JPH0636172B2 - Image file device - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image filing device, and more particularly to selecting an instruction on a display screen in an image filing device having a plurality of display devices.

[Conventional technology]

In image processing apparatuses, image file apparatuses, etc., image data itself and attribute data unique to the image are displayed on different CRT monitors. For example, when retrieving a large number of images, each image is reduced to a single C
Multi-screen display as a table of contents image on the RT monitor, and another CRT
It is performed that a list of attribute data corresponding to each image of a table of contents image is displayed on a monitor, and only one target image is selected from the list and enlarged and displayed on the entire screen. Here, the display position of each image of the table of contents image corresponds to the display position of each attribute data of the attribute list.

In selecting such an image, an instruction from a keyboard or an instruction from a pointing device such as a mouse, a light pen, or a digitizer is usually used. Here, conventionally, even if there are a plurality of CRT monitors, only one of them has such an instruction selection function, and for example, an image can be instructed only from the attribute list.

FIG. 4 shows a conventional example, which is a CRT monitor 1 for displaying attribute data and a CRT monitor 2 for displaying image data.
, An attribute list and a multi-screen table of contents image are displayed, respectively. A mouse 3 for attribute data CRT is provided as the above-mentioned instruction selection function, and a cursor 4 is displayed on the CRT monitor 1 for displaying attribute data.

The operator determines the image displayed at the corresponding position and the image to be enlarged (original image display) based on the attribute data, and operates the mouse 3 to position the cursor 4 in the display area of the attribute data. The host computer (not shown) determines which attribute data is selected from the cursor coordinates, reads the image corresponding to it from the image file (not shown), and displays the CRT monitor 2 on the table of contents screen of the original image. While switching to the enlarged display screen, the display of the CRT monitor 1 is switched from the attribute list to the display of attribute data of only the enlarged display image.

FIG. 5 shows another conventional example. Here, instead of the mouse 3, a numeric keypad 6 consisting of keys arranged in a 3 × 3 matrix corresponding to the division of the display screen is provided on the keyboard 5. It is provided. With the ten-key pad 6, either one of the attribute data displayed on the attribute data CRT monitor 1 or the image data CRT monitor 2 or the table of contents image is designated.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

As described above, in the related art, the instruction selection for image search can be made only from one of the attribute list and the table of contents image, which is not a flexible user interface.

Also, by inputting the distinction between the attribute data and the image data from one keyboard and then pointing the attribute CRT or a partial area of the screen of the image CRT with the ten-key pad, Although a method of selecting both of the image data is possible, it has a drawback that the operation is complicated and it cannot be dealt with when the format of the multi-screen display (the number of screen divisions) as the table of contents is changed.

This invention has been made to deal with the above-mentioned circumstances,
In an image filing apparatus for displaying image data and associated attribute data at corresponding positions on at least two display means, any position on the screen of all display means can be specified by one indicating means, and It is an object of the present invention to enable image instructions from the screen of any display means.

[Means for solving problems]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the present invention. Also in this case, the attribute list and the table-of-contents image by the multi-screen display are displayed on the CRT monitor 1 for displaying the attribute data and the CRT monitor 2 for displaying the image, respectively. However, unlike the conventional case, the mouse 3 of the attribute display monitor 1 can freely move the cursor 4 between the attribute CRT monitor 1 and the image CRT monitor 2. As a result, it is possible to freely specify the image to be displayed as the original image from either the attribute list or the table of contents image. Further, even when a part of the table of contents screen is changed and the table of contents screen is reconfigured, it is possible to instruct the position to be changed from either the attribute list or the table of contents image.

[Action]

The cursor coordinates generated by the mouse 3 are shown in FIG. now,
If the pixels of the two CRT screens are 640 × 480, the mouse 3 generates cursor coordinates (0,0) to (1279,479), of which (0,0) to (639,479) Make the cursor coordinates correspond to the screen of the attribute display monitor 1 and select (640,0) to (12
The cursor coordinates (79, 479) correspond to the screen of the image display monitor 2.

Therefore, if the X coordinate of the cursor coordinate generated by the mouse 3 is 0 ≦ X <640, the host computer displays the cursor 4 on the attribute display monitor 1 in correspondence with the cursor coordinate. If the X coordinate of the cursor coordinate is 640 ≦ X <1279, the host computer moves the cursor 4 to the image display monitor 2 in correspondence with the cursor coordinate obtained by subtracting the X coordinate by 640.
Is displayed. In this way, the cursor 4 can be displayed on the two monitors 1 and 2 with one mouse 3.

The actual image is designated by pressing a switch (not shown) of the mouse 3. The host computer determines the image to be enlarged and displayed based on the cursor coordinates when the switch is pressed.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of an image filing device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram of one embodiment. CP on CPU bus 11
U12, data file 13, image file 14, character display memory (CRT I / F) 15, main memory 17, A / D converter 19, image memory 20, D / A converter 21, mouse I / F2
3, keyboard 24 is connected. The data file 13 stores a directory of attribute data and image data. The image file 14 is a full-size (640 × 640) image of the display CRT and a reduced image for the table of contents screen (for example, 320 × 320).
Also remember. The character display memory 15 has a character display CRT.
The monitor 16 is connected, and the CPU 12 writes the attribute data in the character display memory 15 to display the attribute data on the character display CRT monitor 16. The main memory 17 stores software and attribute data. An image bus 18 is connected to the A / D converter 19, the image memory 20, and the D / A converter 21, and an image is written to the image memory 20 from the A / D converter 19 via the image bus 18, and an image memory Image reading (display on the image display CRT monitor 22) from 20 to the D / A converter 21 is performed. The mouse 23 generates the cursor coordinates (0,0) to (1279,479) described above. 24 is a keyboard.

The operation of the first embodiment will be described. Here, the operation of displaying a table of contents screen, selecting a desired image from the screen, and enlarging the display will be described. First, the operator inputs the file name to be displayed in the table of contents from the keyboard 24. The CPU 12 reads the attribute file recorded with the file name from the data file 13 into the main memory 17. This attribute file includes attribute data of a plurality of images (for example, four images), address information in the image file of the table of contents image (four reduced images of 320 × 240 pixels), and the image file of four original images 14 Address information inside is included. Of these, the CPU 12 writes a part of the attribute data in the character display memory 15 so that the attribute data is displayed in a predetermined format (for example, the format shown in FIG. 1). In the case of a medical image, the attribute data includes, for example, a patient name, an imaging date, an imaging site, a diagnosis doctor name, a diagnosis disease name, and the like.

Next, the CPU 12 assigns the address of the table of contents image to the image file 14
The table of contents image data is read into the image memory 20 so as to have a predetermined format. The D / A converter 21 reads this image data from the image memory 20 in accordance with the scanning of the CRT monitor, converts it into an analog signal, and displays it on the image CRT 22. As described above, the attribute data is displayed on the character display CRT 16 and the table of contents screen is displayed on the image CRT 22. CPU12
Together with this, the cursor 4 is displayed at the position corresponding to the coordinates generated by the mouse 23.

The operator determines the image to display the original image while looking at the two CRTs 16 and 22. Now, suppose that an image to be displayed as an original image is decided from the attribute list. The operator moves the mouse 23 to move the cursor 4 onto the screen of the attribute data CRT 1 (see FIG. 1) and presses the switch of the mouse 23.

In the case of the display format shown in FIG. 1, the four attribute data are (0,0) to (319,239); the lower left, (320,0) to (639,23).
9); lower right, (0,240) to (319,479); upper left, (320,240) to (63
9,479); It is displayed in the four upper right areas.

If the cursor coordinates generated by the mouse 23 are (480,360), it is determined that the attribute data on the upper right of the screen has been selected. The CPU 12 reads the address of the original image having this attribute data in the image file 14 from the main memory 20, gives it to the image file 14, and transfers the original image of 640 × 480 pixels to the image memory 20. As a result, the original image becomes an image CRT22.
Is displayed in. Further, the screen of the attribute data CRT monitor 1 is also switched to display all data of the attribute data of the image selected from the display of the attribute list.

Next, a case of determining an image to be displayed as an original image from the table of contents image will be described. The operator moves the mouse 23 to move the cursor 4 to the area where the desired image is displayed in the table-of-contents image of the image CRT 2 and presses the switch of the mouse 23.

In the case of the display format shown in FIG. 1, the four table-of-contents images are (640,0) to (959,479); lower left, (960,0) to (1279,23).
9); lower right, (640,240) ~ (959,479); upper left, (960,240) ~
(1279,479); It is displayed in the four upper right areas.

If the mouse coordinates are (900,400), it can be determined that the table of contents image at the lower left of the screen has been selected. The subsequent operation is the same as the case of selecting from the attribute list, and the address of the selected original image in the image file 14 is stored in the main memory.
The image is read out from 20, and is given to the image file 14, and the original image of 640 × 480 pixels is displayed on the image memory 20. Further, the screen of the attribute data CRT monitor 1 is also switched to display all data of the attribute data of the image selected from the display of the attribute list.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the cursor coordinates generated from the mouse 23 are halved and each C
Corresponding to the screen of the RT monitor 1, the image data and the attribute data attached to the image data are at least two C
In the image filing device displaying at the corresponding position of the RT monitor, any position on the screen of all CRT monitors can be designated by one mouse, and a flexible user interface convenient for image search is realized. Further, since the cursor can be displayed at an arbitrary position on the screen by controlling the amount of movement of the mouse steplessly, it is possible to deal with the case where the number of screen divisions of the table of contents image is changed.

In the above description, the case where the table-of-contents image is completely contained in one screen is shown, but one file contains many images and
There may be cases where the screen cannot be displayed. For example, each image of the table of contents image may have 320 × 240 pixels, and 8 images may be included in one file. At this time, if the screen configuration is as shown in FIG. 1, only four images can be displayed at a time,
Unnecessary table-of-contents images must be erased and new table-of-contents images must be written there. Also in this case, according to the present invention,
The image to be deleted can be specified from both the table of contents image and the attribute list. The operator notifies the CPU of sending (erasing and writing a new image there) of the table-of-contents image from the keyboard (defining a specific key as a function key for sending the table-of-contents image). Is designated by the mouse. The CPU detects the position to write the next image from the position of the mouse, reads new image data from the image file, and writes to that position. As a result, even when a part of the table of contents screen is changed and the table of contents screen is reconfigured, it is possible to specify the location to be changed from either the attribute list or the table of contents screen.

Further, in the above example, the number of CRTs for display is two, but even when three or more CRTs are used, for example, two CRTs for attribute display are used, it is possible to widen the coordinate system of the mouse. A similar interface can be realized by associating the coordinates between the display data of a plurality of CRTs.

Further, a digitizer or the like can be used as the indicating means without being limited to the mouse.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, in the image filing device for displaying the image data and the attribute data associated with the image data at the positions corresponding to at least two display means,
An arbitrary position on the screen of all the display means can be designated by one indicating means, and an image can be designated by the indicating means from the screen of any of the displaying means.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an image filing device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing addresses generated by a mouse for explaining the operation principle, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the image filing device according to the present invention. FIG. 4, FIG. 5 and FIG. 5 are views showing a conventional example of an image filing device. 1 …… Attribute data CRT monitor 2 …… Image data CRT monitor 3 …… Mouse 4 …… Cursor

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An image display unit for displaying a plurality of reduced images obtained by reducing an original image in different areas on the same screen, and a plurality of attribute data respectively associated with the plurality of reduced images on the image display unit. Attribute data display means for displaying on the screen in correspondence with the respective display positions of the reduced images, a coordinate area corresponding to the display area of the image display means, and a coordinate area corresponding to the display area of the attribute data display means. Specifying means for specifying an arbitrary coordinate position in the coordinate system, and the image displaying means and the attribute data displaying means corresponding to the coordinate position specified by the specifying means. Cursor display means for displaying a cursor at one point of one of the display areas, and any reduced image among a plurality of reduced images displayed on the image display means by the cursor Is instructed,
The original image of the designated reduced image is displayed on the image display unit, the attribute data accompanying the original image displayed on the image display unit is displayed on the attribute data display unit, and the attribute data display unit is displayed by the cursor. When any attribute data among the plurality of attribute data displayed on the screen is designated, the original image of the reduced image corresponding to the designated attribute data is displayed on the image display means and displayed on the image display means. And a means for displaying the attribute data associated with the original image on the attribute data display means. 2. When a point in the display area of the image display unit or the attribute data display unit is designated by the cursor, the reduced image and the attribute data corresponding to the designated point are erased, and a new reduced image is displayed. The image file device according to claim 1, further comprising means for displaying the attribute data and the attribute data instead.