Image storing managing apparatus and method for retreiving and displaying merchandise and customer specific sales information

A customer and merchandise image data are picked up by an image generator and are stored in a customer data storage section and a merchandise data storage section in a data storage section together with link data and key data about each customer and each merchandise. Sales data of a merchandise for each customer is stored in a sales data storage section. In accordance with an instruction from an instruction input section, a processor searches the customer data and merchandise data storage sections and displays one of data about a specific customer and data about a specific merchandise with an image on a display, or retrieves data about a specific customer and data about each merchandise purchased by this customer from the customer data and merchandise data storage sections based on the sales data stored in the sales data storage section and displays those data with images on the display in association with each other.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to an image storage managing apparatus and 
image storage managing method for properly retrieving and displaying 
stored image data. 
2. Description of the Related Art 
For shops and sales companies which sell merchandise, sales management of 
merchandise and customer management are important managerial work. 
Recently, POS (Point Of Sales) management has been introduced for sales 
management. With the use of this POS management, as a bar code affixed to 
a merchandise is read out, data on which merchandise has been sold is 
registered so that it is possible to discriminate how well individual 
merchandise has been sold and this information can be an index for placing 
an order for merchandise or sending back some merchandise. Accumulating 
such information provides a way to easily discriminating which merchandise 
is sold in which season, on which day of the week and in which time zone. 
It is apparent that sales management has been computerized significantly. 
Customer management, however, is often a paper-basis process involving 
customer cards or the like. Further, the contents of the management 
information contain only imageless, character information. In some cases, 
a silver photograph or Polaroid photograph may merely be stuck on each 
customer card. 
Attempts have also been made towards the computerization of the customer 
management. In this computerized system, ID cards of a credit-card size, 
such as service cards and membership cards, affixed with bar codes or 
magnetic tapes are issued to individual customers, and various types of 
information are data-based for the individual customers. In this case, 
however, accumulated information also consists only of character 
information. 
Although the computerization of both the merchandise sales management and 
customer management is progressing gradually, those managements are 
independent of each other and are not linked to each other. For instance, 
for convenience stores, it is not so important who bought what, i.e., it 
is not considered so important what merchandise has been sold to which 
people. 
However, there are some fields in which it is very important what 
merchandise has been sold to what people. In the apparel field, for 
example, if the preferences and purchase history is known, this known 
bought what merchandises or clothes is known, this information becomes 
very effective in planning and selling clothes. This system requires image 
data as well as character data. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is therefore an object of the present invention to ensure the management 
of merchandise information containing images and customer information also 
containing images in association with each other. 
To achieve the above object, according to one aspect of this invention, 
there is provided an image storage managing apparatus comprising: 
customer data storage means for storing various types of information on 
each customer together with image data thereof; 
merchandise data storage means for storing various types of information on 
each merchandise together with image data thereof; 
sales data storage means for storing customer-merchandise link data for 
each customer, indicating merchandises purchased by the customer; and 
customer-merchandise retrieving means for retrieving information on a 
specific customer and information on each merchandise purchased by the 
specific customer from the customer data storage means and the merchandise 
data storage means based on the customer-merchandise link data stored in 
the sales data storage means, and displaying those information with images 
in association with each other. 
According to another aspect of this invention, there is provided an image 
storage managing method comprising the steps of: 
storing various types of information on each customer together with image 
data thereof in customer data storage means; 
storing various types of information on each merchandise together with 
image data thereof in merchandise data storage means; 
storing customer-merchandise link data for each customer in sales data 
storage means, the link data indicating merchandises purchased by the 
customer; and 
retrieving information on a specific customer and information on each 
merchandise purchased by the specific customer from the customer data 
storage means and the merchandise data storage means based on the 
customer-merchandise link data stored in the sales data storage means, and 
displaying those information with images in association with each other. 
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the 
description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the 
description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects 
and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of 
the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the 
appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described 
referring to the accompanying drawings. The following description will be 
given of the case where this invention is applied to a small apparel shop 
which plans, manufactures and retails clothes. This is to be considered as 
illustrative and not restrictive and the invention may be adapted for 
larger apparel shops or other businesses. 
In FIG. 1 showing the structure of a first embodiment of this invention, an 
image generator 10 picks up the images of merchandise and customers to 
generate their image data. A card camera, such as an electronic still 
camera, which electronically stores picked-up image data into a recording 
medium like a memory card may be used as this image generator 10. This 
card camera is equipped with a small color display, e.g., liquid crystal 
display, for displaying image data stored in the recording medium, and may 
be connected to a color video printer or the like as needed to print out 
the image data. 
The image data generated by the image generator 10 is supplied to an image 
storage managing section that is constituted by, for example, a personal 
computer system. In this case, the supply of image data is accomplished by 
dismounting a memory card 12 as a recording medium from the card camera, 
installing the memory card 12 in an image input section 14, e.g., a card 
reader, and then reading the stored data from the memory card 12. 
Alternatively, a compact hard disk (HD) 16 may be used as a recording 
medium, or the image generator 10 may be directly connected to the image 
input section 14 via a wire 18. 
The image data input from the image input section 14 is stored in a data 
storage section 22 under the control of a processor 20. A recording 
medium, such as a hard disk, a magneto-optical disk or a laser disk, may 
be used as this data storage section 22. The data storage section 22 
includes a customer data storage section 24 for storing customer data, a 
merchandise data storage section 26 for storing merchandise data, a sales 
data storage section 28 for storing sales data and a memo data storage 
section 30 for storing other various types of data. 
The customer data storage section 24 stores data in an image data section 
24A, a link item section 24B and a key item section 24C for each customer 
image data input through the image input section 14. The image data stored 
in the image data section 24A alone just forms images. To indicate to 
which customer the image data belongs, key data, such as the name, address 
and telephone number, is stored in the key item section 24C. This key data 
is written by the processor 20 in accordance with the input operation of a 
key input section 32 like a keyboard. The image data (24A) does not exist 
alone but is associated with some other pictures and/or files. That is, 
for the same customer, image data contains a plurality of images, such as 
a full-size image, a half-size image and a face image, which should be 
linked to one another to prevent the disordered arrangement of the images. 
In this respect, link data to link those images from one to another is 
stored in the link item section 24B. In other words, least associated 
image data can be linked together by this link data. This link data is 
written by the processor 20 in accordance with the input operation of the 
link input section 34 like a keyboard. 
Like the customer data storage section 24, the merchandise data storage 
section 26 stores data in an image data section 26A, a link item section 
26B and a key item section 26C for each merchandise image data input 
through the image input section 14. 
The sales data storage section 28 stores sales data as customer-merchandise 
link data and customer-merchandise link data. Customer-merchandise link 
data 28A indicates a merchandise M purchased by each customer C, which is 
stored for that customer C. Likewise, customer-merchandise link data 28B 
indicates a customer C who has purchased each merchandise M, which is 
stored for each merchandise M. In other words, if there are some pieces of 
merchandise data, the sales data storage section 28 stores information on, 
for example, when a merchandise one (M1) was purchased by which customer 
C, or when the merchandise M1 was sold to a certain customer C1. This 
sales data is written by the processor 20 in accordance with the input 
operation of the keyboard for a manual input or the input operation of a 
sales data input section 36, which is constituted as a POS terminal, for 
an automatic input. 
The memo data storage section 30 stores various kinds of image data for 
reference, e.g., buttons, designs and images of magazines. Like the 
customer data storage section 24 and the merchandise data storage section 
26, this memo data storage section 30 stores data in an image data 
section, a link item section and a key item section for each image data 
input from the image input section 14 though not illustrated. 
Further connected to the processor 20 are a customer ID input section 38, 
an instruction input section 40, a display 42, an image output section 44 
and an external input/output (I/O) unit 46. 
To retrieve images, associated with a customer when this customer came to 
the shop previously, from the data storage section 22, the shop should 
quickly find out who the customer is or the name and the number of that 
customer. In this respect, the customer ID input section 38 is provided. 
More specifically, this customer ID input section 38 serves to input data 
specifying each customer in order to make the use of available associated 
images even if the name of the customer is not forgotten or known. The 
customer ID input section 38 may be a card reader or bar code reader which 
reads out data specifying each customer from an ID card issued to that 
customer. Alternatively, the customer ID input section 38 may be a 
keyboard or voice input ten keys through which the customer inputs the ID 
number. In the latter case, however, some measures should be taken to 
cause each customer to enter his or her own ID number willingly. For 
example, when a customer comes shopping in a shop where every customer is 
asked to change the shoes to slippers, an attendant could say something 
like "please give me your ID number and we will bring the slippers you 
wore last time" to obtain the ID number such as the telephone number from 
the customer. In this case, the slippers are used as a tool to convince 
each customer that the ID number is needed to have the slippers 
particularly prepared for that customer. 
The instruction input section 40 is a keyboard or a mouse for instructing 
the processor 20 to execute retrieval or the like of data in the data 
storage section 22, and the display 42 is a CRT monitor or the like for 
displaying the results of the retrieval. 
The image output section 44, as opposed to the image input section 14, is a 
card writer for writing image data, read from the data storage section 22, 
onto the memory card 12 as a recording medium. The image output section 44 
may be a device which writes image data on a compact HD 16 as a recording 
medium. 
The recording medium, such as the memory card 12 or compact HD 16, is 
installed in a house-to-house sales tool 48. The card camera in the image 
generator 10 may be used directly as this tool 48. That is, image data 
electronically stored in the installed recording medium may be displayed 
on a small color display like a color liquid crystal display or the card 
camera may be connected to a color video printer or the like as needed to 
print out the image data to help explain popular merchandise in a 
customer's house, another sales company, a retail shop or the like. 
Assuming that there are top ten well-selling clothes and information 
thereon are stored and organized in the data storage section 22, then the 
mobility is apparently improved significantly if the images of those 
clothes are saved on a recording medium, such as the memory card 12, and 
the salesman or saleswoman brings the recording medium and the card camera 
along than if the salesperson actually brings the clothes along. The 
house-to-house sales tool 48 may be a compact and light computer or a 
so-called notebook computer, as well as the card camera. 
The external I/O unit 46 includes an interface to external memory devices, 
such as an FD drive, MO drive and CD-ROM drive, and an image scanner that 
is used as an auxiliary image input section. 
The thus constituted image storage managing apparatus can register an input 
image in a computer, and can retrieve individual image-containing 
information and display the retrieval results in some cases or can display 
the images of both a customer and a merchandise in association with each 
other to clarify the correlation between the customer and merchandise. 
FIG. 2 presents a flowchart illustrating a retrieval process executed by 
the processor 20. With a vast amount of data already stored in the data 
storage section 22, when a retrieval condition is input as needed through 
the instruction input section 40 to instruct retrieval of customers (step 
S10), the processor 20 selects a list display as one way of displaying the 
retrieval result (step S12), and searches the customer data storage 
section 24 in the data storage section 22 (step S14). The processor 20 
then displays an image and characters (customer data representative items) 
which match with the input retrieval condition on the display 42 as a 
customer retrieval list display 50 (step S16) as shown in FIG. 3. This 
customer retrieval list display 50 actually becomes the one shown in FIG. 
4. 
When an operator operates a mouse of the instruction input section .cent.0 
to move a mouse cursor 40C to a target image and then clicks the right 
mouse button (step S18), detailed information about that image is read out 
from the key item section 24C and is displayed around the image (step S20) 
as shown in FIG. 4. If the left mouse button is clicked (step S22), the 
processor 20 determines whether or not the mouse cursor 40C is pointing an 
image (step S24). If the mouse cursor 40C is pointing a sort order item, 
not an image, the processor 20 returns to the aforementioned step S14 and 
searches the customer data storage section 24 again in accordance with the 
indicated sort order. If it is determined in the step S24 that an image is 
pointed, the processor 20 proceeds to step S30 to be described later. 
When the termination of the retrieval process is instructed through the 
unillustrated keyboard of the instruction input section 40 (step S26), the 
processor 20 terminates the retrieval process. 
when a retrieval with a customer name or the like as a key is specified 
through the instruction input section 40 in the step S10, the processor 20 
selects an individual display as one way of displaying the retrieval 
result (step S12), and searches the customer data storage section 24 in 
the data storage section 22 (step S28). The processor 20 then displays an 
image and characters (customer data essential items) which match with the 
input retrieval condition on the display 42 as a customer data individual 
display 52 (step S30) as shown in FIG. 3. When an image is selected in the 
list display 50 in step S24, this customer data individual display 52 can 
be given for the selected image. 
This customer data individual display 52 actually becomes as shown in FIG. 
5 or FIG. 6. FIG. 5 shows a face image fetched as the image of the 
customer. When the operator points the mouse cursor 40C to, for example, 
"full-length image" in the individual display as indicated in FIG. 5 and 
then clicks the left mouse button (step S32), the flow returns to the step 
S28 to retrieve the image data of the full-length image linked by the link 
data of the image data in the link item section 24B, and the display is 
switched to the full-length image display as shown in FIG. 6. If the 
full-length image of the customer, instead of the face image alone, is 
shown, an attendant can better understand what kinds of clothes the 
customer prefers. The items, such as the aforementioned "full-length 
image," are displayed when selectable images are available based on the 
link data set in the link item section 24B. 
When the termination of the retrieval process is instructed through the 
unillustrated keyboard of the instruction input section 40 (step S34), the 
processor 20 terminates the retrieval process. 
When a retrieval with a key to specify a customer and an instruction to 
retrieve merchandises purchased by this customer are input through the 
instruction input section 40 in the step S10, the processor 20 selects a 
purchase display as one way of displaying the retrieval result (step S12), 
and executes a retrieval based on sales data (step S36). The processor 20 
then displays the retrieval results on the display 42 as a 
customer-merchandise purchase display 54 (step S38) as shown in FIG. 3. 
This customer-merchandise purchase display 54 actually becomes as shown in 
FIG. 7. 
When the operator moves the mouse cursor 40C to a sort order item and then 
clicks the left mouse button (step S40), the flow returns to the step S36 
to search the customer data storage section 22 again in accordance with 
the sort order specified by the mouse cursor 40C then. 
When the termination of the retrieval process is instructed through the 
unillustrated keyboard of the instruction input section 40 (step S42), the 
processor 20 terminates the retrieval process. 
If the images of clothes the customer has tried on every occasion besides 
the merchandises actually purchased are stored, those images can also 
displayed together with the retrieval results as shown in FIG. 8 or FIG. 
9. This allows the attendant to give some advices on the selection of 
merchandises in light of the total coordination with the clothes the 
customer already owns. 
With regard to merchandises, as in the above-described case of the 
customer, as a retrieval condition is input as needed through the 
instruction input section 40, the processor 20 searches the data storage 
section 22 for images and characters which match the retrieval condition, 
and displays the retrieval results on the display 42 as a merchandise 
retrieval list display 56 as shown in FIG. 3. This merchandise retrieval 
list display 56 actually becomes as shown in FIG. 10. 
If any image in the merchandise retrieval list display 56 is specified or a 
retrieval with a merchandise name as a key is instructed by the 
instruction input section 40, the retrieval results are displayed as a 
merchandise data individual display 58 as shown in FIG. 3. This 
merchandise data individual display 58 actually becomes as shown in FIG. 
11. If there are selectable images, those items are also displayed. 
When a key specifying a merchandise and an instruction to retrieve the 
customers who bought the merchandise are input through the instruction 
input section 40, the processor 20 performs the retrieval process based on 
sales data and displays the retrieval results on the display 42 as a 
customer-merchandise purchase display 60, as shown in FIG. 3. 
As various kinds of information for reference including button data, design 
data, town data and measurement data are also stored as memo data in the 
data storage section 22, those information can also be searched. That is, 
as in the case of the customer and the case of the merchandise, a list 
display or an individual display as shown in FIG. 12 may be presented. 
The timing for storing image data and the actual utilization of the stored 
image data will be described below with reference to a sequence of 
flowcharts shown in FIGS. 13A to 13E. 
First, based on information stored in the data storage section 22, a 
variety of clothes are planned and considered to determine which clothes 
should actually be made (step S50). That is, it is possible to design 
clothes based on old merchandise images and information on magazines by 
referring to the merchandise retrieval list display 56, the merchandise 
data individual display 58 and memo data display. 
Then, clothes whose production has been decided are prepared as samples 
(ready-made clothes) (step S52), and the samples are photographed by the 
card camera of the image generator 10 (step S54). The picked-up image data 
of the merchandise are input through the image input section 14 and link 
data and key data are input through the link input section 34 and the key 
input section 32, and those data are then registered in the merchandise 
data storage section 26 in the data storage section 22 (step S56). 
Next, direct mails (DMs) to limited customers are prepared referring to the 
customer retrieval list display 50, the customer data individual display 
52 and the customer-merchandise purchase display 54 and are mailed (step 
S58). At this time, the images of the merchandise, which are saved in the 
house-to-house sales tool 48 from the image output section 44 and are 
printed from a video printer or the like, may be used for the DMs. 
When a customer actually comes to the shop (step S60), the ID number or the 
like is input from the customer ID input section 38 to search the data 
storage section 22 and present the customer data individual display 52 and 
the customer-merchandise purchase display 54 (step S62). This system can 
provide the brief information on the customer, so that even if the 
attendant in charge for the customer is not present, the customer can 
properly be attended. Next, the attendant photographs the customer with 
the card camera of the image generator 10, prints out the photograph from 
the video printer and presents the print to the customer as a remembrance 
(step S64). The attendant then asks the customer the purpose of his or her 
coming to the shop, i.e., asks the customer if he or she wants to buy some 
ready-made clothes or prepare easy-made clothes or custom-made clothes 
(step S66). 
If the customer came to buy some ready-made clothes (step S68), the 
attendant shows the proper merchandises according to the clothes purchased 
earlier or the image of the clothes the customer is currently wearing or 
in accordance with the customer's present request to allow the customer to 
select a desired merchandise (step S70). If there is any desired 
merchandise, the attendant asks the customer to actually try it on (step 
S72), takes a picture of the customer and then prints out the photograph 
from the video printer (step S74). The print can therefore be used in 
place of an image on an ordinary mirror, and different postures with 
different merchandise on can easily be compared with one another. Even if 
some merchandise is out of stock, the images of the merchandise can be 
shown to the customer as additional candidates. In this manner, 
merchandise sold out or old merchandise can be counted as selling 
merchandise. 
When an item of merchandise to be purchased is decided upon (step S76), the 
attendant enters the necessary information, such as the size, the name of 
the customer, the address, the telephone number, the name of the 
merchandise, the material and the price, in the sales book (step S78), 
receives the money (step S80), and hands out the merchandise to the 
customer (step S82). Then, the customer brings the merchandise home (step 
S84). At the time data is entered in the sales book, the necessary entries 
can be made by referring to the customer data individual display 52, thus 
eliminating the need for asking the customer for the name, etc. 
After the customer leaves the shop, the customer management process is 
performed (step S86) as follows. The recording medium, such as the memory 
card 12, is removed from the card camera of the image generator 10 and is 
placed in the card reader of the image input section 14 to input the image 
data to the data storage section 22. The customer retrieval list display 
50 including the image data, the customer data individual display 52, the 
customer-merchandise purchase display 54, or the like is displayed and by 
referring to this display and the data-entered sales book, the attendant 
operates the link input section 34, the key input section 32, the sales 
data input section 36, etc., i.e., operates the keyboard to input the 
necessary data. 
If data is directly read from the customer's ID card or the bar code on the 
tag put on each item of merchandise, the aforementioned entry to the sales 
book becomes unnecessary and the amount of input data in the customer 
management process can be reduced greatly. 
If the customer came to order some easy-made clothes (step S68), the 
attendant shows samples for easy-made clothes according to the clothes 
purchased earlier or the image of the clothes the customer is currently 
wearing or in accordance with the customer's present request to allow the 
customer to select a desired sample (step S88). 
If there is any desired sample, the attendant takes a picture of the sample 
(step S90). Further, various measurements of the customer are obtained 
(step S92), and the attendant enters the necessary information, such as 
data on the measurements, the name of the customer, the address, the 
telephone number, the name of the merchandise, the material, the price, 
the amount of a deposit and the appointed date of delivery, in the order 
book (step S78), receives the money (step S94). Further, the attendant 
takes a picture of the customer, prints out the photograph from the video 
printer and presents the print to the customer as a remembrance of the 
purchase (step S96). Upon reception of the price or a deposit (step S98), 
the attendant hands out a merchandise exchange ticket or the like to the 
customer (step S100). Then, the customer brings the ticket home (step 
102). At the time data is entered in the order book, the necessary entries 
can be made by referring to the customer data individual display 52, thus 
eliminating the need for asking the customer for the name, etc. 
After the customer leaves the shop, the customer management process is 
performed (step S104) as follows. The recording medium, such as the memory 
card 12, is removed from the card camera of the image generator 10 and is 
placed in the card reader of the image input section 14 to input the image 
data to the data storage section 22. The customer retrieval list display 
50 including the image data, the customer data individual display 52, the 
customer-merchandise purchase display 54, or the like is displayed and by 
referring to this display and the data-entered sales book, the attendant 
operates the link input section 34, the key input section 32, the sales 
data input section 36, etc., i.e., operates the keyboard to input the 
necessary data. 
If data is directly read from the customer's ID card or the bar code on the 
tag put on each merchandise, the aforementioned entry to the sales book 
becomes unnecessary and the amount of input data in the customer 
management process can be reduced greatly. If there is data of the 
measurements of previously purchased clothes, the step of measuring the 
size may be partially omitted. 
If the ordered clothes are made based on the order book (step S106) and the 
clothes are complete, the attendant informs the customer of the completion 
or informs the customer of the expected completion date (appointed date of 
delivery) (step S108). If the date and time for the next visit of the 
customer are checked here, the face and name of the customer can be 
checked in advance referring to the customer data individual display 52. 
When the customer came to the shop next time to pick up the completed 
clothes (step S110), therefore, the retrieval as executed in the step S62 
becomes unnecessary. If the attendant is not present, the customer can be 
properly attended after executing the retrieval in the step S62. 
Next, the attendant asks the customer to actually try the completed clothes 
on (step S112), takes a picture of the customer, and then prints out the 
photograph from the video printer to present the picture to the customer 
(step S114). After the clothes are wrapped and given to the customer (step 
S116), the customer brings the merchandise home (step S118). 
After the customer leaves the shop, the customer management process is 
performed (step S120) as follows. The recording medium, such as the memory 
card 12, is removed from the card camera of the image generator 10 and is 
placed in the card reader of the image input section 14 to input the image 
data of the customer with the merchandise on to the data storage section 
22. The customer retrieval list display 50 including the image data, the 
customer data individual display 52, the customer-merchandise purchase 
display 54, or the like is displayed and by referring to this display and 
the data-entered sales book, the attendant operates the link input section 
34, the key input section 32, the sales data input section 36, etc., i.e., 
operates the keyboard to input the necessary data. 
When the customer having come to the shop wants to order custom-made 
clothes (step S68), the customer consults with the attendant about the 
design (step S122) referring to the merchandise retrieval list display 56, 
the customer data individual display 58 and memo data or some printouts if 
necessary. That is, the attendant can suggest designs based on the designs 
of the old merchandises. Once the final design is decided (step S124), the 
flow proceeds to the aforementioned step S92 to execute a sequence of 
processes after the size measuring. 
If the final design has not been decided yet but there are some candidates 
(step S124), the attendant takes a picture of the customer and inputs the 
image via the image input section 14 to the data storage section 22 (step 
S126). Then, the image of the customer is combined with the images of the 
candidate designs for simulation to allow the customer to decide the most 
desirable design (step S128). If the final design is decided (step S130), 
the flow proceeds to the step S92 to execute a sequence of processes after 
the size measuring. As the customer is shown only the image of the 
customer photographed in the step S126, therefore, the customer cannot 
know that the images photographed at other timings are utilized in the 
customer management. 
Instead of taking a picture of every customer who has come to the shop to 
store the images of individual customers, which is not so effective, good 
potential customers may be invited to a show, an exhibition or the like so 
that their pictures can be taken at that time. 
The process of inputting images into the data storage section 22 in the 
aforementioned steps S54, S86, S104, S120 and S126 is executed as 
illustrated in FIG. 14. 
When an image is input from the image input section 14 (step S140), the 
processor 20 displays it on the display 42 (step S142) to allow the 
operator to determine what kind of image the input image is, i.e., to 
determine in which one of the customer data storage section 24, the 
merchandise data storage section 26 or the memo data storage section 30 
the image should be stored. When an instruction to select the storage 
section where the image should be stored is given through the instruction 
input section 40 (step S144), then the processor 20 receives link data 
from the link input section 34 (step S146) and key data from the key input 
section 32 (step S148). Then, those input images, link data and key data 
are registered as one record in the selected data storage section (step 
S150). This processing is repeated for all the images (step S152). If 
there is an image which need not be registered, the processes from the 
step S144 to the step S150 can be skipped. 
The process of inputting sales data in the steps S86, S104 and S120 is 
executed as illustrated in FIG. 15. 
When data specifying a customer and data specifying an item of merchandise 
purchased by this customer are input through the sales data input section 
36 or the keyboard (step S160), the processor 20 first searches the 
customer-merchandise link data 28A in the sales data storage section 28 
for a record associated with the customer (step S162). If there is any 
such record, data indicative of the merchandise purchased by the customer 
is affixed to that record for renewal (step S164). If there is no 
associated record, on the other hand, a new record for the customer is 
created and data indicating the merchandise purchased by the customer is 
stored (step S166). Next, likewise, the processor 20 searches the 
merchandise-customer link data 28B in the sales data storage section 28 
for a record associated with the merchandise (step S168). If there is any 
such record, data indicative of the customer who purchased the merchandise 
is affixed to that record for renewal (step S170). If there is no 
associated record, on the other hand, a new record for the merchandise is 
created and data indicating the customer who purchased the merchandise is 
stored (step S172). This processing is repeated until every sales data is 
processed (step S174). 
The storage management of images in the above manner produce the following 
various advantages. 
If the image of the clothes the customer was wearing when the customer came 
to the shop is photographed and is stored, the attendant can find out what 
kind of clothes the customer tends to wear through a series of 
photographs. The attendant can also find out the preference of the 
customer and the clothes the customer has. That is, this information is 
very effective. 
With the use of such an image storage management, stores may easily be 
replaced with corporations. The storage and management of customer data 
allows a company to manage who a visiting customer is even if the 
attendant is absent or is not available for some other reasons, and allows 
the company to hand the customer data as company data. 
Further, it is possible to sell merchandise in some coordination based on 
old purchase data. 
In photographing the customer in full size, the user normally holds the 
camera vertically. In this case, the image to be stored in the recording 
medium or the image to be displayed on the CRT display would be a sideways 
image rotated 90 degrees from the vertical posture. It is therefore 
necessary to perform the vertical/horizontal conversion of the image at 
the time the data from the image input section 14 is stored in the data 
storage section 22, or at the time the image data is retrieved from the 
data storage section 22 and is displayed on the display 42. The 
vertical/horizontal conversion can be instructed through the instruction 
input section 40. It is more preferable that the vertical posture or 
horizontal posture should automatically be discriminated from the image of 
the clothes in the photographed image or the position of the face of the 
customer in that image. Assuming that the image data is limited to either 
clothes or a customer, then the face, one prominent feature of a human 
body, should extend along the longer axis, so that the vertical posture or 
horizontal posture can be discriminated by extracting the outline of the 
face. If the discrimination is made based only on the face, the upper and 
lower portions can be discriminated from the hair part and the face part. 
For the images of merchandise, there is a clear difference between the 
upper and lower image characteristics for skirts or pants, so that the 
upper and lower portions can be discriminated easily. 
If the key items include "height," the height can be automatically measured 
to provide the height item based on the outline of the photographed image 
of the customer. 
The image data may of course be compressed before being stored. 
A second embodiment of this invention will be described below. 
In the above-described first embodiment, a list of the retrieved images is 
displayed, the desired image is selected from among those images with the 
mouse and the selected image is individually displayed. If the presented 
list contains too many images, the individual images should inevitably 
become smaller, making it difficult to discriminate the contents of each 
image so that the user may have some difficulty in determining whether or 
not to select a certain image. In this respect, therefore, the first 
embodiment displays images in a 2.times.3 matrix. If the retrieval results 
in many associated images, the screen should be changed one after another 
until the desired image appears. To eliminate such a troublesome 
operation, it is apparently desirable that many images can be displayed at 
a time. The second embodiment is designed to display many images at a time 
while making the contents of each image easily discriminatable. 
FIG. 16 presents a flowchart illustrating a process about a list display 
portion in the retrieval process executed by the processor 20 according to 
the second embodiment. As already described with reference to the 
flowchart in FIG. 2, when a retrieval condition is input as needed through 
the instruction input section 40 to instruct retrieval of customers, the 
processor 20 selects a list display as one way of displaying the retrieval 
result, and enters the flowchart in FIG. 16. The processor 20 then 
searches the customer data storage section 24 in the data storage section 
22 (step S14), and displays images and characters (customer data 
representative items) which match with the input retrieval condition, on 
the display 42 as a customer retrieval list display 50 (step S16) in the 
form of m.times.n images (5.times.4 images in this embodiment) as shown in 
FIG. 17. The image selection screen which displays a list of 5.times.4 
images in a matrix form, each image displayed is small. 
In some cases, it is difficult to determine whether or not an individual 
display of such a small image should be presented for further detailed 
information. In this case, the image can be enlarged for further details. 
When the operator moves the mouse cursor 40C to a target image and then 
keeps depressing the right mouse button on that image (step S18), detailed 
information about that image is read out from the key item section 24C and 
is displayed in a character data display area 62 (step S20), and the image 
is displayed in enlargement (step S180), as shown in FIG. 18. In this 
case, the image should be displayed in enlargement without overlapping 
adjoining images. Releasing the right mouse button (step S182) erases the 
enlarged display and returns the image display to the original status. 
If the left mouse button is clicked (step S22), the processor 20 determines 
whether or not the mouse cursor 40C is pointing a "sort order" button 64 
(step S184). If the mouse cursor 40C is pointing the "sort order" button, 
sort order items are displayed in the character data display area 62 (step 
S186) so that further selection by the mouse is possible. When the sort 
order is specified, the flow returns to the step S14 and retrieval and 
display are executed according to the specified sort order. 
If it is not determined in the step S184 that the mouse is pointing the 
"sort order" button 64, it is then determined whether a "previous" button 
66 or a "next" button 68 has been operated (step S190). If either button 
is operated, the flow returns to the step S14 to execute the retrieval and 
display of the previous or next 20 images specified by the button. 
When it is not determined in the step S190 that the "previous" button 66 or 
"next" button 68 has not been operated, it is determined if an "end" 
button 70 has been operated (step S192). If this button 70 has been 
operated, the processor 20 terminates this retrieval process. 
When it is not determined in the step S192 that the "end" button 70 has not 
been operated, the processor 20 considers that an image has been selected 
and goes to the step S30 to effect the individual display of the selected 
image. 
In effecting the enlarged display in the step S180, the enlarged image 
display may be presented in such a way as to partially overlap the 
adjoining images as long as the adjoining images are not entirely hidden, 
as shown in FIG. 19. 
The buttons of the mouse may be reversed. 
In selecting an image to be processed from among many images listed in an 
m.times.n matrix form, each image is too small to make easier selection so 
that the image is selectively displayed in enlargement. At this time, the 
enlarged image display is effected in such a way that the image does not 
overlap the adjoining images or does not completely covers the adjoining 
images if partially overlapping them. That is, as each image can be 
enlarged without affecting the list of images, the image can easily be 
checked. Further, rough information about the enlarged image is displayed 
together with the enlarged image, it becomes easier to select the desired 
image. 
The scheme of enlarging each image is applicable not only to the selection 
of an image to be individually displayed from among a list of images but 
also to various other cases. For instance, in the case of displaying a 
plurality of images side by side as in the purchase display as shown in 
FIG. 7, this enlarging scheme may be adapted to enlarge the image as shown 
in FIG. 20 to see the details of the desired image. 
Alternatively, this method can be adapted for an operation to transfer an 
image file that is used for the backup purpose. This case will be 
described below with reference to FIGS. 21A and 21B which present a 
sequence of flowcharts for a process executed by the processor 20 when the 
transfer of image data is instructed by the instruction input section 40. 
First, a transfer setting screen as shown in FIG. 22A for selecting the 
sender and receiver for image data to be transferred is displayed on the 
display 42 (step S200). Then, the unillustrated mouse of the instruction 
input section 40 is operated to select the sender and receiver for the 
image data to be transferred from among displayed icons 72, namely, a hard 
disk, MO, memory card and floppy disk (step S202). 
When the left mouse button is clicked on the target icons 72, the icons 72 
are emphasized in black frame as shown in FIG. 22B indicating that they 
have been selected. It should be noted that the sender and the receiver 
cannot be the same. Depending on the types of the selected sender and 
receiver, the image may be transferred from the sender to the receiver or 
the image may be copied. For instance, if the sender is a hard disk and 
the receiver is an MO, image data is transferred to the MO from the hard 
disk. Otherwise, the image data is copied to the receiver from the sender. 
When the image sender and the receiver are both selected, an arrow 74 at 
the center portion in the screen changes to black from gray, allowing the 
screen to change to the image selection screen. 
By depressing an "OK" button 76 or moving the mouse cursor there and 
clicking the left mouse button (step S204), transfer setting is 
accomplished and the next image selection screen will be displayed. When 
either one of the image sender and the receiver or both are not selected, 
or when the same is selected for the sender and receiver, it is treated as 
NG (No Good) (step S206) so that even depressing the "OK" button 76 does 
not present the image selection screen. 
When the transfer setting is completed, the image section screen showing a 
list of m.times.n (5.times.4 in this embodiment) images in a matrix form 
is displayed on the display 42 as shown in PIG. 23. This screen shows a 
hard disk selected as the image sender and an MO selected as the receiver. 
In this image section screen, image data is transferred by selecting an 
image to be transferred and depressing a "transfer" button 78. Above each 
image is an ID number for managing the image in the image data base and 
below the image is a file name of that image data. Displayed at the upper 
right of the screen are the free transfer memory capacity on the 
destination and the amount of selected image data. In this example, the 
free memory capacity on the receiver side is 97.1 Mbytes and the total 
size of currently selected image data is 0.0 Mbyte. Displayed on the lower 
right of the screen are four buttons, "transfer" button 78, "previous" 
button 80, "next" button 82 and "end" button 84. 
When the "previous" button 80 or "next" button 82 is depressed (step S210), 
the screen changes to the previous or next image selection screen by one. 
In this case, however, if there are selected images (step S212), an 
inquiry is made to ask if the selection can be canceled and the screen can 
be changed (step S214). When aborting the cancellation is instructed, the 
flow returns to the step S208 to keep displaying the current image section 
screen. When there is no previous screen or next screen (step S218), a 
beep sound is simply generated (step S220) and the flow returns to the 
step S208 to keep displaying the current image section screen. If there is 
a screen to shift, on the other hand, the previous or next screen is 
selected (step S222) and the newly selected image section screen is 
displayed in the step S208. 
In the image section screen that shows a list of 5.times.4 or 20 images in 
a matrix form as shown in FIG. 23, each image is displayed small. With 
such a small image, the operator may have a difficult in determining 
whether or not the image is to be transferred. In such a case, the image 
may be enlarged to have more details. If the mouse cursor 40C is moved 
onto the desired image and the right mouse button is kept depressed on 
that image (step S224), the image is displayed in enlargement as shown in 
FIG. 24 (step S226). In this case, the enlarged display should be effected 
so that the image does not overlap the adjoining images. Releasing the 
right mouse button (step S228) erases the enlarged display and returns the 
image display to the original status. 
To select an image to be transferred, the mouse cursor 40C is moved to the 
position of this image and the left mouse button is clicked there (step 
S230). The image selected by the clicking of the left mouse button is 
emphasized in red frame as shown in, for example, FIG. 25 so that it can 
be distinguished from any non-selected image (step S234). In accordance 
with the emphasis of the image, the amount of images to be transferred on 
the upper left of the screen is updated. When the amount of transfer 
images exceeds the free memory capacity on the destination side (step 
S232), no image selection is possible. 
When the "transfer" button 78 is depressed (step S236), the image data of a 
selected image, if there is any (step S238), is transferred (step S240). 
If this is the aforementioned case of image data copying, every time image 
data is transferred, the red-framed emphasis is released. If it is the 
case of image data transfer to an MO from a hard disk, however, the image 
data is transferred and gone from the hard disk, so that the image is not 
displayed as shown in FIG. 26. Thereafter, when the screen is changed to 
another screen and then changed back again, the image which has been 
transferred and does not exit in the hard disk 12 is moved over to 
eliminate blank space, as shown in FIG. 27. 
When no image is selected (step S238), a beep sound is generated (step 
S242) and no image transfer is executed. 
When the "end" button 84 is depressed (step S244), the transfer of this 
image is terminated. 
In the enlarged display carried out in the step S226, the enlarged image 
display may be effected in such a way that the enlarged image partially 
overlaps the adjoining images as long as it does not completely covers the 
adjoining images. 
Although this example has been explained with reference to the case where 
images are to be transferred, this example may also be adapted to 
selectively register data from plural pieces of image data, stored in the 
image input section 14 (memory card 12) or the external I/O unit 46 
(CD-ROM, or the like), into the data storage section 22. Various 
operations can be carried out through the cursor keys, function keys, etc. 
on the keyboard without using the mouse. The CD-ROM drive, MO drive and FD 
drive may be installed in a personal computer. Further, this invention is 
applicable not only to an image data base system but also any system which 
handles images. This invention may of course be modified in various other 
forms or applied in various manners without departing from the scope or 
spirit of this invention. 
Additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to those skilled 
in the art. Therefore, the invention in its broader aspects is not limited 
to the specific details, representative devices, and illustrated examples 
shown and described herein. Accordingly, various modifications may be made 
without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive 
concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.