JP3103209B2 - Image file device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic filing apparatus capable of reading out image information of each page registered in a document unit, displaying the image information on a display unit, editing and printing out, and the like. The present invention relates to an image file device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various documents are overflowing in offices and the like, and when these documents are stored in a paper state, there have been problems such as a problem of space and a difficulty in searching for necessary documents quickly. Therefore, an electronic filing apparatus for electronically managing paper information using a medium such as an optical disk has been developed and put into practical use.

The electronic filing apparatus can store (register) tens of thousands of documents on one optical disk and can search for required documents at high speed by inputting a keyword or the like.

However, in an apparatus using an optical disk, a pickup (head) including optical components such as a semiconductor laser and a lens is heavy and takes a long time to move. Therefore, the access time is longer than other storage devices such as a hard disk and a semiconductor memory. Therefore, in the case of a conventional electronic filing apparatus which reads image information directly from an optical disk, there is a disadvantage that it takes time to read the first image information.

[0005]

As described above, in the related art, since image information is read directly from an optical disk, the access time is longer than that of other storage devices, and
There is a disadvantage that it takes time to read the first image information. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an image file device capable of reading out image information more quickly and having a shorter access time.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to continuous page turning.
Search image information based on a document search request with
Image read by page in an image file device
Storage means for storing information in units of documents, and
Of the first page of all stored document-based image information
A first cache memory for storing only image information;
Stores the image information of the second and subsequent pages of the image information of the document unit
A second cache memory based on the document search request.
The document specified in the document search request is the second key.
Determining means for determining whether or not the information is stored in a cache
And the image of the first page of the document specified in the document search request
A first method of reading information from the first cache memory;
Reading means and the result of the judgment by the judgment means, the document
The document specified in the search request is the second cache memo
If the second cache memo is stored in the
From the second page of the document specified in the above document search request
Reading means for reading out the image information of
As a result of the means judgment, the document specified in the above document search request
Is not stored in the second cache memory
The image information of the second and subsequent pages of the designated document
Read out from the storage means and read out the read image information
Read out to copy the data into the second cache memory
And means for performing the above operations.

[0007]

[0008]

In the above arrangement, the designation of continuous page turning is provided.
If there is an accompanying document search request,
The first page of the specified document is always the first cache memory
Is read from. On the other hand, the image information of the second and subsequent pages is
If the data is stored in the cache memory of the second
Is read from the cache memory. If the second page
Image information is stored in the second cache memory.
If not, the image information of the second and subsequent pages is read from the storage means.
And read out the image information of the second and subsequent pages.
2 is copied to the second cache memory. This allows you to specify
The time required to read the image information of the first page of the document is shortened, and the image information of the second page and subsequent pages of the document is reduced .
Can be read at high speed.

[0009]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 schematically shows the configuration of an electronic filing apparatus according to the present invention.

That is, this electronic filing device is
The CPU 1 that controls the entire system, and the data transfer control described in the above C
DMA 2 in place of PU 1, keyboard (KB) 3 for command input, etc., mouse 4 as pointing device, memory 5 for storing programs and data, and image information stored in display memory (DM) 6 are displayed. A display 7, an image processing unit 8 for performing image processing such as compression / expansion and enlargement / reduction on image information, a hard disk device 10 connected via an interface (I / F) 9, and an optical disk connected via an interface 11 A library device 12, a communication interface 13 for controlling communication with an external terminal device (not shown), and a scanner 1 for inputting image information.
4, a printer 15 for performing print output, and a system bus 16 for connecting these.

The hard disk device 10 stores image information, code data, and the like, as well as database information on documents registered in the optical disk library device 12.

The optical disk library device 12 stores image information as pages and stores (registers) them in document units, and includes, for example, two optical disk devices and an optical disk autochanger. The optical disk library device 12 and the hard disk device 10 constitute a disk system to be described later. Here, registration / search of image information will be described.

First, in the case of registration, image information read by the scanner 14 is temporarily stored in the memory 5. The image information stored in the memory 5 is displayed on the display 7 via the display memory 6, compressed by the image processing unit 8, and stored by the optical disk library device 12 on an optical disk as a medium in document units. Is done.

On the other hand, in the case of a search, the CPU 1 performs a document search process from the database information of the hard disk device 10. Then, based on the database information, the image information of the corresponding document is read out from the optical disk library device 12, decompressed by the image processing unit 8, and stored in the memory 5. The image information is reduced on the image processing unit 8 and written into the display memory 6 to be displayed on the display 7.

When a search request for image information is made from an external terminal device, a search request from the terminal device is accepted via the communication interface 13. And
Based on this request, after the CPU 1 performs a database search, the image information of the corresponding document is read from the optical disk library device 12. The read image information is sent to the terminal device via the communication interface 13 in a compressed state. FIG. 2 shows an example of a storage structure of image information in the optical disk library device 12 described above.

That is, the image information is converted into a page,
Each page is stored in a document unit. For example, document A has image information A-1, image information A-2,
, Consists of several pages of image information A-a, document B consists of several pages of image information B-1, image information B-2, ..., image information B-b, ..., document Y contains image information Y-1, image information Y
..,..., Consisting of several pages of image information Y-y.

When the image information is read out in units of a document, the first page of the document (for example, image information A-1 in the case of document A) is accessed. In addition, when turning over pages in which image information of each page is displayed continuously and sequentially, image information of the next page is sequentially read out. FIG. 3 shows an example of the construction of the disk system.

This disk system comprises, for example, the optical disk library device 12, the first page cache memory 100 and the document cache memory 101 formed in the hard disk device 10, the selector 20, and the like.

The optical disk library device 12 is provided with, for example, two optical disk devices (drives 1 and 2), and all documents are stored on the optical disks handled by the drives 1 and 2.

As shown in FIG. 4, the first page cache memory 100 stores image information (for example, documents A, B,..., Y) of all first pages stored in the optical disk library device 12. , Image information A-1, B-
1,..., Y-1) are stored.

As shown in FIG. 5, for example, the document cache memory 101 stores a document stored in the optical disc library device 12 in an LRU (Least Recen- cy).
Tly Used) algorithm.

The selector 20 is used to access the image information,
That is, the system body (for example, the CPU shown in FIG. 1)
In response to the instruction from 1), the optical disk library device 1
2. Access to the first page cache memory 100 or the document cache memory 101 is switched. FIG. 6 shows the relationship between the access time of each unit in the above-mentioned disk system.

The access time of the drives 1 and 2 of the optical disk library device 12 is determined by a head (not shown).
And the rotation waiting time until the optical disk access position reaches the head position. The rotation waiting time depends on the rotation speed of the optical disk, and the seek time depends on the moving speed and moving distance of the head.

In the present situation, since the pickups (heads) of the optical disk drives 1 and 2 are composed of semiconductor lasers and optical parts, they are heavy and take a long time to move. Therefore, although large-capacity storage is possible, the access time is slower than that of the hard disk device 10 or the like.

In the present invention, in order to speed up access to the first page of this document, a first page cache memory 100 is prepared in a hard disk device 10 having a shorter access time than the optical disk drives 1 and 2, and The first page is cached.

For example, when the document B is to be read, when the database information is searched by the CPU 1, the first page cache memory 100 on the hard disk device 10 is first accessed. Then, the image information B-1 of the first page of the document B stored in the first page cache memory 100 is read and sent to the memory 5. The image information B-1 sent to the memory 5 is displayed on the display 7 by being expanded in the image processing section 8 and then stored in the display memory 6.

At the same time, the optical disk library device 12 starts accessing the image information B-2 following the first page. Then, image information B-2 of the second page
Is read directly from the optical disk library device 12.

When the continuous page turning is performed, the image information B-2,... On the second and subsequent pages are read directly from the optical disk library device 12 in the same manner as described above.

In this case, since each image information is sequentially stored on the optical disk, the access time (seek time) of the optical disk is hardly required, and high-speed reading is possible.

As described above, since the image information of the first page of the document is stored on the hard disk which can be accessed at a higher speed than the optical disk, the image information of the first page of the document can be stored during the access to the optical disk. Access becomes possible, and as a result, the search time required for searching for documents can be reduced. Also, when searching for a document while looking at the first page, the document can be accessed from the hard disk device 10 at high speed, which is useful. Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described.

In general, when a document is searched, when the first page is recognized as the relevant document, the page is turned.
That is, the retrieved document has a very high probability of seeing the inside of the document (contents of each page).

However, when the electronic filing device is used as a server, a plurality of people may access the optical disk at the same time, but the optical disk has a longer access time than other storage devices. For this reason, if you access in order, it takes only access time,
There is a problem that image information cannot be easily transferred. When the library device 12 is used for an optical disk drive, it takes time to exchange media (optical disk).

Therefore, according to the present invention, a document cache memory 101 is prepared in the hard disk device 10, and when the image information B-1 of the first page of the document B is accessed in the first page cache memory 100, the optical disk library device 12 Each page after image information B-2 is read out,
This is copied (transferred) to the document cache memory 101 at the same time.

As a result, when the next page is accessed, the image information of the next and subsequent pages is already cached in the document cache memory 101 on the hard disk device 10, so that high-speed reading is possible. Becomes In addition, the optical disk library device 12 can exchange media to receive an access request from another terminal device or the like. next,
The operation in the above configuration will be described. FIG.
It shows the flow of processing at the time of document search.

First, in the document search, if the document cache memory 101 is hit, as described above,
The image information of the first page is read from the first page cache memory 100.

In this case, with respect to this document, the image information of the second and subsequent pages has already been cached in the document cache memory 101. For this reason, when performing successive page turning, image information of each page is sequentially read from the document cache memory 101.

If the target document does not exist in the document cache memory 101 and the continuous page turning is performed, the image information of the first page is read from the first page cache memory 100.

At the same time, the head is moved (seeked) to the second page of the document in the optical disk library device 12. After reading the first page, the image information of the second and subsequent pages is sequentially read from the optical disk library device 12. It is. Then, simultaneously with the reading of the image information, the read image information of each page is written into the document cache memory 101.

If continuous page turning is not performed,
At the same time when the image information of the first page is read from the first page cache memory 100, the optical disk library device 12
The head is moved to the second page of the document.

In this case, the document retrieval operation is terminated after the reading of the first page is completed. However, as back processing, image information of the second and subsequent pages is sequentially read from the optical disk library device 12 and sequentially stored in the document cache memory. It is written to 101. As a result, the next time the document is accessed, the document cache memory 101 will be hit.
High-speed access becomes possible. As described above, the time required to read the first image information can be reduced.

That is, the first page of a document can be accessed at high speed by utilizing the access time to the optical disk. As a result, the time required for accessing the optical disk can be used effectively, and apparently,
It is possible to improve the performance of the system. Therefore, it is possible to solve the problem that it takes time to access the optical disc, and to realize a high-speed document search. Further, not only can the performance of the system be easily improved, but also it is possible to cope with a case where accesses are simultaneously made from a plurality of terminal devices at a high speed.

In the above embodiment, the case where an optical disk library device is used has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a low-speed hard disk device may be used. Also, the first page cache memory and the document cache memory need not be provided on the same hard disk device, but may be provided separately.

Further, the first page cache memory and the document cache memory are not limited to the hard disk device, and for example, a semiconductor memory or a high-speed optical disk device can be used. Further, the first page cache memory may store not only the image information of the first page but also a part (a plurality of pages) of the document including the first page. Of course, various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0044]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an image filing apparatus which has a short access time and can read out image information more quickly.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an electronic filing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a storage structure of image information in the optical disk library device.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a disk system.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of storage in a first page cache memory.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of storage in a document cache memory;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a relationship between access times of respective units in the disk system.

FIG. 7 is also a flowchart shown to explain the flow of processing related to document search.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 CPU, 2 DMA, 3 keyboard (KB), 5
... Memory, 6 ... Display memory (DM), 7 ... Display, 8 ... Image processing unit, 10 ... Hard disk drive,
12: Optical disk library device, 13: Communication interface, 20: Selector, 100: First page cache memory, 101: Document cache memory.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06F 3/06 302 G06F 3/06 301 G11B 7/00

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A document search request accompanied by designation of continuous page turning.
Image file device that retrieves image information based on
Te, and that SL憶means be stored in the document unit an image information read by the page unit, a first cache for storing image information of the first page only image information of all documents units stored in said storage means
Storage and Yumemori, the image information of the second page and subsequent image information of the document units
A second cache memory to be specified, and based on the document search request,
Whether the saved document is stored in the second cache
Determining means for determining whether or not the image information of the first page of the document specified by the document search request
Read from the first cache memory
Output means and the result of the determination by the determination means,
Document stored in the second cache memory.
The document is retrieved from the second cache memory.
Reads image information from the second page of the document specified by the search request
Second reading means for issuing the document, and a result of the judgment by the judgment means,
Document stored in the second cache memory.
If not, the image information of the second and subsequent pages of the specified document
Information from the storage means, and
Third for copying image information to the second cache memory
An image file device comprising: a reading unit .