JPS6385974A - Picture registration retrieving device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily retrieve a registered picture even when a registered key word is not obtained according to matching condition by providing the synonym dictionary of the key word, a means for transforming the inputted key word to its similar word and a means for matching the transformed similar word to the stored key word. CONSTITUTION:A control part 11 stores and registers the picture information of a picture memory 14 in a picture storage part 13. The key word transformation part 18 searches the similar word of the key word from the synonym dictionary 19 and informs to the control part 11. When the key word inputted together with the input of the picture is not present in the synonym dictionary 19, a registering person selects the key word, the similar word and the similarity through a key word input part 17, the control part 11 sets the key word in a synonym string having the retrieval key of the similar word and adds and stores in the synonym dictionary 19 together with the similarity. A picture pointer indicating the address of the picture storage part 13 in which the picture information is stored and registered and the key word are stored and registered in a key word storage part 20. In such a way, at the time of registering the picture, the registering person only inputs the similar word of the key word to arbitrarily register the key word.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image registration and retrieval device used in an image identification system.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 2, this type of image registration and retrieval device temporarily stores image information read by an image input unit 1 in an image memory 2 when registering an image. When a person (registrant) inputs the keyword through the keyword input section 3, the control section 4 stores the image information in the image memory 2 in the image storage section 5, and also displays a pointer indicating the stored address. The above keywords are stored in the keyword storage section 6.

On the other hand, when searching for registered images, when the operator (searcher) inputs all or part of the search condition and the relevant keyword through the keyword input section 3, the control section 4 sends the search condition to the keyword matching section 7. A matching condition is specified, and the keyword matching section 7 matches the keyword in the keyword storage section 6 with the input keyword, and notifies the control section 4 of an image pointer corresponding to the keyword with matching conditions.

Next, the control section 4 reads out the image information from the image storage section 5 using the address obtained by the image pointer, stores it in the image memory 2, and displays it on the display section 8. Note that when hard copy output is specified by the searcher, the image information in the image memory 2 is output to the image printing section 9.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, with such a configuration, if the searcher does not know all or part of the registered keywords (= means that the searcher cannot search for registered images, especially if the searcher does not know all or part of the registered keywords) If the user is not a registrant, the problem is that the user must perform complicated tasks such as searching through a huge list of keywords, which is inconvenient.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an image registration and search device that can easily search for registered images even when a searcher does not know the registered keywords.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a thesaurus for storing similar words of keywords, a means for converting an inputted keyword into its similar words by the thesaurus, and It is characterized by comprising means for matching the converted similar word and the stored keyword, and searching for registered images according to the matching conditions.

Effect of the Invention With the above configuration, the searcher can search for a registered image by simply inputting a word similar to the keyword, even if the searcher does not know the keyword registered corresponding to the registered image.

EXAMPLES Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an image registration and search device according to the present invention.

As shown in the upper part of FIG. 1, this device includes a control section 11 that controls each component to control image input, accumulation, display, output, etc., as described later, and a device that reads original images using an image scanner or the like. An image input section 12, an image storage section 13 that stores and registers image information such as an optical disk, an image memory 14 that temporarily stores image information from the image input section 12 or the image storage section 13, and an image memo 914 such as a CRT. It has a display section 15 for displaying image information in the image memory 14 and keywords to be described later, and an image printing section 16 for obtaining a hard copy of the image information in the image memory 14.

As shown in FIG. 1, bottom C2, this device also includes a keyword input section 17 for inputting keywords and search conditions by an operator (registrant, searcher) of a keyboard, etc., and a keyword input section 17 for inputting keywords and search conditions. a keyword conversion unit 18 that converts keywords into similar words; a thesaurus dictionary 19 that stores similar word strings for keywords; and a keyword that stores and registers keywords and image pointers corresponding to registered images stored and registered in the image storage unit 13. A storage unit 20 and a keyword matching unit 21 that performs keyword matching as described later.
has.

The operation of the embodiment according to the above configuration will be described first with respect to the case where an image is registered.

The image information read by the image input unit 12 is temporarily stored in the image memory 14, and on the other hand, when the operator (registrant) inputs the keyword via the keyword input unit 17, the control unit 11 stores the image information in the image memory 14. The image information is stored and registered in the image storage section 13, and the keyword conversion section 18 is notified.

The keyword conversion unit 18 searches for similar words to the input keyword from the thesaurus dictionary 19 and notifies the control unit 11 of the group of similar words along with the degree of similarity.

Upon receiving this notification, the control unit 11 displays a group of similar words on the display unit 1.
Display on 5.

At this time, if the registrant sees the display of the similar word group and wants to add a similar word, he or she can input the similar word to be added and the degree of similarity via the keyword input section 17. in this case,
The control unit 11 stores the input similar words and degrees of similarity in the thesaurus dictionary 1.
9 is additionally stored.

If the keyword input along with the image input does not exist in the thesaurus dictionary 19, the control unit 11 enters the keyword answer mode, and the registrant inputs the keyword, its similar words, and the degree of similarity via the keyword input unit 17. can be selected and entered.

In this case, the control unit 11 sets the keyword in a synonym string using the similar word as a search key, and stores it in the thesaurus dictionary 19 together with the degree of similarity. The image pointer indicating the address of the storage section 13 and the above keyword are stored and registered in the keyword storage section 20.

As described above, when registering an image, the registrant can arbitrarily register a keyword simply by inputting a word similar to the keyword.

Next (2) To explain the case of searching for registered images in the image storage unit 13, when the operator (searcher) inputs the relevant keyword and search conditions via the keyword input unit 17, the control unit 11 Similar to the conventional example explained in the figure, matching conditions are instructed to the keyword matching section 21, and the keyword matching section 21 matches the keywords in the keyword storage section 20 with the input keywords, and when the conditions match. The image pointer corresponding to the keyword is notified to the control unit 11.

On the other hand, if the keywords do not match, the control unit 1
1 notifies the keyword conversion unit 18, which searches for similar words to the input keyword from the thesaurus dictionary 19 and outputs a group of similar words to the keyword matching unit 21 in order of similarity.

The keyword matching unit 21 matches similar words with registered keywords in the keyword storage unit 20 in order of similarity, and notifies the control unit 11 of image pointers corresponding to keywords with matching conditions.

Next, the control unit 11 reads out the image information from the image storage unit 13 using the address obtained by the image pointer, stores it in the image memory 14, and displays it on the display unit 15.

Note that when hard copy output is specified by the searcher, the image information in the image memory 14 is output to the image printing section 16.

Therefore, according to the above embodiment, an image search and an image registration can be performed using the keywords assumed by both the searcher and the registrant, without having to create keyword regulations in advance between the searcher and the registrant.

In addition, even if a large number of images are registered and searched over a long period of time, and the meaning or content of the keyword changes over time, the search can be easily performed by matching the similar word groups in the similar dictionary to the changes. It becomes possible to do so.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION As described above, the present invention includes a thesaurus for storing similar words of a keyword, a means for converting an inputted keyword into a similar word by the said thesaurus, and a means for storing the converted similar words. Since the searcher is equipped with means for matching registered images with keywords that have been registered, and searches for registered images according to the matching conditions, the searcher can search for registered images (= keywords even if he or she does not know the correspondingly registered keywords). You can search for registered images by simply entering a similar word.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an image registration and retrieval device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a conventional example. 11... Control unit, 12... Image input unit, 13...
Image storage section, 14... Image memory, 15... Display section, 16... Image printing section, 17... Keyword input section, 18... Keyword conversion section, 19... Thesaurus dictionary,
20...Keyword accumulation section, 21...Keyword matching section. Name of agent: Patent attorney Toshio Nakao
1 Figure N 2 Figure

Claims (1)

[Claims] means for registering image information; means for inputting keywords corresponding to the image information; means for storing keywords corresponding to the image information; a thesaurus dictionary for storing keyword similarities; and similarities of the thesaurus. means for converting a keyword input via the input means into a similar word, and means for matching the converted similar word with the keyword stored in the keyword storage means; An image registration and search device, characterized in that the image information registered in the means is searched according to the matching condition.