JPH10164357A - Image processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To image-process input image data at a high speed and to improve productivity by magnification/reduction converting digital image data corresponding to a recording picture element density and a printing size. SOLUTION: An image processing part 38 executes the respective kinds of image processings including a magnification/reduction processing for performing variable magnification corresponding to the recording picture element density of a recorder and the printing size to the input image data stored in a frame memory 36 corresponding to prescribed image processing conditions and generates output image data for monitor display and image recording. A condition setting part 40 decides basic image processing conditions such as color processing conditions and density processing conditions from pre- scanning image data stored in the frame memory 36 and prepares the respective kinds of tables used in LUTs 44 and 50. The LUT 44 performs the adjustment of gray balance, lightness correction and gradation correction to the image data read from the frame memory 36 and an MTX 46 performs the color correction of the image data processed in the LUT 44.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is applied to, for example, a digital photo printer or the like, and performs digital image processing on analog image data read by an image reading device or digital image data output from a computer or the like. The present invention relates to an image processing device that outputs to an image recording device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when an image photographed on a photographic film (hereinafter, referred to as a film) is printed on a photosensitive material such as photographic paper, the image of the film is projected onto the photosensitive material and the photosensitive material is surface-exposed. So-called direct exposure. On the other hand, at present, for example, a digital photo using so-called digital exposure, in which image information recorded on a film is photoelectrically read, converted into digital image data, and subjected to various digital image processing and then image recording. Printers have been put to practical use.

The above digital photo printer basically includes an image reading device that photoelectrically reads an image recorded on a film, performs various digital image processing on the read image data, and adjusts the exposure conditions for image recording. It comprises an image processing (setup) apparatus to be determined, an image recording apparatus that scans and exposes the photosensitive material according to the determined exposure conditions, and performs development processing.

In an image reading apparatus used in a digital photo printer, reading light emitted from a light source is incident on a film, and projection light carrying an image photographed on the film is transmitted to an image sensor such as a CCD sensor by an imaging lens. The image is photoelectrically converted by an image sensor, the image is read, and various types of image processing are performed as necessary. Then, the image is provided to an image processing apparatus as image data corresponding to an image captured on a film.

In the image processing apparatus, various image processing conditions are set in accordance with, for example, image data provided from the image reading apparatus, and an image corresponding to the image data is displayed on a display device such as a display. While looking at the display image on the display, if necessary, verification and adjustment of image processing conditions are performed, desired digital image processing is performed on the image data, exposure conditions and the like are determined, and the recording pixel density is determined. The image data is supplied to the image recording apparatus as output image data having the number of pixels corresponding to the print size.

In an image recording apparatus, for example, if the apparatus utilizes light beam scanning exposure, the light beam is modulated in accordance with image data given from the image processing apparatus, and the light beam is deflected in the main scanning direction. By transporting the photosensitive material in a sub-scanning direction substantially orthogonal to the main scanning direction, the photosensitive material is exposed to form a latent image, and then subjected to a development process or the like according to the photosensitive material, and photographed on a film. The finished image is a finished print (photograph) reproduced according to a predetermined recording pixel density and print size.

In a digital photo printer, a film is photoelectrically read, color density is corrected by data processing, and exposure conditions are determined. Therefore, the time required for exposure per image is short, and the exposure time is short. Since it is constant according to the size, printing can be performed more quickly than in conventional surface exposure. In addition, editing such as image synthesis and image division, and image processing such as color / density adjustment can be freely performed, and a finished print that has been freely edited and subjected to image processing can be output according to the intended use.

In addition, since the image information of the finished print can be stored on a recording medium such as a magneto-optical disk, it is not necessary to re-read the film or determine the exposure conditions again in the case of additional printing. Work is quick and easy. In addition, digital photo printers have difficulty in printing with conventional direct exposure.
In terms of color / density reproducibility and the like, there is an advantage that image output recorded on a film or the like can be almost completely reproduced to output a print.

Incidentally, the image processing apparatus has a frame memory for storing image data supplied from, for example, an image reading apparatus. However, the transfer speed of image data read by the CCD sensor of the image reading device to the image processing device is generally higher than the operation speed of the frame memory. And the overall productivity of the digital photo printer is reduced.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an image processing apparatus capable of performing high-speed image processing of input image data and improving productivity, in view of the problems based on the above-mentioned prior art. It is in. Further, another object of the present invention can correspond to any input image data of analog image data and digital image data,
Provided is an image processing apparatus capable of capturing input image data having an arbitrary pixel density (resolution) and a screen size, and outputting output image data corresponding to an arbitrary recording pixel density and a print size in an image recording apparatus. It is in.

[0011]

According to the present invention, there is provided an A / D converter for converting analog image data read by an image reading device into digital image data.
A converter, an interface circuit for capturing digital image data of a computer, a frame memory for storing digital image data output from the A / D converter or the interface circuit under memory interleave control, and a readout from the frame memory. And an enlargement / reduction circuit for converting the converted digital image data in accordance with the recording pixel density and the print size of the image recording apparatus.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an image processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail based on a preferred embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a digital photo printer using the image processing apparatus of the present invention. The illustrated digital photo printer 10 includes an image reading device (hereinafter referred to as a reading device) 12 and an image processing device 14 of the present invention.
And an image recording device not shown (hereinafter, referred to as a recording device). After subjecting the input image data supplied from the reading device 12 or the computer to desired image processing by the image processing device 14, the recording device To print a desired recording pixel density and print size.

The reading device 12 photoelectrically reads an image photographed on the film A frame by frame and supplies the read analog image data to the image processing device 14 of the present invention. 18. Color filter plate 20 for separating the image captured on film A into three primary colors of R (red), G (green) and B (blue), diffusion box 22, imaging lens 24, image captured on film A Is read out in frame units, and is constituted by an area type CCD sensor 26 and an amplifier 28.

In the reading device 12, reading light is emitted from the light source 16, the amount of the emitted reading light is adjusted by a stop 18, and then passed through a color filter plate 20 to be adjusted in color. The light is uniformly diffused in the surface direction of the film A and is incident on the film A. Then, by transmitting through the film A, the projection light carrying the image photographed on the film A is converted by the imaging lens 24 into C light.
An image is formed on the light receiving surface of the CD sensor 26 and the CCD sensor 26
Is read photoelectrically.

Image data read by the CCD sensor 26 is amplified by an amplifier 28 and input to the image processing device 14 as analog image data corresponding to an image photographed on the film A. In the reading device 12, the R, G, and B color filters of the color filter plate 20 are sequentially inserted, and the image reading is performed three times in total.
An image photographed on the film A is separated into three primary colors of R, G and B and read.

In the illustrated example, prior to image reading (main scanning) for obtaining output image data, a pre-scan for roughly reading an image at a low resolution is performed, and an image is obtained from the image data obtained by the pre-scan. Processing conditions are set, and image data of the main scan is subjected to image processing in accordance with the image processing conditions, thereby obtaining output image data for output of image recording by the recording apparatus. Note that the only difference between the pre-scan and the main scan is that the resolution of the read image is different.

Next, the image processing device 14 of the present invention converts the analog image data supplied from the reading device 12 or the digital image data output from the computer according to the recording pixel density and print size of the recording device. In the illustrated example, an A / D converter 30, an interface circuit (hereinafter, referred to as an I / F circuit) 32, an LUT
(Lookup table) 34, frame memory 36, and image processing unit 38.

First, the A / D converter 30 converts, for example, analog image data supplied from the reading device 12 into digital image data, and the I / F circuit 32
A synchronizing signal for the frame memory 36 is generated, and digital image data supplied from the computer is taken into the frame memory 36. As described above, the image processing apparatus 14 of the present invention can capture either analog image data or digital image data.

The LUT 34 stores the digital image data converted by the A / D converter 30 or the I / F circuit 32
Is to log (logarithmically) convert the digital image data of the computer fetched by the above to convert it into density data.

The frame memory 36 stores the density data converted by the LUT 34, for example, for each pre-scan and main scan by the reading device 12 and, for example, for each of R, G, and B colors, as described above. It is.
Here, in the image processing apparatus 14 of the present invention, the frame memory 36 is interleaved, and the apparent operation speed of the frame memory 36 can be improved.

With this arrangement, for example, one of the input image data from the CCD sensor 26 corresponding to various types of CCD sensors 26 having different screen sizes, resolutions, speeds, and the like.
The frame memory 36 can be operated at a high speed according to the transfer rate of 0 MHz to 80 MHz to take in the input image data, and the frame memory 36 can be operated at a high speed according to the recording pixel density and the print size in the printing apparatus, Image data can be read. In addition,
The storage capacity of the frame memory 36 may be determined as appropriate according to the size and resolution of image information.

The image processing unit 38 performs an enlargement / reduction process on the input image data stored in the frame memory 36 in accordance with predetermined image processing conditions to change the magnification according to the recording pixel density and print size of the recording apparatus. In the illustrated example, the condition setting unit 40, the control unit 42, the LUT 44, the MT
X (matrix) 46, scaling circuit 48 and LUT
50.

First, the condition setting section 40 determines basic image processing conditions such as color processing conditions and density processing conditions from the pre-scan image data stored in the frame memory 36, and determines various image processing conditions used in the LUTs 44 and 50. Is to create a table.

The control unit 42 controls the digital photo printer 1
It controls the operation of the entire system, and includes a monitor 52, a keyboard 54, a mouse 56, a central processing unit (hereinafter, referred to as a CPU) (not shown), and the like. The operator operates, for example, the keyboard 54 and the mouse 56 to see the image displayed on the monitor 52, performs the verification, and can fine-tune the image processing conditions and make various settings as necessary.

The LUT 44 performs gray balance adjustment, brightness correction and gradation correction on the image data read from the frame memory 36. MT
X46 is for performing color correction of the image data processed by the LUT 44. For example, the spectral characteristic of the film A, the spectral characteristic of the photosensitive material, the characteristic of the developing process, etc. The color correction is performed by performing a matrix operation set accordingly.

The enlargement / reduction circuit 48 performs enlargement or reduction processing for changing the input image data supplied at various pixel densities (resolutions) and screen sizes according to the recording pixel density and print size of the recording apparatus. Things. The enlargement / reduction processing is automatically performed under the conditions set via the control unit 42, for example. By providing the enlargement / reduction circuit 48, input image data of various pixel densities and screen sizes, and various recording pixel densities and print sizes can be handled.

The LUT 50 is a gradation conversion table for converting image data subjected to predetermined processing into image data according to the characteristics of the final output medium. The image data is L
By the UT 50, for example, gradation conversion is performed so as to become image data corresponding to display on the monitor 52 and displayed on the monitor 52, and gradation conversion is performed so as to become image data corresponding to color development of the photosensitive material. (Acousto-optic modulator)
The data is input to the driver 58 and is used for image recording in the recording device.

The image processing apparatus 10 of the present invention is basically configured as described above. Hereinafter, the operation of the image processing apparatus 10 will be briefly described.

When an instruction to start print production is issued, first, prescanning is started in the reading device 12, and the image on the film A is read at a low resolution, for example, in the order of R, G, and B. The analog image data read by the reading device 12 and supplied to the image processing device 14 is converted into digital image data by the A / D converter 30 and then converted to digital image data.
The log data is converted into density data by the UT 34, and is sequentially stored in the frame memory 36.

When the pre-scan is completed, the main scan is started in the reading device 12, and the image on the film A is read in the order of R, G, and B, for example, in the same manner as in the pre-scan, at a high resolution. These are sequentially stored in the frame memory 36 of the processing device 14. As already mentioned,
In the image processing apparatus 14 of the present invention, the frame memory 36
The image data can be taken in according to the transfer speed of the image data from the second device.

In the image processing device 14, when the pre-scan is completed in the reading device 12 and the fetch of the pre-scan image data into the frame memory 36 is completed, the pre-scan image data is read from the frame memory 36. The image processing conditions are determined from the prescanned image data by the condition setting unit 40, and various tables are created. This image processing condition is determined by the L
The image processing table is set in the UTs 44 and 50.

When an image processing condition is set by the condition setting unit 40 based on the pre-scan image data, the pre-scan image data read from the frame memory 36 is grayed out by the LUT 44 in accordance with the set table. After the balance adjustment, the brightness correction, and the gradation correction are performed and the color correction is performed by the MTX 46, the LUT 50
Thus, the gradation is converted into an image according to the display on the monitor 52, and the image is displayed on the monitor 52.

Here, the operator can perform verification by looking at the image displayed on the monitor 52, and can make fine adjustments to the image processing conditions as necessary using the keyboard 54, the mouse 56, and the like. . When the image processing condition is finely adjusted by the operator, the correction amount of the image processing condition is calculated,
The set image processing conditions are reset or changed in accordance with the correction amount, and the LUTs 44 and 50 of the image processing unit 38 are set.
The table set in is changed accordingly.

When the fine adjustment of the image processing conditions by the operator is completed, the main scan image data is read out from the frame memory 36, and the LUT 44 controls the gray balance, the brightness correction and the gradation correction according to the set table. After the color correction is performed by the MTX 46, the image is enlarged or reduced by the enlargement / reduction circuit 48 according to the recording pixel density and the print size of the recording apparatus, and the image corresponding to the color development of the photosensitive material is produced by the LUT 50. The gradation is converted so as to become data.

The output image data subjected to the desired image processing in the image processing device 14 is supplied to an AOM (acousto-optic modulator) driver 88 of a recording device (not shown), and is used for image recording by the recording device. Is done.

As in the above embodiment, the reading device 12
I / F circuit 32 as well as analog image data
Thereby, the digital image data of the computer can be taken into the frame memory 36. In this case, the prescanned image data does not exist, but the image processing conditions may be set using, for example, the digital image data of the computer as it is, or the data amount may be reduced by thinning out the digital image data. You may use what was done.

As described above, the image processing apparatus of the present invention has been described in detail. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0039]

As described above in detail, the image processing apparatus according to the present invention includes an A / D converter and an I / F circuit, and can be used for input image data of either analog image data or digital image data. Can also be accommodated. Further, the image processing apparatus of the present invention captures input image data at high speed in accordance with the transfer speed of the input image data by performing interleave control of the frame memory,
And, according to the recording pixel density and print size of the recording device, it is possible to read out the input image data at high speed,
Overall productivity can be improved. Further, since the image processing apparatus of the present invention has the enlargement / reduction circuit, it can take in input image data of an arbitrary resolution and a screen size, and can correspond to an arbitrary recording pixel density and an arbitrary printing size in the recording apparatus.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an embodiment of a digital photo printer using an image processing apparatus of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 digital photo printer 12 image reading device 14 image processing device 16 light source 18 variable aperture 20 color filter plate 22 diffusion box 24 imaging lens 26 CCD sensor 28 amplifier 30 A / D converter 32 interface circuit 34, 44, 50 LUT (look Up table) 36 frame memory 38 image processing unit 40 condition setting unit 42 control unit 46 MTX (matrix) 48 enlargement / reduction circuit 52 monitor 54 keyboard 56 mouse 58 AOM (acoustic optical modulator) driver A film

Claims (1)

[Claims] An A / D converter for converting analog image data read by an image reading device into digital image data, an interface circuit for taking in digital image data of a computer, a memory interleave control, and the A / D conversion A frame memory for storing digital image data output from the device or the interface circuit; and a scaling circuit for converting the digital image data read from the frame memory in accordance with the recording pixel density and print size of the image recording apparatus. An image processing apparatus comprising: