JPH0760450B2 - Image input device control system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Outline] In an image input apparatus having an automatic reading unit for automatically reading a document loaded on a hopper, a control stage corresponding to a hopper mechanism and a pick mechanism constituting a paper transport mechanism is provided. The master processor controls the control stages corresponding to the feed mechanism and the stacker discharging mechanism that constitute the above-described paper transport mechanism by the slave processor, and the two processors are, so to speak, sharing the load between the processors. An image input device control system that operates in pipeline control is disclosed.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to an image input device control system, and more particularly to an image input device control system in which a plurality of processors control the paper transport mechanism in the image input device by so-called pipeline control.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an image input device is known in order to read and recognize items described in a manuscript, a form, etc. (collectively referred to as a manuscript for simplicity in this specification) and input them into a data processing device. Has been.

Many of such image input devices generally exclude the above-mentioned recognition function, and are designed to read characters on a document and extract image information. Such an image input device is provided with an automatic reading unit that automatically feeds and reads a large amount of originals, and if necessary, for example, one original is placed on a flat bed and is then read. It often has a flat bed reading unit for reading.

As the automatic reading unit, generally, (i) a hopper mechanism for moving an original placed on a hopper to a predetermined preparation position, and (ii) a pick mechanism for taking in the originals placed at the preparation position one by one. And (iii) a feed mechanism for feeding the document, and (iv) a reading unit for reading the fed document.
(V) a printing mechanism that prints on the original document if necessary,
(Vi) It has a stacker discharge mechanism that discharges the read originals to the stacker. In the present invention, the above mechanisms (i), (ii), (iii) and (vi) are collectively referred to as a sheet transport mechanism.

Recently, the hopper mechanism, the pick mechanism, the feed mechanism, and the stacker discharging mechanism are generally controlled by a microprocessor.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

Conventionally, the image input device as described above has been considered, but in order to read documents at high speed one after another, the control corresponding to the hopper mechanism, the control corresponding to the pick mechanism, and the feed mechanism are supported. It is desired that the control for controlling the stacker and the control corresponding to the stacker discharging mechanism are sequentially performed in a pipeline control manner. To do this,
So-called parallel processing is performed, but since the load on the microprocessor increases, how to distribute the load becomes a problem. Of course, the processing related to document reading, control of the printing mechanism, and other processing including countermeasures against troubles such as paper jams are also executed by the microprocessor. It is necessary to keep all the processes synchronized with each other and to distribute related processes as much as possible and distribute them correctly.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention solves the above-mentioned point, and correctly performs load distribution by using a plurality of microprocessors.

FIG. 1 shows the principle configuration of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a bus for a master processor, 2 is a bus for a slave processor, 3 is an external controller (host processor)
Interface unit, 4 is a master processor, 5 is a control memory, 6 is a main memory, 7 is a video processing unit, 8 is a printing mechanism, 9 is a flat bed reading unit, and 10 is a slave
Processor, 11 is a control memory, 12 and 13 are inter-processor communication registers, 14 is a paper transport mechanism, 15 is a hopper mechanism, 16
Is a pick mechanism, 17 is a feed mechanism, and 18 is a stacker discharge mechanism.

The master processor 4 includes a video processing unit 7, a printing mechanism 8, and a flat bed reading unit 9 (which will be described later with reference to FIGS. 2 to 4, but may be considered as a unit for reading a single-leaf original). , Feed mechanism in paper transport mechanism 14
17, Similarly, it controls the stacker discharging mechanism 18. In addition, the slave processor 10 uses the hopper mechanism 1 in the paper transport mechanism 14.
5. Similarly, the pick mechanism 16 is controlled.

Furthermore, the communication between the processors 4 and 10 involves register 12, 1
Done through 3. Communication with the external controller is performed via the interface unit 3.

[Action]

The master processor 4 and the slave processor 10 cooperate with each other to control document reading, but with respect to paper conveyance, (i) control corresponding to a hopper mechanism that moves a document loaded on the hopper to a predetermined preparation position. And (ii) the control corresponding to the pick mechanism for picking up the originals placed in the preparation position one by one is controlled by the slave processor 10, while the taken originals are fed to the reading unit. The master processor 4 controls the control corresponding to the feeding mechanism and the control relating to the stacker discharging mechanism that discharges the read document to the stacker.

The master processor 4 controls the printing mechanism for printing on the original fed by the feed mechanism as needed, and also controls the flat bed reading unit. It also controls the processing related to the image information obtained by reading the document.

In relation to the paper conveyance, the hopper mechanism 15, the pick mechanism 16,
The feed mechanism 17 and the stacker discharge mechanism 18 are activated in sequence, but the slave processor 10 that operates according to a command from the master processor 4 is the master processor 4
In cooperation with, each manuscript is moved to each of the above mechanisms in the form of pipeline control. That is, while the p-th original is in the feed mechanism 17 and the stacker discharge mechanism 18, the (p + 1) -th original is in the hopper mechanism 15 and the pick mechanism 16 and processed at high speed one after another.

〔Example〕

2 is a conceptual configuration diagram of a sectional view of the image input apparatus of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the upper surface of the flat bed reading unit, and FIG. 4 is the position of the flat bed reading unit and the automatic reading unit. Explanatory drawing showing a relationship, fifth
FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 6 is a state diagram of a paper transport mechanism, FIG. 7 is a master processor operation flow, and FIG. 8 is a slave processor operation flow.

In the figure, 20 is a flat bed reading unit, 21 is an automatic reading unit, 22 is a document retainer, 23 is a flat bed on which a single-leaf document is placed, and 24 is a reading unit according to the present invention. That which also serves as the first reading section and the second reading section, 25 is a light beam, 26 is a reading light beam from the flat bed reading unit 20 side, and 27 is an automatic reading unit 2.
Read light beam from 1 side, 28 is hopper, 29 is stacker, 30
Is a print head, 31 is a platen, and 32 is a manual insertion slot for inserting a single-sheet original for printing, 33, 34, 3
Reference numeral 5 denotes a mirror (the mirror 33 serves to guide the light beam 26 to the light beam 25, and when the light beam 27 is guided to the light beam 25, it is rotated and retracted as shown in FIG. , 36 is a reference guide for positioning when inserting a document from the manual insertion port, and 37 is a drive roller. 38 and 39 are lamps.

When reading a single original, or for an original that is desired not to be bent as much as possible, open the original holder 22 and place the original on the flat bed 23 as shown in FIG.
Reading is performed by closing the document holder 22 and giving a start instruction in the same manner as when copying is performed by a copying machine. That is, the lamp 38 shown in FIG.
The mirror 33 and the mirror 33 move together in the horizontal direction in the figure, and the light beam reflected from the original document passes through the glass in the flat bed 23 during the light beam 26 (light beam 26).
The position of 26 also moves horizontally), is guided by the light beam 25, and is read by the reading unit 24 as image information.

When reading a large number of documents, the documents are stacked on the hopper 28. Then, the hopper 28 is raised to a predetermined preparation position by the hopper mechanism. Then, the picking mechanism picks up one by one from the top of the document placed in the preparation position, and corrects the undesired inclination of the document with the leading edge side of the document as a reference. .

The original whose inclination has been corrected is fed by the feed mechanism.
It is fed across the position where the illustrated lamp 39 is present. As a result, the light from the lamp 39 is reflected from the original document, becomes a light beam 27 from the light beam 27, and is read by the reading unit 24.

The document traverses the position of the print head 30 and is numbered, for example, by the printing mechanism as needed.

Then, the stacker discharging mechanism discharges the stacker 29. During this time, the multi-acting drive roller 37 is rotated to feed the document.

When it is necessary to perform numbering, for example, on the original read by the flat bed reading unit 20, the original is inserted through the manual insertion opening 32 as clearly shown in FIG. It In this case, the inserted document is fed vertically and numbered by the print head 30 as shown in FIG.

The automatic scanning unit 21 is a flat
A hinge is attached to the bed reading unit 20 so that it can be opened and closed. Then, for example, when a paper jam occurs, open the automatic reading unit 21 as shown in FIG.
You will be required to take measures such as clearing a paper jam.

In the automatic reading by the automatic reading unit 21, the mirror 33 is rotated and retracted as shown at 33 'in FIG.

The image input device used in the present invention is not limited thereto, but it may be considered as shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, and the present invention is intended for control of such an image input device. .

FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention and corresponds to FIG. Reference numerals 1 to 18 in the figure correspond to those in FIG. 1, 40 is a timer, 41 is a fluorescent lamp corresponding to the lamps 38 and 39 shown in FIG. 42 is a light amount sensor, 43 is a CCD in the reading unit 24, 44 is a video signal amplifying unit, 45 is a gain control unit, and 46 is a white level control unit.

The details of the control relating to the paper transport mechanism 14 will be described later, but the problem relating to the video processing unit 7 will be briefly described here.

While the document is being fed, the light from the fluorescent lamp 41 (lamps 38, 39) is reflected on the document and becomes a light beam 25.
It is converted into an electric signal by the CCD 43 shown in the figure. The electric signal is amplified by the video signal amplifier 44 and is output as video data output (image information). At this time,
The gain control section 45 controls the gain in the amplification section 44, and the white level control section 46 controls the white level.

Further, the following checks are performed. That is, while the document is being fed, the light quantity from the fluorescent lamp 41 is detected by the light quantity sensor 42, the light quantity at the start and the end of reading the original is compared, and the lamp burns out during the reading of one original. Check for lamp abnormalities including. Further, the light amount is checked and fed back to the gain control unit 45 to obtain the optimum gain.

FIG. 6 is a state diagram of the paper transport mechanism, and the master processor operation flow shown in FIG. 7 and the slave processor operation flow shown in FIG. 8 will be described while comparing them. Sixth
Reference numerals 29, 30, 39 shown in the figure correspond to those in FIG. 2, and 43 corresponds to the CCD shown in FIG. Further, the illustrated "hopper part" is a hopper mechanism, "pick part" is a pick mechanism, and "feed part".
Indicates the feed mechanism, the "stacker unit" corresponds to the stacker mechanism, the "slave MPU" corresponds to the control by the slave processor, and the "master MPU" corresponds to the control by the master processor. Further, S ₁ to S ₁₂ are various sensors, MG 1 to MG 3 are electromagnetic magnets, MOT 1 to MO, respectively.
T5 represents a motor.

As shown in FIG. 2, the hopper mechanism is for raising a large amount of documents loaded on the hopper 28 to a predetermined preparation position, and the hopper 28 is detected by the sensor S ₂ by the motor (MOT1). Performs a rising operation up to.

The pick mechanism is for picking up one by one from the document group placed at the preparation position, and the aligning stopper 47 is pulled up on the document moving route by the electromagnetic magnet (MG2) and the electromagnetic magnet ( The roller is closed by MG1), the motor (MOT2) is started, and one original is taken in by the belt 48 or the like. Of course, in order to correctly take in only one sheet, a known mechanism for rotating the lower roll 49 in the reverse direction is provided. In addition, the feed mechanism is provided with a mechanism for checking the amount of light transmitted through the document and detecting and eliminating the thickness of the document and undesired double feed.

The document taken in by the belt 48 or the like is detected by the sensor S ₄ (the occurrence of jam etc. is detected), and at the position of the aligning stopper 47, the entire leading end side of the document is properly contacted with the stopper 47. Then, the undesired inclination of the original is corrected. After the correction is made, the aligning stopper 47 is pulled down, the original reaches the standby position shown in the drawing, and the original is pulled by the feed mechanism controlled by the master processor 4.

In the feed mechanism, the sensors S ₅ and S ₆ detect the presence of the document, the motor (MOT3) is activated, and the document is fed. During this time, the document passes under the lamp 39 and the CCD 43
The characters on the document are read as image information. If necessary, the print head 30 numbers the document.

Next, in the stacker mechanism, the motor (MOT4) is started and the stacker 29 on which the originals are stacked is selected by the operation of the electromagnetic magnet (MG3).

As shown in FIG. 7 (A), when the reading is started, the abnormality of the optical system is checked, and if it is normal, the illustrated processing is performed.
The master processor 4 issues a start request to the slave processor 10 by 50, and thereafter waits until the sensor S _{5 is} turned on by the process 51. When an error occurs, the error process shown in FIG. 7 (C) starts.

In response to the start request, the slave processor 10 is started as shown in FIG. 8 (A). When the master processor 4 is first activated, the process 52 proceeds to the yes route, and the second and subsequent manuscripts proceeds to the no route.

In step 53, the above-mentioned aligning stopper 47 is pulled up by the electromagnetic magnet (MG2). Process 54 is a motor (MO
Start T1), the process 55 checks whether the document is properly reaches the position of the sensor S _2. If reached correctly,
In process 56, the motor (MOT1) is stopped. Then, in process 57, it is checked whether the hopper 28 is empty.

If it is not empty, the process proceeds to the flow shown in FIG. 8 (B), and the motor (MOT2) is started in process 58 corresponding to the pick mechanism. When the motor (MOT2) is rotated by previously defined pulses of the sensor S ₄ is turned on, the motor (MOT2) is stopped in the processing 59. If the sensor S ₄ is turned on before rotating by the specified pulse, the process proceeds to the route shown in FIG. 8 (C).

In step 59 shown in FIG. 8B, the motor (MOT1) is started by step 60, the hopper 28 descends, the motor (MOT1) is stopped in step 61, and the motor (MOT2) is turned on in step 62. It is started and in process 63 it is checked whether or not the sensor S ₄ is turned on. If it is turned on, the process proceeds to the process 64 shown in FIG.

In FIG. 8 (C), in process 64, the motor (MOT2) is stopped, and in process 65 the electromagnetic magnet (MG1) is turned on.
At step 66, the electromagnetic magnet (MG2) is turned off to lower the above-mentioned aligning stopper 47, and at step 67 the motor (MO
T2) is started and the original is shown in Fig. 6 "standby position"
Send up to. If the slave processor 10 has received the restart command, it proceeds to the route shown in FIG. 8 (D).

When the restart processing is started, it waits until it receives a request to stop the pick mechanism, and in processing 68 shown in FIG. 8D, it is confirmed that the sensor S ₄ is turned off, and in processing 69, the master processor 4 The sensor S ₄ is notified that the sensor S ₄ has been turned off, and the process returns to the starting point in FIG. 8 (A).

In the master processor 4, when it is notified that the sensor S ₄ has been turned off, the motor (MOT3) is activated in the process 70 shown in FIG. 7 (A). Then, the process 71
When the sensor S ₆ is turned on in step 72,
Request the slave processor 10 to stop the motor (MOT2).

Next, proceeding to the route shown in FIG. 7 (B), in process 73, the trailing edge of the original is the phototransistor PT1 shown in FIG.
It is checked whether or not the motor (MOT3) has passed, and if it has passed, the motor (MOT3) is stopped in step 76. And processing
A check with 77 or 78 is performed, and either the top or bottom stacker
After it is decided whether to enter 29, the motor (MO
T3) is started.

Next, proceeding to the route shown in FIG. 7 (C), the reading of the next original that is being fed subsequently is started in process 80. Then, a check is made by processing 81 and 82, and in processing 83, a restart is requested to the slave processor.

The process of FIG. 7 (D) represents an interrupt process during paper ejection. After confirming which stacker 29 is selected in the process 84, it is checked whether the paper is normally discharged to the selected stacker.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, a plurality of micro
The processors cooperate with each other to efficiently convey the originals by pipeline processing, and the reading can be performed in the meantime.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a conceptual configuration diagram of a sectional view of an image input device of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the upper surface of a flat bed reading unit, and FIG. An explanatory view showing the positional relationship between the bed reading unit and the automatic reading unit, FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 6 is a state diagram of the paper transport mechanism, FIG. 7 is a master processor operation flow, FIG. 8 shows a slave processor operation flow. In the figure, 4 is a master processor, 10 is a slave processor, 8 is a printing mechanism, 14 is a paper transport mechanism, 15 is a hopper mechanism, 1
6 is a pick mechanism, 17 is a feed mechanism, 18 is a stacker discharge mechanism, 20 is a flat bed reading unit, 21 is an automatic reading unit, 24 is a reading unit, 28 is a hopper, and 29 is a stacker.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Minoru Ikeda Minoru Ikeda No. 98, Unoki-nu, Unoki-cho, Hebei-gun, Ishikawa Prefecture (56) Reference JP 60-97487 (JP, A) JP-A-54-36941 (JP, A) JP-A-60-97487 (JP, A) JP-A-62-6387 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A paper conveyance mechanism (14) for automatically feeding a plurality of originals stacked on a hopper (28), and a photoelectric conversion means for the originals fed by the paper conveyance mechanism (14). And a printing mechanism (8) for performing printing on the fed document as needed, and a document read by the reading unit that is fed by the paper transport mechanism (14). The stacker (29) that stores the received originals,
In an image input device including at least an automatic reading unit (21), the paper transport mechanism (14) includes a hopper mechanism for moving at least a document stacked on the hopper (28) to a predetermined preparation position. The hopper mechanism includes a pick mechanism for picking up the originals placed at the preparation position one by one, a feed mechanism for feeding the originals, and a stacker discharging mechanism for discharging the originals read by the reading unit to the stacker. And a hopper mechanism control stage corresponding to the above hopper mechanism,
A pick mechanism control stage corresponding to the above pick mechanism,
The feed mechanism control stage corresponding to the feed mechanism and the stacker ejection mechanism control stage corresponding to the stacker ejection mechanism respectively respond to the master processor (4) and the synchronization instruction from the master processor (4). The master processor (4) controls the feed mechanism control stage, the stacker ejection mechanism control stage, and the processing related to the image information obtained by reading the original, which is configured to be controlled by the slave processor (10) that operates. ，
In addition, the series operation of the hopper mechanism control stage and the pick mechanism control stage is performed by the slave processor (1
0) to control the slave processor (10)
During the control by the master processor (4) following the control by the slave processor (10),
Is configured to execute the control corresponding to the next manuscript by performing the processor load sharing so that the master processor (4) and the slave processor (10) operate in parallel. Image input device control system.