JPH06268791A - Digital copying device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To recognize reproduction afterwards by storing information such as 'When copied, who copied and what copied' in addition to a normal copying function. CONSTITUTION:In a digital copying device, processing circuits 120, 121 and 122 which convert image information processed for copying into a television signal form are provided in addition to the conventional copying function where original image information read from an image scanner 101 is processed and transmitted to a laser printer part 103 so as to copy an image on paper. The converted television signal is recorded in a large capacity image memory, for example, a magnetic tape cassete 124. And also an ID card is read and control information such as the date and time at the time of copying, etc., is added to ID information, mixed with image information by a mixing circuit 214 and recorded on a magnetic tape. Recorded information can be recognized by outputting and displaying by a television monitor part 127.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a digital copying machine, and more particularly to its use management function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the adoption of digital copying machines in place of analog copying machines is rapidly progressing. This is of course the advantage of digitization, which has evolved in terms of performance such as color reproducibility in digital copying machines, compared to analog copying machines in which the optical image of the original is projected directly onto the photosensitive drum through a lens system. This is because digitization is optimal for systemization such as image transmission and filing by promoting OA (office automation). As described above, in the digital copying apparatus, the development of a new application as a general-purpose image processing apparatus has begun from the purpose of simply copying an original, and the input information to be copied is also paper (original) on the original table to other OA equipment. To image data to be transmitted, the types and contents of the information are naturally diverse.

Further, the conventional copying machine was a machine mainly for the reproducibility of how to make information of a plurality of sheets of the same content from the original paper information so as to resemble the original document. Due to the evolution of the performance of the computer or the peculiarity of the content of the information to be copied, it is becoming necessary to manage the person who operates the copying machine or the security of the information to be copied. ing. For example, it has been proposed to employ a counterfeit bill prevention function in the case of a color copying apparatus, a copy prevention means for confidential documents, or an ID card for limiting users.

[0004]

However, in the conventional apparatus as described above, since the input image information has been expanded to various types, in the worst case where the confidential input image information is copied. Can occur.

Further, the conventional management means is still insufficient, and complete security management cannot be performed unless "when, who copied what?" Can be confirmed at a later date.

In view of the above points, the first object of the present invention is to output image data in the form of a television signal in addition to the conventional processing system in which a document is used as input information and a copy is used as output information. It is an object of the present invention to provide a digital copying apparatus which can be stored in a state and can be output and displayed at a later date.

Further, in view of the above-mentioned point, the second object of the present invention is to store the information "when, who copied what?" So that it can be confirmed at a later date. It is to provide a digital copying apparatus having a management function.

[0008]

In order to achieve the first object, the first aspect of the present invention is an original reading means for scanning an original image and outputting an image signal, and an output from the original reading means. First image processing means for converting the generated image signal into a recording signal suitable for recording, and visual reproduction on a recording material by using the recording signal output from the first image processing means. An image recording unit for forming and recording an image;
Second image processing means for converting the recording signal output from the image processing means into a display signal suitable for displaying on a monitor screen, and the display signal output from the second image processing means. It has a relatively large capacity image storage means for storing.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned second object, a second form of the present invention provides an original reading unit for scanning an original image and outputting an image signal, and an image signal output from the original reading unit. First image processing means for converting into a recording signal suitable for recording, and an image for forming and recording a visually reproduced image on a recording material by using the recording signal output from the first image processing means. Recording means, and second image processing means for converting the recording signal output from the first image processing means into a display signal suitable for display on a monitor screen,
Data input means for inputting and processing management data related to copying operation in the form of the display signal, display signal of the management data input from the data input means, and output from the second image processing means. It is characterized by comprising a signal synthesizing means for mixing the display signal of the image data and a relatively large capacity image storing means for storing the display signal output from the signal synthesizing means in screen units.

Further, according to the present invention, preferably, the first image processing means converts the R, G, B image signals into Y, M, C (or Y, M, C, BK) recording signals. A conversion circuit is included, and the second image processing means includes the Y, M, and C.
It may include a signal conversion circuit for converting (or Y, M, C, BK) recording signals into display signals of R, G, B television signal standards and a signal compression circuit for compressing the display signals.

Further, in the present invention, preferably, the image storage means is any one of a magnetic tape cassette, a floppy disk, and a magneto-optical compact disk.

Further, according to the present invention, preferably, the management data includes operation ID data and date / time information.

[0013]

According to the present invention, it is essential that the image information memory for storing the image data in the form of a television signal in a form capable of being output has a large capacity, but it corresponds to each copy information to be output. If the recorded image data is stored as a still image in a large-capacity storage medium such as a magnetic tape, for example, by a known helical scan method so as to correspond to one screen and one track, the tape can be recorded for three hours for moving images. In this case, 3 × 60 minutes × 60 seconds × 60 fields = images corresponding to 648,000 copies are stored.

If, for example, an operator code or a date / time code is added and recorded in such a storage system, it is possible to record who copied what and when. Furthermore, such a recording form is used for the TV during the reproduction process.
Since it is output in the form of a signal, it can be displayed on a monitor screen and viewed as visual information, so that the necessary information can be easily confirmed.

As described above, according to the present invention, in addition to the conventional image forming function of outputting a hard copy (copy paper) which is a duplicate of the original on the platen as an input image, the input image is input. Is recorded in an appropriate large-capacity memory in the form of an image signal, and at the same time, management information is also recorded in this memory to provide an image processing function that enables the information to be used at a later date. Therefore, such a large-capacity memory can be easily removed in the form of a magnetic cassette tape and can be stored by itself, and the recorded information can be easily erased when it is no longer needed. It is preferable that it is possible. Also,
It is suitable not only for recording the data but also for searching the data at a later time in a short time, and also for outputting the data as visual information such as a video on a screen such as a TV monitor. It is preferred that the data is processed in a recording manner. From this point of view, as the large-capacity memory suitable for the present invention, in addition to the above-mentioned magnetic cassette tape, a floppy disk, a magneto-optical compact disk, an IC memory card or the like capable of recording a large-capacity still image can be considered.

More specifically, according to the present invention,
The image information is output as a hard copy as in the conventional case, and the image information copied at that time is converted into a video signal as one still image, and this signal is set in the copying machine. A cassette of a VTR (magnetic recording device). An ID signal indicating an operator, which is recorded on a tape and is obtained from an ID card or the like which has been used for controlling the operation of a copying apparatus at the same time,
And management data such as date and time of operation are mixed with the video signal and recorded on the tape. Thus, for example, when the user takes out the cassette tape from the copying apparatus at a later date and reproduces the data of the cassette tape, the copied image information on the TV monitor, the operator name or ID number, the date and time, etc. The management data (text) is output and displayed as a video, which allows the user to easily check the necessary information.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

(First Embodiment) FIG. 1 shows an example of a schematic internal structure of a laser beam full-color digital copying apparatus to which the present invention is applied. This copying apparatus is composed of an image scanner section for reading an original image to obtain an image signal and a laser printer section for forming a hard copy by an electrophotographic method using a laser beam modulated by the image signal.

As shown in FIG. 1, the original document in the image editing unit 1 is scanned by using the CCD image sensor 2, and the image signal output from the image sensor 2 is transmitted to the image processing unit 3 in the next stage.

The laser printer section comprises a well-known laser scanning system section 4, rotary developing unit 5, OPC.
It is composed of a drum unit 6 and the like, and its paper feeding portion is also composed of a known paper cassette unit 7, a transfer drum unit 8, and a conveyance path for finally feeding the paper to the tray 9. Further, the image processing unit 3 is connected to the image recording processing unit 10,
A removable memory unit 11 is connected to the image recording processing unit 10.

FIG. 2 shows details of information processing and transmission between the image processing unit 3, the image recording processing unit 10 and the memory unit 11 described above. Here, 101 to 107 are the same as those of the conventional copying machine, and 120 to 127 are the parts added by the present invention.

First, a circuit portion similar to the conventional one will be described first. An image scanner section 101 which is an input section and a laser printer section 103 which is an output section are connected by a digital image processing section 102 which is a transmission section. The image processing unit 102 first includes a synchronization circuit 104 for synchronizing dot-sequential R (red), G (green), and B (blue) signals output from the scanner unit 101, and an RGB processing circuit 1.
05, RGB through the RGB signal processing circuit 105
It is composed of a matrix circuit 106 for converting signals into Y (yellow), M (magenta), and C (cyan) signals which are signals handled by the printer section, and a YMC signal processing circuit 107.

Next, the parts added in the present invention will be described.

The output signal processed by the YMC signal processing circuit 107 is recorded in the image memory 124, which will be described later, and further, the information in the memory 124 is reproduced to be output and displayed on the TV monitor 127. First, it is inputted to the matrix circuit 120 which converts the YMC signal into the RGB signal. The output of the matrix circuit 120 is subjected to predetermined signal processing in the RGB signal processing circuit 121, and then, the image data is stored in the image memory 124 by the recording circuit 123 via the recording processing circuit 122 for memory recording.

In order to reproduce the image data stored in the image memory 124, the reproducing circuit 125 is operated from the image memory 124.
The reproduction processing circuit 126 performs the processing necessary to output the image information reproduced by the TV monitor,
The signal is converted into a V signal and output and displayed on the TV monitor unit 127.

FIG. 3 shows the circuit configuration of FIG. 2 in more detail. Here, 108 to 109 are conventional circuit parts 10 of FIG.
1 to 107, and 128 to 141 correspond to the newly added portions 120 to 127 in FIG. First, a circuit portion similar to the conventional one will be described.

The image information of the original, which is photoelectrically converted by the CCD image sensor 108, is converted into RGB by the amplifier 109.
Is output as a dot-sequential analog signal. The output analog signal is then converted into a digital simultaneous signal by the A / D converter 110 and the RGB signal sequential / simultaneous circuit 111, and the shading correction unit 112 performs CCD conversion.
Distortion caused by variations in sensitivity of the image sensor, unevenness of light amount of the light source, and the like are corrected, and the γ correction unit 113, RGB /
The YMC conversion matrix circuit 114 converts the reflectance-voltage linear signal (RGB) into the density-voltage linear signal (YM
After being converted to C), a black signal is added by the BK (black) generation unit 115 and then input to the color correction / conversion circuit 116 for performing faithful color reproduction.

The color correction / conversion circuit 116 performs various color conversion processes such as trimming, masking, designated color conversion, etc., which are known as color conversion. The color correction / conversion circuit 116 is generally a circuit related to processing of the color itself such as density and hue, whereas the spatial position correction / conversion circuit 11 in the next stage.
Reference numeral 7 carries out processing relating to physical spatial position conversion, that is, scaling and position shifting (movement). Further, the correction circuit 118 at the next stage performs correction processing in the frequency domain, that is, filter-like processing such as edge strength and isolated point removal. The image information processed by the Y, M, and C signal processing circuits 116, 117, and 118 is the known laser printer unit 11.
9 and the image is recorded on the transfer paper. The details of the laser printer unit 119 are well known in the art and are not directly related to the present invention, and therefore will be omitted.

Next, the circuit portion added in the present invention will be described. The aforementioned YMC processing circuits 116, 117, 1
The YMC signal output via 18 is a matrix circuit 128, a compression encoding circuit 129 for performing compression encoding processing required for large capacity recording, and an error correction encoding circuit 13
Through 0, the modulation circuit 131 for recording, the recording amplifier 1
32, the tape-shaped magnetic storage medium 1 by the recording head 133
34.

When reproducing, the reproducing head 1
35, regenerative amplifier 136, demodulation circuit 137, error correction decoding circuit 138, decompression decoding circuit 138, and D / A
It is converted into a TV signal through the conversion circuit 140, and output and displayed on the TV monitor 141.

As described above, the first embodiment of the present invention is most suitable for the printer output obtained by performing various image processes for outputting the image information of the document generated by the image scanner unit to the laser printer unit. Signal format, that is, processing for converting a YMC signal (and further a BK signal) that has undergone predetermined image processing necessary for the function and performance of the copying machine into a TV signal format suitable for image display and performing signal recording. Since a large-capacity memory for storing image information to be printed in the form of a TV signal is provided by adding a system, for example, as described in the section of the action, image data of about 650,000 originals is recorded on one magnetic tape. Can be stored in a cassette.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 4 shows a schematic internal structure of a digital copying apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention. Here, 12 is a known ID card, and card data read by an ID card reader described later is supplied to the image recording processing unit 10. The ID card stores an ID number or the like that identifies the user, and is also used to control the operation of the entire copying system. The other structure is the same as that of the first embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1, and the description thereof is omitted.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic circuit configuration of a signal processing system in the second embodiment of the present invention. Where 101 to 10
7, 120 to 127 are the same as those in the first embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 2, and only 210 to 215 are added in this embodiment. Therefore, the description of the overlapping portion will be omitted, and only the newly added portion will be described.

In FIG. 5, reference numeral 211 is an ID card reader for reading the ID card of FIG. 4, reference numeral 212 is the date when copying,
This is a clock circuit for generating time, and the ID information and the date / time information output from these circuits are sent to the recording processing circuit 213 to be subjected to data processing in a signal form suitable for signal recording, and then to the mixing circuit 214. Sent. The image information which is the output signal of the recording processing circuit 122 and the data information which is the output signal of the recording processing circuit 213 are mixed in a predetermined format by a mixing circuit (also referred to as an adding circuit), and an image is passed through the recording circuit 123. It is recorded in the memory 124 in the form of a TV signal.

Image information and data information are stored in the image memory 12
4 is recorded by the known VTR helical scan method when a storage medium such as a magnetic tape is used as the image memory 124.
As shown in FIG. 3, the magnetic tape is divided into areas, and data information and image information are sequentially recorded for one screen (that is, for one document). When such a magnetic tape is used as a data memory, for example, when a magnetic tape cassette capable of recording a video signal for 3 hours is used, a copy copy of 3h × 60 minutes × 60 seconds × 60 fields = 648,000 screens. Information will be recorded.

As described above, in the second embodiment of the present invention, not only the image information input from the image scanner unit is copied and output on the paper by the printer unit, but also stored in a large capacity memory such as a magnetic tape, At this time, the data information such as the ID number and the date and time of the operator who operates the copying apparatus is also stored in the memory, so that, for example, a plurality of duplicates are made from one piece of original information and are stored. Compared to the conventional system, which does not have the function, the process of making the copy itself is recorded, which is very effective in terms of security management.

[0037]

As described above, according to the first embodiment of the present invention, since the copied image information is stored in the large capacity memory and can be displayed on the monitor, the copied contents can be confirmed at a later date, It will be convenient for you to search.

Further, according to the second aspect of the present invention, when the copied image information is stored in the large capacity memory, the data information such as the ID number, the date and the time is also stored together. Confirmation becomes easy and effective for security management.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view showing a schematic internal structure of a digital copying apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic circuit configuration of a signal processing system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the circuit of FIG. 2 in more detail.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view showing a schematic internal structure of a digital copying apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a schematic circuit configuration of a signal processing system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a conceptual diagram showing a state of image information and data information recorded in a magnetic tape shape by the circuit of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 CCD image sensor 3 image processing unit 4 laser scanning system section 5 rotary development unit 6 OPC drum unit 10 image recording processing unit 11 memory unit 12 ID card 101 image scanner section 102 digital image processing section 103 laser printer section 120 matrix circuit 121 RGB signal Processing circuit 122 Recording processing circuit 123 Recording circuit 124 Image memory 125 Reproducing circuit 126 Reproducing processing circuit 127 TV monitor section 211 ID card reader 212 Clock circuit 213 Recording processing circuit 214 Mixing circuit

Front page continuation (72) Inventor Kenji Kawai 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An original reading unit for scanning an original image to output an image signal, and a first image processing unit for converting the image signal output from the original reading unit into a recording signal suitable for recording. An image recording unit for forming and recording a visually reproduced image on a recording material by using the recording signal output from the first image processing unit; and the recording output from the first image processing unit. Second image processing means for converting the signal into a display signal suitable for display on a monitor screen, and a relatively large-capacity image storage means for storing the display signal output from the second image processing means. And a digital copying apparatus. 2. A document reading unit for scanning a document image and outputting an image signal, and a first image processing unit for converting the image signal output from the document reading unit into a recording signal suitable for recording. An image recording unit for forming and recording a visually reproduced image on a recording material by using the recording signal output from the first image processing unit; and the recording output from the first image processing unit. Second image processing means for converting the signal into a display signal suitable for displaying on a monitor screen; data input means for inputting and processing management data related to copying operation in the form of the display signal; A signal synthesizing unit for mixing the display signal of the management data input from the input unit with the display signal of the image data output from the second image processing unit; and a display signal output from the signal synthesizing unit. Picture A digital copying apparatus comprising a relatively large-capacity image storage means for storing data in plane units. 3. The first image processing means includes a signal conversion circuit for converting R, G, B image signals into Y, M, C (or Y, M, C, BK) recording signals. The second image processing means includes the Y, M, C (or Y,
2. A signal conversion circuit for converting a recording signal of (M, C, BK) into a display signal of an R, G, B television signal standard, and a signal compression circuit for compressing the display signal. Or the digital copying machine described in 2. 4. The image storage means is any one of a magnetic tape cassette, a floppy disk, and a magneto-optical compact disk.
A digital copying apparatus described in any one of 1. 5. The digital copying apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the management data includes operation ID data and date / time information.