JPH06334843A - Picture processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent missing of lateral lines with software processing or a simple hardware configuration by counting number of black picture elements of each line of picture data and interleaving lines with a few black picture element number in plural lines of preceding and succeeding consecutive lines of picture data. CONSTITUTION:Black/white picture data of one scanning line read by a picture read section 10 in the high picture quality mode are converted into an RL code by a code conversion circuit 11 and stored once in a picture memory 15 and a CPU 12 adds run length of each black level included in a line to calculate number of black level picture elements of the line and stores result to a RAM 14. Similarly a 2nd line is read and the CPU 12 compares number of black level picture elements of the 1st line and the 2nd line to select a line having, lots of black picture element numbers. The selected line is sent via modems 16a, 16b while applying 2-dimension coding into an MR code to the selected line.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus applied to a facsimile machine or the like, and more particularly to an image processing apparatus of a type for processing image data obtained by reading and scanning an original image.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an image processing apparatus such as a facsimile machine, in a standard mode (3.85 scanning lines / mm), a high image quality mode (7.7 scanning lines / mm) is used for reading, and scanning lines are line by line. In some cases, the same data is printed on two lines when skipped and printed, thereby reducing the amount of processing (transmission, etc.) data and shortening the processing (transmission) time. However, by skipping scanning lines line by line, the reading accuracy in the sub-scanning direction deteriorates, and fine horizontal lines may be omitted. Therefore, as a method of correcting this, a method of combining three scanning lines read in the high image quality mode to form one line in the standard mode, and the like are used.

[0003]

However, the above-described method of synthesizing three lines has a problem that a line memory and a synthesizing circuit are required and the configuration becomes complicated. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image processing apparatus capable of preventing a horizontal line or the like from falling off by software processing or a simple hardware configuration.

[0004]

An image processing apparatus according to the present invention, which is proposed to achieve the above object, counts the number of black pixels in each line of image data obtained by reading and scanning an original, and determines the above-mentioned image. Among a plurality of continuous lines before and after the data, a line having a small number of black pixels is thinned out.

[0005]

In the image processing apparatus according to the present invention, the number of black pixels in each line of the image data obtained by reading and scanning the original is counted, and the line with the smallest number of black pixels is included in the plurality of consecutive lines before and after the image data. Since thinning out is performed, it is possible to prevent the fine horizontal lines from falling off by software processing or a simple hardware configuration.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a main configuration of an embodiment in which an image processing apparatus according to the present invention is applied to a facsimile machine. In the figure, 10 is an image reading unit for reading an original image in units of scanning line, and 11 is a code conversion circuit for converting the read black and white image data into a one-dimensional RL (run length) code in units of scanning line. ,
12 is a CPU, 13 is a ROM, 14 is a RAM, 15 is an image memory for temporarily storing the image data that has been read and converted into RL code or received image data, and 16 is a modem 16a and a line control unit 16b. A configured communication control unit, 17 is a code conversion circuit for converting the image data received and converted from the two-dimensional code MR code to the one-dimensional code RL code into black and white image data (image), and 18 is a printer And the like.

In the facsimile apparatus F having the above-mentioned structure,
The operation from reading the original to sending it will be described below. High-quality mode (7.7 scan lines / m
The black-and-white image data of one scanning line read in m) is converted into an RL code (one-dimensional code) by the code conversion circuit 11 and temporarily stored in the image memory 15, and the CPU
At 12, the run length of each black (encoded number of consecutive black pixels) included in the line is added to calculate the number of black pixels of the one line, and the result is stored in the RAM 14.

The second line is also similar to the first line described above.
The image is read by the image reading unit 10 in the high image quality mode, converted into the RL code by the code conversion circuit 11 and temporarily stored in the image memory 15, and the CPU 12 adds the run lengths of the blacks included in the line and adds the run length. The number of black pixels in one line is calculated. At this time, the CPU 12 reads out the number of black pixels in the first line stored in the RAM 14 to obtain the 2
Compare with the number of black pixels in the line.

When the number of black pixels on the first line and the second line are substantially equal, the selection result (whether the first line or the second line) of the immediately preceding set of the first line and the second line is selected. R
The line that is the same as the selection result is read out from the AM 14 (the first line if the previous group has selected the first line, the second line if the second line has been selected), and this new line is selected. The selection result is stored in the RAM 14. At the same time, this selected line is read from the image memory 15 and MR (modified READ (relativeeleme
(nt address designate)) code is two-dimensionally encoded and transmitted via the modem 16a and the line control unit 16b.

On the other hand, the CPU 12 compares the numbers of black pixels on the first and second lines and selects the first line when the number of black pixels on the first line is large. Then, this selection result is stored in the RAM 14 and at the same time, the selected 1
The line number is read from the image memory 15, two-dimensionally encoded into an MR code, and transmitted via the modem 16a and the line control unit 16b.

On the other hand, the CPU 12 compares the number of black pixels on the first line with the number of black pixels on the second line, and selects the second line when the number of black pixels on the second line is large. Then, the selection result is stored in the RAM 14 at the same time as the selected 2
The line number is read from the image memory 15, two-dimensionally encoded into an MR code, and transmitted via the modem 16a and the line control unit 16b.

As described above, every time two scanning lines are read, the number of black pixels on the first line (a) is compared with that on the second line (b) as shown in FIG. 2) has a large number of black pixels, the first line (a) is two-dimensionally encoded into an MR code and transmitted. When the number of black pixels is almost the same as in (c) and (d), the same position as the one selected in the pair of two lines (a) and (b) immediately before that (the first line (a)). Line (c) (1st line) is selected (this makes it possible to prevent rattling of slanted lines), and the MR code is two-dimensionally encoded and transmitted. Steps 30 to 41 in FIG. 3 are flowcharts showing such an operation.

In the above embodiment, the case of reading in the high image quality mode is described, but in the super high image quality mode (15.4 scanning lines / mm) other than the high image quality mode, the standard mode (3.85 scan) is also used. Of course, the same can be done with a line / mm) or the like. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case of one set of two lines is described, but the same can be applied to the case of one set of three lines or the case of one set of more lines.

In the above embodiment, although the above operation is obtained mainly by the soft processing, a hardware configuration using a hard codec, a black pixel counter (in this case, counting is performed before RL encoding), or the like. It goes without saying that the same operation can be obtained by Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the invention is applied to the facsimile device is described, but it goes without saying that the invention can be applied to a device related to image reading such as an image scanner other than the facsimile device.

[0015]

According to the image processing apparatus of the present invention, the number of black pixels in each line of the image data obtained by reading and scanning the original is counted, and the black pixel in the plurality of consecutive lines before and after the image data is counted. Since we thin out the few lines,
With soft processing or a simple hardware configuration, it is possible to prevent fine horizontal lines from falling off and improve the image quality of normal images and the like.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a main part of an embodiment in which an image processing device according to the present invention is applied to a facsimile device.

2 (a), (b), (c), and (d) are diagrams schematically showing scanning lines in order to explain the operation of the image processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation when the image processing apparatus according to the present invention is applied to a facsimile apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 ... Image reading unit 11 ... Code conversion circuit (image → RL code) 12 ... CPU 14 ... RAM 15 ... Image memory 16a ... Modem 16b ... Line control unit

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A method for counting the number of black pixels in each line of image data obtained by scanning a document, and thinning out a line having a small number of black pixels among a plurality of consecutive lines before and after the image data. Image processing device.