JPH05266096A - Image retrieving device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Object] According to the present invention, when the retrieval information in the magnetic disk 26 is compressed, the document direct number does not change before and after the compression, and it is necessary to check the document direct number again. The purpose is that there is no need to change the search conditions for all applications and operations. [Structure] An image retrieval apparatus of the present invention comprises a magnetic disk 26.
When the compression processing of the search information in the above is performed, the document direct number attached to each document is not changed before and after the compression.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image retrieving apparatus such as an image filing apparatus for registering and retrieving images.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, an image such as a large amount of documents is read by a scanner (two-dimensional scanning device), the read image is stored in an optical disc, and the image stored in the optical disc is stored in the optical disc. The search information composed of the recorded address and a plurality of search keys is stored in the magnetic disk, an arbitrary image is searched and read from the optical disk by designating the search information, and the image is read by an output device such as a CRT display device or a recording device. An image filing device that outputs in a visible state has been put into practical use.

The optical disc is designed to store data in document units each having one to a plurality of pages. Further, the document direct number is given to the search information of the magnetic disk in the order of registration for each document.

Further, when the image of the document on the optical disk is deleted, the deletion information is added to the corresponding search information. In particular, when the optical disk is a write-once type, it is performed as described above.

In such an apparatus, if there are many deleted documents, there is much unnecessary search information, the search speed becomes slow, and resources (storage capacity of the magnetic disk) are used more than necessary. Only the search information of valid documents is retained, and the compression processing is performed excluding the search information of deleted documents.

When this compression processing is performed, the document direct number is newly reassigned. For this reason, when the document direct number is searched after the compression processing, the newly assigned document direct number must be used.

Therefore, when the search information in the magnetic disk is compressed, the search conditions for searching by the document direct number before and after the compression change, and the document direct number needs to be checked again. There is also a problem that it is necessary to change the search conditions for all applications and operations.

[0008]

As described above, when the search information in the magnetic disk is compressed, the search conditions for searching by the document direct number before and after compression are different, and the document direct number is changed. There was a problem that it was necessary to check the number again and to change the search conditions for all applications and operations.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances. When the retrieval information in the magnetic disk is compressed, the direct document number does not change before and after compression, and the direct document number is checked. An object of the present invention is to provide an image search device that does not need to be corrected and that does not require changing the search conditions for all applications and operations.

[0010]

The image retrieval apparatus of the present invention comprises a first storage means for storing a plurality of images in a document unit consisting of one to a plurality of pages, and individual images stored in the first storage means. The second storage means for storing the search information corresponding to the document by assigning a direct document number to each document, the instruction means for instructing the search information, and the image corresponding to the search information instructed by the instructing means for the first image. An output means for searching and outputting from the storage means, the adding means for adding deletion information to the search information in the second storage means corresponding to the document to be deleted from the first storage means, and the second means. When deleting the search information to which the deletion information is added from the storage means, the processing means for deleting only the search information to which the deletion information is added without changing the document direct number for the documents that are not deleted It is.

The image retrieving apparatus of the present invention comprises a supplying means for supplying an image, a first storing means for storing a plurality of images supplied by the supplying means in a document unit consisting of one to a plurality of pages, and the first storing means. Second storage means for storing the search information corresponding to each image stored in the storage means by assigning a document direct number to each document, an instruction means for instructing the search information, and the search information instructed by the instructing means In the output means for searching and outputting the image corresponding to the first storage means, the deletion information is added to the search information in the second storage means corresponding to the document to be deleted from the first storage means. When deleting the adding means and the search information to which the delete information is added from the second storage means, the delete information is added without changing the document direct number for the document that is not deleted. And a processing means for deleting only the search information.

[0012]

According to the present invention, the first storage means for storing a plurality of images in a document unit consisting of one to a plurality of pages, and the search information corresponding to each image stored in the first storage means are provided in a document unit. It comprises a second storage means for directly giving a number and storing it, an instruction means for instructing the search information, and an output means for retrieving and outputting an image corresponding to the search information instructed by the instructing means from the first storage means. In the second, the second corresponding to the document to be deleted from the first storage means.
Delete information is added to the search information in the storage means of
When deleting the search information to which the deletion information is added from the storage means, only the search information to which the deletion information is added is deleted without changing the document direct number for the documents that are not deleted.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the construction of an image retrieval apparatus of the present invention, for example, an electronic filing apparatus. That is, the electronic filing device includes a control module 10, a memory module 12, an image processing module 14, a communication control module 16, a scanner device 18, and an optical disk 20.
The optical disk device 22, the keyboard 23, the CRT display device 24, the printer device 25, the magnetic disk 26 and the magnetic disk device 27, the mouse 29, the system bus 30, and the image bus 32 are included.

The control module 10 includes a CPU 34 for performing various controls for image storage, retrieval, edit processing, and the like.
And the optical disk device 22, the magnetic disk device 27 and C
The interface circuit 36 connects the PU 34. A keyboard 23 and a mouse 29 are connected to the CPU 34.

The memory module 12 is an image memory having a main memory 38 for storing various control programs for image storage, retrieval, editing, etc. and management information, and an image memory having a storage capacity corresponding to images of several pages of A4 size document. Page memory 40, a display memory 42 as a display interface, and a display controller 44.

A buffer memory area 40a is provided in a part of the page memory 40. Page memory 40
Is a memory for temporarily storing, for example, an image stored in the optical disc 20 or an image read from the optical disc 20.

The display memory 42 is for temporarily storing an image displayed by the CRT display device 24. In the display memory 42, an image actually displayed in the display window of the CRT display device 24, for example, an image from the page memory 40 or an image from the buffer memory 40a is enlarged, reduced, rotated, inserted or inserted. An image subjected to black-and-white reversal or the like is stored. The display control unit 44 controls the display processing of the CRT display device 24 and the like.

The image processing module 14 includes an enlarging / reducing circuit 46 for enlarging and reducing an image, a vertical / horizontal converting circuit 48 for rotating an image, and an encoding process for compressing an image (reducing redundancy). A compression / decompression circuit (CODEC) 50 for performing a decoding process for applying and decompressing (recovering reduced redundancy), a scanner interface 52 for the scanner device 18, a printer interface 54 for the printer device 25, and scaling. The internal bus 56 connects the circuit 46 and the vertical / horizontal conversion circuit 48, the compression / expansion circuit 50, the scanner interface 52, and the printer interface 54. The compression / decompression circuit 50 uses the MH (Modified Huffman) method, the MR (Modified Read) method, or the like to perform band compression,
Alternatively, band expansion is performed.

The communication control module 16 is, for example, an LA.
It is configured by a communication interface 58 such as a BCP (Bus Communica-tion Processor) connected to the N.
Further, the communication control module 16 is connected to an external device such as a FCP (facsimile connection mechanism) or a personal computer through an interface, and a UCP (Universal Communication).
Processor) may be provided.

The system bus 30 is a bus for control signals of various devices and connects the control module 10 with the memory module 12, the image processing module 14, and the communication control module 16. The image bus 32 is an image bus, and connects the memory module 12, the image processing module 14, and the communication control module 16.

The scanner device 18 is, for example, a two-dimensional scanning device and obtains an electric signal according to an image on the original by scanning the original (document) two-dimensionally with a laser beam.

The optical disk device 22 is the scanner device 18
The images read by the method are sequentially stored in the optical disc 20. In addition, the optical disc 20 is searched for an image corresponding to the search code designated by the keyboard 23 or the like.

The keyboard 23 is used to input a unique search code corresponding to an image stored in the optical disk 20 and various operation commands for storage, search, edit processing and the like. In addition, the mouse 29 moves the cursor (not shown) displayed on the display window of the CRT display device 24, for example, vertically and horizontally to give an instruction at a desired position so that the cursor is positioned. The display contents (various operation modes, area designation or icon for image editing, etc.) are selected or designated.

The CRT display device (cathode ray tube display device) 24 displays the image read by the scanner device 18 and the image retrieved from the optical disk 20. Icons and the like are displayed at the upper end, the lower end, and the right end on the display window of the CRT display device 24.

The printer device 25 prints out (hardcopy) the image read by the scanner device 18, the image retrieved from the optical disk 20, or the image displayed on the CRT display device 24.

The magnetic disk device 27 stores various control programs on the magnetic disk 26 mounted on the magnetic disk device 27, and also stores a search code input from the keyboard 23 and an image corresponding to the search code. The search data (search information) including the storage address on the optical disc 20, the image size, the search frequency, and the like is stored.

The search data is managed by a document management table, which is a title management table 26a, as shown in FIG.
Page management table 26b and record management table 2
6c.

In the title management table 26a, one document number (document direct number; assigned in the order of registration) corresponding to each search code (image name) consisting of a plurality of search keys.
And deletion information (flag) indicating whether or not the document is deleted for each document number. In the page management table 26b, record numbers are stored page by page of one document, and one record number is stored corresponding to each page.

In the record management table 26c, the storage address (storage start position) of the image on the optical disc 19 for each record number, the document size (image size),
Image attributes such as the compression method and resolution, and the number of searches (search frequency: access frequency) are stored. The number of searches is updated by "+1" each time the corresponding image is searched. The storage address is a logical address, and a physical track address and a physical sector address are calculated from this at the time of access. Next, the operation of image storage and retrieval processing in the electronic filing apparatus having such a configuration will be described.

First, the image storage process will be described.
For example, now, the registration mode is selected and set by the keyboard 23, and the search code of the image to be stored in the optical disc 20 is input. This search code is composed of multiple items of search keys, and the contents of this search key item are as follows:
It is set in advance.

The CPU 34 checks the validity of the input search code in accordance with a predefined format. Furthermore, already optical disc 2
Double registration is checked by comparing with the search code registered in 0. The input search code is stored in the main memory 13 according to the result of this check.

Next, the original is set on the scanner device 18, and the CPU 34 operates the optical disk device 22 and the scanner device 18. The scanner device 18 two-dimensionally scans and photoelectrically converts an image of a set document or the like. The line information of the photoelectrically converted image is sequentially stored in the page memory 40. The image stored in the page memory 40 is stored in the display memory 42 and displayed on the CRT display device 24.

The skew, density, resolution, etc. of the image displayed on the CRT display device 24 are confirmed, and when the displayed image is satisfactory, a memory key (not shown) is input. Then, the CPU 34 causes the page memory 4
An image stored in 0 is encoded by line compression in a compression / expansion circuit (CODEC) 50 for each line information by a well-known MR (Modified Read) method or the like. The encoded image is supplied to the optical disc device 22 and stored in the optical disc 20.

When the storage of the image on the optical disk 20 is completed, the CPU 34 makes the logical address determined from the physical track address and the physical sector address where the image is stored,
The image length represented by the block length, the image attribute, and the like are stored in the main memory 38 in association with the search code (search information). Then, the CPU 34 supplies the search data stored in the main memory 38 to the magnetic disk device 27. As a result, the magnetic disk device 27 stores the supplied search data in the respective tables 26a to 26c in the magnetic disk 26.

Next, the search processing of the image stored in the optical disk 20 will be described. First, the search mode is set by the keyboard 23, and the search code corresponding to the image to be searched is input. The CPU 34 sequentially compares and collates the input search code with the search code stored in the title management table 26a (FIG. 2) of the magnetic disk 26, and determines whether or not the search code that matches the input search code is stored. Check each one in order and extract the relevant document number. As a result, the CPU 34 stores the extracted candidate document numbers in the main memory 38.

Then, the CPU 34 refers to the candidate document numbers in the main memory 38 and creates a list of the relevant documents (consisting of the document number, the search code and the search frequency for each page) from the title management table 26a. It is created by the read data and the search frequency read from the record management table 26c, and is displayed using the CRT display device 24. By this display, if the document (page) for which the operator is desired to be searched cannot be found, the search code is input again.
If found, the image to be searched is specified from the list (specified by document number, page number, etc.) and the execution of the search is instructed.

The CPU 34 assigns the record number corresponding to the designated image to the page management table 26b of the magnetic disk 26.
, A logical address corresponding to the read record number is read from the record management table 26c in the magnetic disk 26, and a physical track address and a physical sector address corresponding to this address are calculated,
The optical disk device 22 reproduces the image including the search code from the optical disk 20 by using these addresses.

The CPU 34 also supplies the image (compression information) for each scanning line supplied from the optical disk device 22 to the compression / expansion circuit 50, performs band expansion processing, and sequentially supplies it to the page memory 40. The image stored in the page memory 40 is reduced by the enlargement / reduction circuit 46 and output to the display memory 42, and the image is stored in the display memory 42. Therefore, the display control unit 44 controls the display memory 4
The stored contents of No. 2 are displayed on the CRT display device 24. Further, the CPU 34 increments the number of searches in the record management table 26c corresponding to the image by "+1".

Next, the process of deleting the image stored in the optical disk 20 in document units will be described. First, an image corresponding to the document to be deleted is displayed by using the above-described search processing, and after confirmation, an instruction to delete the corresponding document is given. By this instruction, the CPU 34 stores the deletion information (flag) in the deletion information storage area of the title management table 26a of the magnetic disk 26.

Further, a list of documents stored in the title management table 26a of the magnetic disk 26 may be displayed on the CRT display device 24, and a document to be deleted may be designated from the displayed list of documents. .. Also in this case, the CPU 34 stores the deletion information (flag) in the deletion information storage area of the title management table 26a of the magnetic disk 26 corresponding to the document instructed to be deleted. Next, the compression processing of the search information stored in the magnetic disk will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, the compression processing of the title management table 26a of the magnetic disk 26 is instructed. By this instruction,
The CPU 34, in order from the smallest document number stored in the title management table 26a of the magnetic disk 26,
Check whether or not the deletion information (flag) is stored in the corresponding deletion information storage area, delete the search code, the document number, and the deletion information in which the deletion information is stored, and the document number and search code of a valid document. Retain only those, and memorize them again (compressed). At this time, the direct document number for a valid document is the one before compression as it is. For example,
The stored contents of the title management table 26a shown in FIG. 2 are changed to the stored contents shown in FIG.

Further, after the above processing is completed for all the documents, management information such as the document direct number and the number of documents at the time of the next registration is set in a storage area (not shown) in the magnetic disk 26, and the compressed documents are set. Update other information related to and keep it consistent.

For example, the page management table 26b and the record management table 26 corresponding to the deleted document number.
The stored contents in c are also erased and the stored contents are filled. However, the record number is newly added from "1". As described above, when the compression processing of the search information in the magnetic disk is performed, the document direct number given to each document is not changed before and after the compression.

As a result, the document direct number does not change before and after compression, there is no need to check the document direct number again, and it is not necessary to change the search conditions for all applications and operations.

[0046]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
By ranking the images according to the number of searches, it can be used as a reference for the search, and an image with a small number of searches can be distinguished from an image with a large number of searches. When the search information is compressed, the document direct number does not change before and after compression, there is no need to check the document direct number again, and there is no need to change the search conditions for all applications and operations. An image search device can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of an image search device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a storage example of a document management table in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining a search process of the image search device in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a storage example of a document management table in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

20 ... Optical disc, 18 ... Scanner device, 22 ... Optical disc device, 23 ... Keyboard, 24 ... CRT display device, 25 ... Printer device, 26 ... Magnetic disc, 2
6a ... Title management table, 26b ... Page management table, 26c ... Record management table, 27 ... Magnetic disk device, 34 ... CPU, 38 ... Main memory, 40 ... Page memory, 40a ... Buffer memory, 42 ... Display memory, 44 ... Display control unit, 46 ... Enlargement / reduction circuit, 50 ... Compression / expansion circuit.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A first storage means for storing a plurality of images in a document unit consisting of one or a plurality of pages, and search information corresponding to each image stored in the first storage means directly in the document unit. Second storage means for giving a number and storing it, instruction means for instructing the search information, and output means for retrieving and outputting an image corresponding to the search information instructed by the instructing means from the first storage means. An image retrieving apparatus comprising: a retrieving information for retrieving deletion information to the retrieval information in the second storage means corresponding to a document to be deleted from the first storage means; and deletion information from the second storage means. When deleting the search information added with, the processing means for deleting only the search information added with the deleted information without changing the document direct number for the documents that are not deleted is provided. Image search apparatus. 2. A supply means for supplying an image, a first storage means for storing a plurality of images supplied by the supply means in a document unit consisting of one to a plurality of pages, and a storage means for storing the first storage means. Second storage means for storing the search information corresponding to each of the obtained images by directly assigning a document number to each document, instruction means for instructing the search information, and corresponding to the search information instructed by the instruction means An image storing and retrieving device comprising: output means for retrieving and outputting an image to be stored from the first storage means; deletion information in the retrieval information in the second storage means corresponding to a document to be deleted from the first storage means. When deleting the search information to which the delete information is added from the adding means that adds the delete information from the second storage means, the delete information is added to the documents that are not deleted without changing the document direct number. Image storage and retrieval device being characterized in that comprising a processing means for deleting only the search information.