Method and apparatus for image retrieval
First Claim
1. An image management apparatus comprising:
- image-information recording means for recording a plurality of items of image information on an image-information recording medium; and
reduced-image generating means for generating a reduced image of a predetermined group of the image information recorded on each predetermined unit of the image-information recording medium;
wherein the generated reduced image is stored in the image-information recording medium.
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Abstract
An image retrieval method and an image retrieval apparatus are disclosed in which it is possible to identify in which image-information recording medium or in which group an image to be retrieved is included. The image retrieval apparatus has a recording controller for recording image information on a disk drive or a hard disk drive. A reduction/expansion controller generates an index picture of a predetermined group of the image information. A retrieval-information storage unit generates index picture IDs, medium IDs, and folder IDs while correlating the above different types of IDs with each other, and stores the IDs together with the index pictures. With this arrangement, a desired item of image information is retrieved by using the index pictures, the index picture IDs, the medium IDs, and the folder IDs. It is thus possible to obtain a target image by sequentially checking the index picture visually.
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Citations
13 Claims
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1. An image management apparatus comprising:
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image-information recording means for recording a plurality of items of image information on an image-information recording medium; and
reduced-image generating means for generating a reduced image of a predetermined group of the image information recorded on each predetermined unit of the image-information recording medium;
wherein the generated reduced image is stored in the image-information recording medium.
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2. An image management method comprising the steps of:
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recording a plurality of items of image-information on an image-information recording medium; and
generating a reduced image of a predetermined group of the image information recorded on each predetermined unit of the image-information recording medium;
wherein the generated reduced image is stored in the image-information recording medium.
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3. A storage medium for storing a program implementing an image management method, said image management method comprising the steps of:
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recording a plurality of items of image information on an image-information recording medium; and
generating a reduced image of a predetermined group of the image information recorded on each predetermined unit of the image-information recording medium;
wherein the generated reduced image is stored in the image-information recording medium.
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4. An image retrieval apparatus comprising:
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image-information recording means for recording a plurality of items of image information on an image-information recording medium;
reduced-image generating means for generating a reduced image of a predetermined group of the image information recorded on each predetermined unit of the image-information recording medium, the generated reduced image being stored in the image-information recording medium;
image-group ID-code generating means for generating an ID code of the reduced image, an ID code of the predetermined unit of the image-information recording medium, and an ID code of the predetermined group while correlating the ID code of the reduced image with the ID code of the predetermined unit of the image-information recording medium and the ID code of the predetermined group; and
retrieval-information storage means for storing, together with the reduced image, the ID code of the reduced image, the ID code of the predetermined unit of the image-information recording medium, and the ID code of the predetermined group;
wherein a desired item of image information is retrieved by using the ID code of the reduced image, the ID code of the predetermined unit of the image-information recording medium, and the ID code of the predetermined group. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6)
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7. An image retrieval method comprising the steps of:
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recording a plurality of items of image information on an image-information recording medium;
generating a reduced image of a predetermined group of the image information recorded on each predetermined unit of the image-information recording medium, the generated reduced image being stored in the image-information recording medium;
generating an ID code of the reduced image, an ID code of the predetermined unit of the image-information recording medium, and an ID code of the predetermined group while correlating the ID code of the reduced image with the ID code of the predetermined unit of the image-information recording medium and the ID code of the predetermined group; and
storing the ID code of the reduced image, the ID code of the predetermined unit of the image-information recording medium, and the ID code of the predetermined group together with the reduced image;
wherein a desired item of image information is retrieved by using the ID code of the reduced image, the ID code of the predetermined unit of the image-information recording medium, and the ID code of the predetermined group. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9)
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10. A storage medium for recording a program implementing an image retrieval method, said image retrieval method comprising the steps of:
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recording a plurality of items of image information on an image-information recording medium;
generating a reduced image of a predetermined group of the image information recorded on each predetermined unit of the image-information recording medium, the generated reduced image being stored in the image-information recording medium;
generating an ID code of the reduced image, an ID code of the predetermined unit of the image-information recording medium, and an ID code of the predetermined group while correlating the ID code of the reduced image with the ID code of the predetermined unit of the image-information recording medium and the ID code of the predetermined group; and
storing the ID code of the reduced image, the ID code of the predetermined unit of the image-information recording medium, and the ID code of the predetermined group together with the reduced image;
wherein a desired item of image information is retrieved by using the ID code of the reduced image, the ID code of the predetermined unit of the image-information recording medium, and the ID code of the predetermined group. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12)
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13. An image printing apparatus comprising:
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image-information recording means for recording a plurality of items of image information on an image-information recording medium;
reduced-image generating means for generating a reduced image of a predetermined group of the image information recorded on each predetermined unit of the image-information recording medium, the generated reduced image being stored in the image-information recording medium;
image-group ID-code generating means for generating an ID code of the reduced image, an ID code of the predetermined unit of the image-information recording medium, and an ID code of the predetermined group while correlating the ID code of the reduced image with the ID code of the predetermined unit of the image-information recording medium and the ID code of the predetermined group;
retrieval-information storage means for storing the ID code of the reduced image, the ID code of the predetermined unit of the image-information recording medium, and the ID code of the predetermined group together with the reduced image; and
printing means for printing the ID code of the reduced image, the ID code of the predetermined unit of the image-information recording medium, and the ID code of the predetermined group on a label, the label being attached to the predetermined unit of the image-information recording medium;
wherein a desired item of image information is retrieved by using the ID code of the reduced image, the ID code of the predetermined unit of the image-information recording medium, and the ID code of the predetermined group.
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Specification