JP2000076275A - Image storage method and apparatus, and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] To provide an image file for enabling high-speed access to image data and simple management of the image data. A plurality of images and a feature amount of each of the plurality of images are stored in one image file. here,
The attribute information area 201 stores attribute information necessary for reading and displaying an image stored in the file. In the feature amount data area 202, feature amounts of a plurality of images stored in the image file are successively stored. In the image data area 203, image data of each of a plurality of images to be stored in the file is continuously stored. As described above, by providing attribute information, a feature amount data area in which feature amounts of all images are continuously stored, and an image data area in which all images are continuously stored in one file, Realizes high-speed access to data and simple management.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for storing an image in an image database used for searching a desired image from a plurality of images.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Many image databases have been proposed for retrieving a desired image from a large number of image data. Many of these methods include:-A method of associating non-image information such as keywords and shooting date and time with an image and performing a search based on the image-Searching based on feature amounts (luminance / color difference information, image frequency, histogram, etc.) of the image itself The method is roughly divided into two methods.

In each of these methods, information for searching and image data are generally managed separately. For example, search data is managed by one file or a relational database, and becomes a search target. Then, the file name of the corresponding image data is obtained from the search result, and the image data is accessed and displayed by the file name. Such a method is adopted because image data generally has a large capacity, and it is more efficient to manage image data separately from search data.

[0004] Individual image data is managed in a file system, and the following two methods can be considered as the management method. First, the first method is a method of managing all image data in one directory. The second method is a method of dividing image data into several groups each having a plurality of sheets, and classifying and managing each group in a directory. For example, a method of classifying the images into "animals", "flowers", and the like based on the contents of the images and dividing the directories into directories can be considered.

[0005]

However, in both of the first and second methods, when attempting to simultaneously display a plurality of images obtained as a result of a search using a search key or the like, the number of images is reduced. If the number is large, it takes an extremely long time to access the image.

In the case of the first method, image management is easy. However, when the number of images becomes extremely large, it takes an enormous amount of time to obtain directory information. In the second method, it is necessary to always maintain the correspondence of which image file is in which directory, which makes management such as file movement complicated.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to enable high-speed access to image data and simple management of image data.

[0008]

An image storage method according to the present invention for achieving the above object comprises, for example, the following steps. That is, an image storage method for storing a plurality of images and a feature amount of each of the plurality of images, wherein attribute information necessary for reading and displaying the images is stored in an attribute information area provided in an image file. A first writing step of writing, a second writing step of providing a feature amount data area in the image file, and successively storing the feature amount of each of the plurality of images in the feature amount data area; A third writing step of providing an image data area in the image file and continuously storing image data of each of the plurality of images.

Further, an image storage device of the present invention for achieving the above object has, for example, the following configuration. That is, an image storage device that stores a plurality of images and a feature amount of each of the plurality of images, and stores attribute information necessary for reading and displaying the images in an attribute information area provided in an image file. First writing means for writing, a second writing means for providing a feature amount data area in the image file, and successively storing the feature amounts of the plurality of images in the feature amount data area; An image data area is provided in the image file, and a third writing unit that continuously stores the image data of each of the plurality of images is provided.

[0010]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<First Embodiment> FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a computer system as an image storage device according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 1, 101 is a CP.
U controls the entire system. Reference numeral 102 denotes a keyboard which is used together with a mouse 102a for inputting operations to the system. Reference numeral 103 denotes a display unit, which includes a CRT, a liquid crystal, and the like. 104 is ROM, 105 is R
An AM, which constitutes a storage device of the system and stores programs executed by the system and data used by the system. Reference numeral 106 denotes a hard disk drive, and 107 denotes a floppy disk drive, which constitutes an external storage device used for a file system of the system. A printer 108 forms a visible image on a recording medium based on image data. Note that processing such as creation of an image file described below is performed by the CPU
This is performed by executing a control program stored in the AM 105. Further, the image file formed in the following description is
Alternatively, the data is stored in an external storage device such as the floppy disk 107.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic data structure of an image file created by the image storage method according to the present embodiment. Reference numeral 201 denotes an attribute information area which stores information necessary for reading and displaying an image, such as the number of images, a compression method, the number of vertical and horizontal pixels, and a method of extracting a feature amount. A feature amount data area 202 is an area in which feature amounts (luminance / color difference information, image frequency, histogram, and the like) of each of a plurality of images are continuously recorded. 203 is an image data area,
This is an area in which all the image data of the plurality of images are continuously recorded. In the present embodiment, the image data stored in the image data area 203 may be referred to as a tile image.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a detailed data structure of the attribute information area 201 of FIG. In this example, each area is secured by 4 bytes, but the size of the area may be changed according to the number and size of images to be handled. The area 301 stores version information (Version) indicating the revision number of the present image format. The area 302 stores the number of images (INUM) indicating the total number of recorded images. The area 303 stores a color space mode (Mode) indicating what value is used as an image feature amount.
For example, when RGB values are used as color difference information, the value is 0.
However, when YUV is used, the value 1 is set in the area 303, and the color space mode is identified by this value. In the area 304, information (IFormat) indicating the format of the image stored in the image data area 203 is stored. For example, a value 0 is set for JPEG-compressed image data, and a value 1 is set for bitmap data (BMP).
However, the value 2 is set for the FlashPix format.

In the areas 305 and 306, information (Iwidth, Iheight) representing the width and height of each image stored in the image data area 203 by the number of pixels is stored. In the image data area 203 in the image file according to the present embodiment, image data having the width and height specified in the areas 305 and 306 are stored. In the area 307, information (Section Mode) indicating a method of dividing the screen when calculating the feature amount is stored. In this example, as will be described later, there are two types of division methods, that is, 6 divisions or no division. The value 0 is set when the division is performed, and the value -1 is set when the division is not performed. Region 308
Stores a pointer (Pointer to Images) indicating the start address of the image data area 203. Region 309
Stores a pointer (Pointer to Features) indicating the start address of the image feature data area 202. For example, if the image feature amount data area 202 continues immediately after the attribute information area 201 without any gap, the attribute information area is 36 bytes in the example of FIG. Becomes

The above-mentioned area 301 to area 309
Needless to say, the order of information up to this point is not limited to this example.

FIG. 4 shows the image feature data area 202 of FIG.
3 is a detailed data configuration diagram of FIG. In FIG. 4, 401,
Reference numeral 402 denotes a feature amount calculated from the first and second images in the plurality of images. The method for calculating the image feature will be described later. In this example, one image is divided into six blocks, and the feature amount of each block is calculated. Therefore, in FIG. 4, R (0,
A total of 18 pieces of data 0) to B (2, 1) represent the feature amount of one image. The number of feature amounts is the same for all images included in the image file. R (0,0), G (0,0), B (0,0) are the RGB of the first area of one image divided into six.
The average value is shown. In FIG. 4, NA indicates that the value is meaningless. In the present embodiment, R,
This is because the average value of G and B is indicated by 1 byte, and 4 bytes are set as one unit for good delimitation. As another method, the NA portion may be deleted and the feature amount data may be packed and arranged, but the address control at the time of image search becomes slightly complicated.

FIG. 5 is a detailed view of the image data area 203 of FIG. This example shows a case where JPEG is used. Therefore, in this case, JPEG is indicated in the item 304 of the image format in the attribute information area.

In FIG. 5, reference numeral 501 denotes JPEG compressed data of the first image in the image data, and reference numeral 502 denotes JPEG compressed data of the second image. In the figure, SOI, A
PP0, DHT, DQT, SOF0, SOS, and EOI are delimiters called markers. SOI is JPEG
Data start, EOI is end of data, APP0 is an area arbitrarily usable by an application, DHT is a Huffman table, DQT is a quantization table, SOF0 is a baseline JPEG compression, and SOS is a Huffman code. Compressed data of one image is SOI and EOI
It is the part sandwiched by. For JPEG, ITU-
T WHITE BOOK See Digital Still Image Compression Coding Recommendations (published by New Japan ITU Association). In the example of FIG. 5, JPEG data is used.
Other image file formats such as P and FlashPix may be used.

Next, a processing procedure for writing data on the hard disk 106 or the floppy disk 107 in the format described above and creating a file will be described. Here, the version number, which is the revision number of this image format, is 3, the number of images is 100, the feature amount mode is RGB, the image format is JPEG, and the image size is width × height = 384 × 25.
6. The case where the feature amount extraction is in the division mode will be described as an example.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining a procedure for creating an image data file in the first embodiment.
In step S601, the attribute information area 201 is written,
In step S602, writing of the image data area 203 and the image feature data area 202 is performed simultaneously.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining the procedure for writing attribute information. That is, the procedure shown in FIG. 7 shows details of step S601 in FIG.
It is assumed that the write file has already been opened prior to the start of the processing in FIG.

In step S701, the attribute information area 20
A value ("3" in this example) indicating the version of the file format is written in the area 301 in the area No. 1. Step S
In step 702, a value indicating the number of images to be processed (“100” in this example) is written in the area 302. Step S703
Then, information indicating the mode (color space mode) of the image feature amount (“0” in this example because the RGB space is used) is written in the area 303.

In step S704, information indicating the image format to be written in the image data area 203 ("0" in this example because JPEG is used) is written in the area 304. In step S705, the number of pixels indicating the width of the image (“384” in this example) is written in the area 305, and the number of pixels indicating the height of the image (“256” in this example) is written in the area 306.
In step S706, information indicating the division mode when calculating the image feature amount (“0” indicating the number of divisions 6 in this example) is written in the area 307.

Next, in step S707, the start address of the image data area 203 is calculated from the number of images set in step S702 (INUM stored in the area 302), and the obtained value is set as Pointer to Images in the area 308.
Write to. In this example, the number of images is 100, the attribute information area 2
01 is set to 36 bytes (FIG. 3) in advance, and the next feature amount data area 202 is 24 bytes per image.
Since bytes are required (FIG. 4), 36 + 24 × 100 =
2436.

In step S708, the start address of the image feature data area 202 is written in the area 309. In this embodiment, in order to continuously arrange the attribute information area 201,
The value “36” is written as a pointer to Feature.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining a procedure for writing image data. That is, it shows the details of step S602 shown in FIG.

In step S801, the value 100 of the total number of images is set in a variable INUMX. In step S802, a variable i is initialized to 0.

Next, in step S803, the input file (i) is opened. In step S804, a feature amount is extracted from the opened image. Details of the feature amount extraction processing will be described later. In step S805, the opened image is compressed. Note that the size of the compressed data is hereinafter referred to as SIZ
Expressed as E.

In step S806, the compressed data is written to an output file. The writing position is uniquely obtained by cumulatively adding the size SIZE of the compressed data based on the pointer 308 indicating the start address of the image data area 203.

In step S807, feature amount data R (0,
0), G (0,0), B (0,0) to B (2,1), 24 bytes in total are written.
The writing position of the feature amount data can be obtained from the value of the pointer Pointer to Feature + 24 × i indicating the start address of the image feature amount data area 202 stored in the area 309.

In step S808, the input file (i)
Close. In step S809, i is increased by the value 1. In step S809, i is compared with INUM. If they are not equal, the process returns to step S803 to start the processing of the next input image file. If they are equal, this processing ends.

Next, the calculation of the image feature amount performed in step S804 will be described. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating screen division at the time of calculating a feature amount according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 9, the size of the target image is W pixels in the horizontal direction and H pixels in the vertical direction. In this embodiment,
This is divided into three parts in the horizontal direction and two parts in the vertical direction, for a total of six, and in order from the upper left, the area (0,0), the area (1,0),... The area (2,1)
And Then, the average value of the R, G, and B values of each of these regions is calculated, and a total of 18 numerical values are used as image feature values.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart for explaining the feature value calculation processing according to the present embodiment. First, step S1
In step S1002, the variable k is initialized with a value 0.
Initializes the variable j with the value 0, and initializes the variable i with the value 0 in step S1003.

Next, at step S1004, k of the array d
The average value of the R values of the area (i, j) is substituted for the element d (k). Also, d (k + 1) represents the average value of the G value, d
The average value of the B value is substituted for (k + 2). Note that R, G,
The method of calculating the average value of the B value will be described later using the flowchart of FIG.

In step S1005, k is increased by the value 3. In step S1006, i is increased by the value 1. In step S1007, i is compared with the value 2, and if it is larger than 2, the process proceeds to step S1008. Otherwise, the process returns to step S1004.

When i becomes larger than 2, it indicates that the processing for the divided row has been completed, and the process proceeds to the next divided row. Therefore, in step S1008,
j is increased by the value 1. In step S1009, j is compared with the value 1. If j is greater than one, the second
Since this indicates that the processing of the line has been completed, that is, the processing of the entire screen has been completed, this processing is completed. If not, the process returns to step S1003 to perform processing on a new divided row.

When the above processing is completed, the image feature amount of the target image is stored in the array d () having 18 elements.

In this case, the image is divided into six rectangular areas having the same area in order to calculate the characteristic amount. However, the division is not limited to a rectangle, but may be a more complicated shape. May be. When the number of divisions is increased or decreased, it can be easily understood that the number of elements of the feature amount is not 18 but is increased or decreased accordingly.

Next, the method of calculating the average of the R, G, and B values will be described in more detail. FIG. 11 shows R,
5 is a flowchart illustrating a method for calculating an average value of G and B values. The image data is represented by R (X, Y), G (X, Y), B (X,
Y) are stored in the three arrays. However,
0 ≦ X <W, 0 ≦ Y <H, starting at the upper left corner of the image
(0,0).

In the processing shown in FIG. 11, X0 ≦ X <X
1, the average density of the partial area of Y0 ≦ Y <Y1 is calculated, and the average density values of R, G, and B are put into variables DR, DG, and DB, respectively, and returned.

In the processing shown in step S804 and FIG. 10, the area corresponding to the area (i, j) is: X0 = W × i / 3, X1 = W × (i + 1) / 3 Y0 = H × j / 2 , Y1 = H × (j + 1) / 2, the constants X0, X1, Y0, and Y1 are initialized as described above, and then the flowchart of FIG. 11 is executed.

First, in steps S1101, the variables DR, D
G and DB are initialized with the value 0. In step S1102, the variable Y is initialized with the above Y0. Similarly, step S1
At 103, the variable X is initialized with the above X0.

Next, in step S1104, R is added to DR.
Add (X, Y). Similarly, G (X, Y) for DG and B (X, Y) for DB
Add. Then, in step S1105, the variable X is set to the value 1
Just increase. Next, in step S1106, the variables X and X1 are compared. If they are equal, the process returns to step S1107; otherwise, the process returns to S1104. In step S1107, the variable Y is increased by the value 1. Then, step S11
In step 08, the variables Y and Y1 are compared.
109, otherwise return to step S1103.
By the processing of steps S1103 to S1108, X0, X are assigned to DR, DG, and DB, respectively.
1, the sum of R values in the area specified by Y0 and Y1, G
The total value of the values and the total value of the B values are stored.

Next, in step S1109, the variables DR,
DG and DB are respectively (X1-X0) × (Y1-Y0)
Divide by. This means that the value stored in each variable is divided by the number of pixels in the area, that is, an average value is obtained. Therefore, by the processing in step S1109, D
The contents of R, DG, and DB are average densities obtained by dividing the sum of pixel densities in the area by the number of pixels.

Next, a description will be given of a search based on image feature amounts and a method of reading an image corresponding to the search result.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the processing performed prior to the search and reading of the image data.
In this process, the attribute information area 201 and the image feature amount data area 202 of the image file are read out and stored in the memory 105. Further, the image data area 203
Is scanned, and whenever a JPEG SOI marker is detected, its position is stored in the memory as an offset information array OFS (), and the position information of the image data is generated as an array on the memory.

In step S1201, the attribute information area 20
1 is read and the format version of the area 303 is read,
The number of images in the area 302, the feature amount mode in the area 303, the image format in the area 304, the width of the image in the area 305, the height of the image in the area 306, the image division mode in the area 307,
Pointer to image data area in area 308, area 309
The pointer to the feature data is read out. Next, in step S1202, feature amount data 401, 402,... As shown in FIG.

In step S1203, a variable i is initialized to a value of zero. In step S1204, step S1201
Set the number of images (INUM) obtained in step to the variable INUMX.

In step S1205, one word at a time is read from the beginning of the image area. In step S1206, it is determined whether the read value is an SOI marker or not.
If the marker is an OI marker, the process proceeds to step S1207. If not, the process returns to step S1205 to read the next one word.

When the SOI is detected in step S1206, in step S1207, the current read address is written to the I-th element of the OFS array, that is, OFS (i). In step S1208, the variable i is increased by the value 1. In step S1209, if the value of the variable i is equal to INUMX, the process is completed.
Returning to step 5, the above processing is repeated.

Using the image feature amount data obtained in this way as a search target, image data that needs to be displayed as a result of the search can be read out by obtaining its readout position from the OFS array.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart for explaining the outline of the image search processing according to the first embodiment. In FIG. 13, in step S1301, a feature amount of an image is input using the keyboard 102 or the like. In step S1302, the image feature amount area read into the RAM in step S1202 is searched using the feature amount input in step S1301. Then, in step S1303, if there is an image feature amount that has been found as a result of this search, it is determined based on the storage position which image is the image corresponding to the image feature amount. Step S1
In step 304, the storage position (readout position) of the image is obtained by the OFS array obtained by the processing described in FIG. 12, and in step S1305, an image as a search result is obtained and displayed.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, in one file, the attribute information describing information necessary for reading and displaying an image and the feature amounts of all the images are continuously recorded. By providing the stored feature amount data area and the image data area in which all the images are continuously stored,
High-speed access to image data and simple management can be realized. That is, when image data is stored in a separate file, it is necessary to open the file each time it is accessed. However, in the present application, since the file is stored collectively in one file, the file remains open and multiple files are stored. Can be continuously accessed. In the conventional method of storing image data in individual files, it is necessary to always maintain consistency between the storage location of individual files and feature amount data and its management.
In comparison with this, according to the present embodiment in which the files are collected into one file, the storage location of the image data is not lost regardless of where the file is moved.

(Second Embodiment) Next, a second embodiment will be described. In the first embodiment described above, the configuration of the image file is arranged in the order of the attribute information area 201, the feature data area 202, and the image data area 203. On the other hand, in the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 14, an attribute information area 201, an image data area 203, and a feature amount data area 202 are arranged in this order. However, the content of each area is the first
The attribute information area 201 is the same as that of FIG.
The feature data area 202 is shown in FIG.
Has the contents as shown in FIG.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing a general flow of the image file generation processing in the second embodiment. In step S1401, data is written to a part of the attribute information area 201. In step S1402, the compressed data is written to the image data area 203 while calculating the image feature amount. In step S1403, writing to the attribute information area 201 is performed again. Here, a pointer to the head of the feature amount data area 202 is written. Then, in step S1404, writing to the feature amount data area is performed.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart for explaining the attribute information writing processing shown in step S1401 of FIG. From steps S1501 to S1506,
The same processing as steps S701 to S706 in the attribute information writing processing (FIG. 7) of the first embodiment is performed.

In step S1507, the value 36 is set in the pointer 308 to the image data area. This is because, as in the first embodiment, the attribute information area 201 uses an area of 36 bytes, and as shown in FIG.
3 is located immediately after the attribute information area 201.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart for explaining the details of the tile image processing shown in step S1402 in FIG. In this process, steps S1601 to S1601
Each process of S1610 is almost the same as each process of steps S801 to S810 described in FIG. 8 of the first embodiment. The difference is that in step S1607, since the position of the feature amount data in the output file is undefined, the data is temporarily written to the array on the memory.

When the processing in step S1402 described above is completed, the writing of the image data area 203 has been completed. Then, since the feature amount data area is written immediately after the image data area 203, the address becomes the head address of the feature amount data area 202. Therefore, in step S1403, the value is written in the area 309 in the attribute information area 201 as a pointer (Pointer to Featre) to the feature data area. Finally, in step S1404, the contents of the feature data array are written to the output file. As described above, an image file is generated.

Next, a process of adding an image to the image file created by the above process will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing processing for adding an image to an image file according to the second embodiment.

In FIG. 18, in step S1701, the attribute information area 201 is read from an existing file. In step S1702, the image data area 203 is skipped, the feature amount data area 202 is read, and the feature data area 202 is temporarily saved on the memory. In step S1703, the image to be newly added is written immediately after the image data area of the existing file. More specifically, a feature amount extraction process (step S1604 in FIG. 17) is performed on the newly added image, a compression process (step S1605 in FIG. 17) is performed, and the compressed image data is stored in an existing file. Write immediately after the image data area. The address immediately after the writing of the new image becomes the new head address of the feature amount data area 202. In step S1704, the image feature amount data calculated in the above-described feature amount extraction process is added to the end of the array in the memory, and then written collectively from the new start address of the feature amount data area 202 to the output file. In step S1705, the head address 309 of the feature data area in the attribute information area is updated.

As described above, according to the second embodiment, the image file is written in the order of the attribute information area, the image data area, and the feature data area, so that the effects described in the first embodiment can be obtained. Thus, an effect is obtained that the processing when adding new image data is reduced. Compared with the image data area, the capacity of the feature amount data area is very small, and when adding image data, such a small-capacity portion may be temporarily evacuated to the memory and the image data may be added. This is because processing is facilitated and speeded up. On the other hand, according to the area order of the first embodiment, if an attempt is made to add image data, the image data area 203
Need to be saved in the memory.

(Third Embodiment) In the first and second embodiments, the attribute information area 201 and the feature data area 2
02 and the image data area 203 are continuously arranged.
In the third embodiment, as shown in FIG. 19, a spare area 1801 is provided between the feature amount data area 202 and the image data area 203.

As described above, by providing the spare area 1801 between the feature data area 202 and the image data area 203, the attribute information area 201, the feature data area 202, Even for an image file written in the order of the image data area 203, it is possible to easily add some image data. That is, it is possible to add image data without having to save the image data area.

(Fourth Embodiment) Next, a fourth embodiment will be described. In the fourth embodiment, the screen division for calculating the feature amount data is set to 8, and the calculation is performed using YUV (luminance and chromaticity). Further, as shown in FIG. 20, Y, U, and V are successively stored in the feature amount data area per image of 24 bytes, such as YYYYYYYUUUUUUUUUVVVVVVVV.

By the way, if the characteristic amount is RGB, R, G and B usually take values of 0 to 255. However, Y
When UV is used, Y is 0 to 255, and U and V are -128 to 1
27. That is, while the luminance Y is 0 or more, the chromaticity takes a positive or negative value, and therefore, in the calculation, the luminance is an unsigned integer, and the chromaticity is a signed integer. Therefore, for example, even when both of the variables are assigned 8 bits, the luminance takes only a positive value, and the sign difference is 8 bits (unsigned char) since the color difference can take a positive or negative value. Define. When these variables are processed simultaneously with eight data, as in an MMX-compatible CPU, it is easier to collectively process data having the same sign. Therefore,
As a data storage mode, as shown in FIG. 20, YYYYYYYYUUUU
UUUUVVVVVVVV makes handling very easy. Alternatively, YYYYYYYYUVUVUVUVUVUVUVUV may be used.

Similarly, if feature values having a common range of possible values are grouped together and each result is a multiple of 8, it is convenient for calculation in MMX. Other examples include combinations such as: Yx16, Ux8, Vx8, Yx8, Ux4, Vx4, Yx8, (UV) x4 .

The same applies to L *, a *, b *, and XYZ tristimulus values, which are stimulus values in a uniform color space instead of YUV.

As described above, according to each of the above embodiments, the attribute information describing the information necessary for reading and displaying the image and the feature amounts of all the images are continuously stored in one file. By providing the feature amount data area and the image data area in which all the images are continuously stored,
High-speed access to image data and simple management can be realized.

In the above-described embodiment, the RGB values and the luminance / chromaticity are used as the feature amounts stored in the feature amount data area 202. However, the present invention is not limited to these. For example, it is apparent that tristimulus values (XYZ), L * in a uniform color space, a *, b *, and the like in a uniform color space may be used as feature amounts.

In the above embodiment, the image data area 2
03 stores the compressed image data, but may store the bitmap format, that is, uncompressed image data as described above. In the first embodiment, the image file includes the attribute information area 201 and the feature data area 2
02 and the image data area 203. In the second embodiment, the attribute information area 201, the image data area 203, and the feature data area 202 are stored in this order. Not exclusively. For example, since the attribute information area 201 only needs to know its position in advance,
It can be at the end of the file or in the middle.

Even if the present invention is applied to a system including a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, etc.), an apparatus (for example, a copier, a facsimile machine) comprising one device Device).

Further, an object of the present invention is to provide a storage medium storing a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or an apparatus, and to provide a computer (or CPU) of the system or apparatus.
And MPU) read and execute the program code stored in the storage medium.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD
-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.

When the computer executes the readout program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also the OS (Operating System) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. ) May perform some or all of the actual processing, and the processing may realize the functions of the above-described embodiments.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instruction of the program code, It goes without saying that the CPU included in the function expansion board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

[0078]

As described above, according to the present invention, high-speed access to image data and simple management of the image data become possible.

[0079]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a computer system as an image storage device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic data configuration of an image file created by an image storage method according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a detailed data configuration of an attribute information area 201 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a detailed data configuration diagram of an image feature amount data area 202 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a detailed view of an image data area 203 of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for creating an image data file according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for writing attribute information.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for writing image data.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating screen division at the time of calculating a feature amount according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a feature amount calculation process according to the embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a method of calculating an average value of R, G, and B values for each region.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a process performed prior to search and reading of image data.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an outline of an image search process according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a schematic data configuration of an image file created by an image storage method according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating a general flow of an image file generation process according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating a process of writing attribute information shown in step S1401 of FIG.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating details of tile image processing shown in step S1402 of FIG.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating a process of adding an image to an image file according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a schematic data configuration of an image file created by an image storage method according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 20 is a detailed data configuration diagram of an image feature amount data area according to the fourth embodiment.

Claims (29)

[Claims] 1. An image storage method for storing a plurality of images and a feature amount of each of the plurality of images, wherein attribute information necessary for reading and displaying the images is provided in an image file. A first writing step of writing to an information area; and a second writing step of providing a feature amount data area in the image file and successively storing the feature amounts of the plurality of images in the feature amount data area. And a third writing step of providing an image data area in the image file and continuously storing image data of each of the plurality of images. 2. The image storage method according to claim 1, wherein data is stored in the image file in the order of the attribute information area, the feature amount data area, and the image data area. 3. The image storage method according to claim 2, wherein a spare area is provided between the feature data area and the image data area. 4. The image storage method according to claim 1, wherein the image file stores data in the order of the attribute information area, the image data area, and the feature amount data area. 5. The attribute information stored in the attribute information area includes information indicating a version of a storage method of image data, information indicating the number of images, information indicating an image size, and information of an image in the image file. 2. The image storage method according to claim 1, further comprising at least one of information indicating a compression method and information indicating a calculation method of an image feature amount stored in the feature amount data area. 6. The image storage method according to claim 1, wherein the feature amount of each image is stored in the feature amount data area in a predetermined multiple of eight bytes. 7. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the feature amount is any one of L * in a uniform color space, a * and b * in a uniform color space. 6
5. The image storage method according to 1. 8. The image storage method according to claim 1, wherein the feature amount is a value calculated from a pixel value included in each divided area when the image is divided into N parts. 9. The image storage method according to claim 1, wherein the same amount of feature amount data is stored in each of the plurality of images in the feature amount data area. 10. The image storage method according to claim 1, wherein a compressed image obtained by compressing each image data by a predetermined method is stored in the image data area. 11. The method according to claim 1, wherein an uncompressed image of each image data is stored in the image data area. 12. An image storage device for storing a plurality of images and a feature amount of each of the plurality of images, wherein attribute information necessary for reading and displaying the images is provided in an image file. First writing means for writing to an information area; and second writing means for providing a feature amount data area in the image file and successively storing the feature amounts of the plurality of images in the feature amount data area. An image storage device, wherein an image data area is provided in the image file, and a third writing unit that continuously stores image data of each of the plurality of images. 13. The image file, wherein data is stored in the order of the attribute information area, the feature amount data area, and the image data area.
An image storage device according to claim 1. 14. The image storage device according to claim 13, wherein a spare area is provided between the feature data area and the image data area. 15. The image file according to claim 12, wherein data is stored in the order of the attribute information area, the image data area, and the feature amount data area.
An image storage device according to claim 1. 16. The attribute information stored in the attribute information area includes information indicating a version of a storage method of image data, information indicating the number of images, information indicating an image size, and information of an image in the image file. 13. The image storage device according to claim 12, further comprising at least one of information indicating a compression method and information indicating a calculation method of an image feature amount stored in the feature amount data area. 17. The image storage device according to claim 12, wherein the feature amount of each image is stored in the feature amount data area in a predetermined multiple of eight bytes. 18. The image processing apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the feature quantity is any one of L * in a uniform color space, a * and b * in a uniform color space. 1
8. The image storage device according to 7. 19. The image storage device according to claim 12, wherein the feature amount is a value calculated from a pixel value included in each divided area when the image is divided into N parts. 20. The image storage device according to claim 12, wherein the same amount of feature data for each of a plurality of images is stored in the feature data area. 21. The image storage device according to claim 12, wherein a compressed image obtained by compressing each image data by a predetermined method is stored in the image data area. 22. The image storage device according to claim 12, wherein an uncompressed image of each image data is stored in the image data area. 23. A storage medium for storing a control program for causing a computer to store a plurality of images and a feature amount of each of the plurality of images, the control program comprising: A code of a first writing step of writing attribute information necessary for reading and displaying into an attribute information area provided in the image file; and providing a feature amount data area in the image file; A code for a second writing step for continuously storing the feature values of each of the plurality of images; and a second code for providing an image data area in the image file and continuously storing image data for each of the plurality of images And a code for three writing steps. 24. A storage medium for storing a plurality of images and a feature amount of each of the plurality of images in a computer-readable manner, wherein the storage medium is provided in an image file to read and display the images. An attribute information area in which necessary attribute information is stored; and a feature amount data area provided in the image file, wherein the feature amount of each of the plurality of images is continuously stored in the feature amount data area. And an image data area provided in the image file and continuously storing image data of each of the plurality of images. 25. The image storage method according to claim 1, wherein the image file stores data in the order of the feature amount data area, the attribute information area, and the image data area. 26. The method according to claim 1, wherein the image file stores data in the order of the image data area, the attribute information area, and the feature data area. 27. The image storage method according to claim 1, wherein the image file stores data in the order of the feature amount data area, the image data area, and the attribute information area. 28. The image storage method according to claim 1, wherein the image file stores data in the order of the image data area, the feature data area, and the attribute information area. 29. The feature amount data area stores a plurality of feature amount data, and eight sets of feature amount data having the same possible value range are successively stored in units of eight. 2. The image storage method according to 1.