JPS6346637B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) This invention relates to an image information retrieval device when an optical disk is used as a document file.

(Prior Art) Optical video disc devices seem to be nearing completion in terms of recording and reproducing television signals (video signals). Among them, the long play type, which can play 1H on one side by changing the circumferential speed, has almost reached its limit in terms of recording density. Additionally, single-sided 1/2H discs have considerable advantages over VTRs, such as stop motion, slow motion, and reverse playback. However, since video discs are for playback only, even though they have the advantage of being cheaper, they run into the problem of image software, and have not seen much growth.

Recently, the use of video discs for audio purposes has been gaining attention, taking advantage of their high-density recording. This is an attempt to convert sound into PCM, that is, to record and play back high-quality sound that is almost unaffected by the noise generated by records and tapes. Conventionally, multi-channel magnetic tape was used. However, the idea is to use a video disc instead. The advantage of sound over video is thought to be the software. In other words, sound software is simpler and easier to create than video (movies, television, etc.).
They are inexpensive and are often used repeatedly.

In the sense of solving video disk image software, there is a new usage called ``document file.'' Since conventional video discs treat images as moving images, the focus is on the story, and each frame does not have much significance.
On the other hand, document files contain important information in each still image, so the problem of image software, which was thought to be a drawback of conventional video discs, has been almost overcome, and as a result, new video It is believed that this will open up the field of disks.

However, there are many problems that must be resolved in order to use video discs as document files. For example, the amount of information per screen is significantly increased compared to that of a TV (TVs only have to handle a maximum of 500 x 650 (0.33 x 10 ⁶ ) pixels, whereas documents use A4 size as the standard. 1700×2400 (4×
10 ⁶ ) pixels, requiring 12 times as many pixels per screen), the ability to instantly find and read out any single frame, that is, random access is possible, and the cycle time is less than a few seconds;
It is possible to write and read a display document of a video signal read from a video disk.

As mentioned earlier, a document contains about 12 times as much information as a single TV frame. Therefore, the frame rate is equivalent to that of a TV (30 frames/sec).
When recorded, transmitted, and displayed, the signal bandwidth expands by a factor of 12, which is impossible to achieve with current technology. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the frame rate appropriately in the recording, transmission, and display systems to bring the image bandwidth within a range that can be handled by conventional equipment.

On the other hand, there are two types of document display means: soft copy (display on a monitor) and hard copy display. Each has advantages and disadvantages, and it can be said that they are complementary to each other. The display of the document file must have these two items. In terms of usage, it can easily display documents, so it is used for checking the contents, etc.
The purpose is to keep it in hand as an official document for further consideration. Technically speaking, it is usually 30 sheets/sec.
(60 fields) will cause flicker noise and become difficult to view, but the time to form one frame is very short, making it suitable for displaying small amounts of information.
It usually takes several seconds for each image, and it takes a long time to form one frame, but it has the property of being suitable for displaying large amounts of information. Therefore, in order to simultaneously perform displays having such contradictory characteristics, it is necessary to provide appropriate equipment between the video disk device and the display device.

If we estimate the number of documents that can be stored on a video disk from the recording density of conventional disks (10 ¹⁰ /4 x 10 ⁶ ), it is 2500 frames on one side and 5000 frames on both sides. When viewed as a dokiyunto file, it is important to know how accurately you can find the information you want from this accumulated information.
Whether a file is used or not is determined by how quickly it can be searched and displayed. Even if you search using a computer or the like, if the search target is a document (image information), it is difficult to specify the search target accurately, and generally a certain block will be specified. This block contains a small number to a large number of documents depending on each search, and you must find what you really want from among these documents.

If the image is treated as an image, such as microfilm, you can copy it while checking whether the searched document matches the desired document. On the other hand, in the case of a video disc, a two-dimensional document is recorded on the disc in the form of one-dimensional dots by a scanning means, and therefore cannot be displayed as an image unless appropriate means are used. The means for displaying this image are a soft copy (monitor) and a hard copy (printer).

Now, when using a monitor as a display means, if you want to display all the pixels of a document, you will need a monitor capable of displaying approximately 4 megapixels and a frame memory capable of storing 4 megapixels. There are no commercially available monitors that can display 4 megapixels, and it is currently technically impossible. Even if it were possible, it would be extremely expensive and cannot be used generally. Also, when considering a frame memory with 4 megapixels, if IC memory is used from the perspective of image quality,
Even if each pixel is 1 bit, the total amount is 4 megabits, resulting in a considerable increase in cost. Reducing the number of pixels by about half is within the technically possible range. The monitor is said to be a high-resolution monitor, so the price is about 10 times that of a 500-line monitor, and the frame memory also requires 2 megapixels, which increases the cost considerably. That is, when a video disk is used as a document file, adding a soft copy device as a display means will significantly increase costs.

In order to avoid this cost increase, if we stop using the soft copy (monitor), the only display means will be the hard copy. Therefore, if you want to know the contents of a searched block, you have to make a hard copy of it all, which greatly slows down the search. Running costs are high because each print is made on paper, and the paper must be disposed of. It is undesirable as an actual document file because it contains a lot of unnecessary information and is difficult to use.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) As mentioned above, the document (information) that is desired from among the disks that have accumulated a large number of documents.
The decisive factor in an information retrieval device is how reliably and quickly the information can be retrieved and displayed (or printed out). However, due to the difference between the amount of information stored in one document stored on a disk and the amount of information that can be displayed on a display means (monitor), it is possible to avoid an increase in device costs, and to use hard copies without deterioration in image quality, while still being accurate and quick. I couldn't get just the information I wanted.

Therefore, the present invention was made in view of such problems, and allows accurate and quick searching and display of only desired information from a large amount of accumulated information, and moreover, a hard copy that can be finally obtained. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image information retrieval device without deterioration in image quality.

[Structure of the invention]

(Means for Solving the Problems) This invention searches for desired image information from a plurality of pieces of image information stored in a disk device at a first resolution, and copies the searched image information to a soft copy such as a CRT. Means for supplying image information stored in a disk device to a soft copy device at a second resolution in an image information retrieval device that displays it on a display screen of the device and stores it on a recording paper or the like using a hard copy device as appropriate. and the second resolution of this means is set lower than the first resolution of the image information stored in the disk device so that one image information is displayed within the range of the display surface of the soft copy device. This is an image information retrieval device characterized by:

(Function) The resolution of the image information supplied to the soft copy device is lowered so that it falls within the range of the display screen of this soft copy device, that is, it is set so that it can correspond to the resolution of the soft copy device, and one image information It is always displayed in minutes. That is, one piece of image information is displayed at one time without using the scroll method. By doing this,
You can accurately and quickly select the information you want.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an embodiment of the document file apparatus. 1 is a scanner device which has a function of scanning a document such as a document and converting a two-dimensional image into a one-dimensional electrical signal. Reference numeral 2 denotes a video disk device which records electrical signals from the scanner device 1 on the disk in the form of bits using a laser beam, reads written information in response to a read command, and sends it to the frame memory device 3 and hard copy device 6. . Reference numeral 4 denotes a soft copy device consisting of a CRT monitor. Signals read from the video disk device 2 are written into a frame memory device 3, the scanning speed is converted, and the signals are sent as continuous signals to the soft copy device 4 for display. The hard copy device No. 6 has the function of converting a one-dimensional electrical signal into a two-dimensional image and displaying it fixed on paper. A control device 5 has the function of interconnecting the devices 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6, generating signals necessary for recording and reproduction, and receiving search signals from the outside. The target document size is A4
(297×210) is the standard. If the number of pixels is 8 lines/mm, it becomes 1680 x 2376 pixels. Scanner device 1
Assuming that scanning is performed in the transverse direction, the number of scanning lines is
2376 lines, scanning speed 139ms, sample points, 1680 points,
The total scanning time is 3.3 seconds. Assuming the scanner effectiveness is 50%, the sampling clock will be 2.42MHz. In order to write this document signal to the disk device 2, it is necessary to synchronize the scanner 1 and the disk device 2. Document input is performed by inputting the information necessary for the search (keyword, date, date of birth, street address, etc.) and the document.

The information sent from the scanner section 1 is synchronized by the line buffer memory and written to the disk 2. What is the size of the optical disk used?
14, the recording area is 100 width tracks of 144φ to 344φ, the pitch is 2 μm, and there are a total of 5×10 ⁴ tracks. The writing time to disk 2 is the same as the scanner, 3.3
Seconds. The analog FM modulation method is used to record the signal, and the bit gap is 2 μm for the white level and 2.9 μm for the black level, and the circumferential speed is constant. At this time, the white level is 1.98MHz, the black level is 1.38MHz, the rotational speed of the disk is 220 rpm on the outer circumference and 525 rpm on the inner circumference, and the number of tracks per document is 12 on the outer circumference and 29 on the inner circumference.

Now, when a read command is issued to the disk 2 on which writing has been completed through the control device 5, the optical head moves toward the center of rotation or outward from the center and captures a predetermined track. At the same time, the rotation speed of the disk changes to a predetermined rotation speed. When a track recording the first part of the document is found, reading starts from the beginning of the document. Reading is performed under the same conditions as writing.

If a hard copy request is received at the same time as this read command, hard copy recording is performed in synchronization with the rotation of the disk. The hard copy is recorded in the same format and at the same speed as the scanner device. In other words, the number of scanning lines is 2376,
With 1680 sample points, the time required for recording is 3.3 seconds.
Disk and synchronization are performed by built-in line buffer memory.

However, normally, a request for a hard copy device is not made directly, but the retrieved information is first confirmed using a soft copy, and if the information matches the requested information, the hard copy device 6 is activated to make a hard copy.

Possible soft copy devices (CRT monitors) 4 include one with 1000 scanning lines and one with 525 scanning lines. The 1000-line type is expensive but has high resolution. On the other hand, 525 pieces are popular and easily available. Now, considering the capacity of documents,
Since it has 2376 x 1680 pixels, documents can be displayed by reducing the resolution to 1/2.
That is, it is 1188 x 840 pixels. The monitor on which this is displayed should be of a vertically long size, and the scan should be made in the transverse direction. The capacity of the frame memory required at this time is 1188 x 840 pixels, which is approximately 6 megabits assuming 6 bits per pixel. If the frame rate for flickerless display is 30Hz and interlace 2:1, the total number of scanning lines is 1225, the number of effective scanning lines is 1187, the horizontal scanning time is 27.21μs, and the effective scanning time.
22.58μs, frame memory read clock is
It becomes 26.88nS (37.2MHz).

Since the information per document read from the disk 2 corresponds to 2.376 x 1680 pixels, in order to store it in the frame memory 3, the amount of information must be stored in the scanning direction and in the directions perpendicular thereto (hereinafter referred to as the H direction and V direction). It is necessary to reduce the amount by 1/2. Assuming that the horizontal scanning time of the document read from the disk 2 is 1.39 ms and the effective scanning time is 1.25 me, the conversion speed of the A/D converter is 1.49 μs (672 KHz). FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of band compression. H
Directional band compression is performed by LPF 10 and A/D converter 11
This can be achieved by reducing the conversion speed by half.
The document signal read from disk 2 is
There are 1680 sample points in 1.25ms and its bandwidth is the highest
It is 670KHz. In order to have 840 sample points, it is sufficient to prepare an LPF 10 with a frequency of 335 KHz or less. A/D converter 11 has a conversion speed of 672KHz,
6-bit performance is fine.

Next, band compression in the V direction is similar to that in the H direction.
Bandwidth cannot be limited even with LPF10, so
This cannot be achieved accurately simply by reducing the scanning line density.

Therefore, this is realized by adding two scanning line segments and taking the average. That is, the signal read from the disk is divided into odd lines and even lines, the odd lines are passed through a 1H delay circuit 12 (1.39 ms delay), and the even lines are passed through as is and added to a 7-bit adder 13. The output of the addition is divided by the divider 14.
By dividing by 2, the average value of two scanning lines can be taken. At this time, since the information is present every 1H, writing to the frame memory 3 is performed every 1H. With the above configuration, one document can be displayed on the monitor.

As described above, by sampling and compressing the amount of information per document read from the disk in accordance with the range that can be displayed on the soft copy device (CRT monitor), the soft copy device It can be displayed on the screen. Furthermore, if the document is compressed and displayed, the details of the document cannot be visually recognized, but the image of desired information such as the document's "headings" and "drawings" can be grasped. This results in
You can accurately and quickly search and display the information you want from a large amount of accumulated information. This is extremely effective in information retrieval devices.

Next, an example will be described in which one document is not displayed as a unit. The monitor used is a commonly used 525 CRT monitor. The horizontal resolution of monitors used in the 525-line system is over 600 lines. Converting this into pixels, it becomes 600 x 4/3 = 800 pixels or more. Therefore, as described above, if the document signal is subjected to 1/2 band compression in both the H direction and the V direction, almost all of the H direction can be displayed. On the other hand, in the V direction, the monitor has about 480 effective scanning lines, so what can be displayed at one time is 1/2.5 of one document.

Generally, the display on the monitor is often used to judge whether a searched document matches what is requested, so even if the area that can be displayed at one time is 1/2.5, it is useful. That is, the display contents change one after another as the disk is read out, and it is sufficient that all the information of one document can be displayed within 3.3 seconds.

Since the display time per monitor screen of a document read from the disk is approximately 1.3 seconds, it is necessary to judge whether or not it is necessary to view the document in detail within this time, and if necessary, write it to the frame memory 3. After the interruption, the information written in the frame memory 3 at that time is displayed as a continuous image.

In this way, the capacity of frame memory 3 will be 1/2.5 compared to the case of displaying the entire screen as described above,
Additionally, a standard 525-line monitor can be used for display, resulting in significant cost reductions.

525 line monitors typically have a horizontal scan time of
63.56μs, effective scan time 52.75μs, frame rate 30
Hz, interlace 2:1, effective scanning line is approximately 480
It's a book. Frame memory 3 for this monitor
is configured using 16K bit IC memory. Considering the memory access time of 200μs, three
Assume that 16K memory is one unit, and three sample points are simultaneously written to one address. Now, in order to effectively use 16K memory (16384 bits) and to simplify interlace addressing, each unit requires 3 x 272 addresses x 60 lines, and 1
The line has 816 sample points. This is less than the 840 points when compressed to 1/2, but there is no real problem.

At this time, the sampling speed of the A/D converter 11 in FIG. 2 is 1.25ms/816=1.53μs (653K
Hz) The band of LPF10 is 326KHz or less. Also,
The read speed of frame memory 3 is 52.75μs/816=
64.6μs (5.5MHz). Note that when writing to the memory, band compression in the V direction in FIG. 2 is performed as described above.
According to the above display, the capacity of the frame memory required to display one screen of the monitor is 8 units. Note that since it is actually a 6-bit configuration, the depth is 6.
To configure one stroke as a bit, 48 units, or 144 16KIC memories, are required. However, hereafter, for the sake of simplicity, only one bit of the expression will be explained as an example.

Writing to the frame memory 3 is performed during the vertical blanking period of the monitor, as described above. The vertical synchronization period when interlacing is 16.68ms,
Blanking time is 1.46ms. On the other hand, the horizontal scanning time of the document read from the disk is
It is 1.39ms, which is chosen as the monitor's vertical synchronization period of 1/12. Therefore, 12 lines of document information are read out while one field is displayed on the monitor. When recording in the frame memory, the information is halved by the circuit shown in FIG. 2, so there are essentially 6 lines. That is, the signal from the circuit in Figure 2 is once 6
When recording for 6 lines is completed (writing speed: 653KHz), V
At a suitable period during the blanking time of 1.46ms,
It is written to the frame memory at the same time as it is read at a writing speed of 15.5MHz. The time required to write 6 lines is 0.38ms.

By the way, in the case of flickerless display, since interlacing is performed, recording to the frame memory is performed separately into odd lines and even lines. Figure 3a,
Figure b shows the configuration of the frame memory. Divide the frame memory into MO (odd lines) and ME (even lines).
Each consists of 4 units, or 12 16KIC memories.

The MO is in charge of the 1st line, the 3rd line...479 lines, a total of 240 lines, and the ME is in charge of the 2nd line, the 4th line...480 lines, a total of 240 lines.
Each line can be specified by 272 addresses, each consisting of 3 bits. In interlace operation, the falling edge of the V _BLK signal does not match the falling edge of the HD signal. Start reading from the 136th address in the MO memory from the rising edge of the V _BLK signal, read one address at a time up to 16320 addresses in each unit, and read the next V _BLK signal. At the rising edge of , read one address at a time sequentially from the 1st address of ME to 16320 of each unit except 4 units,
For the 4th unit, read up to address 16184. By repeating this operation, continuous images can be displayed on the monitor without flickering.

To make it easier to understand, the configuration of the frame memory is depicted as being the same as that of the monitor, as shown in Figure 4. Here, the H direction has addresses 1 to 816, and the V direction has addresses 1 to 480. The number of lines written in 1VD period is 6, and 1 screen of frame memory is 80V _D
It's a minute. This is 1V _D , 2V _D , 3V _D …〓〓V _D
So, Mo, 1, 3, 5Me2, 4, 8, Mo7, 9,
11, Me8, 10, 12...〓〓Mo475, 477, 479,
Me476, 478, 480, i.e. after 80V _D period,
Addresses 475 to 480 in the V direction of the frame memory are written.

If the blanking period of the monitor is used to write data to the frame memory for the second time, 5.5 scanning lines will be displayed on the monitor.
When the second time is done, information for 11.5, 17.5, 479 videos will be displayed. That is, in 〓〓, the entire frame memory is written, and the information from the disk is displayed on the monitor over the entire screen.

Document information will continue to be sent from the disk, so rewrite from the first written part. That is, 〓〓Mo1, 3, 5Me, 2, 4,
6〓〓Mo7, 9, 11, Me8, 10, 12...
If the desired information is available by 〓〓, a write inhibit signal is sent to stop writing to the frame memory at 〓〓. If not, continue to rewrite 〓〓, 〓〓, 〓〓... Then, for example, if there is information that is deemed necessary in the display when the rewriting reaches the halfway point, a write prohibition signal is sent from the outside to stop the rewriting of the frame memory. At the same time, frame memory reading usually starts from address 1, but starts at line 240, which is written with 〓.
That is, the address counter in the V direction is set and read out so that the previously recorded information, ie, address 241, is read out first.
In this way, the last line written will be the last line on the monitor, and the line that was scheduled to be written next will be displayed at the top of the monitor, and 1.188 documents will be written on one page. On the other hand, it is possible to have the same effect as creating 480 apertures and shifting these apertures downward by 6 apertures every 1V _D period (16.7me).

Another display method for the 525-line system is to fix the relationship between the document and aperture described above by fixing the 480-line aperture, and then
It is possible to have the same effect as when 1.188 documents are sent upward by 6 documents every 1V _D period.

In other words, writing to the frame memory is the same as described above, with blanking M D 1, 3, 5, M _D 1, 3, 5,
Mo2, 4, 6Mo7, 9, 11Me8, 10, 12,〓〓
Mo475, 477, 479, Me476, 478, 480... and then continue rewriting as 〓〓, 〓〓....

On the other hand, frame memory reading always starts from the last line written during the V _D period. If the writing is now finished, it means that addresses 1 to 6 in the V direction have been written. At that time, the readout is Mo7,
(V address) {137 (from H address)}, 9, 11...479,
1, 3, 5, Me8, 10, 12...480, 2, 4, 8
{up to 136 (address H)}. Similarly,
As you progress, Mo13 (137) Me14 (136)...
The display screen moves upward from the bottom of the monitor, and once the entire frame memory has been written, 〓〓, 1, 2, 3-6, 〓〓7, 8...12 are rewritten, and the display screen moves upward. The hot bee disappears as if being pushed out from the top of the monitor.

At this time, if a signal to prohibit writing to the frame memory is applied from outside, the information written so far stops moving upward and is displayed in a stationary state on the monitor.

Incidentally, regardless of which of the above-mentioned soft copy apparatuses are used, there is no deterioration in the image quality of the images printed out by the hard copy apparatus. In other words,
In FIG. 1, the hard copy device 6 is connected to the video disk device 2 independently of the soft copy device 4, so that even if the soft copy device 4 lowers the resolution and displays the image, it will not be printed on paper in the end. It has no effect on what is output.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the invention described above, desired information can be accurately and quickly retrieved from the accumulated information. This is extremely effective as an information retrieval device.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of band compression used in the present invention, FIGS. 3 a and b are diagrams showing the configuration of a frame memory, and FIG. The figure shows the configuration of a frame memory in correspondence with a monitor. 1...Scanner device, 2...Video disc device, 3...Frame memory device, 4...Soft copy device, 5...Control device, 6...Hard copy device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Searching for desired image information from a plurality of pieces of image information stored in a storage device at a first resolution, and displaying the searched image information on the display screen of a soft copy device such as a CRT. and in an image information retrieval device that records on recording paper or the like using a hard copy device as appropriate, means for supplying the image information stored in the storage device to the soft copy device at a second resolution; a control means for setting a second resolution of the image information supplied to the soft copy device so that the second resolution of the image information is displayed within the range of the display surface of the soft copy device in units of one piece of image information; An image information retrieval device characterized in that when image information displayed on a soft copy device is determined to be image information to be searched for, recording is performed by the hard copy device.