JPH0779428B2 - Image processing device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an image processing device.

It is known to record an image based on an image signal obtained by photoelectrically reading image information or to transmit this image signal to a remote place. By the way, as a feature that image information can be handled as an electrical signal, a so-called network is constructed in which a plurality of devices that handle image signals are connected through a transmission line and an output from any device can be transmitted to any device. It is a point that can be done.

In such a system, a bus for passing image data is provided, and image information is transmitted through the image bus during image processing.

However, if such a bus is commonly used to input and output image data, once the image data is sent out through the bus, the bus is occupied and the bus is used for other purposes. There was a problem that I could not do it.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and a bus for transmitting image data (corresponding to FIG. 41 in the second embodiment), generation of image data of the first form representing a target image Means (also 2 or 5), first and second image processing means (also 43, 34) for receiving image data via the bus, and the image data of the first form generated by the generating means A converting means (also 38 in FIG. 5) for converting into a second form having a smaller amount of data than the first form, and the image data of the first form generated by the generating means to the first processing means. The image data of the second form, which is output intermittently via the bus and which is converted by the conversion means using the pause period of the intermittent output, is sent to the second processing means via the bus. Transmission means for transmitting (also shown in T of FIG. 6) And having the) to transmit data from RAM46 blank time.

FIG. 1 is an external connection diagram of an image processing apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 1 denotes a control unit (referred to as a workstation) having an internal memory composed of a microcomputer for system control, RAM, ROM and the like, and an external memory composed of a floppy disk or a cartridge disk. Reference numeral 2 is an input section of the digital copying machine, which is a document reader for converting document information of a document placed on a platen into an electric signal by an image pickup device such as CCD, and 3 is an output section of the digital copying machine, which is a laser beam. It is a high-speed printer that records an image on a recording material based on information converted into electric signals by a printer or the like. An image file 4 has a storage medium such as an optical disk or a magneto-optical disk and can write and read a large amount of image information. Reference numeral 5 is provided with a microfilm search unit and a microfilm reader unit for converting image information on the searched microfilm into an electric signal by an imaging device. 6 has a photosensitive belt in which a photoconductive layer is provided on a transparent and conductive belt-shaped substrate,
By irradiating the photoconductive layer with laser light modulated according to the input image signal through the substrate, an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the contrast of the image light is formed on the photoconductive layer, and the formed latent image is toner. It is a high-resolution soft display that develops with a toner (developer) having conductivity and magnetism held on a carrier to form a display image. 7 is a printer device such as a laser beam printer similar to the printer 3,
It is smaller and slower than the printer 3, and is installed as needed. Reference numeral 8 denotes a CRT device for displaying image information photoelectrically read by an input scanner (reader) of a digital copying machine and a micro film file, or system control information. Reference numeral 9 denotes a switching device for switching the connection between the respective input / output devices by a signal from the control unit 1. 10 to 18 are cables for electrically connecting the input / output devices. Also, 20
Is a keyboard provided in the control unit 1, which operates the keyboard 20 to issue operation commands of the system. Reference numeral 21 denotes an operation panel for issuing an operation command of the digital copying machine, which has setting keys for the number of copies, copying magnification, etc., a copy key 25 for instructing the start of copying, and a numerical display. Reference numeral 22 is a mode switching switch which will be described later, and reference numerals 23 and 24 are light emitting diode (LED) indicators for displaying the mode selection state of the mode switching switch 22.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration of the image processing system shown in FIG. Each block corresponding to FIG. 1 is assigned the same number as in FIG. First, each block in the control unit 1 will be described. Reference numeral 31 denotes a keyboard, which corresponds to the keyboard 20 shown in FIG. 1, and the operator inputs an operation command of the system using the keyboard 31. A central processing unit (CPU) 32 is composed of a micro computer (for example, Motorola 68000). Reference numeral 33 is a read-only memory ROM in which a system control program is written in advance, and the CPU 32 controls and operates according to the program written in the ROM 33. The random access memory RAM 34 is mainly used as a working memory of the CPU 32 or a page memory for storing image signals exchanged between the input / output units. Reference numeral 35 denotes an external memory composed of a floppy disk, which stores a system control program, a database for image retrieval from an image file described later, and the like. Reference numeral 36 is a communication interface, which enables exchange of information with other similar systems or terminals using a communication line such as a local area network.
Reference numeral 37 is an input / output interface that achieves information exchange between the control unit 1 and the switching device 9. Reference numeral 38 is a bit extraction circuit for thinning out the image signal at a predetermined rate. 39 is an optical disc interface for exchanging information with the image file 4, 40 is for exchanging information with the CRT8
It is a CRT interface. Reference numeral 41 is a 16-bit bus, and the signal transfer of each block in the control unit 1 is performed. 11 to 18 are cables for electrically connecting the input / output devices as described above, and control signals and image signals are transmitted. The arrow on the cable indicates the flow of the image signal. Also, control signal flow is bidirectional in the cable. As is apparent from the figure, the manuscript reader 2 and the high-speed printer 3, the microfilm file 5, the soft display 6, and the small printer 7 of the digital copying machine 42 are provided with cables 11, 1 respectively.
2, 15, 16 and 10 are connected to the switching device 9, and further connected to the input / output interface 37 of the control unit 1 by cables 13 and 14. In addition, the image file 4 and CRT8 are cable
It is connected to each interface 39, 40 of the control unit 1 by 17, 18. The CRT 8 is provided with a display RAM 43 that stores image information to be displayed. The image signal input / output by the switching device 9 is a serial signal, and the bus 41 of the controller 1 is used.
Since the above information is a parallel signal, the input / output interface 37 is provided with a serial → parallel register for capturing an image signal and a parallel → serial register for outputting an image signal.

The image signal output from the document reader 2 or the microfilm file 5 is input to the input / output interface 37 of the control unit 1 via the switching device 9 line by line. The input / output interface 37 receives the image signals input serially.
It is converted into a parallel signal for every 16 bits and output on the bus 41. The image signals output on the bus 41 are sequentially input to the image area of the RAM 34 for one page. RAM34 in this way
The image signal stored in the optical disk is output to the bus 41 again, is output to the outside via the communication interface 36, is written to the optical disk sent to the image file 4 via the optical disk interface 39, and the like. An image is formed by being output to the switching device 9 via the input / output interface 37 and selectively transmitted to the high speed printer 3, the soft display 6 or the small size printer 7.

The image signal read from the optical disk of the image file 4 is written in the RAM 34, and then selected by the switching device 9 via the input / output interface 37 to the high speed printer 3, soft display 6 or small printer 7. Transmitted.

The image signal from the document reader 2 or the micro film file 5 can be selectively transmitted directly to any one of the high speed printer 3, the soft display 6 and the small printer 7 from the switching device 9 without the control unit 1. . That is, when a mere copy operation is desired, the image file 4 or CRT8
Therefore, for example, the image signal from the document reader 2 is directly supplied to the high-speed printer 3 without passing through the control unit 1 to execute a real-time copy operation.
This mode is called the pass mode.

The control relating to the transmission of the above image signal is executed by the CPU 32 in accordance with the operation command input by the operator through the keyboard 31.

FIG. 3 shows a detailed circuit configuration of the switching device 9. The same cables as in FIG. 2 are given the same numbers.

Switches 51-54, 61-63 and 71-74 are controlled by the switching signals ak transmitted from the control unit 1 via the cable 13. The switches 51 to 54 select the transmission destination of the image signal output from the microfilm file 5 via the cable 15. The switches 61 to 63 select the transmission destination of the image signal output from the control unit 1 via the cable 14b. The switches 71 to 74 select the transmission destination of the image signal output from the document reader 2 via the cable 11. FIG. 4 shows a document reader 2 for outputting an image signal to the switching device 9, a microfilm file 5 and a control unit 1 and a high speed printer 3 for inputting an image signal from the switching device 9, a soft display 6, a small printer 7 and a control unit 1. Connection status and switch 51 to 54, 61 to 63, 71 to 74
Shows the relationship of the operating state of. The numbers in parentheses indicate the image signal transmission cables. Each switch number indicates that the switch is in the closed state. The switching device 9 can also be configured by a logic circuit.

The operation of the switching device 9 will be described. For example, switch 72,53
When 63 and 63 are closed, the image signal from the document reader 2 is transmitted to the high speed printer 3 via the switch 72, and operates as a digital copying machine. On the other hand, switch 53
The image signal from the micro film 5 is transmitted to the soft display 6 via the. Further, the image signal from the control unit 1 is transmitted to the small printer 7 via the switch 63.

As described above, by selectively operating the switch of the switching device 9, each input / output device is arbitrarily connected, and
This system can effectively function as a display device, a copying device, and a file device. Further, since a plurality of pieces of image information can be transmitted at the same time, it is possible to eliminate the inconvenience that the system is occupied by a certain piece of image information and other input / output devices cannot operate. Furthermore, as mentioned above,
When performing a simple copy operation or display operation, the image signals from the document reader 2 and the microfilm file 5 can be directly transmitted to the high speed printer 3, the soft display 6 or the small printer 7 without passing through the control unit 1.
(Pass mode) High-speed processing is achieved.

Next, the operation when the CRT 8 displays an image based on the image signals output from the document reader 2 and the microfilm file 5 will be described. This system has a high resolution
A CRT is used, but the amount of information that can be displayed is about 6 × 10 ⁴
It's a bit. However, for example, the document reader 2 can read a document of maximum A3 size, for example, A4 size (210 mm
X 297 mm) original is scanned at a resolution of 16 pel / mm,
The total amount of information is 16 × 210 × 297 ≒ 10 ⁶ bits. Further, the image information from the microfilm file 5 also becomes a similar holder. Therefore, it is necessary to store the image information from the document reader 2 and the micro film file 5 in the RAM 34 and compress the information amount for CRT display to, for example, 1/16 when displaying the image on the CRT 8. The bit extraction circuit 38 shown in FIG. 2 performs this information amount compression operation in parallel with the storage of the image signal in the RAM 34.

FIG. 5 shows the configuration of the bit extraction circuit 38. 41 is the control unit 1
It is the inner bus. 44 is an extraction timing selection circuit, CPU3
The clock pulse CK corresponding to the compression command from 2 is output. 45 is a shift register, which is an extraction timing selection circuit 44
The image signal input from the input / output interface 37 is sampled according to the clock pulse CK from
The signals obtained by thinning out the image signals are sequentially stored. Reference numeral 46 denotes a RAM, which takes in the data when the shift register 45 is filled with the data, and outputs the compressed image signal to the bus 41 at a predetermined timing. I / O interface 37
Outputs the image signal input from the switching device 9 to the bus 41 for storing in the RAM 34 and at the same time supplies it to the bit extraction circuit 38. That is, the image signal output from the document reader 2 or the micro film file 5 is RA as it is.
Simultaneously with the operation of storing in M34, the operation of compressing the image signal for CRT display is executed. Therefore, the CR of the input image signal
T will be displayed immediately.

FIG. 6 shows the operating state of the bit extraction circuit 38. The image signal is repeatedly output from the switching device 9 line by line via the input / output interface 37 to the bus 41 and taken into the RAM 34. In Fig. 6 (1), the image signal is the input / output interface.
The timing of writing from 37 to the RAM 34 through the bus 41 is shown, and the numbers 1 to 9 in the figure are line numbers of image signals. As shown in the figure, a blank time T occurs from the output of the image signal of a certain line to the output of the image signal of the next line. The input / output interface 37 also outputs the image signal input from the switching device 9 to the bit extraction circuit 38. The bit extraction circuit 38 thins out the image signals in accordance with the clock pulse CK from the extraction timing selection circuit 44 as described above. The example of FIG. 6 shows the operation when the image signal is compressed to 1/16, that is, the input image signal is extracted every 4 lines, that is, 4N-1 line image signals are extracted. Further, the image signal of the extracted 4N-1 line is extracted at a rate of 1 dot to 4 dots.

FIG. 6 (2) shows an image signal extracted at a ratio of 1 line to 4 lines. Further, FIG. 6 (3) shows the extracted 1-line image signal, and FIG. 6 (4) shows the extracted 1-line image signal at a ratio of 1 bit to 4 bits. In FIGS. 6 (3) and 6 (4), the numbers 1 to n in the data indicate bit numbers.

In this way, by further extracting the image signal extracted at a rate of 1 line to 4 lines at a rate of 1 bit at 4 bits, the image signal input to the input / output interface 37 from the switching device 9 is reduced to 1/16. Can be compressed.

The bit extraction circuit 38 stores the compressed image signal in the RAM 46. And I / O interface 37 to RAM3
R during the blank time T in the transmission of the image signal to
Write to RAM43 of CRT from AM46 via bus 41. Since the image signals 1'and 5'after the compression processing are smaller than the image signals written in the RAM 34, they can be effectively transmitted using the bus 41 during this blank time T. The image signal after compression is 1
Instead of outputting one line for each blank time T, it may be transmitted to the CRT, RAM 43 in several times.

The above operation of the bit extraction circuit 38 is controlled by the CPU 32. Also, the compression ratio of the image signal is the input / output interface.
It is determined according to the image size of the image signal output from 37. That is, when displaying the entire image on the display screen size of the CRT8, if the compression rate is determined according to the image signal amount corresponding to the image to be displayed, the CRT display screen can be effectively displayed and the image can be deleted. The display operation can be performed without causing the inconvenience. Therefore, when the image signal is output from the document reader 2 or the micro film file 5, data indicating the size of the image is output, and the CPU 32 calculates an optimum compression rate according to this data, and the compression rate is calculated. The extraction timing selection circuit 44 is operated at.

FIG. 7 shows a document reader 2 and a microfilm file 5.
The format of the image signal output from is shown. Size bit of 4 bits indicating the size of the image before the image signal ID of one screen
Provide MD. This size bit MD automatically or manually recognizes the size of the frame of the document or microfilm in the document reader 2 and the microfilm file 5, and the bit corresponding to this recognized size is set. The CPU 32 uses this size bit M when inputting image signals.
The clock D is read and the clock generation timing of the extraction timing selection circuit 44 is controlled so as to perform the compression operation according to the size bit MD. Incidentally, FIG. 8 shows the image size indicated by the size bit MD in this system and the compression ratios R1 to R8 corresponding thereto. This compression rate is based on the document reader 2
And the resolution of the micro file 5 and the resolution of the CRT 8 and written in the ROM 33.

In this way, since the compression processing for CRT display is executed in parallel with the operation of storing the image signal input from the switching device 9 in the RAM 34 as it is, the input image signal can be monitored quickly. . The bit extraction circuit 38 described above can also be used for compression processing of the image signal read from the image file 4.

When the image signal read and output by the document reader 2 and the micro film file 5 is displayed on the CRT 8, the high resolution image signal is thinned out as described above, and the image signal is compressed to CRT the entire image area. It was designed to fit on top. By the way, the soft display 6 connected to this system can display images with a higher resolution than the resolution of the CRT. That is, the soft display 6 of this system has an A3 size display surface and can display images at a resolution of 16 pel / mm. Further, as described above, the document reader 2 and the microfilm file 5 read and output the image at a resolution of 16 pel / mm. Therefore, in order to monitor the read signal, the soft display 6 which reproduces a more detailed image than the CRT 8 is used, and the output image signals from the document reader 2 and the micro film file 5 are sent to the soft display 6 to have the same density as the reading. It is possible to reproduce the image.

By the way, the image size of the image signals from the document reader 2 and the microfilm file may be smaller than the A3 size. In such a case, a blank area is produced on the display screen of the soft display 6. Therefore, the image information smaller than the displayable size of the soft display 6 is enlarged and displayed on the soft display 6, and the display image surface is effectively used.

FIG. 9 shows a circuit configuration for achieving the enlargement processing of the image signal. This circuit is provided in the document reader 2 and the microfilm file 5. In FIG. 9, reference numeral 80 denotes a one-dimensional line sensor that reads an image line by line with an image pickup device composed of a CCD. Reference numeral 81 is a drive circuit that drives the line sensor 80. The signal read by the line sensor 80 is the clock CL1.
Is output on line 82 in synchronism with. The clock CL2 corresponds to a line count, specifically, a read signal of the line sensor 80, and a signal for transferring the charge accumulated in the photodiode of the line sensor to the shift register of the drive circuit 81.

CT1 and CT2 are 2-bit counters, and the counter CT1
Indicates the clock CL1, and the counter CT2 counts the clock CL2. C1 and C2 are detectors that detect the carry of the counters CT1 and CT2, respectively. SW is a switching signal for instructing whether to operate the enlargement processing circuit according to the image size of the image signal. A1 to A4 are AND gates, I1 and I2 are inverters, O1 and O2 are OR gates, G3 and G4 are gates, and BF is 1
Bit buffer, LB is line buffer.

The operation will be described. When the switching signal SW is low level, that is,
If enlargement processing is not required, AND gate A3 and
A4 outputs at a low level, and accordingly, a high level signal is applied to the AND gate A1 via the inverter I1 and the inverter I2, and to the AND gate A2 via the inverter I2. As a result, the clocks CL1 and CL2 are input to the drive circuit 81 via the AND gates A1 and A2, respectively. Since the gates G3 and G4 are also inactive, the serial image signal for each line is output to the output terminal OUT in synchronization with the clocks CL1 and CL2.
Is output to.

On the other hand, when the switching signal SW is at the high level, that is, when the image signal is enlarged, the AND gates A3 and A4 are at the high level when the detectors C1 and C2 output the carry detection signal, respectively. It becomes an output. At this time, the inverter I1
And the output of I2 becomes low level, and AND gate A
1, A2 does not transmit the clocks CL1 and CL2 to the drive circuit 81.

Therefore, when the detector C1 outputs the carry detection signal, the clock CL1 is not input to the drive circuit 81, and the image is not output from the drive circuit 81 onto the line 82. However, gate G3
Is opened and the immediately previous data (image signal) stored in the 1-bit buffer BF is output through the OR gate O1. In other words, the same image signal is output in duplicate every four clocks, and the image signal in the line direction is 1.
25 times larger.

Further, when the detector C2 outputs the carry detection signal, both the clocks CL1 and CL2 are not input to the drive circuit 81. At this time, the image signal is not output from the drive circuit 81, but the gate G4 is opened and the image signal of the previous line stored in the line buffer LB is output via the OR gate O2. That is, overlapping images are output at a rate of one line in every four lines, whereby the image is magnified 1.25 times in the direction perpendicular to the line direction (sub-scanning direction).

The above-mentioned switching signal SW is output from the document reader 2, the micro film file 5 or the control unit 1. For example, the size of the document placed on the document reader 2 is automatically detected, and the document size is displayed on the soft display 6. When the size is smaller than the surface (for example, A4 size) or when an enlargement command is input by the operator, the switching signal SW is set to the high level and the enlargement process is executed.

In this way, since the image signal is enlarged and displayed on the soft display 6 in an enlarged manner, the display surface of the soft display 6 can be effectively used and the enlarged display facilitates image recognition to the operator. is there. Further, in the present system, only the magnification of 1.25 times is taken into consideration, but it is also possible to provide a large number of enlargement factors and perform an optimal enlarged display according to the document size and the like. Further, the enlargement in the sub-scanning direction may be executed by physically changing the sub-scanning speed of the line sensor.

By the way, the image signal read by the document reader 2 is supplied to the control unit 1.
When the image file 4 is further stored in the image file 4 having the optical disk, the operator inputs an operation command of the scanner from the keyboard 31 of the control unit 1. However, when the keyboard of the control unit 1 is operated after the document is set in the document reader 2, there are the following drawbacks. That is, the document reader 2
If there is no automatic document feeder, or when handling an image of a book document such as a bound book, the operator must operate the document reader 2 and the control unit 1 each time.

When the image signal read by the microfilm file 5 is stored in the image file 4, the microfilm file 5 of this system has a microfilm frame search function, and the search command is the keyboard of the control unit 1. As described above, it is not necessary to operate the two devices together.

Therefore, when the image signal read by the document reader 2 is stored in the image file 4, the operation command can be input from the document reader 2. In FIG. 1, the manuscript reader 2 has an operation panel 21 for inputting operation commands for fulfilling the functions of a digital copying machine, and this operation panel 21 has a copy key.
There are 25. Therefore, in addition to the control unit 1, the copy key 25 can be used to instruct a scan start for storing the image file 41 of the image signal read by the document reader 2, and this command switching is performed in the mode shown in FIG. Changeover switch
Perform at 22.

FIG. 10 shows a circuit configuration for achieving this switching operation. Reference numerals 22a and 22b are dual switches that are integrally operated by the mode switching switch 22. When the switch 22a is on the contact point side, the scan starter signal SS from the controller 1 is applied to the AND gate 83 from the contact point. At this time, if the document reader 2 is in an operable state and the scan ready signal SR is input to the AND gate 83, the document reader 2
The scan start command SC is output to the control unit (not shown). On the other hand, when the switch 22b is on the contact point B side,
The scan start signal SS from the control unit 1 is AND gate
Not entered in 83. If the copy key 25 of the document reader 2 is pressed at this time, a high level signal is input to the AND gate 83 in synchronization with the pressing. In this case, if the scan ready signal SR is input to the AND gate 83, the scan start command SC is output. Therefore, when the switch 22a is on the contact point B side, by pressing down the copy key 25, the scan start command SC can be output in the same manner as the scan start signal SS from the control section 1, and the original Reading (Skiyan) can be started.

The contacts of the switch 22b are switched integrally with the switch 22a, and the LEDs 23 or 24 respectively connected to the contacts are turned on. As a result, the current mode is displayed to the operator. Therefore, the operator can see the lighting state of the LEDs 23 and 24 and perform a switching operation according to the method of the procedure for inputting the start command of the document reader and if necessary.

FIG. 11 shows the circuit of FIG. 10 constructed by using a logic circuit. This circuit is for performing mode switching from the control unit 1. When the document reader 2 is started up from the control unit 1, the keyboard 31 is instructed to that effect, whereby the remote signal RS is input to the set terminal of the flip-flop 87, and the flip-flop 87 is set.
Thus, when flip-flop 87 is set, its Q
A high level signal is output from the terminal to the AND gate 84. At this time, the scan start signal SS from the control unit 1
, The scan start command SC is input to the control unit of the document reader 2 via the OR gate 86 if the scan ready signal SR is input to the AND gate 84.
Manuscript Sukiyan begins.

On the other hand, the scanning start command of the document reader 2 is issued by the document reader 2
When the copy key 25 is used, the remote signal RS goes low and the local signal LS goes high when the keyboard 31 indicates that. As a result, the flip-flop 87 is reset, the Q output to the AND gate 84 becomes low level, and the output to the AND gate 85 becomes high level. At this time, if the copy key 25 is pressed down, a high level input is performed to the AND gate 85. In this case, if the scan ready signal SR is input, the AND gate 85 outputs the scan start command SC via the OR gate 86. To be done. At this time, the scanning start signal SS from the control unit 1 is not transmitted to the OR gate 86 because the AND gate 84 is closed.

Further, similarly to the circuit of FIG. 10, the LEDs 23 and 24 are turned on according to the mode to display the current mode to the operator.

FIG. 12 shows still another embodiment in which the scanning start command of the document reader 2 can be switched in three ways from one or both of the document reader 2 and the control unit 1. That is, the three switches of the switches 22c, 22d, and 22e, which are integrally operated by the mode switching switch 22, and the three-contact switch are used. When the switches 22c and 22d are connected to the contact port, both the scan start signal SS from the control unit and the signal by pressing the copy key 25 can be input to the AND gate 90 via the OR gate 91. When this mode is selected, activation of the document reader can be instructed by either the control unit 1 or the document reader 2.

Further, when the switches 22c and 22d are connected to the contact point b, only the control section 1 can be activated, and when the switches 22c and 22d are connected to the contact point c, the document reader 2 can be activated only from the document reader 2.

In this way, the activation of the document reader 2 can be switched from the control unit 1 or from the document reader 2 as needed, so that the activation command can be issued to the document reader 2 at the same position as the document set, and the system can be operated. Is easy to use.

13 (a) to 13 (c) are flow charts showing the control procedure of the present system described above. The program shown in this flow chart has been written in advance in the ROM 33 of the control unit 1, and the CPU 32 controls the reading of this program from the ROM 33.

When the power of the control unit 1 of this system is turned on, first, in step S1, the screen of CRT8 is cleared, and then in step S1.
In S2, a display waiting for command input is displayed on the CRT 8 to prepare for the operation of the keyboard 31 by the operator. Typical commands input by the operator are an image input command for fetching an image signal into the RAM 34 of the control unit 1, an image output command for reading and outputting the image signal from the RAM 34 of the control unit 1, and a control unit. There is a pass mode command for transmitting / receiving an image signal without going through 1.

The control unit 1 first checks in step S3 whether an image input command is input from the operator. Step if not input
Proceed to S15 to see if the image output command is input.

If an image input command has been input, steps S4, S7 and S
With reference to 11, it is checked which of the microfilm file 5, the document reader 2 and the image file 4 is designated for the device for image input. Micro film file 5
If is specified, the process proceeds from step S4 to step S5 to output a drive command to the microfilm file 5, and the switch 51 of the switching device 9 is turned on to output the image signal of the microfilm file 5 to the input / output interface.
37 to form a route to be transmitted. Thereafter, in step S6, the desired frame on the microfilm is searched according to the search data input from the keyboard 31. Then, in step S9, it is determined whether or not a command for displaying the image read from the microfilm on the CRT 8 is input, and if the display command is not issued, the process proceeds to step S14, and if the display command is issued, the process proceeds to step S10. As described above, after the operation command is output to the bit extraction circuit 38 to perform the compression processing of the image signal according to the CRT display, the process proceeds to step S14.

If the document reader 2 is designated as the image input device, the process proceeds from step S7 to step S8 to output a drive command to the document reader 2 and to turn on the switch 71 of the switching device 9 to output the document reader 2. It forms a path through which the image signal is transmitted to the input / output interface 37. Then, in step S9, it is determined whether or not there is a CRT display command, and if not, the process proceeds to step S14, and if there is, the same processing operation as described above is performed through step S10, and then the process proceeds to step S14.

On the other hand, if the image file 4 is designated as the image input device, the process proceeds from step S11 to step S12 to output a drive command to the image file 4, and then at step S13, the image information on the optical disk is sent from the operator. A search is performed according to the search data, and the process proceeds to step S14. In step S14, the image input command is output to the selected input device to start the image input operation. Then, the input image signal is stored in the RAM 34 for one page.

After completion of the above-described image input or when the operator does not input the image input command, it is determined in step S15 whether or not the image output command is input.

If an image output command has been input, steps S16, S18,
What is designated as the image output device is determined by S20, S22, and S24. If CRT8 is designated as the image output device, the process proceeds from step S16 to step S17, outputs a drive command to CRT8, and proceeds to step S26. If the image file 4 is designated, a drive command is output to the image file 4 to secure the image signal storage area in the image file 4, and then the process proceeds to step S26. If the high-speed printer 3 is designated, the process proceeds from step S20 to S21 to issue a drive command to the high-speed printer 3, and output the laser to the high-speed printer 3, for example,
In addition to starting preparation operations such as mirror rotation and paper feeding,
After the switch 61 of the switching device 9 is turned on to form a signal path to the high speed printer 3, the process proceeds to step S26. If soft display 6 is specified, step S22
Then, in step S23, the soft display 6 is activated to prepare for image display, and the switch 62 of the switching device is turned on to form a signal path, and then the process proceeds to step S26. On the other hand, if the small printer 7 is designated, a drive command is output to the small printer 7, the switch 63 of the switching device is turned on, a signal path to the small printer 7 is formed, and then the process proceeds to step S26.

In step S26, the image output device is specified as described above,
RAM34 for each output device that is ready for image output
The image signal stored in is output and the image recording or image display operation is executed.

In step S27, it is judged whether or not the pass mode for transmitting / receiving the image signal is designated by the operator without the intervention of the control section 1. If a pass mode has been specified, select the combination of input / output devices used for that pass mode.
Judge in S28, S30, S32, S34, S36 and S38. Document reader 2
If the combination of high speed printer 3 and
Going from S28 to S29, issuing a drive command to both devices,
The switch 72 of the switching device 9 is turned on to form a signal path from the document reader 2 to the high speed printer 3. If the combination of the micro film file 5 and the high speed printer 3 is designated, the process proceeds from step S30 to step S31 to issue a drive command to both devices, and the switch 52 of the switching device 9 is turned on to switch from the micro film file 5 to the high speed printer 3. To form a signal path of. If the combination of the document reader 2 and the small printer 7 is designated, the process proceeds from step S32 to S33, where a drive command is issued to both devices and the switch 74 of the switching device is turned on to send a signal from the document reader 2 to the small printer 7. Form a path. Micro film file 5 and small printer 7
If the combination is specified, the process proceeds from step S34 to step S35 to drive both devices and switch 54 of the switching device 9.
Is turned on to form a signal path connecting both devices. If the combination of the document reader 2 and the soft display 6 is designated, the process proceeds from step S36 to S37 to output a drive command to both devices, and the switch 73 of the switching device 9 is turned on to cause the soft display from the document reader 2. The signal path to 6 is formed, and it is further determined in step S40 whether the enlarged display operation is necessary. Then, as described above, when the enlarged display is performed, the process proceeds to step S41 to output the switching signal SW to the enlargement processing circuit (FIG. 9). If a combination of micro film file 5 and soft display 6 is specified, step
The process proceeds from S38 to S39, both devices are driven and the switch 53 of the switching device 9 is turned on to form a signal path connecting both devices, and the process proceeds to step S40 to determine the necessity of enlargement processing as described above. If necessary, the enlargement processing circuit is operated in step S41.

In this way, when the preparations for driving the devices of each combination designated in the pass mode are made, in step S42, the designated output device is caused to start the image output operation and the input device is caused to start the image input operation, respectively. .

As described above, the CPU 32 executes the operation control and drive command of the system of the present embodiment in accordance with the operation command input by the operator from the keyboard 31 of the control unit 1. In addition, various image input / output devices can be connected to be effectively used, and excellent effects such as improvement of office efficiency and speeding up of image processing can be achieved. Further, it goes without saying that the necessary number of input / output devices constituting the system are connected according to the usage form.

<Effects of the Invention> The image data of the first form generated according to the present invention is intermittently output to the first processing means via the bus, and the intermittent output pause period is used. Then, the image data of the second form converted by the converting means is transmitted to the second processing means via the bus, so that two data can be apparently transmitted at the same time.

Furthermore, since the data of the second form is converted so that the data amount is reduced and is output during the intermittent output of the first data, the transmission of the data of the first form is not significantly affected. 2 data can be transmitted.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an external connection diagram of an image processing system to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of the image processing system, FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a switching device, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a combination of switching operations, FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of a bit extracting circuit, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an operating state of the bit extracting circuit, and FIG. 7 is a format of an image signal. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a size bit MD, FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the enlargement processing circuit, and FIGS. 10 to 12 are circuit diagrams showing the configuration of the drive command mode switching circuit of the document reader, Figure 13 (a)
(C) is a flow chart showing a control program of the control unit, 1 is a control unit, 2 is a document reader, 3 is a high-speed printer, 4 is an image file, 5 is a microfilm file, 6 is a soft display, 7 Is a small printer, 8
Is a CRT and 9 is a switching device.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued Front Page (72) Inventor Yoshio Ando 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Toshio Iwatani 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Incorporated (72) Inventor Tanaka Kyo 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Norio Hashimoto 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. ( 72) Inventor Anri Sugita 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Yoshitaka Sano 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Satoshi Ono 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (56) Reference JP-A-58-18680 (JP, A) JP-A-58-127454 ( P, A)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A bus for transmitting image data, a generating means for generating image data of a first form representing a target image, first and second image processing means for receiving image data via the bus. A conversion unit for converting the image data of the first form generated by the generating unit into a second form having a smaller data amount than the first form; an image of the first form generated by the generating unit The data is intermittently output to the first processing means via the bus, and the image data of the second form converted by the conversion means is utilized on the bus by utilizing the pause period of the intermittent output. An image processing apparatus comprising: a transmission unit that transmits the data to the second processing unit via the image processing unit.