files the reduced area in the index image file means; 2. A document image electronic file device, wherein a plurality of index images stored in the index image file means are stored in the image file means, and a plurality of index images stored in the index image file means are simultaneously displayed on the image display means at the time of retrieval.