Image processing apparatus and method and storage medium

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.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . An image processing apparatus comprising: 
 discriminating means for discriminating a classification of an inputted search word; and    searching means for searching image data in consideration of position information in the case where it is determined by said discriminating means that information indicative of said position information is included in said search word.    
     
     
         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 , wherein a key word is provided every said divided area.  
     
     
         5 . An apparatus according to  claim 2 , further comprising storage means for allocating continuous numbers to said plurality of areas and storing said numbers and key words so as to correspond to each other.  
     
     
         6 . An apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising display means for displaying the image data searched by said searching means.  
     
     
         7 . An image processing apparatus comprising: 
 input means for inputting a search word;    discriminating means for discriminating a classification of said search word inputted by said input means; and    searching means for searching image data which satisfies conditions of a key word and position information in the case where it is determined by said discriminating means that information indicative of the key word and said position information is included in said search word.    
     
     
         8 . An image processing apparatus comprising: 
 discriminating means for discriminating a classification of an inputted search word; and    searching means for searching image data in consideration of an image characteristic amount in the case where it is determined by said discriminating means that information indicative of said image characteristic amount is included in said search word.    
     
     
         9 . An apparatus according to  claim 8 , wherein said image data is divided into a plurality of areas and stored.  
     
     
         10 . An apparatus according to  claim 8 , wherein the image characteristic amount is provided every said divided area.  
     
     
         11 . An apparatus according to  claim 9 , further comprising storage means for allocating continuous numbers to said plurality of areas and storing said numbers and said image characteristic amounts so as to correspond to each other.  
     
     
         12 . An apparatus according to  claim 8 , further comprising display means for displaying the image data searched by said searching means.  
     
     
         13 . An apparatus according to  claim 8 , wherein said image characteristic amount is a color component of the image data.  
     
     
         14 . An apparatus according to  claim 8 , wherein said image characteristic amount is a shape pattern of the image data.  
     
     
         15 . An image processing apparatus comprising: 
 input means for inputting a search word;    discriminating means for discriminating a classification of said search word inputted by said input means; and    searching means for searching image data which satisfies conditions of a key word and an image characteristic amount in the case where it is determined by said discriminating means that information indicative of said key word and said position information is included in said search word.    
     
     
         16 . An apparatus according to  claim 15 , wherein said image characteristic amount is a color component of the image data.  
     
     
         17 . An apparatus according to  claim 15 , wherein said image characteristic amount is a shape pattern of the image data.  
     
     
         18 . An image processing apparatus comprising: 
 dividing means for dividing image data into a plurality of areas; and    allocating means for allocating attribute information to each of said areas.    
     
     
         19 . An apparatus according to  claim 18 , further comprising storage means for allocating peculiar identification information to each of said plurality of areas and storing said identification information and said attribute information so as to correspond to each other.  
     
     
         20 . An apparatus according to  claim 19 , further comprising: 
 input means for inputting a search word to search the image data; and    searching means for searching the area of the image data having the attribute information which coincides with said search word inputted by said input means.    
     
     
         21 . An apparatus according to  claim 20 , further comprising 
 display means for displaying the image data of the area searched by said searching means.    
     
     
         22 . An apparatus according to  claim 18 , wherein said attribute information is a key word.  
     
     
         23 . An apparatus according to  claim 18 , wherein said attribute information is an image characteristic amount.  
     
     
         24 . An image processing apparatus comprising 
 attribute information storage means for respectively storing attribute information and image designation information which were formed in correspondence to each image of an image file having a plurality of images of different resolutions for a certain image.    
     
     
         25 . An apparatus according to  claim 24 , wherein said image designation information is resolution information indicative of the resolution of said image.  
     
     
         26 . An apparatus according to  claim 24 , further comprising: 
 input means for inputting search information and resolution information and    searching means for searching the attribute information corresponding to the inputted search information in said image of the resolution corresponding to the resolution information inputted by said input means.    
     
     
         27 . An apparatus according to  claim 24 , wherein said attribute information is a key word.  
     
     
         28 . An apparatus according to  claim 24 , wherein said attribute information is an image characteristic amount indicative of a characteristic of said image.  
     
     
         29 . An apparatus according to  claim 24 , wherein 
 said image is divided into a plurality of areas, and    said attribute information is position designation information indicative of a position of said area in said image.    
     
     
         30 . An apparatus according to  claim 27 , wherein said search information is any one of the key word, an image characteristic amount, and position designation information.  
     
     
         31 . An apparatus according to  claim 27 , further comprising 
 display means for displaying the image searched by searching means.    
     
     
         32 . An apparatus according to  claim 31 , wherein 
 said image is divided into a plurality of areas and area designation information to designate each of said areas is stored in said attribute information storage means,    and further comprising control means for controlling so as to select only the area of the image searched by said searching means on the basis of said area designation information and to display by said display means.    
     
     
         33 . An apparatus according to  claim 27 , further comprising: 
 re-searching means for inputting second resolution information from input means, for selecting the image of the resolution shown by said second resolution information corresponding to the image searched by said searching means by said resolution information, and for re-searching the attribute information corresponding to search information from said selected image by said searching means.    
     
     
         34 . An image processing method comprising: 
 a discriminating step of discriminating a classification of an inputted search word; and    a searching step of searching image data in consideration of position information in the case where it is determined by said discriminating step that information indicative of said position information is included in said search word.    
     
     
         35 . A method according to  claim 34 , wherein said image data is divided into a plurality of areas and stored.  
     
     
         36 . A method according to  claim 35 , wherein continuous numbers are allocated to said plurality of areas and said position information is managed by said numbers.  
     
     
         37 . A method according to  claim 35 , wherein a key word is provided to each of said divided areas.  
     
     
         38 . A method according to  claim 35 , 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.    
     
     
         39 . A method according to  claim 34 , further comprising 
 a displaying step of displaying the image data searched by said searching step.    
     
     
         40 . An image processing method comprising: 
 an inputting step of inputting a search word;    a discriminating step of discriminating a classification of the search word inputted by said inputting step; and    a searching step of searching image data which satisfies conditions of a key word and position information in the case where it is determined by said discriminating step that information indicative of said key word and said position information is included in said search word.    
     
     
         41 . An image processing method comprising: 
 a discriminating step of discriminating a classification of an inputted search word; and    a searching step of searching image data in consideration of an image characteristic amount in the case where it is determined by said discriminating step that information indicative of said image characteristic amount is included in said search word.    
     
     
         42 . A method according to  claim 41 , wherein said image data is divided into a plurality of areas and stored.  
     
     
         43 . A method according to  claim 42 , wherein said image characteristic amount is provided for each of said divided areas.  
     
     
         44 . A method according to  claim 42 , further comprising 
 a storing step of allocating continuous numbers to said plurality of areas and storing said numbers and said image characteristic amounts so as to correspond to each other.    
     
     
         45 . A method according to  claim 41 , further comprising 
 a displaying step of displaying the image data searched by said searching step.    
     
     
         46 . A method according to  claim 41 , wherein said image characteristic amount is a color component of the image data.  
     
     
         47 . A method according to  claim 41 , wherein said image characteristic amount is a shape pattern of the image data.  
     
     
         48 . An image processing method comprising: 
 an inputting step of inputting a search word    a discriminating step of discriminating a classification of said search word inputted by said inputting step; and    a searching step of searching image data which satisfies conditions of a key word and an image characteristic amount in the case where it is determined by said discriminating step that information indicative of said key word and said image characteristic amount is included in said search word.    
     
     
         49 . A method according to  claim 48 , wherein said image characteristic amount is a color component of the image data.  
     
     
         50 . A method according to  claim 48 , wherein said image characteristic amount is a shape pattern of the image data.  
     
     
         51 . An image processing method comprising: 
 a discriminating step of discriminating a classification of an inputted search word; and    a searching step of searching image data in consideration of position information in the case where it is determined by said discriminating step that information indicative of said position information is included in said search word.    
     
     
         52 . An image processing method comprising: 
 a dividing step of dividing image data into a plurality of areas; and    an allocating step of allocating attribute information to each of said areas.    
     
     
         53 . A method according to  claim 52 , further comprising 
 a storing step of allocating peculiar identification information to each of said plurality of areas and storing said identification information and said attribute information so as to correspond to each other.    
     
     
         54 . A method according to  claim 53 , further comprising: 
 an inputting step of inputting a search word to search the image data; and    a searching step of searching the area of the image data having the attribute information which coincides with the search word inputted by said inputting step.    
     
     
         55 . A method according to  claim 54 , further comprising 
 a displaying step of displaying the image data of the area searched by said searching step.    
     
     
         56 . A method according to  claim 52 , wherein said attribute information is a key word.  
     
     
         57 . A method according to  claim 52;  wherein said attribute information is an image characteristic amount.  
     
     
         58 . An image processing method comprising 
 an attribute information storing step of respectively storing attribute information and image designation information which were formed in correspondence to each image of an image file having a plurality of images of different resolutions for a certain image.    
     
     
         59 . A storage medium in which a program comprising: 
 an inputting step of inputting a search word;    a discriminating step of discriminating a classification of said search word inputted by said inputting step; and    a searching step of searching image data which satisfies conditions of a key word and position information in the case where it is determined by said discriminating step that information indicative of said key word and said position information is included in said search word has been stored.    
     
     
         60 . A storage medium in which a program comprising: 
 a discriminating step of discriminating a classification of an inputted search word; and    a searching step of searching image data in consideration of an image characteristic amount in the case where it is determined by said discriminating step that information indicative of said image characteristic amount is included in said search word has been stored.    
     
     
         61 . A storage medium in which a program comprising: 
 an inputting step of inputting a search word;    a discriminating step of discriminating a classification of said search word inputted by said inputting step; and    a searching step of searching image data which satisfies conditions of a key word and an image characteristic amount in the case where it is determined by said discriminating step that information indicative of said key word and said image characteristic amount is included in said search word has been stored.    
     
     
         62 . A storage medium in which a program comprising: 
 a dividing step of dividing image data into a plurality of areas; and    an allocating step of allocating attribute information to each of said areas has been stored.    
     
     
         63 . A medium according to  claim 62 , wherein said program further comprises 
 a storing step of allocating peculiar identification information to each of said plurality of areas and storing said identification information and said attribute information so as to correspond to each other.    
     
     
         64 . A medium according to  claim 63 , wherein said program further comprises: 
 an inputting step of inputting a search word to search the image data; and    a searching step of searching the area of the image data having the attribute information which coincides with said search word inputted by said inputting step.    
     
     
         65 . A medium according to  claim 64 , wherein said program further comprises 
 a displaying step of displaying the image data of said area searched by said searching step.    
     
     
         66 . A medium according to  claim 62 , wherein said attribute information is a key word.  
     
     
         67 . A medium according to  claim 62 , wherein said attribute information is an image characteristic amount.  
     
     
         68 . A storage medium in which a program comprising 
 an attribute information storing step of respectively storing attribute information and image designation information which were formed in correspondence to each image of an image file having a plurality of images of different resolutions for a certain image has been stored.