Image processing apparatus and method and storage medium

• US 6,556,713 B2
• Filed: 07/30/1998
• Issued: 04/29/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Canon Ayutthaya Limited (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Ayutthaya Limited (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Matsumoto, Kentaro, Kobayashi, Yuji
• Primary Examiner(s): Johns, Andrew W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mariam, Daniel G.
• Application Number:
  US09/126,390
• Publication Number:
  US 20020071615A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,734 Days
• Field of Search: 382/181, 382/224, 382/305, 382/306, 382/151, 382/173, 382/189, 382/229, 382/291, 382/295, 358/403, 707/1, 707/3, 707/6, 707/2, 707/4, 707/5, 707/534
• US Class Current: 382/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/58 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99934 Query formulation, input preparation, or translation

Abstract

A search result of a search target object is displayed at a high speed. By dividing an image into a plurality of areas and allocating attribute information to each area, only the area including the attribute information showing the search target object is searched and is displayed or transmitted, so that a part of a desired image can be extracted at a high speed.

Claims

1. An image processing apparatus comprising:

a discriminating unit adapted to discriminate a position designate word from the other words in a search phrase input by a user by a classification of the search word phrase; and

a searching unit adapted to search an area corresponding to the position designate word for image data which satisfies conditions of a key word in the case wherein it is determined by said discriminating unit that information indicative of the key word and said position designate word is included in said search word phrase.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said image data is divided into a plurality of areas and stored.

3. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein continuous numbers are allocated to said plurality of areas and said position information is managed by said numbers.

4. An apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a storage unit adapted to allocate continuous numbers to said plurality of areas and storing said numbers and key words so as to correspond to each other.

5. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein, in a case where it is determined by said discriminating unit that a key word coincides said search word, said searching unit searches an image data which satisfies conditions of the key word and position information only from image data having the key word.

6. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a display unit adapted to display the image data searched by said searching unit.

7. An image processing apparatus, according to claim 1, further comprising an input unit adapted to input said search word.

8. An image processing method comprising:

a discriminating step of discriminating a position designate word from the other words in a search word phrase input by a user by a classification of the search word phrase; and

a searching step of searching an area corresponding to the position designate word for image data which satisfies conditions of a key word in the case wherein it is determined by said discriminating step that information indicative of the key word and said position designate word is included in said search word phrase.

9. A method according to claim 8, wherein said image data is divided into a plurality of areas and stored.

10. A method according to claim 9, wherein continuous numbers are allocated to said plurality of areas and said position information is managed by said numbers.

11. A method according to claim 9, wherein a key word is provided to each of said divided areas.

12. A method according to claim 9, further comprising

a storing step of allocating continuous numbers to said plurality of areas and storing said numbers and key words so as to correspond to each other.

13. A method according to claim 9, wherein, in a case where it is determined by said discriminating step that a key word coincides said search word, said searching step searches an image data which satisfies conditions of the key word and position information only from image data having the key word.

14. A method according to claim 8, further comprising

a displaying step of displaying the image data searched by said searching step.

15. An image processing method, according to claim 8, further comprising an inputting step of inputting said search word.

16. An image processing apparatus comprising:

a first storage unit adapted to divide an image into a plurality of areas and storing attribute information comprising a key word for each of the areas;

a searching unit adapted to search, when a search word phrase including a position designate word is designated by being input by a user, an attribute information corresponding to the search word phrase from a plurality of said attribute information stored in the first storage unit; and

an output control unit adapted to control output of an area having searched attribute information searched by said searching unit.

17. An image processing apparatus according to claim 16, wherein said attribute information is a key word allocated to each area of an image.

18. An image processing apparatus according to claim 16, wherein said attribute information is an image characteristic amount allocated to each area of an image.

19. An image processing apparatus according to claim 18, wherein said image characteristic amount is a color component of an image data.

20. An image processing apparatus according to claim 18, wherein said image characteristic amount is a shape pattern of an image data.

21. An image processing apparatus according to claim 16, further comprising:

a second storage unit adapted to allocate continuous numbers to said plurality of areas and storing said numbers and said image characteristic amounts so as to correspond to each other.

22. An image processing method comprising:

a first storage step of dividing an image into a plurality of areas and storing attribute information comprising a key word for each of the areas;

a searching step of when a search word phrase including a position designate word is designated by being input by a user, searching an attribute information corresponding to the search word phrase from a plurality of said attribute information stored in said first storage step; and

an output control step of controlling output of an area having searched attribute information searched in said searching step.

23. An image processing method according to claim 22, wherein the attribute information is a key word allocated to each area of an image.

24. An image processing method according to claim 22, wherein the attribute information further comprises an image characteristic amount allocated to each area of an image.

25. An image processing method according to claim 22, wherein the image characteristic amount is a color component of an image data.

26. An image processing method according to claim 22, wherein the image characteristic amount is a shape pattern of an image data.

27. An image processing method according to claim 22, further comprising:

a second storage step of allocating continuous numbers to the plurality of areas and storing the numbers and the image characteristic amounts so as to correspond to each other.