JPH09128317A - Image input device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) Abstract: When a large number of image input devices for general document input and additional image input devices exclusively for form devices are connected, the number of interface device connection parts of the image control device is insufficient. In view of the problem, it is an object of the present invention to provide an image input device capable of compensating for the shortage of the image control device connecting portion when a large number of image input devices and image input devices dedicated to form processing devices are connected. An interface expansion device 1 is added to a dedicated image input device 5 which is added to or built in an arbitrary form processing device 4.
5 is an image input device.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention reads an image,
Image input used for an image control device (hereinafter referred to as an image processing device that organically connects these devices) that controls each device that performs printing, such as storing, organizing, editing, and searching. Regarding the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a document filing system for recording and storing a form or a certificate (hereinafter referred to as various forms) together with various documents as an image, and an image processing device such as an OCR device have been widely used. These image processing apparatuses are generally composed of, for example, an image input apparatus 8, an image control apparatus 1, an image storage apparatus 2 and an image output apparatus 3 as shown in FIG. When various processed forms are recorded as images after being processed by other processing devices, these various forms must be input again from an image input device unique to the image processing device.

However, when it is required to continuously and automatically perform processing of a series of various forms, image input and recording, or a special form requires an image input device dedicated to the form. In the above, in addition to the mechanical connection between the form processing device and the input device of the image processing device, or the addition of the image input device dedicated to the form processing device, the image input device dedicated to the form and the image control device are electrically signaled. It is necessary to connect. A general-purpose interface device may be used to connect the image control device and peripheral devices such as an image input device, but a dedicated interface device is used to secure the processing speed of the image processing device due to the problem of data transfer speed. In some cases, the number of interface devices that can be connected to the image control device is limited due to economical requirements.

[0004]

However, when a large number of image input devices for general document input and additional image input devices dedicated to form devices are connected, the number of interface device connection parts of the image control device is insufficient. There was a problem of doing.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an image input device dedicated to a form processing device (hereinafter referred to as a form dedicated image input device) that can be supplemented by the lack of an interface device connection portion of an image control device. .

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an interface expansion device capable of connecting an image control device and an image input device to a dedicated image input device which is added to or built in a form processing device. It is arranged.

In the above configuration, the form-dedicated image input device is controlled by the image control device, the image is continuously read by the form processing device, and the general document is an interface expansion device provided from the image control device to the form-dedicated image input device. It can be read by the image input device controlled via the.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The same reference numerals are used for the same components as those of the above-mentioned conventional example. As a component, 1 is an image control device for processing and processing the read image, such as an image filing device or an OCR device, and may have a function of centrally controlling the entire image processing device. Reference numeral 2 denotes an image storage device such as a hard disk device or a magneto-optical disk device for storing and storing the read image, which may be built in the image control device 1. Reference numeral 3 is an image output device. Reference numeral 4 is a form processing device such as a device for issuing various securities or shipping slips. Reference numeral 5 denotes a form-dedicated image input device having an interface expansion device 15 according to the present invention. Reference numeral 8 denotes a general document image input device in this image processing device. 1
3 and 14 are communication cables, respectively.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a case where a MICR character printing device for bills and checks is used as a form processing device in the image processing device. When compared with each device of the configuration block diagram of FIG. 1, 9 is an image file device for recording an image on a magneto-optical disk, which is an optical disk corresponding to the image control device 1 and the image storage device 2 in FIG. Built-in device. Reference numeral 10 denotes a MICR character printing device for bills and checks, which corresponds to the form processing device 4 in FIG. 11 is M
A dedicated image input device for bills and checks to be added to the ICR character printing device 10, which has an interface expansion device and corresponds to the dedicated image input device 5 in FIG. 12
1 is a general document input device of an image file device, and FIG.
Corresponding to the image input device 8. The image file device 9 and the dedicated image input device 11 are connected by a communication cable 13, and the general document image input device 12 is the dedicated image input device 1
1 interface expansion device 15 to the communication cable 14
Connected by In the figure, 16 is a predetermined medium feeding unit of the MICR character printing apparatus, 18 is a feeding roller, 19a and 19b are line CCD sensors, 20 is a document loading unit, and 21 is a stacking unit.

FIG. 3 is an internal block diagram of the interface expansion device 15 in the image processing apparatus. The interface expansion device 15 is a switch for switching between the form processing device 4 and the dedicated image input device 5 and other input devices,
That is, it has a control signal changeover switch A for selecting a device to be operated, and an image signal changeover switch B for changing a path for transferring image data from the selected device to the image control device 1, and the image file device changes the switch. By switching the switches A and B, it is possible to select an input device that is expanded and connected. The communication cables 13 and 14 are composed of control signal lines and image data signal lines.

First, a case will be described in which a form, that is, a bill or a check is printed by the MICR character printing device 10 shown in FIG. 2, and then the images of the bill or the check are continuously input and stored in the image file device 9.
The dedicated image input device 11 is provided with a device for selecting an image input device to be operated according to a command from the image control device 9, that is, an interface expansion device 15. MI
When the image of the form is read in conjunction with the CR character printing device 10, the changeover switch in the interface expansion device 15, that is, the control signal changeover switch A in FIG. The dedicated image input device 5 (C side) is provided with the image data signal changeover switch B.
The form processing device 4 and the dedicated image input device 5 are selected by switching to the (C side).

When a processing start command is given from the image file device 9 through the control signal line, the MICR character printing device 10 starts the process in synchronization with the dedicated image device. MI
A bill or a check attached to a predetermined medium feeding portion 16 of the CR character printing device 10 is fed one by one by a feeding roller 18, and after a predetermined process, MICR characters are printed in a predetermined column, and a dedicated image is input. It is conveyed to the device 11. The dedicated image input device 11 includes line CCD sensors 19a, 1a for reading images on front and back surfaces of bills and checks.
9b are arranged so as to face each other across the conveyance path of the bills and checks, and the line CCD sensors 19a and 19b are driven in synchronization with the conveyance speed of the bills or checks so that the bills,
The image data on each side of the check is converted into electrical signals.
The bills and checks that have passed through the reading unit of the dedicated image input device 11 are stored in the stack unit 17 arranged at the end of the conveyance path of the dedicated image input device 11. The electric signal converted as the read image data is transferred to the image file device 9 through the image data signal line of the communication cable 13 and stored in the built-in magneto-optical disk device.

Next, the image of the general document is displayed on the image filing device 9
Will be described. As described above, by switching the control signal changeover switch A and the image data signal changeover switch B in the interface expansion device 15 to the image input device 8 (D side) in accordance with a command from the image filing device 9 in FIG. , The general document image input device 8 connected to the dedicated image input device 5 is selected.

In FIG. 2, the general document is mounted on the original mounting portion 20 of the image input device 12 corresponding to the general document image input device 8 in FIG. 3, and is read while being conveyed one by one along the path of arrow 22. , And is discharged to the stack portion 21. The read image data is transferred to the image file device 9 through the image data signal line of the communication cable 14, the interface expansion device 15, and the image data signal line of the communication cable 13, and stored in the built-in magneto-optical disk device.

Further, as described above, by disposing the interface expansion device 15 in the dedicated image input device, a plurality of form processing devices 22 and dedicated image input devices 23 are installed as shown in FIG. Another dedicated input device is connected to the connection terminal side of the other input device of the expansion device 24, that is, the D side of the switches A and B in FIG.
By connecting the general document image input device 8 to the interface expansion device 24 of this dedicated input device, it is possible to connect not only a plurality of dedicated image input devices but also an image input device for general documents to one image file device. Is.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the interface expansion device is provided in the dedicated image input device which is added to or built in the form processing device to compensate for the shortage of the interface device connection portion of the image control device. It is possible to connect a large number of image input devices for inputting documents and additional image input devices dedicated to form processing devices.

[0018]

As is apparent from the above description, the present invention has the configuration of the image input device in which the interface expansion device is provided in the dedicated image input device which is added or built in the form processing device. It is possible to make up for the lack of interface device connection section and to connect a large number of additional image input devices dedicated to the image input device form processing device for general document input.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a case where a MICR character printing device for bills and checks is used as a form processing device in the image processing device.

FIG. 3 is an internal block diagram of an interface expansion device 15 in the image processing apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a configuration when a plurality of form processing devices in the image input device are connected.

FIG. 5 is a configuration block diagram showing an example of a conventional image input device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Image Control Device 2 Image Storage Device 4 Form Processing Device 5 Dedicated Image Input Device 8 General Document Image Input Device 9 Image File Device 10 MICR Character Printing Device 11 Extension Dedicated Image Input Device 12 General Document Image Input Device 13 Communication Cable 14 Communication Cable 15 Interface expansion device

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An image input device for inputting an image, an image storage device for storing the image, and an image for organizing, editing, retrieving the stored image and controlling each device for inputting, storing and printing the image. In the processing device, an image input device which is added to or built in the form processing device for inputting and processing a form or a certificate processed by another form processing device into the image processing device, and which is connected to the image processing device. An image input device comprising an interface expansion device that can be connected to another image input, control, and printing device that can be connected to the image processing device together with an interface device for performing the above.