JPH0312749B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an information storage device, and more particularly to an information storage device that stores and retrieves a large amount of information mainly consisting of non-code information.

Conventionally, microfilm systems have been used as information storage devices for managing and utilizing extremely large amounts of non-code information. Microfilm is excellent in terms of economy, storage stability, resolution, etc.
It has the advantage of fast input speed and ability to quickly copy a large amount of data, and is suitable for efficiently storing and managing file information, which is increasing year by year.

However, on the other hand, office automation has progressed rapidly in recent years, and there is a growing tendency for computers to be introduced into office equipment and for equipment to be interconnected through communication lines. In order to respond to such trends in computerization and communication, it is desirable that the information handled be stored in the form of electrical signals as much as possible. Therefore, electronic file systems have been attracting attention in recent years. Because electronic file systems store information in the form of electrical signals, they have features that microfilm systems do not have, such as high-speed retrieval and high-speed transmission.

The electronic file system has the above-mentioned features and is a system that can fully respond to the recent trend toward office automation. The biggest problem is that it is not compatible with office equipment that has become more computerized and communicated.

The conventional microfilm system and electronic file system will be explained in more detail below with reference to the drawings.

In conventional microfilm systems, a reader printer, typically shown in FIG. 1, is used to create hard copies. In the figure, a light beam from a light source 1 passes through a microfilm 2 and a lens 3, and is reflected by a fixed mirror 4. When used as a reader, the movable mirror 5 is at position A, and the light reflected by the fixed mirror 4 is projected onto the screen 6, so that the image on the microfilm is formed on the screen 6. On the other hand, when used as a printer, the light reflected from the fixed mirror 4 can be directed onto the photosensitive paper 7 by simply moving the movable mirror 5 to position B. The exposed photosensitive paper 7 is subjected to development processing in a developing section 8 and sent out as a hard copy.

However, such a method has disadvantages in that it is time consuming and the image quality is poor. Therefore, as a way to improve the image quality, a method has been proposed in which the reflected light from the movable mirror 5 at position B is taken into a normal copying machine to create a hard copy. However, whichever method is used, the process of finding the microfilm in question from among a large amount of film, setting it in a reader printer, and making a hard copy remains the same, so the drawback that it takes time is still unresolved. Furthermore, when transmitting the information contained on microfilm to another location, this method requires mailing or electronically transmitting the hard copy obtained by the procedure described above, making it difficult to use for office automation. It is not possible to respond to this trend.

In an attempt to solve these drawbacks, a microfilm file as shown in FIG. 2 has been proposed. However, Fig. 2 shows a fixed type as an example, and the magazine 9
The film 10 is housed in a predetermined order.

In order to display a frame of microfilm recording a target document using this file method,
First, address A is input from an input device such as a keyboard (not shown). The search unit 11 that has input the address A rotates the magazine 9 according to the address designation and stops it at the designated position. Subsequently, a drive device (not shown) takes out the flash film 10 from the magazine 9 and aligns it with the desired frame. When the alignment is completed, the light source 12 turns on and the light beams are directed to the lens 13,
The target frame of the fish film 10 passes through the lens 14 and enters the half mirror 15.
The light reflected by the half mirror 15 passes through the lens 16 and is projected onto an optical screen (not shown), on which a target frame image is formed.

Next, we will discuss how to make a hard copy of the information displayed on the screen or send it by facsimile to another location. The light transmitted through the half mirror 15 is converted into an electric signal by the photoelectric conversion sensor 17, and the electric signal is converted into two signals by the signal processing section 18.
It is output as image data D after undergoing processing such as value conversion and amplification. The photoelectric conversion sensor 17 is the scanning controller 1
9 in the direction of the arrow, and converts the image information into electrical signals over the entire area of the target frame. The image data D of the target frame thus obtained is sent to a hard copy section or a facsimile transmission section (not shown). In addition,
For example, a CCD linear array sensor is suitable for the photoelectric conversion sensor 17. Of course, if a two-dimensional area sensor is used, scanning drive is not required.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a microfilm file when the microfilm is a rolled film. Since the microfilm 20 is housed in a cartridge 21, the drive method for retrieval is slightly different, but other aspects are almost the same as the microfilm file shown in FIG.

In this way, whether it is a roll film or a card film such as a stock film, it is possible to search, hard copy, and transmit it by the method shown in FIG. 2 or 3. can be performed at higher speed.

The microfilm system has been described in detail above. Next, a conventional electronic file system will be explained with reference to FIG.

FIG. 4 is a system configuration diagram showing an example of a conventional electronic file system. document reader 22, printer 23, workstation 24,
and memory 26 are connected to a controller 27 to form one system. However, the index file 25 is connected to the workstation 24.

The document reader 22 uses, for example, a charge-coupled device CCD, etc., and converts the document into an electrical signal by raster scanning, performs processing such as amplification and binarization, and stores the image data in the memory 2.
6 and store it. In this way, necessary documents can be stored in the memory 26 one after another.

It is clear that the memory 26 having a larger storage capacity is more suitable. For example, if optical disk memory is used, it is possible to store 50 paper filing books, or about the same amount of non-code information as one small bookcase, on a disk with a diameter of about 30 cm. Note that when a document is stored in the memory 26, the index of the document is simultaneously stored in the index file 25.

When it is desired to output a document stored in the memory 26 as a hard copy, a keyword or the like of the target document is inputted from the workstation 24. Then, the target document in the memory 26 is read out with reference to the index file 25, and the printer 23 makes a hard copy of the document.

Printer 23 may be an electrostatic printer or a laser beam printer. Furthermore, instead of hard copies, information can be monitored using soft copies that display target documents on the display of the workstation 24.

The controller 27 manages the entire system, and includes an interface or a band compression/expansion circuit as required. Also controller 2
7 may be independent as shown in FIG. 4, or may be integrated with document reader 22, printer 23, workstation 24, or memory 26.

As explained above, in order to store a large amount of documents in the memory 26 in the form of electrical signals by the document reader 22, the electronic file system automatically retrieves them within a few seconds based on a command from the workstation 24. It becomes possible to do this. Additionally, since it does not require any development processing like microfilm, it has the powerful advantage of being able to search documents immediately after inputting them.

On the other hand, there is also the aspect that the advantages of the conventional microfilm system are lost. First, when inputting information, it cannot be converted in one shot through a lens system like a microfilm system, and the input speed is slow because the conversion is performed by raster scanning one by one. It cannot be done quickly and economically, it does not have a track record of sufficient long-term storage stability compared to microfilm, which has a long-term storage stability of 100 years, and microfilm is not recognized as having the legal evidentiary value that it has. There are no such things.

An even bigger problem is that when an electronic file system is introduced, the databases and information that were built up using conventional microfilm systems can no longer be utilized. As previously mentioned, both microfilm and electronic file systems have their own advantages. Considering the recent trend toward office automation, it is clear that electronic file systems have many advantages, but microfilm systems cannot be ignored. For this reason, there has been a desire for an information storage device that can be adapted to a comprehensive information management system that takes advantage of the advantages of electronic file systems, such as high search speed, while utilizing information stored on microfilm.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an information storage device that can store a large amount of information including microfilm, and can search and output arbitrary information from this information at high speed.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 5 is a system configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the information storage device of the present invention. Here, 32 is a document reader, 33 is a printer, 34 is a workstation, 35 is an index file, and 36 is a
3 is a disk memory, 37 is a microfilm file, 38 is a controller, and 39 is a buffer memory.

A large number of documents are read by document reader 32 and stored in disk memory 36.
From the viewpoint of space saving, it is desirable that the disk memory 36 be a random access, high-density, large-capacity memory, such as an optical disk, as described above. At the same time, the index of each piece of information stored in the disk memory 36 is stored in an index file 35 and managed by the workstation 34.

Specifically, the microfilm file 37 is desirably a microfilm file having an automatic search function as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.
There is no need to be limited to this, and any microfilm file may be used as long as it has at least a means for converting a microfilm image into an electrical signal by raster scanning. However, in this embodiment, the case of the rolled microfilm shown in FIG. 3 will be taken as an example.

The index of each frame of microfilm stored in the microfilm file 37 is as follows.
Like the indexes of each piece of information stored in the disk memory 36, it is stored in an index file 35 and managed by the workstation 34. The index file 35 is a magnetic disk memory, a floppy disk, or the like, and may also be a semiconductor memory in the workstation 34. Controller 38 is comprised of a well-known microcomputer and includes read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), and a central control unit (CPU).

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the main control program of this embodiment. This program is written in the ROM of the controller 38 in advance, and the CPU controls the operations of each part according to this program.

First, in step 1, the user inputs a search code for desired information through the input means (keyboard, etc.) of the workstation 34. Then, in step 2, the workstation 34 compares the input search code with the index stored in the index file 35 and determines whether the information is stored in the disk memory 36 or the microfilm file 37. If it is a disk, the track number is sent to the controller, and if it is a microfilm, the frame number is sent from the index file 35 to the controller.

Next, the controller 38 reads out the information based on the address information mentioned above. For example, if the information is stored in the microfilm file 37, the microfilm file 37 searches for the frame on which the information is recorded, according to the input frame number, and extracts the two-dimensional image information. The controller 38 converts it into an electrical signal by raster scanning and performs predetermined signal processing.
(Step 3). If the information is stored in the disk memory 36 or in both the disk memory 36 and the microfilm file 37, this information is read from the disk (step 4). The information thus read out is stored in the buffer memory 39 (step 5) and printed out by the printer 33 (step 6).

Thereafter, in step 7, it is determined whether the information was read from the disk or from the microfilm, and if it was read from the microfilm, the information stored in the buffer memory 39 is transferred to the disk of the disk memory 36 in step 8. Write. Furthermore, the search address for this information in the index file 35 is changed from "Microfilm" to "Microfilm and Disc" (step 9), and all operations are completed. If the information was read from the disk, steps 8 and 9 are not performed and the process ends.

In the present invention, among the information stored on the microfilm, information that has been retrieved even once can be searched twice after that.
By storing the information retrieved from microfilm on a disk as in the example, which has an extremely high probability of being repeatedly retrieved once or thrice,
From the second search onward, the information is read from a disk with faster search access, thereby reducing the search time. In addition, even if information is stored on both the microfilm and the disk from the beginning, the search speed can be increased by reading out the information exclusively from the disk, regardless of such search operations.

Although controller 38 is shown separately in the preceding embodiment, document reader 32,
It may be constructed integrally with the printer 33, workstation 34, disk memory 36, microfilm file 37, etc. Further, the buffer memory 39 is not necessarily required, and may be omitted if information read from a disk memory or the like is printed out or stored in a microfilm file in real time. Furthermore, the output of information is not limited to print output, but can also be made into a soft copy on the display of a workstation, or transmitted to other information equipment. As described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible.

As described above, the present invention has the effect of shortening the information search time in a conventional information storage device.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a microfilm reader printer, Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a film type microfilm file, and Fig. 3
Figure 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a roll-type microfilm file, Figure 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional electronic file system, and Figure 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the information storage device of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a flowchart explaining the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 32...Document reader, 33...Printer, 34...Workstation, 35...Index file, 36...Disk memory, 37
... Microfilm file, 38 ... Controller, 39 ... Buffer memory.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A first information storage means that stores a plurality of pieces of information as signals and stores them in a randomly searchable state;
a second information storage means that stores a plurality of pieces of information in a randomly searchable state as a two-dimensional image independently of the information storage means; a means for outputting information from these information storage means; The control unit comprises means for controlling the output of information from the output means by managing an index of information stored in the storage means, and means for instructing the control means to output desired information. When the commanded information is stored only in the first information storage means or in the first and second information storage means, the means outputs the commanded information from the first information storage means and outputs the commanded information from the second information storage means. If the information is stored only in the means, the information is outputted from the second information storage means without going through the first information storage means, and then this information is stored in the first information storage means. An information storage device characterized by changing an index.