Information processing system - Patent Review 5218673

Claims

What we claim is:

1. An information processing system comprising:

means for storing image information, comprising first and second storage means, wherein input image information is selectively stored in said first and second storage means;

instruction means for instructing read out of desired image information by inputting a search condition indicative of said desired image information;

memory means for storing at least one of first information indicative of the frame number of the desired image information stored in said first storage means and second information indicative of the track number of the desired image information stored in said second storage means, in response to said search condition;

decision means for deciding from which of said first and second storage means said desired image information is to be read out, depending on whether desired image information is stored in both or one of said first and second storage means; and

store means for storing the desired image information read out according to the instruction by said instruction means.

2. An information processing system according to claim 1, wherein said information processing system is a system adapted for use in an information processing method and apparatus.

3. An information processing system according to claim 1, wherein said first storage means comprises a microfilm.

4. An information processing system according to claim 1, wherein said second storage means comprises an optical disk.

5. An information processing system comprising:

first storage means for storing image information using microfilm;

second storage means for storing image information using an optical disk;

instruction means for instructing read out of desired image information by inputting a search condition indicative of said desired image information;

store means for storing the desired image information read out according to the instruction by said instruction means;

memory means for storing information indicative of whether said desired image information has been stored in said first storage means or in said second storage means, in response to said search condition; and

control means for controlling said first and second storage means such that, when it is determined on the basis of both said search condition and said information stored in said memory means that said desired image information has been stored in both said first and second storage means, said desired image information is read out from said second storage means and for controlling storing of the read out desired information into said store means.

6. An information processing system according to claim 5, wherein said information stored in said memory means includes at least data indicating which one of said first and second storage means stores said desired image information therein and data indicating the frame number of the microfilm which stores said desired image information or indicating the track number of the optical disk which stores said desired image information.

7. An information processing system according to claim 5, wherein said second storage means includes a photomagnetic disk file.

8. An information processing system according to claim 5, wherein said information processing system in a system adapted for use in an information processing method and apparatus.

9. An information processing system comprising:

first storage means for storing image information using microfilm;

second storage means for storing image information using an optical disk;

instruction means for instructing read out of desired image information by inputting a search condition indicative of said desired image information;

memory means for storing information indicative of whether said desired image information has been stored in said first storage means or in said second storage means, in response to said search condition; and

control means for controlling said first and second storage means such that, when it is determined on the basis of both said search condition and said information stored in said memory means that said desired image information has been stored not in said second storage means but in said first storage means, said desired image information is read out from said first storage means and said read-out image information is stored in said second storage means;

renewal means for renewing contents of said memory means in response to storage of said read-out image information in said second storage means;

storing means for temporarily storing the read-out desired image information; and

output means for outputting the image information stored by said storing means.

10. An information processing system according to claim 9, wherein said information stored in said memory means includes at least data indicating which one of said first and second storage means stores said desired image information therein and data indicating the frame number of the microfilm which stores said desired image information or indicating the track number of the optical disk which stores said desired image information.

11. An information processing system according to claim 9, further comprising editing means for editing said read-out image information in order to produce new image information which is then stored in said second storage means, and deriving means for deriving search information for searching said image information and said new image information.

12. An information processing system according to claim 11, wherein said second storage means includes a photomagnetic disk file.

13. An information processing system according to claim 9, wherein said second storage means includes a photomagnetic disk file.

14. An information processing system according to claim 9, wherein said information processing system is a system adapted for use in an information processing method and apparatus.

15. An information processing system comprising:

storing means for storing both a plurality of image information and a plurality of reduced image information;

input means for inputting a search condition;

readout means for reading out a plurality of corresponding reduced image information in response to the search condition input by said input means;

instructing means for instructing readout of the image information corresponding to one of the plurality of reduced image information; and

control means for controlling said readout means such that image information corresponding to the read-out reduced image information is read out in response to a readout instruction from said instructing means.

16. An information processing system according to claim 15, further comprising display means for displaying both said image information and said reduced image information and select means for selecting one from among said reduced image information display by said display means, wherein said process means is structured and arranged for controlling said display means and said select means such that first, said display means displays a plurality of said reduced image information at the same time in response to said input search condition and such that next, said select means selects one from among said displayed reduced image information and displays only the image information corresponding to the reduced image information selected by said select means.

17. An information processing system according to claim 15, wherein said storage means includes at least one optical disk or the like capable of storing a large amount of digital data.

18. An information processing system according to claim 15, wherein said image information includes image information read out from one or more microfilms.

19. An information processing system according to claim 15, wherein sad storage means includes a photomagnetic disk file.

20. An information processing system according to claim 15, further comprising:

means for deciding whether to read out said image information instead of reading out said reduced image information based on said search condition input by said input means.

21. An information processing system according to claim 15, wherein said information processing system is a system adapted for use in an information processing method and apparatus.

22. An information processing system according to claim 15, wherein the reduced image information comprises a small image having no relationship with the image information and is used for searching the image information.

23. An information processing system according to claim 15, wherein the reduced image information comprises a reduced portion of the image information.

24. An information processing system comprising:

first storage means for storing a plurality of image information;

second storage means for storing a plurality of image information, wherein said second storage means has a retrieval speed faster than that of said first storage means;

input means for inputting retrieval information associated with desired image information;

retrieving means for retrieving the desired image information from said second storage means on the basis of the retrieval information input by said input means when the desired image information has been stored in both said first and second storage means; and

store means for storing image information retrieved from said first or second storage means for an output of the retrieved image information.

25. An information processing system according to claim 24, wherein said information processing system is a system adapted for use in an information processing method and apparatus.

26. An information processing system comprising:

at least one of first storage means for serially storing a plurality of image information and second storage means for storing a plurality of image information, wherein said second storage means is random-access;

memory means for storing both storage-means information, indicative of which of said first and second storage means has stored a desired image therein, and position information, indicative of where the desired image has been stored;

control means for controlling said first and second storage means on the basis of both the storage-means information and the position information, such that serial access is executed for the desired image in said first storage means on the basis of the position information or a random-access is executed for the desired image in said second storage means on the basis of the position information; and

store means for storing image information of said first or second storage means, to which the serial or random access is executed, for an output of the image information.

27. An information processing system according to claim 26, wherein said information processing system is a system adapted for use in an information processing method and apparatus.

28. An information processing system comprising:

storage means for storing a plurality of image information, wherein said storage means is writable;

input means for inputting retrieval information associated with desired image information;

retrieval means for retrieving image information from said storage means on the basis of the retrieval information from said input means;

editing means for editing the image information retrieved by said retrieval means; and

control means for controlling said retrieval means such that both the image information and the image information edited by said editing means can be retrieved using the same retrieval information.

29. An information processing system according to claim 28, wherein said information processing system is a system adapted for use in an information processing method and apparatus.

30. An information processing system comprising:

storage means for storing a plurality of image information, wherein said storage means is writable;

input means for inputting retrieval information associated with desired image information;

retrieval means for retrieving image information from said storage means on the basis of the retrieval information input via said input means;

editing means for editing the image information retrieved by said retrieval means; and

writing means for writing the image information edited by said editing means, instead of the retrieved image information.

31. An information processing system according to claim 30, wherein said information processing system is a system adapted for use in an information processing method and apparatus.

32. An information processing system according to claim 30, wherein said storage means includes a photomagnetic disk file.

33. An information processing system according to claim 30, wherein said storage means includes at least one optical disk or the like capable of storing a large amount of digital data.

34. An information processing system comprising:

at least one of first storage means for storing a plurality of retrievable image information and second storage means for storing a plurality of retrievable image information, said second storage means being of a different storing type said first storage means;

input means for inputting retrieval information associated with desired image information;

retrieval means for retrieving image information from said first or second storage means on the basis of common retrieval information from said input means, wherein said retrieval means automatically selects one of said first and second storage means on the basis of the common retrieval information in order to output desired image information;

storing means for temporarily storing the image information retrieved by said retrieval means; and

output means for outputting the image information stored by said storing means.

35. An information processing system according to claim 34, wherein said information processing system is a system adapted for use in an information processing method and apparatus.

36. An information processing system comprising:

at least one of first storage means for storing a plurality of image information and second storage means for storing image information, said second storage means being different than said first storage means and being rewritable;

input means for inputting retrieval information associated with desired image information;

retrieval means for retrieving image information from said first or second storage means on the basis of the retrieval information from said input means, wherein said retrieval means automatically selects one of said first and second storage means on the basis of the common retrieval information in order to output desired image information;

control means for storing the image information in said second storage means when image information is retrieved from said first storage means by said retrieval means;

storing means for temporally storing the image information retrieved by said retrieval means; and

output means for outputting the image information stored by said storing means.

37. An information processing system according to claim 36, wherein said information processing system is a system adapted for use in an information processing method and apparatus.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an information processing system for storing and retrieving information.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Microfilm systems have conventionally been utilized for storing and utilizing a very large amount of information. Microfilms have advantages of human readability, ability for storing non-coded image information, economy, archieval property, high resolving power etc., and are suitable for effectively storing and utilizing filed information increasing year after year since they allow fast input and high-speed copying of a large amount of information.

On the other hand, recent remarkable progress of so-called office automation has stimulated the introduction of computers into the offices and the mutual connection of various devices through communication lines. In order to adapt to such tendency of wider use of computers and communication, the information to be handled should preferably be stored in the form of electrical signals. For this reason much attention is being paid to electronic file systems which store information in the form of electrical signals and have advantages of high-speed retrieval and high-speed transmission which cannot be achievable with the microfilm files.

While the electronic file systems have the above-mentioned advantages and can satisfactorily adapt to the currently progressing trend of office automation, the conventional microfilm systems are unable to adapt to such tendency, particularly in terms of lack of compatibility with the recent office equipment designed to match the trend of computerization.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the conventional microfilm system, or a reader-printer typically utilized for obtaining hard copies. In FIG. 1, the light from a light source 1 is transmitted by a microfilm 2 and a lens 3, and is reflected by a fixed mirror 4. In the use as a reader, a movable mirror 5 is positioned at a, whereby the light reflected by the fixed mirror 4 is projected onto a screen 6 to reproduce the image of the microfilm on said screen. On the other hand, in the use as a printer, the movable mirror 5 is moved to a position b to guide the light reflected by the fixed mirror 4 onto a photosensitive sheet 7, which is then processed in a developing unit 8 and ejected as a hard copy.

However, such process not only requires time but also is associated with an unsatisfactory image quality. In order to improve the image quality there is also proposed to guide the reflected light from the movable mirror 5 at the position b into an ordinary copier to prepare a hard copy. However the drawback of time requirement is not resolved since in any case there is required a procedure of retrieving a desired microfilm from a large file and setting said microfilm on the reader-printer for obtaining a hard copy. Besides, the transmission of the microfilmed information to a distant location can only be made by mailing or by facsimile transmission and cannot in any way adapt to the trend of office automation.

In order to avoid such drawbacks there is proposed a microfilm file as shown in FIG. 2. It is to be noted that the equipment shown in FIG. 2 utilizes microfiches 10 which are stored in a given order in a magazine 9.

For viewing a microfilm frame containing a desired document with such file, an address A is entered through an input device (not shown), for example keyboard. In response to said address A a search unit 11 rotates the magazine 9 and stops it at a selected position. Then a drive mechanism (not shown) takes out the microfiche 10 from the magazine 9 and locates the desired frame. After the desired frame is properly positioned, a light source 12 is turned on and the light therefrom is transmitted through a lens 13, the desired frame of the microfiche 10 and a lens 14 to enter a half mirror 15. The light reflected by said half mirror 15 is transmitted through a lens 16 to project the image of the desired frame onto an optical screen (not shown).

The hard copying or transmission to a distant location of the information displayed on the screen is conducted in the following manner. The light transmitted by the half mirror 15 is converted by a photoelectric converter 17 into electrical signals, which are subjected to signal processing such as digitization and amplification in a signal processor 18 to provide image data D. The photoelectric converter 17 performs scanning in a direction of arrows under the control of a scanning control unit 19, thus converting the image information of the entire frame into the electrical signals. The image data D thus obtained from the desired frame are transmitted to an unrepresented hard copying unit or a facsimile transmitter. Said photoelectric converter 17 is composed for example of a CCD linear sensor. Naturally the scanning drive can be dispensed with if a two-dimensional area senser is employed.

FIG. 3 shows an example of microfilm file employing a microfilm in the form of roll. The structure is essentially same as that shown in FIG. 2, except the driving method for search is somewhat different because the microfilm 20 is contained in a cartridge 21.

The structure shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. 3 enables retrieval, hard copying and transmission at a higher speed, utilizing microfilms either in the roll form or card form represented by microfiches.

FIG. 4 shows an example of an electronic file system, in which a document reader 22, a printer 23, a work station 24 and a memory 26 are connected to a controller 27 to constitute a system. However an index file 25 is connected to the work station 24.

The document reader 22, utilizing for example a charge-coupled device (CCD), raster scans a document to convert the information into electrical signals, which are stored as image data into the memory 26 after suitable processing such as amplification and digitization. In this manner the desired documents can be stored in succession into the memory 26.

It will be evident that the memory 26 should preferably have a capacity as large as possible. For example, in case of an optical disk memory, a disk of 30 cm in diameter can store non-coded information corresponding to about 50 document files, or a small file cabinet. The optical disk can naturally be replaced by an optomagnetic disk. At the storage of a document in the memory 26, the corresponding index is simultaneously memorized in the index file 25.

For obtaining a hard copy of a document stored in the memory 26, a keyword of the desired document is entered through the work station 24. Thus the desired document is read from the memory 26 with reference to the index file 25, and the printer 23 prepares a hard copy of said document.

The printer 23 may be of an electrostatic printer or a laser beam printer. Also the information can be monitored as a soft copy displayed on the work station 24 instead of hard copying.

The controller 27 is used for controlling the entire system, and is provided with interfaces, signal compression/expansion circuits etc. The controller 27 may be independent as shown in FIG. 4 or integral with the document reader 22, printer 23, work station 24 or memory 26.

Such electronic file achieves automatic retrieval within a short period of 2 to 10 seconds in response to the instruction from the work station 24, as a large amount of documents is stored in the form of electrical signals through the document reader 22. Also it is provided with a splendid advantage of information retrieval even immediately after the information recording, since the developing process as required in the microfilm is no longer necessary.

On the other hand, some advantages of the microfilm are inevitably sacrificed. Such losses include a slower input speed caused by the photoelectric conversion through raster scanning instead of one-shot conversion through a lens system in the microfilm system, lack of human readability, lack of possibility of high-speed and economical copying below several hundred copies, lack of proven ability of archival storage over 10 to 20 years in contrast to the proven history of microfilms over 100 years, and lack of ability as legal evidence for which the microfilms are already authorized.

A still larger problem is that the data base and information hitherto accumulated with the microfilms become no longer usable at the introduction of the electronic file. As already explained, the microfilm file and the electronic file have respective advantages. Although the electronic file has more advantages in consideration of the recent trend of office automation, the microfilm system cannot be evidently neglected. There has therefore been desired an information storage adaptable to a comprehensive information processing system making use of the advantages of the electronic file such as the high retrieval speed while fully utilizing the information accumulated in the microfilms.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In consideration of the foregoing, an object of the present invention is to eliminate the above-described drawbacks.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an information processing system capable of storing a large amount of information and retrieving and providing arbitrary information at a high speed from thus stored information.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an information processing system comprising microfilms and an electronic file.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an information processing system comprising microfilms allowing high-speed retrieval.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an information processing system comprising microfilms and an electronic file, and allowing information retrieval and output with preferential choice on the electronic file.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an information processing system comprising an electronic file and other information processing equipment.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a comprehensive information processing system comprising an information processing equipment including an optomagetic disk and other information

processing equipment including, for example, microfilms, and capable of high-speed retrieval.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an information processing system in which the desired information is given from an electronic file if said information is stored in said electronic file and other information processing equipment.

Still another object of the present invention is to store, in an electronic file containing, for example, an optomagnetic disk, indexes of information stored in other information processing equipment containing for example microfilms, thereby enabling high-speed retrieval.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an information processing system comprising a first information processing equipment of a higher retrieval speed and a second information processing equipment of a lower retrieval speed, wherein the first equipment is utilized as far as possible to achieve faster information retrieval.

Still another object of the present invention is to achieve efficient information processing in a system comprising plural information processing equipment of different functions and performances.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an information processing system in which the index information, such as title and contracted index word, is stored in a first information processing equipment of a higher retrieving speed, and more detailed information, if needed, is obtained as far as possible from said first equipment of higher retrieving speed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a microfilm reader-printer;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a microfiche file;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a microfilm roll reader-printer;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a conventional electronic file;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the information processing system of the present invention;

FIG. 6 shows the relationship of FIGS. 6A and 6B which are a flow chart showing the function of the embodiment shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7-1 shows the relationship of FIGS. 7-1A and 7-1B which together with FIGS. 7-2A and 7-2B are a detailed flow chart showing the function of said system; and

FIG. 8 shows the relationship of FIGS. 8A and 8B which are flow chart showing a search routine.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Now the present invention will be clarified in detail by an embodiment thereof shown in the attached drawings.

FIG. 5 shows an embodiment of the information processing system of the present invention, wherein shown are a document reader 32; a printer 33; a work station 34; an index file 35; a disk memory 36 capable of storing non-coded information and constituting an electronic file of a capacity of 500 to 2000 MBytes; another information processing unit 37, for example a microfilm file with a capacity of about 3,000 sheets in case of a cassette file; a controller 38; and a buffer memory 39.

A large number of documents is read with the document reader 32 and is stored in the disk memory 36 which is preferably composed of a random-access high-density, large-capacity memory allowing a search time of 2 to 10 seconds for example, such as an optical disk, in consideration of space saving. Simultaneously with said storage, the indexes of the information stored in the disk memory 36 are stored in the index file 35 and controlled by the work station 34.

The microfilm file 37 is preferably composed of a microfilm file with an automatic searching function as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, but may also be composed of a microfilm file at least provided with means for converting the microfilm image into electrical signals by means of raster scanning. The searching time may be as long as 10 to 20 seconds. In the present embodiment there is employed a unit employing microfilm rolls as shown in FIG. 3.

The index of each frame of the microfilm contained in the microfilm file 3