DISTRIBUTED IMAGE STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL SYSTEM

A system is described in which a user enters a search term at a user location, that search term being associated with a plurality of image objects which are stored at a plurality of geographically diverse locations within the system. The search term is then transmitted to a central index location where there is stored a central index which includes the object name and location and associated data for each of the distributed objects associated with the search term. Optionally, the associated data may be transmitted from the central location back to the user location for display to the user, who can then select which of the several objects or perhaps all of the objects to be accessed from the diverse geographic storage locations. The user can enter his selection at the user location and that selection will be transmitted back to the central index location. In a first embodiment of the invention, the central index location will control the distributed accessing of objects stored at the respective geographically diverse storage sites. In a second embodiment of the invention, the plurality of central index entries corresponding to each of the several objects to be accessed, are transmitted back to the user location where control will be effected to access the distributed objects from the respective distributed storage locations. In either embodiment, the plurality of objects which are respectively stored at their plurality of geographically diverse storage locations, are accessed and transmitted back to the user location. There, the user may optionally display, print, or store the images of those plurality of objects at the user location.