JPH08221817A - Information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To eliminate the useless access to data and to greatly shorten reading- out time by providing a control mechanism for classifying and rearranging input information to the levels meeting the need when reproducing and reads out only the required region thereof. CONSTITUTION: The image information made incident by passing a lens 101 is inputted at an exact level to an image pickup element 103 of a post stage by an adjusting mechanism 102, such as diaphragm or shutter. The image is thereafter amplified by a preamplifier 104 which is converted into an electric signal. This electric signal is converted by an A/D converter 105 into a digital signal. The A/D converter 105 is provided with a filter (not shown in Fig.) For antialiasing. The image information converted to the digital signal is inputted to the information processor 111. The inputted information is rearranged to a data string matched with an STM memory system of a port stage by a writing control circuit 106. The rearranged data is stored by the STM memory system.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus utilizing a physical phenomenon generated by bringing a probe and a recording medium close to each other, and particularly to a level according to the necessity of reproducing input information, for example, The present invention relates to an information recording / reproducing device that classifies according to the resolution level of an output device and reads only the necessary area.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the use of memory materials has become the core of the electronics industry for computers and related equipment, video discs, digital audio discs, etc., and the development of such materials is extremely active.
Although the performance required for the memory material varies depending on the application, it is essential that the response speed of recording and reproducing is fast. Until now, semiconductor memories and magnetic memories made of magnetic materials and semiconductors were mainly used, but with the recent advances in laser technology, optical memories using organic thin films such as organic dyes and photopolymers have become inexpensive and high-density. Recording media have appeared. On the other hand, recently, a scanning tunneling microscope (hereinafter abbreviated as STM) has been developed that enables direct observation of the electronic structure of surface atoms of a conductor [G. Binnig et al. Phys.
Rev. Lett, 49, 57 (1982)], high resolution measurement of a real space image can be performed regardless of whether it is a single crystal or an amorphous material. Moreover, there is an advantage that the sample can be observed at a low power without being damaged by an electric current. In addition, it is expected to be applied in a wide range because it can operate in the atmosphere and can be used for various materials. The STM utilizes the fact that a tunnel current flows when a voltage is applied between a metal probe (probe electrode) and a conductive substance to bring them closer to a distance of about 1 nm. This current is very sensitive because it responds exponentially to changes in distance between the two. By scanning the probe so that the tunnel current is kept constant, it is possible to read various kinds of information regarding the whole electron cloud in the real space. As a result, the resolution in the in-plane direction is about 0.1 nm. Therefore,
Applying the principle of STM, the atomic order (sub-
It is possible to perform high-density recording / reproduction in nanometers. For example, in the information processing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-80536, the atomic particles adsorbed on the surface of the medium are removed by an electron beam or the like, and writing is performed.
This data is reproduced by TM. A method has been proposed in which recording / reproducing is performed by STM using a thin film layer of a material having a memory effect for voltage / current switching characteristics such as an organic compound or chalcogen compound having a conjugated π electron system as a recording layer. (JP-A-63-161552, JP-A-63-161553). According to this method, if the recording bit size is 10 nm, 1 Tb
It is possible to record and reproduce as much as it / cm. There is also a cantilever type scanning mechanism for the probe electrode (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-281138), according to which a length of 100 μm made of SiO ₂ on a Si substrate,
It is possible to fabricate a plurality of cantilever type mechanisms each having a width of 10 to 20 μm and a thickness of about 0.5 μm, and the writing and reading circuits are integrated on the same substrate. Such a large-capacity memory system is meaningful in the field of image processing where the amount of information is very large. For example, it can be said that recent technological advances are indispensable for high-definition television, high-resolution still video, and the like.

[0003]

However, in such a large-capacity memory system, if it is attempted to read the input information at a constant high quality resolution,
It takes a long time to read and is often wasted. In the above memory system, this is a scan frequency of several hundred Hz due to physical conditions such as the resonance frequency of the cantilever.
Therefore, the transfer rate of information per probe is also limited to several hundreds kHz or less, and it takes a long time to read it, and the purpose of the output and the output device, etc. Therefore, high-definition resolution is not always required. For example, in the case of retrieval or head search, the processing speed is more important than the image quality. Further, for example, in the case of a still video or the like, a high resolution is required when the image is printed out by an electrophotographic technique or the like, but the monitor output does not require that much resolution, and it is not always necessary to record the image over 100 hours. You don't have to retrieve the percentage information.

Therefore, in the present invention, in the large-capacity memory system using the STM or the like, the input information is classified according to the level according to the necessity at the time of reproduction, for example, the resolution level of the output device, and the necessary area thereof. An object is to provide an information processing device that reads out only.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an information processing apparatus which scans a recording medium with a probe and writes and reads information by its physical interaction. It is configured to have a write control mechanism for classifying information into levels according to the necessity at the time of reproduction and a read control mechanism for reading only the necessary area. In the present invention, the write control mechanism is
A configuration having an arithmetic mechanism for classifying the input information according to a predetermined rule can be adopted. Further, the write control mechanism can be configured to include a rearrangement mechanism for writing the information classified by the arithmetic mechanism in a predetermined area on the recording medium. Also,
The read-out control mechanism can be configured to have a scan setting unit that sets a movement amount in the sub-scanning direction and can scan only a predetermined recording area. The scan setting unit can be configured so that the setting of the movement amount can be changed by switching the output device. Further, the read-out control mechanism may be configured to have a data generation mechanism for synthesizing a part or all of the information classified by the arithmetic mechanism.

[0006]

According to the present invention, the input information is classified into the levels according to the necessity at the time of reproduction as described above, and the input information is classified according to the usage level by having the control mechanism for reading only the necessary area. Then, the rearranged information is recorded in different areas on the recording medium, and at the time of reproduction, only the necessary area is accessed and the information is read according to the required resolution level. Is.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be specifically described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an embodiment of the present invention, and is a block diagram mainly for information input / output in the case where the memory system of the present invention is used in a high-definition digital still camera. First, the operation at the time of capturing an image will be described. Image information incident through the lens 101 is input to the image pickup element 103 in the subsequent stage at an accurate level by an adjusting mechanism 102 such as a diaphragm and a shutter. After that, the image is converted into an electric signal, amplified by the preamplifier 104, and converted into a digital signal by the A / D converter 105. Of course, although not shown, A
The / D converter 105 is provided with a filter for anti-aliasing. The image information converted into a digital signal is input to the information processing device 111, which is a feature of the present invention. The input information is the write control circuit 106.
Are rearranged into a data string that matches the STM memory system in the subsequent stage. The rearranged data is then stored by the STM memory system. The write control circuit 106 will be described in detail later.

Next, the image output operation will be described. The read control circuit 108 outputs a scan control signal corresponding to the output device. The scanning control signal is preset in the setting circuit 110.
Is set according to the output device. Alternatively,
It can be set manually by the user. The memory system 107 outputs data according to the scan control signal to the read control circuit 108. The read control circuit 108 shapes the sent data and sends it to the output device 109 which has made a request. Note that the writing control and the reading control circuit are controlled so that writing and reading are not performed at the same time.
There are various image output devices today. For example CR
An image monitor such as T, a device for printing an image on paper such as a printer, another storage device such as a magnetic disk or a compact disk, and a communication device. And their resolutions are also various. Relatively low resolution such as commonly used CRT, high resolution such as high-quality monitor and high-definition printer / printing machine, and actually high-definition image such as fax It is desired that the resolution is fixed to some extent due to problems such as data transfer time. In addition, although a high-definition image is required for output, high-definition is not always required for retrieval and the like in many cases. In such a case, it is not advisable to retrieve 100% of the data at the time of search because the search time will be delayed. Therefore, it is desirable to be able to easily output the data of the resolution of the required level. In the present invention, the write control circuit 106 and the read control circuit 108
Is provided to control the data input / output to / from the memory system 107 using the STM technology, thereby realizing it.

Next, a detailed description will be given of the memory system 107 using the STM technology. The STM memory system is realized by the configuration shown in FIG.
A certain predetermined bias is applied to the electrode substrate 210 by the read bias application circuit, and the distance between the probe 201 and the recording medium 211 or the electrode substrate 210 becomes a certain distance or less by the Z direction position control circuit 203. At this time, a tunnel current is detected between the electrode substrate 210 and the probe 201, or between the recording medium 211 on the electrode substrate and the probe. The detected tunnel current is converted into a voltage signal by the current-voltage (IV) converter 204 and sent to the Z-direction position control circuit 203 and the A / D converter 205. The Z direction position control circuit 203 controls the position of the probe so that the distance between the electrode substrate and the probe or the distance between the recording medium and the probe becomes constant based on the detected tunnel current value. On the other hand, the A / D converter is equipped with a filter for anti-aliasing.
The converted tunnel current data is sent to the bit data extraction circuit 206 and separated into bit 0 and 1 signals. Specifically, for example, a portion where the conductivity of the recording medium 211 has changed (hatched portion in the drawing) is set to 1, and a portion where the conductivity has not changed is set to 0. Further, data recording is performed by applying a write pulse voltage of a predetermined height by the write pulse applying circuit 202 between the probe and the electrode substrate. On the other hand, the operation within the surface of the recording medium is performed by the stage 209.
The stage operation control circuit 207 receives the scan control signal, and outputs a main scan signal and a sub scan signal in accordance with the instruction. The signal is amplified by an amplifier 208 and applied to an actuator such as a piezoelectric element (not shown) attached to the stage, so that the stage is scan-controlled. The schematic diagram shown in FIG. 2 shows only one tunnel current detection system, but when actually used, the data transfer rate is taken into consideration and a plurality of probe sets are used. As shown in FIG. 3, a bimorph cantilever 301 using a piezoelectric body manufactured by a semiconductor process is used for Z-direction position control, and its operation is controlled by a Z-direction position control circuit 304. The tunnel current signal is subjected to current-voltage conversion by the tunnel current detection circuit 305 and sent to the bit information extraction circuit 306 in the next stage. The bit information extraction circuit 306 is configured to extract bit information from the magnitude of the signal and the like, and the information is sent to the data bus. Further, writing is performed by a writing pulse applying circuit 307.
However, it receives write data from the data bus and writes it. Although the one shown in the figure is a control system for one probe unit, it is actually arranged in parallel, and by opening and closing the switches 309 to 311 for each probe, a plurality of probes can be multi-coupled by one set of control system. Have plex control. This switch is controlled by the timing control circuit 303.

Next, the writing / reading procedure, which is a characteristic part of the present invention, will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. First, the internal configuration of the write control circuit 106 is shown in FIG. The A / D converted signal is separated into signals for each pixel by the image information extraction unit 401 and stored in the buffer memory 402 as an original image. The calculation unit 403 decomposes the image data in the frequency domain. For example, it is preferable to use pyramid transform, sub-band transform, and further wavelet transform in order to hierarchically represent multiple resolutions. In this embodiment, the pyramid transformation is used. FIG. 7 shows an outline of the pyramid transformation. First, an original image is set to G0, and it is converted to G1 by a low pass filter. And
It shall be converted in order. From the relationship of these images, the G image with the lowest resolution,
It can be seen that an image with an arbitrary resolution can be obtained within the power of 2 by the sum of the L image sequences. Therefore, in this embodiment, the case where the image generation in FIG. 7 is expanded to L4 is shown.
The G5 image generated by the conversion is called level 1, L4 image is called level 2, L3 is called level 3, L2 is called level 4, L1 is called level 5, and L0 is called level 6. The number of data at each level is 4 times, 16 times, 64 times, and 256 times based on the number of level 1 data, respectively. Since the recording area of the data of each area on the STM memory system recording medium is simply the ratio of the number of data, for example, the data is rearranged on the medium of the memory system 107 as shown in FIG. Be sorted by. Actually, the rearrangement unit selects and outputs the image sequence data placed on the buffer memory by the operation unit 402 for each raster, and thus the rearranged data is output. The STM memory system 107 records the transmitted signal as it is on the medium as a data bit string.

The data arrangement of FIG. 6 will be described. Figure 6
(1) shows the relationship between level 1 and level 2 data. Only data of the same level is recorded in the same raster. The black dot sequence is a schematic representation of the bit sequence on the medium, the XY axes indicate the spatial position on the medium,
X indicates the main scanning direction, and Y indicates the sub scanning direction. There are four times as much level 2 data as level 1 data, so
Level 1 is set at a ratio of 1 raster to 4 rasters and arranged at equal intervals (four level 2 rasters are arranged at equal intervals in the square in the figure).
Next, FIG. 6B shows the data arrangement between the adjacent level 2 and the adjacent level 2 and the level 1 in FIG. 6A. Level 3 between adjacent Level 2
Are evenly spaced, but as mentioned above, level 2
Since the ratio of the number of data between the level 3 and the level 3 is four, there are four level 3 rasters in between (the four level 3 rasters are arranged at equal intervals in the squares in the figure). Exist). Actually, when the level 2 and the level 1 are equally spaced, the area indicated by the level 3 rectangle as shown in FIG. 6B is 5 between the level 1 raster and the next level 1 raster.
There is one, so the first one was made empty. As a whole, the level 1 raster groups are arranged at equal intervals of Y1, and the raster groups Y2 of level 2 and level 1 are arranged.
Are arranged at equal intervals. Although not shown in the drawing, in this way, in the case of this embodiment, the level 6 is actually used.
The data of is also arranged.

Next, the read operation will be described in detail. As described above, this system has a dynamic system (stage, cantilever, etc.) and a resonance frequency exists. Therefore, even if some modifications are made to the shape and rigidity, the scanning frequency is often limited to several hundred Hz. In that case, the bit diameter is 10 nm and the main scanning range is 1 μm.
Even if m, the transfer rate per probe is several hundred kb
The limit is it / sec. Therefore, it is important to scan only the necessary data in order to extract the data efficiently. The data on the medium in the memory system 107 is recorded as shown in FIG. 6 as described above. The inside of the read control circuit is as shown in FIG. Level 1
When processing the output device 1 that requires the signal of (1/256 compressed data), the output switching unit 502 switches the output destination to the output device 1, and the scan setting unit 501 performs scan control accordingly. As the signal, a signal designating a unit movement amount in the sub-scanning direction which is predetermined corresponding to the output device is output. This may be manually set by the user corresponding to the output device, or may have a switcher that is automatically set to a certain value when a certain output device is selected. In the embodiment, the manual setting signal can be input. As a result, by setting the unit movement amount in the sub-scanning (Y) direction shown in FIG. 6 to Y1, it becomes possible to scan the data of level 1 only, and therefore only the information of level 1 can be extracted. Since the data areas of other levels are not scanned, the transfer rate of several hundred kbit / sec is 10
Since 0% is used for outputting level 1 data, it is very fast. Further, in the case of the output device which needs the information of the level 2 next, similarly, the unit movement amount in the sub-scanning direction is set to Y2 to read the data of the level 2 (including level 1), and the data generation unit 503 and In the buffer memory 504, the level 1 waveform and the remaining level 2 waveform are added and output. According to this method, even for an output device that requires level 3, 4, 5, and 6 data, data can be read without waste by setting only the unit movement amount in the sub-scanning direction.
However, the empty area is controlled so as to be skipped. For example, in the embodiment, when the level 1 raster is read, the distance Y1 is skipped and the next level 2 raster is read at the interval Y2.

By using the information processing apparatus as described above, it is possible to efficiently read data at a resolution suitable for the output apparatus. Further, although the pyramid transform is used as the classification of the above resolution, it is not particularly limited as long as it is a process that can be performed by an arithmetic process, such as generally dividing by a wavelet transform. Furthermore, writing and reading can be efficiently performed by performing an appropriate compression operation on each image hierarchized by resolution. For example, for a Laplacian image sequence, a higher-resolution image has a narrower band as a high-frequency pass filter output, and therefore often contains only simple information such as points and lines. Therefore, by performing quantization and appropriate variable-length code allocation, compression up to about 1/6 can be easily performed, and highly efficient image recording becomes possible. In that case, the ratio of the recording area between the levels shown in FIG. 6 changes, and a demodulation circuit is required in the read circuit 108. Also, the above shows the still camera, but when searching with a monitor and outputting with a high-definition image printer, such as an electronic file, by applying the above invention, an effective image can be obtained. Can input and output data. Further, although the above-described embodiment has been described by taking only a still image as an object, it can be similarly applied to a video corresponding to a high-definition moving image (HDTV etc.). And FIG.
In the block diagrams such as the above, monochrome is targeted, but it goes without saying that the structure does not change even if a color luminance signal or the like is added as information. Lastly, although the embodiments have been described using the STM technology as a memory system, if the physical phenomena such as the atomic force microscope and the magnetic force microscope that are caused by bringing the medium and the probe into close proximity are used. Anything is possible.

[0014]

As described above, the present invention classifies the input information into levels according to the necessity at the time of reproduction and arranges the input information to the usage level by having a control mechanism for reading out only the necessary area. According to the level of resolution required at the time of reproduction, access only the required area and read the information. Therefore, it is possible to take out the data with the resolution according to the output device, and it is possible to eliminate unnecessary access to the data and significantly reduce the reading time. Further, by using this also for image search or the like, it is possible to provide an information processing apparatus capable of further rapid image search.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of an embodiment of a still camera using an information processing device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the basic principle of a memory using STM technology.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the concept of control switching when a memory is constructed by a multiprobe using a bimorph cantilever.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of a write control circuit in the information processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of a read control circuit in the information processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows an example of an arrangement of recorded information in an embodiment of a still camera using the information processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a pyramid transformation.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference numeral 101 lens 102 adjustment mechanism such as shutter 103 image sensor 104 preamplifier 105 A / D converter 106 write control circuit 107 memory system 108 read control circuit 109 output device 110 setting circuit 201 probe 202 pulse application circuit 203 Z direction 1 control circuit 204 Current-voltage converter 205 A / D converter 206 Bit data extraction circuit 207 Stage operation control circuit 208 Amplifier 209 Stage 210 Electrode substrate 211 Recording medium 301 Bimorph cantilever 303 Timing control circuit 304 Z direction position control circuit 305 Tunnel current detection circuit 306 bit Information extraction circuit 307 Write pulse application circuit 309 to 311 Switch 401 Image information extraction unit 402 Buffer memory 403 Operation unit 404 Rearrangement unit 501 Scan setting unit 502 Output switching unit 503 Data generation unit 504 Buffer memory

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Akihiko Yamano 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An information processing apparatus which scans a recording medium with a probe and writes and reads information by a physical interaction of the probe so that input information is classified into levels according to the necessity at the time of reproduction. An information processing apparatus having a control mechanism and a read control mechanism for reading out only a necessary area thereof. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the write control mechanism has an arithmetic mechanism for classifying input information according to a predetermined rule. 3. The information according to claim 2, wherein the write control mechanism has a rearrangement mechanism for writing the information classified by the operation mechanism in a predetermined area on a recording medium. Processing equipment. 4. The reading control mechanism includes a scan setting unit that sets a movement amount in the sub-scanning direction and can scan only a predetermined recording area. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3. 5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the scan setting unit is configured so that the setting of the movement amount can be changed by switching the output device. 6. The read control mechanism has a data generation mechanism for synthesizing a part or all of the information classified by the arithmetic mechanism. The information processing apparatus according to any one of 1.