JPH0877332A - Image information management device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Object] An image information management apparatus for improving the storability, high image quality, and access speed of a long-term database for image information. [Structure] Image information is used in the same day log file, short-term database, and long-term database, and the contents of the short-term database are dually managed in the same-day log file and long-term database. In addition, by adding compression technology of image data, reversible data that can be completely restored is stored for the first short period, and when it becomes necessary to store for a long period after the short period, the data required for the above complete restoration. , And store only the lossy data. When the information deleted from the short-term database capable of high-speed retrieval is retrieved from the long-term database, it is left in the short-term database capable of high-speed retrieval for a predetermined period. In the client / server type system, the image information retrieved from the server is left in the client, and when the image information in the client is the latest, the image information in the client is retrieved.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention is applied to, for example, image information (X-ray photograph, CT scanner, MRI,
Etc.), there is a very high access frequency until a diagnosis is performed on a captured image, and a management method applied to medical image information having a characteristic that the access frequency sharply decreases when the diagnosis is completed, And equipment.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a server / client system for managing image information, and FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining a conventional image information managing method.

In FIG. 7, image information obtained from an X-ray imaging device, a CT scanner, an MRI, etc. connected to a client 30a is passed through a router 40 to an image database server (sometimes called an image DB server). The management information such as the transfer date and time is registered in the image storage destination information management database 6 of the image management server 1 while being transferred and registered in 20.

The image information registered in the image database server 20 is transferred to the client 30b.
It is registered in an image information temporary database (not shown), displayed on a display screen connected to the client 30b, and used for diagnosis by a doctor.

FIG. 8 illustrates a conventional image information management method. That is, the storage medium of information currently used in a computer becomes expensive and has a small capacity when the access speed becomes high, and becomes inexpensive and has a large capacity when the access speed becomes low. Here, if all the image data such as the above-mentioned medical image information is stored in a high-speed medium, it becomes expensive, large-scaled, and impractical.

[0006] The medical image information has a very high access frequency until a diagnosis is performed on the imaged image as described above, and has a characteristic that the access frequency is rapidly reduced when the diagnosis is completed.

Therefore, at present, as shown in the figure,
By constructing the first short-term database with high access frequency using a high-speed medium, and the long-term database that manages information that has passed a certain period of low access frequency with a large-capacity medium, it is fast and inexpensive. Information management systems are being implemented.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In the above conventional technique,
There were the following problems. (1) In a system that handles enormous amounts of information such as image information, duplicating image data results in a very expensive and large-scale system, as shown in FIG. I couldn't confirm my sex.

(2) If the above image information is to be stored with high image quality, there is a problem that the amount of image data to be stored increases and the cost becomes huge. Therefore, if a known image data compression technique is used to reduce the amount of image data to be stored, the problem that high quality image data cannot be obtained occurs, and it is possible to provide high quality images and reduce the amount of information at the same time. There wasn't.

(3) Further, once the image data is moved to a long-term database that is stored for a long time, there is a problem that the improvement of the access speed cannot be expected thereafter. In view of the above conventional drawbacks, the present invention, after a certain period of time,
The management method and management of a large amount of image information that has a characteristic that the access frequency drops sharply, which can improve image data storability, high image quality, and long-term database access speed. The purpose is to provide a device.

[0011]

1 and 2 are explanatory views of the principle of the present invention. The above problems can be solved by the image information management device configured as follows.

(1) An image information management device for managing image information, the current day log file storing the image information generated on the day, a short-term database storing the image information for a predetermined fixed period, After a predetermined period of time, a long-term database for accumulating the image information for a long period of time is provided, and the image information generated on the day is sequentially written into the log file of the day and the short-term database, and a unit of the day. While writing a part of the image information of the day written in the log file to the long-term database, a means to reject the other part of the log file on the day, and the image information stored in the short-term database, And a means for rejecting image information that has passed a predetermined period from the short-term database.

(2) In the image information management device described in the above item (1), the image information of the current day log file is double stored in the corresponding day log file and the short-term database for the predetermined period. Then, a part of the contents of the short-term database is held in the short-term database and the long-term database in a dual manner, and a dual management means is provided.

(3) In the image information management device described in the above item (1), reversible data that can be completely restored is stored in the short-term database for the predetermined fixed period, and the fixed period is exceeded. Then, when it becomes necessary to store the data for a long period of time, a means for rejecting the completely reversible reversible data and storing only the irreversible data on the long-term database is provided.

(4) In the image information management device described in the above item (1), the certain period of time has passed, long-term storage is required, accumulation is made in the long-term database, and it is rejected from the short-term database. When the stored image information is retrieved from the long-term database, the retrieved image information is stored in the short-term database for a predetermined period.

(5) In the image information management device described in the above item (1), the short-term database is composed of high-speed and small-capacity storage means, and the long-term database is composed of low-speed and large-capacity storage means. To do.

(6) For example, in the case where the client / server type data processing system manages image information having a characteristic that the access frequency decreases after a certain period of time, the image generated on the day is stored in the server. The same-day log file that stores information, a short-term database that stores predetermined image data for the predetermined period, a long-term database that stores the image for a long period after the predetermined period, and the image Image storage destination information management database means for accumulating management information of information, means for storing image information retrieved from the server in the image information database in the client in the client, and image of the client Image storage information table means for registering the date and time stored in the information database and the storage destination, When the image information is updated in the client, the updated image information and the update date and time are
The image information database and the image storage information table means in the client, the short-term database and the image storage destination information management table means in the server are registered, and at the time of registration,
A means for returning the update date and time updated on the server side to the image storage information table means on the client side is provided,
Next, when the desired image information is present in the client, the update date and time of the server side and the client side are compared, and when the update date and time of the server side is new, the image information is searched again. Then, the contents of the image information database in the client are updated, and when the update dates and times are the same, the image information in the client is used.

[0018]

That is, in the image information management apparatus of the present invention,
When managing a huge amount of image information, such as medical image information, where the access frequency drops sharply after a certain period of time, a log file that stores the image information that occurred on the day and a short-term For example, a short-term high-speed database that realizes high-speed access during a high access frequency for one month, and a long period after the first short period with a high access frequency elapses, for example, for several months to several years. Equipped with a long-term low-speed database that realizes economical access to image information by low-speed access. By performing double management of the image information before the day and the long-term low-speed data, it is possible to improve the maintainability during the above-mentioned fixed period of high access frequency. {Refer to FIG. 1} Also, during the above-mentioned fixed period when high image quality is required, lossless compressible information, for example, lossy image data and difference information are accumulated in the above short-term high-speed database and managed, When the period has passed and the importance of image quality has decreased, only lossy compressed image data with a high compression rate is accumulated in the long-term low-speed database and managed to provide high-quality image data for a short period of time. This is to reduce the amount of data in a long-term low-speed database. {Fig. 2
Also, when the image information moved to the long-term low-speed database is accessed, the fixed period from the access date and time is also doubled in the short-term high-speed database, While the relevant image information is present, the short-term high-speed database is used for access to improve the access speed.
{Refer to FIG. 3} Further, in the client / server type data processing system, the information retrieved from the server is left in the client for a certain period from the last access date, and the access update date and time is managed. If there is a desired image in the client, the update dates and times managed by the client and server are compared, and if the comparison date and time are the same, the image information stored on the client side is displayed. When the update date and time on the server side is new, the corresponding image information on the server side is searched, the image information is transferred from the server to the client, and the image information on the client side is updated. The client side allows high-speed access to image information.

Therefore, after a certain period of time, the enormous amount of image information having the characteristic that the access frequency is drastically lowered is improved in the image data storage property, high image quality, and long-term database access speed. be able to.

[0020]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2 described above are explanatory views of the principle of the present invention,
3 to 6 are views showing an embodiment of the present invention,
3 shows an example of the structure of an image database, FIG. 4 shows a method for realizing the preservation of a short-term high-speed database, FIG. 5 shows an example of application to a client / server system, and FIG. 6 shows an image DB. The structural example of a server is shown.

According to the present invention, there is provided a management apparatus for image information having a characteristic that the access frequency sharply decreases after a certain period of time, and a log file storing the image information generated on the current day and the above-mentioned predetermined number. , A short-term database that accumulates image data for a certain period of time, a long-term database that accumulates the image information for a long period of time after the predetermined period of time, and a short-term database that manages within the certain period of time on the same day log file In addition, it is necessary to store data in a long-term database in duplicate and manage it in a double manner, and to store reversible data that can be completely restored for a certain period of time. In this case, it is necessary to reject the lossless data that can be completely restored and store only the lossy data, and to store the data for a long time after the certain period. Are accumulated in the long-term database, if the image information being rejected from the short-term database, retrieved from the long-term database,
A means for storing the retrieved image information in the short-term database for a predetermined period is a means necessary for carrying out the present invention. The same reference numerals indicate the same objects throughout the drawings.

Hereinafter, referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, FIG.
The configuration and operation of the image information management apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. First, the image information management device according to the present invention is
A database based on the following configuration is assumed.

As shown in FIG. 3A, the image information management means is an image storage destination information management database 6
And short-term high-speed database (hereinafter referred to as short-term high-speed DB) 4 and long-term low-speed database (hereinafter referred to as long-term low-speed DB)
5), and the image storage destination information management database (hereinafter referred to as image storage destination information management DB) 6 has the same image information as shown in FIG. 3 (a). Thus, it is possible to manage a plurality of storage destinations. For example, "storage destination 1" manages the storage destination on the short-term high-speed DB 4, and "storage destination 2" manages the storage destination on the long-term low-speed DB 5.

Then, using the image storage destination information management DB 6, access to the short-term high-speed DB 4 and the long-term low-speed DB 5 follows the table shown in FIG. 3 (b). In this embodiment,
As an example of the maintainability of the short-term high-speed DB 4, on the assumption of image information in a hospital, a case where a magnetic disk is used for the short-term high-speed DB 4 and a MOL (magneto-optical disk library) is used for the long-term low-speed DB 5 explain.

The image information is frequently accessed during the diagnosis period (1 month) stored in the short-term high-speed DB 4,
Improve maintainability during this period. The storability of the short-term high-speed DB 4 will be described with reference to FIGS. When image information is generated, it is sequentially written to the short-term high-speed DB 4 and today's log file 3. Writing (saving) from the short-term high-speed DB 4 to the long-term low-speed DB 5 is performed every night, and at this time, the storage destination on the long-term low-speed DB 5 is registered in the storage destination 2 of the image storage destination information management DB 6. Delete the corresponding image information from today's log file 3. For the capacity of the short-term high-speed DB 4, for example, a capacity capable of storing one month's worth of image information is prepared.
When information that exceeds the percentage set from the outside is stored, the image information that has been diagnosed and has the oldest update date and time is erased, and the information in the storage location 1 of the image storage location information management DB 6 is cleared for a long time. Evacuated to low speed DB 5.

The updating operation of each database at this time will be described more specifically with reference to FIG. 1 (a). First, the short-term high-speed DB 4 stores the above-mentioned percentage of image information set from the outside. If there is some image information for the current day, the image information for that day is stored in the current day log file 3 and short-term high-speed DB 4. Therefore, at this point, log file 3 on the day and short-term high-speed D
The image information for the current day is duplicated and stored on B4.

The short-term high-speed DB 4 and the long-term low-speed DB 5
The image information for the last one month is duplicated on the top. When a certain image information is generated on the same day, for example, the image information which has been diagnosed and has the oldest update date and time is selected on the current day log file 3 and the short-term high-speed DB 4, and from the current day log file 3 It is deleted and saved on the long-term low-speed DB 5.

As a result, on the same day log file 3 and short-term high-speed DB 4, together with the newly generated image information,
The image information for the current day is duplicated and saved, and the recent one month's worth of image information is duplicated and saved on the short-term high-speed DB 4 and the long-term low-speed DB 5 together with the saved image information. It will be. {See FIG. 4} Of the image information managed on the short-term high-speed DB 4 and the long-term low-speed DB 5, the image information exceeding the management capacity is deleted in the order of oldness.

According to the above image information management method, when the short-term high-speed DB 4 is destroyed, the same day log file 3 and long-term low-speed D
The destroyed short-term high-speed DB 4 can be restored from B 5.

Next, a method of realizing high image quality and high compression will be described with reference to FIG. As an example of high image quality and high compression, image information in a hospital is assumed, and the image information has an irreversible compressed image and difference information (difference information between the current image and the restored image) in order to realize high image quality. The image can be completely restored.

In this case, the short-term high-speed DB 4 which handles the information of the diagnosis period has both the lossy compressed image and the difference information,
When writing to the long-term low-speed DB at night, only the lossy compressed image is saved to achieve high image quality during the diagnostic period and reduction of image information during long-term storage. That is, the short-term high-speed DB 4 stores lossy-compressed image information including lossy-compressed images and difference information, and stores the long-term low-speed DB at night.
For 5, stores only lossy compressed images. (Short term D
The image may be compressed when saved from B to the long-term DB 5) Since the differential information is not saved in the long-term low-speed DB 5, it is deleted from the short-term high-speed DB 4 after the diagnosis period of one month elapses. Regarding the difference information described above, for example, a flag is added to image information having a predetermined finding, and at night, the image information to which the flag is added is selectively selected.
You may make it evacuate to long-term low-speed DB 5. By performing such an operation, it is possible to save the image information of which the progress is desired to be viewed in the long term with a high image quality.

By the above image information management method, high quality images can be retrieved during the diagnosis period, and when the diagnosis period ends, only highly compressed information can be economically managed over a long period of time. Become.

Next, a temporary buffering method in the short-term high-speed DB will be described with reference to FIG. Usually, when information is retrieved, it is very likely that it will be retrieved again within a certain period of time. After that, normally, the frequency of access to the corresponding image information sharply decreases, but if, for example, a patient who was examined 3 months ago appears for re-examination, the previous image information will be Access is made for a predetermined period until the diagnosis is completed.

Therefore, short-term high-speed D which enables high-speed retrieval
When the image information once deleted from B 4 is retrieved from the long-term low-speed DB 5, it is possible to leave it in the short-term high-speed DB 4 that can perform high-speed retrieval for a certain period from the date of the retrieval. It is very effective for realizing high-speed search.

The management method will be described below. When a search request is made for image information deleted from the short-term high-speed DB 4, the long-term low-speed DB 5 is searched. The retrieved image information is stored again in the short-term high-speed DB 4. Storage location information and storage time on short-term high-speed DB 4
(The last access date and time after a certain period from the search date and time) is registered in the storage location 1 and the update date and time of the image storage location information management DB 6. The image information is deleted from the short-term high-speed DB 4 from the oldest last accessed date, as in the case of normal image information.

The management method described above enables high-speed access of data deleted from the short-term high-speed DB 4. However, since the image information re-stored in the short-term high-speed DB 4 usually does not have the difference information necessary for reproducing high image quality, the problem of poor image quality remains. By adding a flag to the image information that has a finding, and selectively saving the difference information of the image information to which the flag is added in the long-term low-speed DB 5 at night, high-speed search is possible. When the difference information of the once deleted image information is retrieved from the long-term low-speed DB 5 from the short-term high-speed DB 4, it is possible to perform a fixed period from the retrieved date,
Since the short-term high-speed DB 4 capable of high-speed retrieval is left and has the difference information, it is possible to perform the re-diagnosis based on the image information reproduced with high image quality.

Next, an application example to the client / server system will be described with reference to FIG. This is an image DB server (hereinafter, simply referred to as a server) in the client / server type system shown in FIGS.
The image information retrieved from 20 is stored in the image information temporary DB 30 in the client 30b together with the update date and time and the storage destination.
1, The image storage information table 300 manages, and by adding the function to verify the data consistency by comparing the update date and time on the server 20 side and the client 30b side, high-speed information retrieval on the client 30b is possible. It is a method of managing the image information. First, as described above, the client device 30a shown in FIG.
When the image information generated in (1) is transferred to the server 20 and registered, the update date and time and the storage location are registered in the image storage location information management DB 6 in the server 20. Then, the image information retrieved from the server 20 is transferred to the client device.
Write to 30b image information temporary DB 301.

The storage location information in the image information temporary DB 301 and the update date and time in the image storage location information management DB 6 of the server 20 are registered in the image storage information table 300 in the client device 30b. On the client device 30b side, for example, when a doctor or the like updates image information (updates by writing findings), registration is performed on the server 20 side, and based on the clock on the server 20 side, the above registration is performed. If the date and time is updated, the updated date and time information is also returned to the image storage information table 300 on the client device 30b side, and the image storage information table is returned.
Renew the update date and time of 300. From the next time, if there is corresponding image information in the client device 30b, the update dates of the server 20 side and the client device 30b side are compared, and if the server 20 side update date is new, the image information is updated. When the image information in the client device 30b is updated again by re-searching on the image storage destination information management DB 6 and the updated image information is used, and the comparison result is the same, the client device 30b
Use internal image information. Therefore, in this case, the image information in the client device 30b can be accessed at high speed. When the image information temporary DB 301 becomes full, the image information with the oldest update date and the image storage information are deleted.

Next, an example of the configuration of the server which is the main body of the image information management method according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIGS. 1 (a) and 5, the server 20 is an image information management device having a characteristic that the access frequency sharply decreases after a certain period of time.
Today's log file that stores the image information generated on the day
3, a short-term high-speed DB 4 that accumulates image data for the predetermined period of time, a long-term low-speed DB 5 that accumulates the image information for a long period of time after the predetermined period of time, and a management within the predetermined period A means to double manage the contents of short-term high-speed DB 4 with log file 3 on the day and long-term low-speed DB 5.
(Redundant storage program means) 20a, and the reversible data that can be completely restored for a certain period of time is accumulated in the short-term high-speed DB 4, and when the certain period of time has passed and a long-term storage becomes necessary, The lossless data that can be completely restored is rejected from the short-term high-speed DB 4, and only the lossy data is long-term low-speed DB 5.
The means for accumulating on the above (compressed storage program means) 20b,
After the above fixed period, long-term storage becomes necessary,
When the image information accumulated in the long-term low-speed DB 5 and rejected from the short-term high-speed DB 4 is retrieved from the long-term low-speed DB 5, the retrieved image information is stored in the short-term high-speed DB for a predetermined period. 4 is provided with means for storing (short-term high-speed DB buffering program means) 20c, data compression means 7, and data decompression means 8,
The central processing unit (CPU) 1 executes the programs 20a to 20c loaded on the main memory unit (MM) 2 to realize the management of various image information described in FIGS. 1 to 4. can do.

In the above embodiment, the image storage destination information management DB 6 is provided in the image DB server 20. However, as shown in FIG. 7, a dedicated image management server is used.
It goes without saying that it may be provided in 10.

As described above, the image information management method according to the present invention stores the image information in the same day log, the short-term database,
By using the long-term database, the contents of the short-term database will be dually managed by the log file of the day and the long-term database. In addition, by adding compression technology of image data, reversible data that can be completely restored is stored for the first short period, and when it becomes necessary to store for a long period after the short period, the data required for the above complete restoration. , And store only the lossy data. If the information deleted from the short-term database capable of high-speed retrieval is retrieved from the long-term database, it is left in the short-term database capable of high-speed retrieval for a predetermined period. Further, in the client / server type system, the image information retrieved from the server is left in the client, and when the image information in the client is the latest, the image information in the client is retrieved. There is.

[0042]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, a huge amount of image information having a characteristic that the access frequency sharply decreases after a certain period of time is stored as the image information storage property. In addition, there is an effect that the high image quality and the access speed to the database for a long time can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram (1) of the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the principle of the present invention (No. 2)

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention (No. 1).

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention (part 2).

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention (part 3).

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention (No. 4).

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a server / client system that manages image information.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining a conventional image information management method.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Image management server 20 Image DB server 30a, 30b Client device, client 40 Router 1 Central processing unit (CPU) 2 Main storage device
(MM) 20a Redundant save program means 20b Compressed save program means 20c Short-term high-speed DB buffering program means 3 Today's log file 4 Short-term high-speed D
B 5 Long-term low-speed DB 6 Image storage information management DB 300 Image storage information table 301 Image information temporary DB

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An image information management apparatus for managing image information, comprising a log file of the day that stores the image information generated on the day, a short-term database that stores the image information for a predetermined period of time, and the predetermined number. After a certain period of time, a long-term database for accumulating the image information for a long period of time is provided, and the image information generated on the day is sequentially written into the log file of the day and the short-term database, and a unit of the log of the day. While writing a part of the image information of the day written in the file to the long-term database, a means to reject the other part of the log file on the day, and the image information stored in the short-term database,
An image information management apparatus comprising: means for rejecting image information that has passed a predetermined period from the short-term database. 2. The image information management device according to claim 1, wherein the image information of the current day log file is double held in the corresponding day log file and the short-term database for the predetermined period. An image information management apparatus comprising a duplication management means for dually holding and managing a part of the contents of a short-term database in the short-term database and the long-term database. 3. The image information management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reversible data that can be completely restored is stored in the short-term database for the predetermined fixed period, and the long-term data is stored after the fixed period. An image information management apparatus comprising means for rejecting the reversible data that can be completely restored and storing only the irreversible data on a long-term database when it becomes necessary to store for a period. 4. The image information management device according to claim 1, wherein the certain period of time has passed, long-term storage is required, image information accumulated in the long-term database and rejected from the short-term database. However, when it is searched from the long-term database, the searched image information is
An image information management apparatus comprising means for storing in the short-term database for a predetermined period. 5. The image information management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the short-term database is composed of high-speed and small-capacity storage means, and the long-term database is composed of low-speed and large-capacity storage means. A characteristic image information management device. 6. When managing image information in a client / server type data processing system, the server stores a log file of the day on which the image information generated on the day is stored, a predetermined fixed period of time, and a predetermined period of time. A short-term database for accumulating image data, a long-term database for accumulating the image information for a long period after the predetermined period, and an image storage destination information management database means for accumulating management information of the image information. In the client, means for storing the image information retrieved from the server in the image information database in the client, image storage information for registering the date and time of storage in the image information database of the client, and the storage destination When the image information is updated in the client, the updated image is provided. The information and the update date and time are registered in the image information database and the image storage information table means in the client, and the short-term database and the image storage destination information management table means in the server, and at the time of the registration, the update updated on the server side. By providing means for returning the date and time to the image storage information table means on the client side, next time, when desired image information exists in the client, the update date and time on the server side and the client side are compared, If the update date and time on the server side is new, the image information is searched again, and the contents of the image information database in the client are updated. If the update date and time are the same, the image inside the client is updated. An image information management device characterized by using information.