JPH0244474A - Image processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention provides a multi-media copying machine that has a copying function between different media in addition to the main function of a digital plain paper copying machine, which is copying from a paper original to paper. The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus that can be applied to a digital copying machine, and more particularly to an image processing apparatus that can perform image searches at high speed when a simple image file system is applied to a digital copying machine.

[Conventional technology]

In conventional image file systems, in order to efficiently search a huge amount of stored image data, a keyword search is generally performed by assigning a keyword to each image. Furthermore, when searching without using keywords or when it is not possible to limit the target image to one using only keywords, it is necessary to display the image on a CRT or the like for selection.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

The conventional technology described above has the disadvantage that, for example, in order to search for a target image using only keywords, a large number of keywords are required, which complicates operations when registering and searching image data.

When selecting by displaying them on a CRT or the like, documents 132, 133, .・If you try to display only the first page of multiple pages of image data continuously, as in -, the magnetic disk or optical disk that is commonly used as an image storage medium takes time to read out the image data intermittently. The disadvantage was that it took a lot of time.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional example, and to solve the problem when an image processing apparatus such as a multi-media copying machine outputs an image already recorded in an image file of a magnetic recording medium, an optical recording medium, etc. onto paper again. Another object of the present invention is to provide an image processing device that can quickly search and confirm a target image.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a conversion means for reading a predetermined image of a document and converting it into an electrical image signal, and an image forming means for forming an image based on the image signal. a forming means, a storage means for storing and accumulating image data, a dividing means for dividing the image data into a plurality of parts corresponding to the classification of the image and further dividing the divided area into a plurality of parts, and a dividing means corresponding to the classification of the image. The present invention is characterized in that it includes a display means that continuously reads and displays image data from one area inside the area.

[Effect]

In the present invention, the area of the memory storage means is divided into a plurality of areas corresponding to the classification of the image to be stored, and the divided area is further divided into a plurality of areas. By continuously reading and displaying image data from a region to form an image, desired data can be extracted from a large amount of image data at high speed.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, a detailed explanation will be given based on one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a system block diagram of a digital copying machine as an image processing apparatus implementing the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of the digital copying machine.

1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes an image reading device (scanner) which is an input section of a digital copying machine. Image information of a document placed on a document table is transferred to an electrical signal (image signal) by an image sensor such as a CCD. ). Reference numeral 2 denotes an image data recording/reproducing device for recording/reproducing image data, which records image signals (raster data) from the scanner 1 and reproduces the recorded signals, or records image signals (raster data) recorded by other systems. data, vector data, text data, etc.). In addition, there is a page memory, scanner I/F (interface), printer I/F inside.
It has an F, an operation display unit I/F, and an image storage medium drive device, and also controls the entire device and buffers image signals.

4 is an operation display section, and 3 is a printer (image forming device) which is an output section of the digital copying machine, and a recording material (paper, etc.) is printed by a laser beam printer or the like based on an image signal.
It forms an image on the image.

Further, 5 is an image storage medium such as a magnetic medium or an optical medium.

Hereinafter, with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, the image reading device l
I will explain about it.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration of the image reading device 1, and FIG. 4 is a block diagram thereof.

In FIG. 3, 111 is a platen glass, and the original 11
2 is placed on this platen glass 111. Manuscript 11
2 is a carriage 11 moving on a slide rail 113;
It is illuminated by light sources (fluorescent lamps) 115 and 116 provided at 4. The movable mirror unit 118 is provided with a mirror 119 and a mirror 119', and moves on the slide rail 113, and in combination with a first mirror 117 provided on the carriage 114, forms an optical image of the original 112 on the platen glass 111. The lens reading unit 1
Bring it to 20.

The carriage 114 and the movable mirror unit 118 are
By pulleys 122, 123, and 124 driven by a stepping motor 121 via a wire 126, the carriage 114 moves at a speed of V, and the movable mirror unit 118 moves at a speed of 1.
/2V in the same direction. platen glass 1
Standard white plate 127 on the back side of the home position section of 11
is provided, and is configured so that a standard white signal can be obtained before the start of document reading scanning. Lens reading unit 1
Reference numeral 20 is composed of a lens 128 as a reading lens system and a line sensor 129 attached to a reading board. The original light image transmitted by the first mirror 117 and mirrors 119 and 119' is focused by a lens 128,
An image is formed on the light receiving surface of the line sensor CCD 129. C.C.
D129 converts the shading of the original image into an electrical signal (image signal).

Image signal processing will be described below with reference to the block diagram of FIG. This image signal is amplified by an amplifier circuit 130, and converted into a multi-valued digital image signal (image data) for each pixel by an A/D converter 131.

This digital image signal is sent to the shading correction circuit 132.
■Uneven light emission of the light source, ■Uneven light intensity distribution of the optical system (mirror, lens), ■CCD
Binarization circuit 1 that removes shading caused by uneven sensitivity, etc.
33, (1) Converts sharp black and white image signals such as characters and drawing manuscripts into a fixed binary level. In other words, there is a method (threshold) in which the value processed by the CPU 134 is binarized at the pattern level of the latch circuit (RAM) 135;
ROM) 136, select the binarization method (dither processing) with the document select switch on the operation display section 4, and switch with the selector 137 to obtain an optimal copy image.

The image data that is binarized for each pixel is equivalent to one line, that is, for an A3 size scanner, it is A4 size (210 x 27
n+) longitudinal feed resolution to 400dρi (dots/
inch), 297X16= 4752dots
A serial image signal (2) is outputted to the printer 3 by an output buffer 139 via a line buffer 138 configured with (bit) of RAM.

The oscillation circuit 140 is a CCD for driving the CCD 129.
It is applied to a CD drive circuit 141 and a synchronization signal generation circuit 142 for image (elementary) signals. The output of the oscillation circuit 140 is counted by a counter 143, and the count value is sent to the decoder 1.
44 and the CCD drive circuit 14 by the decoded output.
1 to generate a pulse to drive the CCD 129.

Other outputs of the decoder 144 are provided by the synchronization generation circuit 142. ■Clock synchronized with pixels■. , ■Main scanning synchronization signal LGATE in the line (main scanning) direction.

(2) A sub-scanning synchronization signal FGATE in the sub-scanning direction is generated. The timings of the pixel signal vo, the clock c, the main scanning synchronizing signal LGATE, and the sub-scanning synchronizing signal FGATE have the relationship shown in FIG.

The CPU 134 (for example, Intel 8086) is a ROM
It operates according to the control program written in the working memory RAMI46, l10 (input/output) port 1.
47, 148, and 149, and controls the entire scanner 1. The I10 boat 147 performs ON/OFF control of actuators such as the drive pulse motor 121 and the fluorescent lamps 115 and 116 for illuminating the document, and also detects the home position switch of the scanner 1 and sensors such as document detection. I10 boat 149 is image data recording and reproducing device 2
This is an I/F (interface) for communicating with the internal control circuit, and performs parallel data transfer using a handshake method.

FIG. 5 (Al is a timing chart, and the LSYNC signal is output from the printer and is a synchronization signal for laser beam scanning, that is, a laser beam position signal of the printer.

V is the read data (image signal), and the image clock Vl
clocked at l. Figure 5 (VCI below al)
I, V. is the upper VC,,V. This is an expanded version of Figure 5(b) shows paper and main scanning signal (LGATE)
, is a timing relationship diagram of the sub-scanning signal (FGATE), in which the longitudinal direction of the paper is covered by the sub-scanning signal (FGATE), and the transverse direction is covered by the main scanning signal (LGATE).

Next, the configuration and operation of the image data recording/reproducing device 2 will be explained.

FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view showing the configuration of the image data recording/reproducing device 2, and FIG. 7 is a block diagram thereof.

In FIGS. 6 and 7, 211 is an optical disk drive device that performs recording and reproduction on an optical disk as the storage medium 5. In FIG. 212 represents a floppy disk device as the storage medium 5. Reference numeral 213 denotes a control electronic circuit, which is indicated by a broken line in the block diagram of FIG. 214 is an interface connector/cable connected to scanner 1 215
216 is an interface connector/cable connected to the printer 3, and 216 is an interface connector/cable connected to the operation display section 4.

Next, a control electronic circuit diagram will be explained. This control electronic circuit 213 is based on a general microcomputer system, and controls each peripheral via a so-called bus.

A microprocessor 221 supplies data, address, and control signals to the bus 229. Physical control (reading, writing) of the image medium drive device 210 is performed through the I/F 220. The RAM 222 is a working RAM and is operated by the MPU 221.

The ROM 223 is a part in which system programs are stored, and the programs control the image medium drive device, the scanner 1, the printer 3, and the page memory 228. Reference numeral 224 denotes a scanner I/F composed of a parallel data I/F, which controls the operation of the scanner 1. The data read from the scanner is serial-parallel (S/
P) via data converter 226; This S/
The data from the P data converter 226 is transferred to the page memory 22.
Expanded to 8. Page memory 228 is printer output 1
It has the data capacity to hold a page's worth of full dot images. Further, the image data in the page memory 228 is passed through the P/S data converter 227 to the printer 3.
will be forwarded to. The printer I/F 225 is used to perform operations of the printer 3 (print start, status read, etc.) and serves as a parallel data I/F. It is connected to the operation display section 4 through an I10 port 230.

231 is a timer.

Next, the printer 3 will be explained.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration of the printer, and FIG. 9 is a block diagram thereof.

8 and 9, reference numeral 301 is a photosensitive drum, 302 is a charger, 303 is a developing section, and 304 is a photosensitive drum.
305 is a paper feed cassette, 305 is a paper feed conveyance unit, 306 is a registration roller, 307 is a transfer separation charger, 308 is a fixing device, 309 is a paper output tray, 310 is a cleaning unit, 31
1 is a laser, 312 is a collimator lens, 313 is a polygon mirror, 314 is an fθ lens, 315 is a mirror, 3
16 is a beam detect mirror, 317 is a beam position detector, 318 is a beam position detection circuit, 319 is a laser driver circuit, 320A and 320B are toggle line buffers, 321 is an address counter for line buffer memory, and 323 is an image data recording/reproducing circuit. 324 is a CPU that controls the printer 3; 325 is a ROM that stores a control program for the printer 3 and the FGATE counter; 326 is a C
RAM which is the working memory of PU324.

327 is l10 (input/output) to which the printer 3 drive motor, fixing heater actuator, paper presence/absence, size detection sensors, etc. are connected, and 328 is LGAT.
I10 port, 3 such as the reset signal 331 of the counter 321 that inputs the E330 and counts the FGATE counter.
29 is a printer I/F 2 in the image data recording/reproducing device 2
This is an I10 port that sends and receives control signals to and from 25.

Synchronous signal LGA T from image data recording/reproducing device 2
Image signal ■ synchronized with E, FGATE, and VCK [see FIG. 5(a)]. Input buffer 32
3 and writes it to line memory 32OA or 320B.

The line memories 320A and 320B are toggled by a toggle switching signal 331 from the CPU 324, and when the line memory 320A is currently in the write state, the other line memory 320B is in the read state. The line memory counter 321 counts with VCK opened at LGATE, is reset with the toggle switching signal 331, and always reads/writes from address O.

The read-out memory 320B controls the lighting of the laser 311 by a laser driver circuit 319, and the emitted light is shaped into parallel light by a collimator lens 312, and scanned by a polygon mirror 313 to the width of the photoreceptor drum 310 to form f- θ
Distortion is corrected by a lens 314, and the light is exposed onto the photosensitive drum 301 via a mirror 315.

On the other hand, the image forming system is transferred and fixed onto paper by the electrophotographic process shown in FIG. That is, the photosensitive drum 30
1 rotates in the direction of the arrow, and carries an image charged by a charging charge 302, exposed by the laser 311, and visualized by a developer 303, and a paper feed transport section 30 from a paper feed cassette 304.
The registration rollers 306 are used to align the tip of the blade conveyed in step 5 with the timing. Then, this paper comes into contact with the photosensitive drum 301 and the image is transferred onto the paper by a transfer separation charge 307, conveyed in the direction of the arrow, and fixed by a fixing device 308.

Thereafter, the paper is ejected to a paper ejection tray 309. On the other hand, residual toner is collected from the photosensitive drum 301 by cleaning 310. The configuration and operation described above are of a well-known electrophotographic process laser printer. The CPU 324 is operated by the ROM 325 that stores these control programs. It also controls via 110329 in order to notify the image data recording and reproducing device 2 of start and stop commands from the operation display section 4 and abnormal conditions such as paper jams in the printer 3 .

Next, the operation display section 4 will be explained with reference to the schematic plan view of FIG.

The operation display section 4 includes a standard operation section 460, a dot liquid crystal display LCD465, and a special operation section 461 having soft keys 466 as a copying machine. The standard operation unit 460 is “
This is for use when using the "paper-to-paper copying" function, and is comprised of a numeric keypad 462 for setting the number of copies, a number display section 463, a print start key 464, keys for setting copy conditions, a display section 470, and the like. The special operation section 461 is
It is used in the copy mode for recording/reproducing FD, and is composed of soft keys (for data input) 466 and a liquid crystal display 465.

These are the I10 boat 2 in the image data recording and reproducing device 2.
It is connected to the microcomputer system through 30 (see FIG. 6). The meanings of the soft keys 466 and the data displayed on the liquid crystal display 465 are all determined by a program within this microcomputer system.

Next, a series of operations will be explained.

To copy a normal paper document onto paper, simply set the document in the scanner 1 as before, select 7r "Paper-to-paper copy mode" on the operation display section 4, and press the copy start button.

The second function is “File a paper manuscript to an image storage medium”
To execute this, place a square paper original on the scanner 1, select the "File paper original" mode on the operation display section 4, select one image file classification, and then press the copy start button. Press. The operation is as follows.

The image data converted into electrical signals by the scanner 1 is expanded into the page memory 228. After one entire page has been read, it is first recorded in a first area within the area corresponding to the selected classification of the optical disc. If there are two or more originals, the above operation is repeated, but the image data is recorded in the second area inside the area corresponding to the selected classification. When all manuscripts are recorded, the year, month, day, hour, minute, second, number of pages, optical disk management information, etc. are finally recorded on the floppy disk as directory information.

Note that whether or not this is the last document is input by the operator through the operation display section. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the image data was recorded on the optical disk and the directory information was recorded on the floppy disk, but the relationship between the data type and the medium is not necessarily fixed. It is also possible to record only part of the first page without recording the entire first page in the first area.

11 and 12 are relationship diagrams of each data and data structure, and FIG. 11 shows the case of the optical disk 130, and FIG.
The figure shows the case of a magnetic disk 138 (floppy disk).

When executing the third function "Output from image recording medium to paper J," select the relevant mode, search for the desired filter, and press the copy start button.The search method is as follows:
You can retrieve directory information from the magnetic disk 138 on the operation display section and display it to select one file from among all files, or display directory information according to classification and select one file, or select one file from within the same classification. The first pages of the document are displayed one after another on the display section, and the contents are checked and selected. In this case, since the optical disc 130 sequentially accesses the first area 136 within the same classification area, high-speed display is possible.

In the present invention, roughly speaking, the converting means described in the claims is provided in the scanner 1, the dividing means is provided in the image data recording/reproducing means 2, the image forming means is provided in the printer 3,
The storage means is the image recording medium 5, and the display means is the operation display section 4.
It is included in

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, by displaying recorded image data one after another at high speed, a simple filing system that facilitates search operations can be constructed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a system block diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention,
FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing the entire digital copying machine as an image processing device, FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration of an image reading device, FIG. 4 is a block diagram thereof, and FIG. 5 is a synchronizing signal and Image data timing relationship and synchronization signal LGA
An explanatory diagram showing the relationship between TE, FGATE, FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view showing the configuration of the image recording/reproducing device, FIG. 7 is a block diagram of its control circuit, and FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration of the printer. , FIG. 9 is a block diagram thereof, FIG. 10 is a schematic plan view showing the operation display section, FIGS. 11 and 12 are explanatory diagrams of the relationship between each data and the data structure of each storage medium in the present invention, and FIG. The figure is an explanatory diagram of the relationship between each data and the data structure of a storage medium in a conventional example. ■... Image reading device (scanner), 2... Image data recording and reproducing device, 3... Printer (image forming device)
4... Operation display section, 5... Image storage medium. Figure 2 Figure 5 (a) Figure 5 (b Figure 11)

Claims (1)

[Claims] A conversion means for reading a predetermined image of a document and converting it into electrical image data, an image forming means for forming an image based on the converted image data, a storage means for storing and accumulating the image data, and this storage means. an image processing device comprising display means for reading out and displaying image data accumulated in the storage means, the storage region of the storage means being divided into a plurality of regions corresponding to the classification of the image, and each of the divided regions A dividing means for further dividing the image data into a plurality of regions, and a reading means for successively reading out the stored image data from one region within the region of the specified classification, and a plurality of image data stored in the storage means An image processing apparatus characterized in that the image processing apparatus is configured to rapidly search for a specified image from image data of the image data, display the image on the display means, and form the image.