JPH0822008B2 - Image processing device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus having an image reading function, and more particularly to an image processing apparatus suitable for effective use of a memory for storing images.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an image processing apparatus having an image reading function, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-141868, uses a range designating unit such as a keyboard to set a reading range when reading a specific portion of an image drawn on paper. I specified and read the image. A conventional image processing apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

FIG. 2 is an external view of the image processing apparatus. In FIG. 2, 1 is a paper on which an image is drawn, 2 is a platen for moving the paper 1 up and down, 3 is a sensor which is an image reading means, 4 is a carriage on which the sensor 3 is placed, and 5 is a carriage 4. A belt 11 for moving left and right, a step motor 11 for rotating the platen 2, and a step motor 12 for moving the carriage 4 left and right.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the image processing apparatus. 6 is a carriage control system for controlling the carriage 4, 7 is a read control unit for controlling read data and a read range, and 8 is a memory for storing the read data.

In the conventional image processing apparatus, in order to read the image drawn on the paper 1, the reading range is specified by using the up, down, left, and right keys (generally called cursor keys) of the keyboard. That is, using the keyboard, the platen 2 is rotated to move the paper 1 up and down, and the carriage 4 is moved left and right to specify the upper left corner 9 and the lower right corner 10 of the image.

After the image reading range is designated as described above, the image processing apparatus scans the reading range by the sensor 3 using the platen 2 and the carriage 4, and the reading control unit 7 stores the image data from the sensor 3 in the memory 8. Was stored in.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, the image processing device according to the above-mentioned conventional technique,
No consideration is given to whether or not the range-designated image fits in the memory 8. That is, when the reading range of the image is designated and then the reading operation is performed, the image may not fit in the memory 8. Therefore, the user has to instruct the image processing device whether to read roughly or finely according to the size of the reading range.

An object of the present invention is to provide an image processing device that allows a user to read a predetermined image without being aware of the memory capacity.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention stores image reading means for reading an image, range specifying means for specifying a reading range of the image, and image information corresponding to the image read by the image reading means. And a means for changing the reading density of the image reading means so that image information of the reading range can be stored in the storage means according to the reading range designated by the range designating means. Prior to the reading of the image by the image reading means, the means for changing the reading density changes the reading density of the image reading means according to the reading range designated by the range designating means, and the reading means According to the changed reading density, the image information in the designated reading range was read.

[Action]

When the reading range is designated by the range designating means, the reading density of the reading means is changed in advance by the means for changing the reading density so that the image information of the reading range can be surely read in the storage means once. I made it possible to memorize. As a result, when the user specifies the reading range, the image can be read without specifying the reading density.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of an image processing apparatus according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, 13 is a range designating means for designating an image reading range, 14 is a capacity calculating means for calculating a storage capacity necessary for storing an image from the designated image reading range, and 15 is a storage area for the image. The memory capacity storage means 16 for storing the capacity of the storage means 20 to be stored is the capacity obtained by the capacity calculation means 14 and the memory capacity storage means 15
Capacity comparing means for comparing with the capacity value stored by, 17 is a density controlling means for controlling the image reading density, 18 is an image reading means for reading an image, 19 is an image reading means 18
Scanning control means for scanning the data, and storing the data read from the image reading means 18 in the storage means 20,
Reference numeral 0 is a storage means for storing image data.

The range designating means 13 designates the reading range by directly inputting the data of the vertical and horizontal reading range from the reading start position of the carriage (upper left corner 9 in FIG. 2) with a keyboard or the like, or the second reading range. As described using the figure, use the cursor keys to move the carriage to the upper left corner, specify it as the reading start position with the return key, etc., and then press the cursor key again to rotate the platen 2 and step motor 12 and move the carriage to the right. By moving to the lower corner and pressing the return key after moving, it is designated as the reading end position and the reading range is designated.

FIG. 4 shows a more specific embodiment of the density control means 17 and the read control means 19. In FIG. 4, 21 is a 1-pulse generating means for generating a pulse signal for moving the step motor by 1 step, 22 is a 2-pulse generating means for generating a pulse signal for moving by 2 steps, and 23 is a changeover switch. Thus, the density control means 17 is configured.
The density control means 17 is also a pitch control means for controlling the reading pitch.

Reference numeral 30 is an optical sensor for reading an image, which constitutes the image reading means 18.

12 is a carriage step motor for moving the carriage 4, 11 is a platen step motor for rotating the platen 2, 28 is amplification means for amplifying the signal from the optical sensor 30, 29 is obtained from the amplification means 28. It is a writing unit that writes the image data to the storage unit 20, and constitutes the reading control unit 19 as described above.

When one pulse signal is input to each of the step motors 11 and 12, the motors rotate for one step, and as a result, the carriage 4 and the platen 2 move and rotate. Thereby, the optical sensor 30 is moved by 0.2 mm in one step.

Now, assume that an image with a size of 30 mm in length and 20 mm in width as shown in FIG. 5 is read. It is also assumed that the storage capacity of the storage means 20 is 16 Kbits and the value of this storage capacity is stored in the memory capacity storage means 15.

When the image of FIG. 5 is designated using the range designating means 13,
As described above, the capacitance calculation means 14 uses the pulse signal from the density control means 17 in the optical sensor so that the vertical and horizontal directions of each pulse are 0.
Since it moves by 2 mm, it is 15K to store the image in Fig. 5.
Calculate that you need a bit of memory. Capacity comparison means
16 compares this 15 Kbit with the value of 16 Kbit stored in the memory capacity storage means 15. In this case, since the image data is smaller, the switch circuit 23 is switched to the 1 pulse generation means 21 side. Therefore, the density control means sends a pulse signal to the step motors 11 and 12 one pulse at a time in response to the one-step movement request. Read control means 19
Receives this pulse signal and moves the optical sensor 30 up, down, left and right by 0.2 m.
The image of FIG. 5 is read by moving by m and stored in the storage means 20 having a storage capacity of 16 Kbits.

Next, the case of reading an image of 50 mm in length and 40 mm in width as shown in FIG. 6 will be described.

When the range designating means 13 is designated to read the image of the size shown in FIG. 6 (a), the capacity calculating means 14 causes the optical sensor 30 to move 0.2 mm in the vertical direction and 0.2 mm in the horizontal direction.
Calculated as requiring 50K bits of memory to store the image. The capacity comparison means 16 compares this 50 Kbits with the value of 16 Kbits stored in the memory capacity storage means 15, and the storage means 20 is smaller, so the switch circuit 23 is set to the 2-pulse generation means 22 side. Switch to. Therefore, the density control means 17 sends a pulse signal to the step motor 1 in units of 2 pulses in response to the 1 step movement request.
Output to 1,12. That is, in the above example, FIG.
As shown in, when 5 steps are requested to move, 5 pulses are output and the optical sensor 30 moves 1 mm. In the case of the example of FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7 (b), 10 pulses are output when a 5-step movement is requested, and the movement is 2 mm. In this way, since the optical sensor 30 moves at a pitch twice as large as that in the above example, in the image of the size shown in FIG. 6, FIG.
As shown in, the vertical 50 mm is read as 125 dots and the horizontal 40 mm is read as 100 dots, and the storage capacity of the entire image is 12.5 Kbits. The 12.5 K-bit image data read by the optical sensor 30 is stored in the storage unit 20 by the writing unit 29.

As described above, a large image can be stored in the storage unit 20 by switching the movement pitch of the optical sensor 30 by the density control unit 17 which is the pitch control unit according to the size of the image.

FIG. 4 shows an embodiment in which the moving peach of the optical sensor 30 is switched by controlling the number of pulse signals output to the step motor to read an image. Optical sensor 30
A method of thinning out the image data when storing the image data may be used without switching the movement pitch of. FIG. 8 shows another embodiment of the image processing apparatus according to the present invention.

In FIG. 8, numeral 32 indicates the image data read from the optical sensor 30 and amplified by the amplifying means 28 for 1 to 2 bits.
Bit thinning information thinning means, 1 pulse generating means
21 and the information thinning means 32 constitute the density control means 17.

Similar to the above, it is assumed that the image of the size shown in FIG. 6 (a) is read. In the example of FIG. 8, since the pulse signal sent to the step motors 11 and 12 is output by the 1-pulse generating means 21, the optical sensor 30 moves every 0.2 mm in the vertical and horizontal directions. Therefore, from the optical sensor 30, 250 dots in 50 mm height,
Image data of 200 dots is output for a width of 40 mm. This image data amplified by the amplification means 28 is thinned out by one dot for every two dots by the information thinning means 32. As a result, the vertical 250 dots (250 dots) are thinned out to 125 dots, and the horizontal 200 dots are thinned out to 100 dots, so that the image data becomes 12.5 Kbits and is stored in the storage means 20 by the writing means 29.

As described above, it is possible to store a large image in the storage unit by thinning out the image data.

As described above, in the two embodiments, the case where the image data is 1/4 and is stored in the storage means is shown. However, only 1 / horizontal direction
1 / m times the image data by setting it to 1 / m
The read density can be controlled more finely and the image can be stored.

Further, in the above-mentioned two embodiments, the present invention has been described with the monochrome image. However, the present invention can be used even for a color image or an image having gradation. For example, in the case of a gradation image, in addition to thinning out the vertical and horizontal dots as in the embodiment of FIG. 8, it is also possible to thin out the gradation data. In short, the image data may be set to 1 / n according to the read range of the image and stored in the storage means.

As described above, in the above embodiment, the capacity of the storage unit 20 is fixed and the reading density is changed according to the size of the image.

Generally, an image processing apparatus has a storage means 20 for storing an image and another storage means for storing characters and the like. By using the technique of the present invention, this other storage means can be effectively utilized.

FIG. 9 shows the internal division of the storage means. Reference numeral 33 denotes a storage means of the image processing apparatus, and a part of the storage means 33 is used as a storage means 20 for storing an image and a part is used as a means 34 for storing characters and the like. Now, it is assumed that there are few characters to be stored and there is an unused area 35. At this time, the storage means 20 for storing the image and the unused area 35 are combined to form a storage means for storing the image, and the total storage capacity thereof is stored in the memory capacity storage means 15 in FIG. By changing the value of the memory capacity storage means 15 in this way, it is possible to read even larger images at a normal reading density, and it is possible to store even larger images in the storage means.

On the contrary, by decreasing the value of the memory capacity storage means 15, even when the switching of the reading density is smaller than the image of FIG. 5, the reading is rough, but more images are stored while the images are stored. Characters and the like can be stored, and the storage means can be effectively used.

In addition, a sentence is first created, and when the sentence is created, the memory capacity of the unused area of the user area of the storage means is calculated, and the calculated memory capacity value is stored in the memory capacity storage means 15 and then stored. If the image reading operation described in the above embodiment is performed, the memory can be used most effectively.

〔The invention's effect〕

According to the present invention, prior to the reading of the image by the image reading means, the reading density is changed in advance according to the reading range designated by the range designating means, so that a large image can be surely predetermined in one processing. Can be stored in the storage means. Further, the user does not need to take any action such as controlling the reading density by taking care of the capacity of the memory before reading the image, and the image processing apparatus is very easy to use.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an image processing apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an external view of the image processing apparatus, FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an image processing apparatus according to the prior art, and FIG. 4 is density control. Means, a block diagram showing a more specific embodiment of the reading control means, FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a small image, FIG.
FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a large image, FIG. 7 is a graph showing the amount of movement of the sensor, FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing another specific embodiment of the density control means and the reading control means, and FIG. It is a schematic diagram which shows allocation of a memory | storage means. 13 ... Range designation means, 14 ... Capacity calculation means, 16 ... Capacity comparison means, 17 ... Density control means, 18 ... Image reading means, 3
2 ... Information thinning method.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Shigeru Matsuoka 1-1-1, Higashitaga-cho, Hitachi-shi, Ibaraki Hitachi Co., Ltd. Taga factory (72) Inventor Hironobu Sato 1-1, Higashi-taga-cho, Hitachi-shi, Ibaraki No. 1 Incorporated company Hitachi Ltd. Taga factory (72) Inventor Eiji Matsuda 1-1-1 Higashitaga-cho, Hitachi city, Ibaraki Prefecture Incorporated company Hitachi Ltd. Taga factory (56) Reference JP-A-56-57363 ( JP, A) JP-A-60-66569 (JP, A)

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An image processing apparatus having an image reading function, comprising image reading means for reading the image, range designating means for designating a reading range of the image, and the image reading means read by the image reading means. A storage unit for storing image information corresponding to the image, and a read density of the image reading unit according to the read range designated by the range designation unit so that the image information of the read range can be stored in the storage unit. A means for changing the reading density of the image reading means according to the reading range specified by the range specifying means prior to the reading of the image by the image reading means. The reading means changes the image information in the specified reading range according to the changed reading density. An image processing device characterized by reading information. 2. An image processing apparatus having an image reading function, comprising image reading means for reading the image, range designating means for designating a reading range of the image, and the image reading means for reading the image. A storage unit that stores image information corresponding to an image, and a storage capacity of the storage unit according to the reading range designated by the range designating unit so that the image information in the reading range can be stored in the storage unit. And a means for changing the storage capacity prior to the reading of the image by the image reading means, the means for changing the storage capacity of the storage means according to the reading range designated by the range designating means. An image processing device characterized by: 3. The information decimating means for decimating the image information read by the image reading means to create new image information, as the means for changing the reading density. The image processing device described. 4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the means for changing the reading density comprises a pitch control means for suppressing a reading interval of the image reading means.