JP2589810Y2 - Image data storage device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an image data storage device that reads and stores image data such as a document, and displays or prints out the image data as necessary.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, image data of various documents, for example, business cards, is read using an image scanner, and index data is added to the read image data, and a plurality of the image data is stored in storage means such as a memory or a magnetic disk. In addition, an image data storage device that retrieves and reads arbitrary image data by designating index data as necessary, and displays or prints out the image data has been considered. In this type of image data storage device, a plurality of image data can be stored according to the capacity of the storage means.

However, the image data is stored as it is including the blank area regardless of the amount of data. For example, when the read data is blank, the bit of the value “0” is stored. When an effective image, that is, when black character printing or the like is performed, a bit of a value “1” is stored. Therefore, even if there is a sufficiently thick line or the like in the image, the bit of the value “1” is repeatedly stored in that portion in the width direction of the line.

When the data is called, the image data consisting of "0" and "1" stored in the storage means is called as it is and displayed or printed out.

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] If the image data is stored as it is as described above, the data amount of the image required for storage increases, and the storage capacity of the storage means is limited, so the limited number of images is required. Only data for minutes can be stored.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides an image data storage device capable of effectively utilizing the capacity of a storage unit for storing image data and storing more image data. The purpose is to do.

[Means and Actions for Solving the Problems] The present invention focuses on the fact that the vertical line used for kanji is composed of a line that is sufficiently thicker than the horizontal line in a normal type, and specifies the direction. In order to convert the storage density corresponding to the width direction of the thick line and to reduce the amount of image data by data compression and store it, for example, the business card image data is read by an image scanner or the like, and the storage density for the image data is read. Is set, the read image data is compressed according to the set storage density, and the compressed data is written and stored in the storage means in combination with the storage density. When reading, the compressed data is compressed according to the storage density. The original image data is obtained by decompressing the image data, and this is output for display or printing. Data can be stored.

[Embodiment] An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a business card file device will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 show the external configuration, in which 11 is a main body case. This main body case 11 is an upper case 11a
And the lower case 11b are connected and integrated to have a size that can be held by the hand when folded, and FIG. 1 shows the opened state. Inside the upper case 11a of the main body case 11, a liquid crystal display panel 12 with a dot matrix for displaying read image data and index data to be described later, a power key 13 for turning on / off the power,
2 for switching between "registration" mode and "search" mode
A mode changeover switch 14 using a contact slide switch, a density key 15 for setting the storage density of image data to be stored, and an execution key 16 for executing various instructions are provided.
A character / numerical key 17 for inputting index data or the like is provided inside the lower case 11b. Further, on the side surface of the upper case 11a, a reading unit 18 for reading image data of a business card is provided on one side, and a reading switch 19 for instructing reading is provided on the other side. The reading unit 18
Although the details are not described, for example, 8
It has a built-in line sensor having read pixels of up to 16 dots / mm, a light source, an encoder for generating a read timing signal from the read moving speed, and the like. As shown in FIG. 2, an upper case 11a and a lower case 11b are provided. Is folded, and the reading unit 18 is in contact with one end of the upper surface of the business card 20 to be read, and the business card 20 is scanned in the direction shown by the arrow A while pressing the reading switch 19 while holding the reading switch 19. The image data printed above is read.

Next, the configuration of an electronic circuit provided in the main body case 11 will be described with reference to FIG. In the same figure, the power key 13,
Key input section consisting of mode switch 14, density key 15, execution key 16, character / numerical key 17, and read switch 19.
All the key input signals by the key operation at 21 are sent to the control unit 22 composed of a CPU. The control unit 22 controls the operation of each of the other circuits according to a signal from the key input unit 21 and stores a microprogram for operation control.
Specify the address of the ROM address specification section 24 of the ROM 23 to
While reading the microprogram from the RAM 25 and inputting / outputting data to / from the RAM 25 storing various data by addressing. The control unit 22 sends a control command to the reading control circuit 26,
The display data is output to the display control unit 27. Read control circuit 26
Sends a drive signal to the line sensor 28 of the reading unit 18 in response to a command from the control unit 22 to read target image data. The image data read by the line sensor 28 is taken into the control unit 22 via the reading control circuit 26, and is stored in the RAM 25. The display control unit 27 obtains a drive signal based on the display data sent from the control unit 22, and controls the display unit 29 including the liquid crystal display panel 12 based on the drive signal to display image data and the like. Output.

The RAM 25 stores the display data storage unit 2 as shown in FIG.
5a, an image data storage unit 25b, an index storage unit 25c, a work area 25d, and a temporary storage unit 25e. The display data storage unit 25a is an area that has at least a number of bit memories corresponding to all bitmaps of the image data of one read business card, and stores display data to be displayed on the display unit 29. The image data storage unit 25b is an area for storing a plurality of image data. Index storage unit 25
c stores a storage unit 25f for index data by the character / numerical key 16 corresponding to the image data stored in the image data storage area 25b, and a start address and an end address of a storage position of the image data in the image data storage unit 25b. Storage unit 25g and a storage unit 25h for storing the set density of the stored image data are configured as a set of data storage units, and the storage unit 25g stores the number of sets of image data stored in the image data storage unit 25b. Is the area to be used. The work area 25d is an area used for image data density conversion, and has an L register for storing a set density. Temporary storage unit 25
“e” is an area for temporarily storing image data when performing density conversion.

 Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described.

FIG. 5 shows the contents of the overall operation by the control unit 22. At first, as shown in step A01, the operation position of the mode switch 14 is set to any of the "registration" and "search" mode setting positions. To determine if

If the position is the "registration" mode, the process proceeds to step A02, where image data is actually read.
As shown in FIG. 2, the reading unit 18 is brought into contact with the upper surface of the business card 20 to be read, and the scanning is performed on the business card 20 while the reading switch 19 is kept pressed. Are read by the line sensor 28 in units of one line, and the pixel portion is sent to the control section 22 via the reading control circuit 26 as "1" and the blank portion as "0". The control unit 22 causes the display data storage unit 25a and the temporary storage unit 25e of the RAM 25 to temporarily store and hold the sequentially sent line-by-line image data. After storing the image data of one business card 20 in the temporary storage unit 25e, the control unit 22 sets the storage density as shown in step A03.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the details of the density setting process. At the beginning of the operation, it is first determined in step B01 whether the density key 15 has been operated. The density key 15 is
For example, assuming that the business card 20 is scanned in a direction along the long side thereof, once when the business card 20 is printed by vertical writing, once when the business card 20 is printed by horizontal writing, 2 is printed.
This operation is performed to set horizontal density conversion (data compression) of the read characters. Density key 15 in step B01
Is determined to have been operated, the process proceeds to step B02, and the L register of the work area 25d is updated and set to "+1". This L register is a ternary register for counting the number of times the density key 15 is operated, and is initially set to "0" at the beginning of the density setting processing. If it is determined in step B01 that the density key 15 has not been operated, the processing in step B02 is omitted.

Thus, when the density key 15 is not operated at all, the contents of the L register are "0", when operated once, the L register is "1", and when operated twice, the L register is "2". Become.

Next, in step B03, it is determined whether or not the content of the L register is "0". If it is determined to be "0",
Since the density key 15 is not operated at all and the storage density conversion of the image data is not performed, the image data stored in the temporary storage unit 25e (shown as “T” in FIG. Is transferred to the display data storage unit 25a (shown as "D" in the figure) as it is, and the contents of the display data storage unit 25a are sent out as display data to the display control unit 27 in step B08, and the display unit 29 is displayed. And the process related to the density setting is completed.

In step B03, the content of the L register is "0".
If it is determined that it is not, the process proceeds to step B05, and it is determined whether or not this time is “1”. If it is determined to be "1", the density key 15 is operated only once, and the business card 20 is vertically written, so that the process proceeds to step B06. In step B06, only the image data stored in the odd-numbered row addresses of the temporary storage unit 25e is set to be transferred twice to the display data storage unit 25a.

Horizontal This, x ₁ the lateral coordinates of the bit map in the temporary storage unit _{25e, x 2, x 3,} ..., in the vertical direction coordinate y _1, y _2, y _3, ... and, having the same y-coordinate Assuming that the direction is a row and the vertical direction having the same x coordinate is a column, each character in the read image data is stored horizontally on the bit map of the temporary storage unit 25e as shown in FIG. Therefore, the width direction of the thick vertical line in the character is temporarily stored in the temporary storage unit 25e as shown in FIG.
Is stored over a plurality of rows on the bit map of the. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 8 (c), only the image data stored in the odd-numbered row addresses of the temporary storage unit 25e is read out, the data amount is reduced, and
As shown in FIG. 3D, the transfer setting is performed twice to the display data storage unit 25a. The contents of the display data storage unit 25a are stored in the display control unit 2 as display data in the following step B08.
7 and displayed on the display unit 29, thus ending the processing relating to the density setting.

In step B05, the content of the L register is "1".
If not, the content of the L register is automatically determined to be "2", and the density key 15 is operated twice, and the business card 20 is written horizontally.
Next, the process proceeds to step B07. In step B07, the temporary storage unit
Only the image data stored in the odd column address of 25e is set to be transferred to the display data storage unit 25a twice.

This means that each character in the scanned image data is stored in the temporary storage
On the bit map of 25e, it is stored vertically as shown in FIG. 9 (a), so that the width direction of the thick vertical line in the character is stored in the bit map of the temporary storage unit 25e as shown in FIG. 9 (b). This means that the data is stored over a plurality of columns. For this purpose, as shown in FIG. 9C, only the image data stored in the odd-numbered column address of the temporary storage section 25e is read out, the data amount is compressed, and then the data is read out as shown in FIG. 9D. The transfer is set to the display data storage unit 25a every time. The content of the display data storage unit 25a is sent to the display control unit 27 as display data in the following step B08, and is displayed on the display unit 29. Thus, the processing related to the density setting is completed.

When the density setting for data compression is completed as described above, the process proceeds to step A04, and waits for input of index data by the character / numerical key 17. When the index data is input, the index data is also temporarily stored in a predetermined position of the display data storage unit 25a, that is, in a storage area different from the storage area of the image data, and is displayed on the display unit 29 via the display control unit 27. Display. Next, in step A05, a registration confirmation instruction by operating the execution key 15 is awaited. When the execution key 15 is operated, the process proceeds to step A06, where the image data held in the display data storage unit 25a is set to be transferred to the image data storage unit 25b to store the data, and the stored image is stored. The start address and the end address on the data storage unit 25b, the contents of the L register of the work area 25d, and the index data in the display data storage unit 25a as one set of data.
To be stored.

At the time of this data storage, the image data stored in the display data storage unit 25a is stored in step B06 or B07 in FIG.
By the above processing, as shown in FIG. 8 (d) or FIG. 9 (d), one data is duplicated twice in units of rows or columns, so that the data is stored and set in the image data storage unit 25b. In this case, the image data having a data amount "1/2" of the original image data shown in FIG. 8 (c) or FIG. 9 (c) is stored without overlapping.

When the storage in the image data storage unit 25b and the index storage unit 25c is completed, a series of processes related to the registration is completed.

Next, a process for searching for arbitrary image data from a large number of image data stored in the image data storage unit 25b will be described.

To search for image data, the mode switch 14 is set to the "search" mode, and the character / number keys 17
Enter the index data using the character keys. The process of FIG. 5 is executed again by the input using the character / numerical key 17.

At the beginning, it is determined in step A01 that the mode is the "search" mode, and in subsequent step A07 it is determined that the input is the index data, and the index data is stored in the display data storage unit 25a of the RAM 25. At the same time, it is displayed on the display unit 29 via the display control unit 27. After waiting for the execution key 15 to be operated in the subsequent step A08, the data in the index storage unit 25c are searched in order from the data in the index storage unit 25c for a match with the index data. Then, in step A09, it is determined whether or not there is a match. If there is, the process proceeds to step A10, where the start address and the end address corresponding to the index data and the contents of the H register indicating the set density are set. Is read from the image data storage unit 25b in accordance with the read content, and is displayed on the display unit 29.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the detailed processing contents of this data display. At the beginning of the operation, it is first determined in step C01 whether or not the contents of the L register read from the index storage unit 25c are "0". If it is determined to be “0”, the density key 15 has not been operated at all, and
Since the image data has been stored without performing the storage density conversion, subsequently, in step C02, the image data stored in the image data storage unit 25b (shown as “G” in the figure) is left as it is. The transfer setting is made to the display data storage unit 25a, and the contents of the display data storage unit 25a are stored in step C.
At 06, the data is sent to the display control unit 27 as display data, and is displayed on the display unit 29.
, And the process related to the data display is completed, and the search process in FIG. 5 is also completed.

In step C01, the content of the L register is "0".
If it is determined that it is not, the process proceeds to step C03, and it is determined whether or not this time is “1”. If it is determined to be "1", the density key 15 is operated only once, and the image data is stored in the state as shown in FIG. 8 (c). Proceed to C04.
In step C04, the image data stored in the image data storage unit 25b is stored in each row as shown in FIG. 8 (d).
The transfer is set to the display data storage unit 25a so as to overlap each time.

This is to expand the image data compressed by the density setting at the time of registration so as to be in the original state, and to expand the display data storage unit 25a in the same state as the original state.
Is sent to the display control unit 27 as display data in the following step C06, and is displayed on the display unit 29. Thus, the processing related to the data display is completed.

In step C03, the content of the L register is "1".
If not, the content of the L register is automatically determined to be "2", the density key 15 is operated twice, and the image data is read as shown in FIG. 9 (c). Next, step C05
Proceed to. In step C05, the image data stored in the image data storage unit 25b is set to be transferred to the display data storage unit 25a in such a manner as to be duplicated twice for each column as shown in FIG. 9D. This process also expands the image data compressed by the density setting at the time of registration so as to be in the original state, and the image data of the display data storage unit 25a which has been expanded and is in the same state as the original is In the following step C06, the data is sent to the display control unit 27 as display data, and is displayed on the display unit 29. Thus, the processing related to the data display is completed.

If it is determined in step A09 that there is no image data having index data that matches the input index data, then in step A11, an error display indicating that there is no matching data is displayed on the display unit 29. And terminate the process.

In the above embodiment, by operating the density key 15 once or twice in accordance with the direction of the character in the image data read at the time of registration of the image data, the image data is halved in the vertical or horizontal direction. Although an example in which density conversion (data compression) is performed and stored in the image data storage unit 25b has been described as an example, the technology relating to density conversion is not limited to this, and it goes without saying that various known methods can be applied.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the business card file device for reading and storing the image of the business card as image data and displaying and outputting the image is shown. However, the present invention is not limited to the business card image, and any other image can be processed in the same manner. Needless to say, it is memorable.

Furthermore, although a liquid crystal display panel is used as the display means, other display devices may be used, and it is needless to say that the display may be performed by printing.

[Effects of the Invention] As described in detail above, according to the invention, the direction is specified by paying attention to the fact that the vertical line used for the kanji is composed of a line that is sufficiently thicker than the horizontal line in the normal type and the like. In order to convert the storage density corresponding to the width direction of the thick line and to store the image data by reducing the amount of image data by data compression, for example, the image data is read by an image scanner or the like, and the storage density for the image data is read. Is set, the read image data is compressed according to the set storage density, and the compressed data is written and stored in the storage means in combination with the storage density. When reading, the compressed data is compressed according to the storage density. The original image data is obtained by decompressing the image data, and the original image data is displayed or printed out, so that the storage capacity can be effectively used and a large number of image data can be used. An image data storage device capable of being stored can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the external configuration, FIG. 2 is a side view showing the external configuration when reading an image, and FIG. 3 shows the configuration of an electronic circuit. 4 is a block diagram, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the area configuration of the RAM of FIG. 3, FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the entire processing contents, FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of the density setting of FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the data display processing contents of FIG. 5, and FIGS. 8 and 9 are diagrams showing the density conversion state of image data. 11 ... body case, 11a ... upper case, 11b ... lower case, 12 ... liquid crystal display panel, 13 ... power key, 14 ... mode selection switch, 15 ... density key, 16 ... execution key,
17 ... Character / numerical key, 18 ... Reading part, 19 ... Reading switch, 20 ... Business card, 21 ... Key input part, 22 ... Control part, 23 ... ROM, 24 ... ROM address designation part , 25 ... RA
M, 25a: display data storage unit, 25b: image data storage unit, 25c: index storage unit, 25d: work area, 25e: temporary storage unit, 26: read control circuit, 27 ...
Display control unit, 28: Line sensor, 29: Display unit.

Claims (2)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] A first storage unit for storing image data; a density setting unit for setting a storage density for the image data stored in the first storage unit; and a direction for performing density conversion by the density setting unit. And data compression means for compressing the image data stored in the first storage means in the direction specified by the direction specification means in accordance with the storage density set by the density setting means. An image data storage device, comprising: second storage means for storing compressed data obtained by the data compression means. 2. The image data storage according to claim 1, further comprising image reading means for reading image data, wherein said first storage means stores an image obtained by said image reading means. apparatus.