JPH0353381A - High-speed picture information retrieval system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To browse picture information stored in a disk at a sufficiently high speed by hierarchically dividing picture information to plural stages and storing picture information of one of plural stages in a high-speed random access area on the disk and storing that of the other stages in another area. CONSTITUTION:With respect to the disk where hierarchical picture information divided to first and N-th stages is stored, only picture information of the first stage is stored in the high-speed random access area (area 1), and picture information of second to N-th stages is stored in an area 2 other than the area 1. In the case of a high retrieval frequency, picture information of the first stage stored in the area 1 is accessed at random at a high speed and is displayed. Thus, quick browsing is realized. In the case of stop of a retrieval request, the area 2 is accessed simultaneously with stop of browsing, and all of picture information of second to N-th stages is displayed at the time of stop, and the picture quality is improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a high-speed image information retrieval method for quickly retrieving digital image information stored on a disk.

(Prior Art) This high-speed image information search method performs high-speed browsing, or high-speed browsing, of arbitrary image information stored on a disk. It performs a high-speed search for information and displays images with improved image quality when search requests stop or the frequency of search requests decreases.

Conventionally, as a means of storing image information in a disk, a single image is treated as one-dimensional continuous information along the direction of the rask scan, and the storage area in the disk is not particularly limited. There is. In this method, the area to be accessed when reading image information covers the entire disk.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) In order to search and display a large number of image information stored on a disk per unit time, the speed of disk access becomes the biggest problem. Furthermore, in order to perform high-speed browsing, it is necessary to realize high-speed random access to any image stored on the disk. When performing random access to a disk that stores image information using the conventional method described above, it is necessary to access an arbitrary point (sector) within the disk, and in this case, it is necessary to access an arbitrary point (sector) within the disk. The disk access time for displaying the next image from one to the next requires a maximum of 200 milliseconds. Therefore,
The number of images that can be scanned using this method is limited to a few per second, and there is a problem in that it is not possible to perform high-speed browsing at a sufficiently fast speed of, for example, several dozen images per second. .

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object thereof is to provide a high-speed image information search method that allows high-speed browsing of image information stored on a disk at a sufficient speed.

[Structure of the invention]

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the image information high-speed retrieval method of the present invention is an image information high-speed retrieval method for quickly retrieving digital image information stored on a disk. Information is hierarchized into a plurality of stages, image information for one stage of the plurality of stages is stored in an area of the disk that can be accessed at high speed randomly, and other stages are stored in areas other than the above-mentioned area. This is the summary.

In addition, in response to frequently occurring search requests, this high-speed image information search method performs high-speed search and display using only the image information for one stage stored in the high-speed random access area. The gist of the present invention is to perform search display using the image information of the other stages in response to the stoppage of search requests or a decrease in the frequency of occurrence of search requests.

(Function) In the image information high-speed search method of the present invention, image information for one stage out of a plurality of stages is stored in a high-speed random accessible area in a disk, and the high-speed Search and display is performed at high speed using only the image information for one stage stored in the randomly accessible area, and image information from other stages is also used when the search request stops or the frequency of search requests decreases. Search display is in progress.

(Example) Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a method of layering images used in an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, digital image information is stored on a disk in a plurality of stages, that is, in N layers from the first stage to the Nth stage. In such image hierarchization, if only the first stage image is displayed, the image will have a small amount of information and the image quality will be degraded, but speeding up can be achieved. From this state, the quality of the image can be improved as the number of stages to be displayed increases, and when the Nth stage is displayed, image quality equivalent to that of a human-generated image can be guaranteed. . This method of storing or transmitting image information in multiple layers to improve resolution is called progressive buildup or simply pilledup.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the principle of the high-speed image information search method of the present invention, which shows image information hierarchized into multiple stages, the process of high-speed browsing using such hierarchized image information, and image quality improvement. This shows the process.

As mentioned above, in a disk that stores image information hierarchized from the 1st stage to the Nth stage, only the image information of the 1st stage is stored in an area that can be randomly accessed at high speed (hereinafter referred to as area 1). The image information of the second stage to the Nth stage is stored in another area 2 other than area 1.

If the search frequency occurs frequently, as shown in FIG. 2 (1), only the image information of the first stage stored in this area 1 is randomly accessed at high speed and displayed. Achieve high-speed browsing.

In addition, when the search request stops, as shown in Figure 2 (2), at the same time as browsing stops, area 2 is accessed and the second to Nth stages of the image displayed at the time of stop are accessed. Display all and improve image quality (build up).

Furthermore, when the frequency of occurrence of search requests decreases, as shown in FIG. 2 (3), after displaying the first stage of area 1, area 2 is accessed and the process of pilling up in area 2 is started. However, in this case, when the quality of the displayed image has improved to a certain extent, pill-up is discontinued and the first stage of the next image is accessed, thereby allowing browsing at a slow speed while maintaining a certain degree of image quality.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a method for storing image information when a magneto-optical disk compatible with standardization is used as an image storage medium.

On a disc, image information is recorded outward from the center of rotation, so as shown in the figure, the first 60 tracks of the recording area of the disc on the side closer to the center of rotation are set as area 1 for the first stage. Image information is stored, and other tracks (18691 tracks in Figure 3) are stored in area 2.
The image information from the second stage to the Nth stage is stored as .

More specifically, most of the access time on a disk is the so-called seek time, which is the time required to move the head to read data, and the time spent waiting for the disk to rotate to the position where reading starts after completing the seek. It can be thought of as rotation waiting time. This rotational waiting time is, for example, about 10 milliseconds on average. Further, in a magneto-optical disk device that supports standardization, a seek within about 60 tracks can be performed within 20 milliseconds, and a total of 30 milliseconds including rotational wait time can be accessed. Therefore, as mentioned above, the first 60 tracks of the disc recording area are set as area 1 for the first stage, the other tracks are set as area 2, and the information of the second to Nth stages in this area 2 is stored in the third stage. It is recorded in a continuous area as shown in the figure.

With this setting, during high-speed browsing in area 1, approximately 30 images can be randomly accessed per second. Accessing from area 1 to area 2 takes about 100 milliseconds on average, and considering the time to read data from the disk, it takes several hundred milliseconds to complete pilling up for one image. However, this corresponds to when browsing is stopped as shown in Figure 2 (2) or when slow browsing is performed as shown in Figure 2 (3), and there is no problem because the buildup can be stopped midway. do not have.

As explained above, the image information high-speed retrieval method of the present invention can be widely applied to the field of use of image information high-speed retrieval technology, including the application of rapidly scanning image information accumulated in image information database creation. be able to.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, image information for one stage out of a plurality of stages is stored in a high-speed random accessible area in a disk, and in response to frequently occurring search requests, the high-speed random Performs high-speed search and display using only one stage's worth of image information stored in the accessible area, and searches also using image information from other stages when the search request stops or the frequency of search requests decreases. Since the display is performed, any image stored on the disk can be browsed at high speed, for example, at a rate of several dozen images per second, and the quality of the displayed image is improved according to the browsing speed. be able to.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating a method of layering images used in a high-speed image information retrieval method according to an embodiment of the present invention, and Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating the principle of the high-speed image information retrieval method of the present invention. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a storage method when a magneto-optical disk compatible with standardization is used as an image storage medium.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A high-speed image information search method that searches digital image information stored on a disk at high speed, in which image information is hierarchized into multiple stages, and one of the multiple stages is
A high-speed image information retrieval method characterized in that image information for a stage is stored in an area of a disk that can be accessed at high speed randomly, and other stages are stored in an area other than the above-mentioned area. (2) In response to search requests that occur frequently, search and display is performed at high speed using only the image information for one stage stored in the high-speed random access area;
2. The high-speed image information search method according to claim 1, wherein the image information of the other stages is also used to display the search in response to the stoppage of search requests or a decrease in the frequency of occurrence of search requests.