JP3332054B2 - Image processing device - Google Patents

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 for storing image data read by an image reading device in a large-capacity memory, repeatedly reading the data, and sending it to an image output device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventionally known image processing apparatus for storing image information in an image storage means and forming an image of a plurality of portions on a recording material based on the image information, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No.
There is an apparatus as described in US Pat. No. 1,563. According to this image processing apparatus, at the start of recording, the originals are automatically fed one by one to the image reading position by the automatic document feeder, the originals are sequentially read by the original reading means, and the image information read by the original reading means is read. At the same time as storing in the image storage means, an image is formed by the image recording means using the image information read by the document reading means or the image information read from the image storage means. Then, during repeated recording of a plurality of copies, an image is formed by the image recording means using the image information read from the image storage means.

An image processing apparatus for reading out image information stored in an image storage means, synthesizing it into one page, forming an image on a recording material, and recording an image is disclosed in JP-A-61-169.
As described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 081, JP-A No. 0881/1989, when reading data is transferred to a bit map, the first page and the second page are reduced to 1/2 and accumulated and output in a continuous area. is there. Further, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 3-188767, once input document information is temporarily stored in a memory, a plurality of pages are read from the storage memory and combined, and printed out on a single sheet of paper. There are things that I try to do.

[0004]

However, in the conventional image processing apparatus described above, not only at the start of recording but also at the time of repeated recording of a plurality of copies, the image information stored in the image storage means is read out and synthesized. Since an image is formed on a recording material based on the combined image information and the image is recorded, there is a disadvantage that the speed of repeated recording of a plurality of copies cannot be increased.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problem, and an object of the present invention is to speed up image recording processing when repeatedly recording a plurality of copies.

[0006]

To this end, the present invention provides an image inputting means for inputting image information, an image processing means for rotating / reducing / enlarging image information, an image compressing means for compressing image information, A page buffer that temporarily stores information, an image storage unit that stores image information, an image decompression unit that decompresses image information, an image output unit that outputs image information, and a control unit that drives and controls these units. An image processing apparatus provided with a synthesizing unit for synthesizing image information for a plurality of pages into one image, wherein the control unit is configured to output image data input from the image input unit or the image processing at the start of image synthesis output. After the image information rotated / reduced / enlarged by the means is compressed by the image compressing means and temporarily stored in the image storing means, the image information for a plurality of pages is previously stored from the image storing means. Read into a page buffer, decompressed by the image decompression means, synthesized by the synthesis means, output the synthesized image information from the image output means, compressed by the image compression means and stored in the image storage means, At the time of repeatedly outputting a plurality of copies, the combined and compressed image information stored in the image storage means is stored in the page
The data is read out to a buffer, decompressed by the image decompression means, and output from the image output means.

[0007]

The image processing apparatus according to the present invention comprises a synthesizing means for synthesizing image information for a plurality of pages into one image, wherein the control means controls the image data input from the image input means at the start of the output of the image synthesis. Alternatively, after the image information rotated / reduced / enlarged by the image processing means is compressed by the image compression means and temporarily stored in the image storage means, the image information for a plurality of pages is stored in the page buffer from the image storage means. The image data is read out, decompressed by the image decompression means, synthesized by the synthesizing means, and the synthesized image information is output from the image output means and compressed by the image compression means and stored in the image storage means. At the time of repetitive output, reads out the image information compressed after the synthesis stored in the image storage means to the page buffer and decompresses the image information by the image decompression means. Since the image data is output from the output unit, when repeatedly outputting a plurality of copies, the image information which has been compressed and combined into one page is stored and read out, so that the data amount can be reduced. This is unnecessary, and the overhead time during decompression can be reduced.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing one embodiment of an image processing apparatus according to the present invention. In this embodiment, a copying machine will be described as an example of an image processing apparatus.

In FIG. 1, a CPU 101 controls the entire operation according to a program.
02 stores the program and predetermined data, and
M103 stores data and provides a work area. The I / O interface 104 performs input / output processing of control information among the automatic document feeder 2, the image recording device 1, the post-processing device 3, and the image reading device 5. The panel unit 105 includes a numeric keypad, various operation keys,
The display unit and the like are arranged. The image compressor 106 has a compression mode and a through mode, and compresses data in the compression mode using, for example, an adaptive prediction coding method. The adaptive prediction encoding method is a method in which, for example, image data is simultaneously predicted by a plurality of predictors every eight pixels, and the predictor having the highest hit rate is used for prediction of the next eight pixels. In this case, The pixel signal for which the prediction was successful is replaced with “0”, and the pixel signal that is out of the prediction is replaced with “1”, and the image compressor 106 performs run-length compression on the pixel signal. The image decompressor 107 has a decompression mode and a through mode, and restores original image data before compression by decompressing compressed data in the decompression mode. The image rotator 108 converts image information from the image reading device into ±
It rotates by 90 degrees, ± 180 degrees, ± 270 degrees, and further reduces / enlarges. The image synthesizing unit 109 converts the image information expanded by the image expander 107 into a page buffer 112.
At an arbitrary position. Image storage means 11
Numeral 0 denotes a magnetic disk for storing image information, for example, and the stored image information is erasable. The disk control unit 111 controls reading and writing of image information from and to the magnetic disk, and the page buffer 112 temporarily stores the image information, and is composed of, for example, a RAM. Multiplexers (MUX) 113a, 113b,
Reference numerals 113c and 113d switch the transfer direction of the image information.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a copying machine applied as an image processing apparatus according to the present invention. Copiers are roughly divided into a copier body 1 for outputting a copy in which a toner image corresponding to a document image is formed on recording paper, and an automatic original for automatically sending a document to a document mounting surface of the copier body 1. It comprises a feeding device 2 and a post-processing device 3 that performs post-processing such as sorting and stabilization on the copy discharged from the copying machine main body 1.

An image reading device 5 for reading a document image by scanning a document placed on a platen glass 4 serving as a document placing surface from the upper side inside the copying machine body 1, and an image reading device 5 An image forming apparatus 6 for forming a toner image corresponding to a document image on a recording sheet based on the image information obtained by the above-mentioned process, and a paper feeder 7 for supplying the recording sheet to the image forming apparatus 6 are provided. ing.

The automatic document feeder 2 comprises a copier main body 1
The originals stacked on the original placing tray 8 are sequentially placed one by one by a feed roller (not shown) and a transport belt 9 so as to cover the platen glass 4 provided on the upper side of the original. The document is sent to the glass 4 to be copied, and the document of the copying machine is discharged to a document discharge tray 10 by a transport belt 9 and a discharge roller (not shown).

The original reading device 5 includes an exposure lamp 11, a plurality of reflection mirrors 12, a lens 13, an image sensor 14, and the like as an optical system, and moves the exposure lamp 11 and the reflection mirror 12 along the platen glass 4. Then, the light reflected from the document is converged on the image sensor 14, and the density of the image on the document is converted into an electrical image signal. This image signal is converted into digital image data by an A / D conversion circuit or the like provided as an electrical system inside the image reading device 5. Further, image reduction and enlargement processing are performed, and the image data is supplied to an image processing unit described later,
After receiving predetermined signal processing, it is supplied to the image forming apparatus 6.

The image forming apparatus 6 forms a toner image on recording paper by a well-known electrophotographic method. The surface of a photosensitive drum 16 uniformly charged by a charging device 15 is irradiated with a laser exposure device 17 from a laser exposure device 17. Exposure with a laser beam forms an electrostatic latent image.

The laser exposure device 17 is a laser device (not shown) such as a semiconductor laser whose drive current is modulated based on image data from the image reading device 5, and outputs laser light from the laser device to the photosensitive drum 16. Rotating polygon mirror 1 that periodically deflects in the direction perpendicular to the surface movement direction
8, the reflection mirror 19 and the like.

The electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 16 is developed by the developing device 20 or 21 to form a toner image of a desired color on the photosensitive drum 16, and this toner image is fed by the transfer device 22. The image is transferred onto the recording paper sent along the path A from any one of the plurality of trays 7a to 7e of the apparatus 7. Note that trays 7a to 7c are paper feed trays for storing sheets of different sizes, respectively, and tray 7d is an intermediate tray for temporarily storing recording paper for duplex copying, and 7e.
Is a large-capacity tray for storing hundreds of recording sheets. The residual toner remaining on the surface of the photosensitive drum 16 after the transfer is removed by the cleaning device 23.

The recording paper after the transfer is peeled off from the photosensitive drum 16 by a peeling device 24, conveyed to a fixing device 26 by a conveyor 25, and subjected to a fixing process. The path of the sheet after fixing is switched by the switching gate 27 to one of a path B to the post-processing device 3 and a path C to the intermediate tray 7d via the reversing device 28 for duplex copying.
In the case of double-sided copying, the recording paper is reversed by the reversing device 28 and supplied to the image forming apparatus 6 again along the path A via the intermediate tray 7d, and this time a toner image is formed on the back of the recording paper. After that, it is sent to the post-processing device 3.

The recording paper discharged from the image forming apparatus 6 to the post-processing apparatus 3 is switched by the switching gate 29 to either the path D or the path E. The recording paper that has proceeded to the path D is sent to the path F with the image side facing up, and
The recording paper that has passed through is turned over by the reversing device 30 and sent to the path F.

The recording paper which proceeds to the path F is supplied to the switching gate 3
By 1, the route is divided into a route G toward the top tray 32 and a route H that undergoes various post-processing. The recording paper that has proceeded to the path H is conveyed downward along the path I by the vertical conveyance belt 33, and is sorted by the switching gate 34 into a path J that receives stapling processing and a path K that directly goes to the sorter bin 35. . The recording paper that has proceeded to the path J is discharged into the holding tray 36, and when the required number of recording papers has accumulated, it is stapled by the stapler 37. In the case of signature output, the central portion, which is the fold of the recording paper, is stapled. The stapled recording paper is conveyed downward again by the vertical conveyance belt 33 and discharged to a predetermined position in the sorter bin 35.

Next, the operation will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the image processing apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram of the image flow for explaining the operation of the image processing apparatus of the present invention.

First, an image recording process is started based on an instruction from the operation terminal 105, synthesis instruction information is input from the operation terminal, and the number of synthesized images and the number of copies are stored (step S1).

Subsequently, the automatic original feeder 2 automatically feeds the originals one by one to an image reading position of the image reading device 5 to sequentially read the originals by the image reading device 5, and reads the originals by the image reading device 5. The compressed image information is compressed by the image compressor 106, temporarily stored in the page buffer 112, and then stored in the image storage unit 110. This process is repeated until the reading of the document set on the automatic document feeder 2 is completed (steps S2, S3, S4, S5). FIG.
(A) shows a conceptual diagram of an image flow in steps S2, S3, S4, and S5. At this time, based on the synthesis instruction information of the operation terminal, the image information read by the image reading device 5 or the image information read by the image information input to the image rotator 108 and subjected to the rotation processing is temporarily stored in the page buffer 112. The image information subjected to the rotation processing is transferred to an image compressor 10.
6, and temporarily stored in the page buffer 112.
It may be stored in the image storage unit 110.

In the image storage processing of the first copy, the image information once stored in the image storage means 110 is sequentially read out to the page buffer 112 based on the synthesis instruction information,
At 07, it is arranged at a predetermined position in the page buffer 112 (steps S7, S8, S9, S10). FIG. 4 (b)
Shows a conceptual diagram of the image flow in steps S7, S8, S9, and S10. Subsequently, when the image synthesis of one page is completed (step S7), the image information synthesized in the page buffer 112 is sent to the image recording means 1 through the image decompressor 107 in the through mode to form an image (step S11). FIG. 4C illustrates this step S.
11 is a conceptual diagram of an image flow of FIG. Simultaneously with this processing, the image information synthesized in the page buffer 112 is compressed by the image compressor 106, and the page buffer 11
2 and temporarily stored in the image storage unit 110 (steps S12 and S13).
The combined image information stored in 10 may be deleted. FIG. 4D shows these steps S12,
FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram of the image flow of S13.

Subsequently, after the image recording process for the first copy is completed (step S6), the compressed composite image information stored in the image storage means 110 is stored in the page buffer 112 at the time of image recording for a plurality of copies. The read and compressed compressed image information is expanded by the image expander 107 in the expansion mode, and an image is formed by the image recording means 1 (steps S14 to S19).
FIG. 4E is a conceptual diagram of the image flow in steps S14 to S19.

FIG. 5 is a timing chart showing the operation of the image processing apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a timing chart showing the operation of the conventional image processing apparatus. In the conventional image processing apparatus, as shown in the timing chart of FIG. 6, a plurality of pieces of uncompressed image information to be combined into one page are read from a disk, and the combined image recording is repeated. On the other hand, according to the image processing apparatus of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 5A, image information combined at the time of image recording of the first copy is image-recorded, and the combined image information is compressed to form an image. The image is stored in the storage means, and when an image of a plurality of copies is to be recorded, FIG.
As shown in (1), the compressed composite image information is read from the image storage means and recorded. Therefore, at the time of image recording of a plurality of copies, since the compressed image information after synthesis is read from the disk and image-recorded, the reading time from the disk can be reduced, and the image recording process can be sped up.

[0026]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, there is provided a synthesizing means for synthesizing image information for a plurality of pages into one image, and the control means is adapted to start outputting the image synthesized. The image data input from the image input unit or the image information rotated / reduced / enlarged by the image processing unit is compressed by the image compression unit and temporarily stored in the image storage unit. The image information is read out to the page buffer, decompressed by the image decompression means, synthesized by the synthesizing means, and the synthesized image information is output from the image output means and compressed by the image compression means. When repeatedly outputting a plurality of copies, the image information stored and stored in the image storage means and read out by the page buffer is read out to the page buffer. Since the image data is decompressed by the length means and output from the image output means, during repeated output of a plurality of copies, the image information compressed and combined into one page is stored and read out to reduce the data amount. This eliminates the need for image synthesis processing and reduces overhead time during decompression.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a schematic configuration of a copying machine applied as an image processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3A is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the image processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3B is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the image processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 4a is a conceptual diagram of an image flow for explaining an operation of the image processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 4b is a conceptual diagram of an image flow for explaining the operation of the image processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 4c is a conceptual diagram of an image flow for explaining an operation of the image processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 4D is a conceptual diagram of an image flow for explaining the operation of the image processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 4e is a conceptual diagram of an image flow for explaining the operation of the image processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a timing chart showing the operation of the image processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a timing chart showing an operation of the conventional image processing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Image recording device, 2 ... Automatic document feeder, 3 ... Post-processing device, 5 ... Image reading device, 101 ... CPU, 102
.. ROM, 103 ROM, 104 I / O interface, 105 panel part, 106 image compressor, 10
7 image expander, 108 image rotator, 109 image synthesizer, 110 image storage unit, 111 disk controller, 112 page buffer, 113a, 113b, 1
13c, 113d ... multiplexer (MUX)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An image input unit for inputting image information; an image processing unit for rotating / reducing / enlarging the image information; an image compression unit for compressing the image information; a page buffer for temporarily storing the image information; An image processing apparatus comprising: an image storage unit that stores information; an image expansion unit that expands image information; an image output unit that outputs image information; and a control unit that drives and controls each of these units. A synthesizing unit for synthesizing the image information of one image into one image, wherein the control unit is configured to output image data input from the image input unit or an image rotated / reduced / enlarged by the image processing unit at the start of image synthesis output. After the information is compressed by the image compression unit and temporarily stored in the image storage unit, image information for a plurality of pages is read out from the image storage unit to the page buffer, and Decompressed by decompression means, synthesized by the synthesizing means, and the synthesized image information is output from the image output means and compressed by the image compression means and stored in the image storage means. An image processing device for reading out the compressed and compressed image information stored in the image storage means into the page buffer, decompressing the image information by the image decompression means, and outputting the decompressed image information from the image output means.