JP6192553B2 - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having a function of combining images.

  The image forming apparatus, which is a printer, a multifunction printer, a multifunction peripheral device, or a multifunction peripheral, reads a drawing on which a logo mark, a background, a stamp of “confidential”, or a signature is written, and reads the drawing Bitmap data is created from the image (hereinafter referred to as “form image”). The form image is divided into units called bands, and image data for one band is sequentially converted into a bitmap to create bitmap data. By storing the bitmap data of such a form image as an image image, the user can create an image (hereinafter, referred to as “image image”) that is an image composition of a form image designated by the user (hereinafter referred to as “original image”). "Composite image"). For example, in the image forming apparatus and method of Patent Document 1, a form image that is pre-registered (stored) so as to be sharable and image information expressed in a page description language are combined to form and output an image. Has improved convenience.

JP-A-10-287024

  However, in the image forming apparatus and method of Patent Document 1, form images can be registered in a sharable manner. However, as the number of registered form images increases, a large storage area for storing the form images is required. . Also, for form images with more blanks than original images, creating bitmap data that converts all bands of the form image into bitmaps increases the data size of the form image, and saves the form image. There was a problem that a large storage area had to be secured.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and an object thereof is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of solving the above-described problems.

An image forming apparatus according to the present invention is an image forming apparatus capable of synthesizing a form image and a document image, and forms image reading means for reading the form image, and form image bit data for creating form image bitmap data from the form image data. A map data creation means; and a form image bitmap data storage means for saving the form image bitmap data. When the form image bitmap data is created by the form image bitmap data creation means, The blank portion is not converted into a bitmap, and the form image bitmap data creating unit includes a form image band dividing unit that divides the form image data into bands of the form image, and the density of the band is a threshold band density Only when Convert to the map, the band when not converted into a bitmap, is characterized in that a blank band information is set in the form image bitmap data.
The image forming apparatus of the present invention is characterized by comprising form image combining means for combining the form image bitmap data with document image data which is an image image of a document.
Also, the form image bitmap data storage means of the image forming apparatus of the present invention is characterized in that the form image bitmap data is compressed and stored.
Further, the form image composition means of the image forming apparatus of the present invention is characterized in that the image composition is performed after setting a blank bit in the blank band of the form image bitmap data based on the blank band information.
The image forming apparatus of the present invention is characterized in that the threshold band density can be set or changed.

  In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the capacity of the storage area for storing the image data of the form image can be reduced, so that the storage area in the image forming apparatus can be saved.

1 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the form image preservation | save process which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the form image composition process which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, modes for carrying out the present invention (hereinafter referred to as “embodiments”) will be described with reference to the drawings. The image forming apparatus according to the embodiment divides a form image into units called bands, and sequentially converts image data for one band (hereinafter referred to as “band”) into a bitmap. When the bitmap data is created, if it is blank, the band is not converted to bitmap data, and the band density of the band color density (hereinafter referred to as “band density”) is determined in advance. Only in the above case, the data size of the image data is reduced by converting the band into a bitmap.

  A functional configuration of the image forming apparatus 100 according to the embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. An image forming apparatus 100 illustrated in FIG. 1 includes a control unit 110, a storage unit 120, an operation panel 130, an operation panel processing unit 140, an image reading unit 150, an image forming unit 160, a network communication unit 170, and an image printing unit 180. ing. These units are connected by a bus or the like.

  The control unit 110 includes main storage means such as RAM and ROM, and control means such as MPU (Micro Processing Unit) and CPU (Central Processing Unit). The control unit 110 controls the overall image forming apparatus 100 including various I / Os, interfaces such as USB (Universal Serial Bus), a bus controller, and the like. The control unit 110 includes a form image storage processing unit 110a that stores a form image, and a form image composition processing unit 110b that combines the form image and the document image. Details of the image storage processing executed by the image storage processing unit 110a and the image composition processing executed by the image composition processing unit 110b will be described later.

  The storage unit 120 is a storage device including a flash memory or a hard disk drive, and stores programs and data for processing executed by the control unit 110. The storage unit 120 includes an image data temporary storage area 120a that temporarily stores image data output from the image reading unit 150 or image data received by the network communication unit 170. In addition, the storage unit 120 includes a form image bitmap data storage area 120b for storing form image bitmap data (hereinafter referred to as “form image bitmap data”).

  The operation panel 130 receives an operation menu display and an operation with a user's finger. Since the stored form image can be displayed on the operation panel 130, the user can select the form image to be combined with the document image from the operation panel 130.

  The operation panel processing unit 140 displays a printable image image or an operation item of a function provided in the image forming apparatus 100 according to a request from the control unit 110 on the operation panel 130, or an operation performed by the user from the operation panel 130. Performs processing to input operation data.

  When the image reading unit 150 receives a document or drawing reading request from the operation panel processing unit 140, the image reading unit 150 reads the document or drawing set on the document table and creates image data.

  The image forming unit 160 converts the image data created by the image reading unit 150 into image data that can be printed or image data that can be transmitted by FAX or email.

  The network communication unit 170 includes a detachable LAN interface for connecting to the network 200. The LAN interface includes a network unit that performs intelligent transmission and reception of various network protocols such as TCP / IP, AppleTalk, and SMB.

  The image printing unit 180 has a function of printing image data requested by the user on a sheet.

  Next, the form image storage processing executed by the form image storage processing unit 110a of the image forming apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  When the user performs an operation for saving a form image from the operation panel 130, the operation panel processing unit 140 outputs a request to read the original drawing of the form image set on the document table to the image reading unit 150, and the operation panel The processing unit 140 outputs a form image storage processing start notification to the control unit 110. When the control unit 110 inputs a form image storage processing start notification, the control unit 110 activates the form image storage processing unit 110a, and the form image storage processing unit 110a starts the form image storage processing.

(Step S101)
First, the form image storage processing unit 110a receives form image image data (hereinafter referred to as “form image data”) from the image data temporary storage area 120a in which the image data output by the image reading unit 150 is temporarily stored. input.

(Step S102)
Next, the form image storage processing unit 110a converts the form image data input in step S101 into which the color is expressed by the RGB expression method into 256 bands by converting one pixel into 256 gradations by the CMYK expression method. Create image data. Here, the division into bands means that the form image data is divided into sections of a desired size, for example, divided in a vertical direction, a horizontal direction, or a matrix shape with a predetermined width.

(Step S103)
Next, the form image storage processing unit 110a sets “1” that is an initial value to the band extraction counter (I).

(Step S104)
Next, the form image storage processing unit 110a extracts a band corresponding to the band extraction counter (I) from the form image data divided into bands.

(Step S105)
Next, the form image storage processing unit 110a determines whether or not the band corresponding to the band extraction counter (I) extracted in step S104 is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold band density. When the band density is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold value (Yes in step S105), the process proceeds to step S106. On the other hand, when the band density is not equal to or higher than the predetermined threshold (No in step S105), the process proceeds to step S107.

(Step S106)
In Yes of step S105, the form image storage processing unit 110a converts the band of the form image data divided into the bands extracted in step S104 into a bitmap.

(Step S107)
Next, the form image storage processing unit 110a determines whether all the bands have been extracted from the form image data divided into bands. When all the bands have been extracted (Yes in step S107), the process proceeds to step S109. When all the bands have not been taken out (No in step S107), the process proceeds to step S108.

(Step S108)
Next, the form image storage processing unit 110a adds “1” to the band extraction counter (I), and returns to Step S104.

(Step S109)
Next, the form image storage processing unit 110a creates form image bitmap data from the bitmap created in step S106. Note that information about a band that is not equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold band density in step S105, that is, a band that is regarded as blank (hereinafter referred to as “blank band information”) is also set in the form image bitmap data.

(Step S110)
Next, when the form image storage processing unit 110a compresses the form image bitmap data created in step S109 and stores it in the form image bitmap data storage area 120b of the storage unit 120, the form image storage processing ends.

  Next, the form image composition processing executed by the form image composition processing unit 110b of the image forming apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  When the user designates a form image to be synthesized from the operation panel 130 and performs a document printing operation, the operation panel processing unit 140 outputs a reading request for the document set on the document table to the image reading unit 150, and The operation panel processing unit 140 outputs a form image synthesis process start notification to the control unit 110. When the control unit 110 inputs a form image composition processing start notification, the control unit 110 activates the form image composition processing unit 110b, and the form image composition processing unit 110b starts the form image composition processing.

(Step S201)
First, the form image composition processing unit 110b receives image data of a document image (hereinafter referred to as “document image data”) from the image data temporary storage area 120a in which the image data output from the image reading unit 150 is temporarily stored. input.

(Step S202)
Next, the form image composition processing unit 110b causes the image forming unit 160 to create document image data of an image image from the document image data input in step S201.

(Step S203)
Next, the form image composition processing unit 110b takes out the form image bitmap data of the form image designated by the user from the operation panel 130 from the form image bitmap data storage area 120b.

(Step S204)
Next, the form image composition processing unit 110b performs decompression to restore the compression of the form image bitmap data input in step S203 to the original state.

(Step S205)
Next, the form image composition processing unit 110b performs image composition of the document image data created in step S202 and the form image data. When image composition is performed, image composition is performed after setting a blank bit in a blank band of form image bitmap data based on blank band information set in form image bitmap data.

(Step S206)
Next, when the form image composition processing unit 110b outputs the image data obtained by combining the document image bitmap data and the form image data to the image printing unit 180, the form image composition processing ends. The image printing unit 180 prints the combined image data on a sheet.

  In the image forming apparatus 100 of the embodiment as described above, only a band having a band density equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold band density is converted into a bitmap for a form image having a larger number of blank portions than a document image, and other than that. Since the band is not converted into a bitmap, the data size of the form image is reduced, and it is not necessary to secure a large storage area for storing the form image. In addition, when the drawing of the form image set on the platen is stained or slightly stained, or when dust or the like is attached to the platen, the image reading unit 150 may read a blank portion of the drawing as a blank. There are things that cannot be done. Even in such a case, by obtaining the band density as, for example, an average value of all bits, a portion that the image reading unit 150 could not read as blank can be regarded as blank, so that the storage area is wasted. Can be reduced. Therefore, when the form image is stored in the hard disk drive, the hard disk drive can be saved. Further, in the image forming apparatus 100 that cannot be provided with a hard disk drive in order to reduce the cost, it is possible to save a memory for storing the form image.

In the embodiment, the image data obtained by synthesizing the form image data and the original image data is printed. However, the image data obtained by synthesizing the form image data and the original image data is not printed, and the storage unit 120 is printed. In addition, it is also possible to transmit to a PC (personal computer) via the network communication unit 170, or to transmit by FAX.
Further, the band density of the predetermined threshold is set by the user from the operation panel 130 and stored in the storage unit 120. When the user changes the band density of the threshold, the band density of the threshold is changed from the operation panel 130. The threshold band density stored in 120 can be changed.
In the embodiment, the original image data of the original read from the image reading unit 150 and the form image data are combined, but the original image data received from the PC and the form image data are combined. Is also possible.

  Such an image forming apparatus of the present invention can reduce the capacity of the storage area for storing the image data of the form image, so that the storage area in the image forming apparatus can be saved.

  As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated by specific embodiment, it cannot be overemphasized that the said embodiment is an illustration of this invention and is not limited to this embodiment.

  The present invention is suitable for an image forming apparatus, but is not limited to an image forming apparatus, and can be applied to any apparatus capable of processing image data.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Image forming apparatus 110 ... Control part 110a ... Form image preservation | save processing part 110b ... Form image composition processing part 120 ... Storage part 120a ... Image data temporary storage area 120b ... Form image bitmap data storage area 130 ... Operation panel 140 ... Operation panel processing unit 150 ... Image reading unit 160 ... Image forming unit 170... Network communication unit 180... Image printing unit 200.

Claims (5)

An image forming apparatus capable of combining a form image and a document image,
Form image reading means for reading the form image;
Form image bitmap data creating means for creating form image bitmap data from form image data;
Form image bitmap data storage means for storing the form image bitmap data,
When creating the form image bitmap data by the form image bitmap data creating means, the blank portion of the form image is not converted into a bitmap ,
The form image bitmap data creating means includes form image band dividing means for dividing the form image data into bands of the form image,
Only when the band density is equal to or higher than the threshold band density, it is converted into a bitmap.
An image forming apparatus, wherein blank band information is set in the form image bitmap data when the band is not converted into a bitmap . The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a form image synthesizing unit that synthesizes the form image bitmap data with document image data that is an image image of a document. The form image bitmap data storage means, the image forming apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterized in that stored by compressing said foam image bitmap data.   3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the form image synthesizing unit synthesizes an image after setting a blank bit in a blank band of the form image bitmap data based on the blank band information. Band density of the threshold value, the image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 4 claim 1, characterized in that it is possible to set or changed.

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