JPH08116431A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To obtain the image forming device having a repeat edit function easily used by the user. CONSTITUTION: When plural reduction/magnification factors are set and entered from an operation panel 4, an image processor 2 applies processing such as reduction/magnification and movement to an image received from an image input device 1 based on the plural different reduction/magnification factors and the image data after the processing are stored in a page memory 6. An image output device 7 prints out plural same images with the different reduction/magnification factors on one paper sheet based on the image data stored in the page memory 6.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus in an image information device such as a copying machine, a printer or a facsimile, and more particularly, a repeat editing function for printing out a plurality of images of an area of a document on one sheet. And an image forming apparatus having the following.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, a digital copying machine capable of reproducing an original with a digital signal is provided with a repeat editing function for printing out a plurality of images of an area of the original on one sheet. . The most common use of this repeat editing function by the user is to create a plurality of photo originals as stickers. The user attaches this sticker to a postcard or the like for use. Conventionally, as a digital copying machine having a repeat editing function, an area is freely set for image data obtained by reading an original image, and the image data of the set area is written in a storage means while being output. There is known a configuration in which repeat editing is realized by controlling the image data of the area corresponding to the output screen size designated by the screen size designating unit to be repeatedly read out from the storing unit and printing out on a sheet. (For example, JP-A-3-7277
No. 6 publication).

[0003]

However, in the repeat editing described above, the same image is repeated with the same reduction / enlargement ratio (hereinafter, referred to as reduction / enlargement ratio), so that it is created as a seal as described above. , When using it by pasting it on a postcard, etc., set the optimum seal size to 1
It's hard to find out with just one copy. For this reason, the desired size cannot be obtained unless a certain number of copies are taken with the reduction ratio changed, or the original size and the target size are measured with a ruler, and then the reduction ratio is calculated and the copy is made. It had to be taken, which was inconvenient for the user.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide an image forming apparatus having a repeat editing function which is easy for a user to use.

[0005]

An image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes a storage unit for storing image data, a setting input unit capable of inputting a plurality of different reduction ratios, and a setting input by the setting input unit. Image processing means for performing reduction / enlargement and movement processing on the input image based on the plurality of different reduction / enlargement ratios, and storing the processed image data in the storage means; and the stored image data. On the basis of this, there is provided an image output means for outputting a plurality of identical images having different reduction and expansion ratios on one sheet.

[0006]

In the image forming apparatus having the above-described structure, when a plurality of different reduction / enlargement ratios are set and input from the setting input means, the image processing means reduces / enlarges the input image based on the plurality of different reduction / enlargement ratios. Move processing is performed. Then, the processed image data is stored in the storage means. The image output device outputs an image based on the image data stored in the storage means. As a result, a plurality of same images with different reduction and expansion ratios are output on one sheet.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention applied to, for example, a digital color copying machine will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. The present invention is not limited to application to a digital color copying machine, but can be applied to image information devices such as printers and facsimiles.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention applied to a digital color copying machine. The basic configuration is an image input device (IIT) 1, an image processing device (IPS-A) 2 that processes image data output from the image input device 1, and an image editing device that adds an editing function to image data. (IPS-B) 3, an operation panel 4 for the user to set and input information such as a plurality of different reduction / enlargement ratios, an edit pad 5 for the user to specify an area, and processing by the image processing device 2 and the image editing device 3. A page memory 6 for storing the generated image data and an image output device (IOT) 7 for outputting the image data.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a specific configuration of the image processing apparatus 2. In the figure, the image input device 1 has a reduction type sensor composed of three line sensors R (red), G (green) and B (blue) arranged at right angles to the sub-scanning direction, and timing generation is performed. The image is read by scanning in synchronization with the timing signal from the circuit 11. The read image data is subjected to shading correction by the shading correction circuit 12, and then the gap correction circuit 13 performs gap correction between the line sensors. This gap correction is F
This is performed in order to delay the image data read by the IFO (First In First Out) 14 by an amount corresponding to the gap so that R, G, B image signals at the same position can be obtained at the same time.

ENL (Equivalnt Neutral Lightness) 1
5 is for gray balance, and
By a negative / positive inversion signal from the edit processing device 3 which will be described later, the way of taking gray is reversed for each pixel to perform the negative / positive inversion, and for example, the negative / positive inversion can be performed only on a certain designated area. The R, G, B image signals after the gray balance are processed by the control signal from the edit processing device 3 in the matrix 1
At 6a, it is converted into an image signal in the L ^* , a ^* , b ^* uniform color space. The conversion from the R, G, B image signals to the L ^* , a ^* , b ^* uniform color space image signals is performed in order to facilitate the interface with the outside such as a computer.

The selector 17 is controlled by a signal from the edit processing device 3 to selectively take out the output of the matrix circuit 16a or the image data from an external computer (ICS: Image Creating System) 8. .
The background removal circuit 18 sets the minimum density of the original in the prescan,
This is for storing the highest density and skipping pixels having a density lower than the lowest density to improve the copy quality for a fogged original such as a newspaper. Document detection circuit 19
Is for detecting the boundary between the back surface of the black platen and the original and detecting and storing the original size regardless of the position of the original as long as the original is placed straight in the scanning direction. The color-edited image signal of the editing processor 3 is
L ^* , a ^* , b ^* to Y in the matrix circuit 16b
(Yellow), M (magenta), and C (cyan) toner colors are converted, and the background removal circuit 21 generates a black plate to generate Y, M, C, and
Generate K (black). At the same time, the pictorial character separation circuit 20 determines whether the color-edited image signal is a color character, a black character, or a picture.

In the background removal circuit 21, the hue signal and the development color signals Y, M, C and K are temporarily stored in the FIFOs 22a and 22b, respectively, according to the character data or the pattern. And
The data is selected and read by the selector 23, and the data reset circuit 24 resets the Y, M, and C data in the case of a black character, and passes the data as it is in the case of a color character or a pattern. The expansion / contraction circuit 25a
This is to prevent the color edit area and the normal copy area from being displaced even when there is enlargement, and the enlargement / reduction information is decoded by the area decoder 26 and provided to the processing of each unit.
The image data reduced or enlarged by the reduction / enlargement circuit 25b is subjected to moiré removal and edge enhancement by a filter 27, and a multiplier 28
Then, by selecting the coefficient for each color component appropriately,
Color adjustment and density adjustment are performed on color letters, black letters, and patterns. TRC (Tone Reproduction Correction) 29
Is for adjusting the density according to the characteristics of the image output device (IOT) 7. The image data is stored in the memory system 9 and is output as an image by the ROS 10.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a specific configuration of the image data editing processing device 3. This editing processing device 3 is for performing color editing and area generation, and the image signals L ^* , a ^* , b ^* from the selector 17 shown in FIG. 2 are LUT (L
(Look Up Table) 31a converts L ^* , a ^* , b ^* to L, C, H to facilitate color editing and color conversion. At this time, in order to reduce the memory capacity of the color conversion & palette 32 in the subsequent stage. 24 bits of image data is converted to 20 bits.
The color conversion & palette 32 has colors used in color editing in 32 types of palettes, only the image data of the area to be color converted is input to the color conversion & palette 32, and the image data of other areas are directly input. It is sent to the matrix circuit 16b shown in FIG. 2 via the selector 33. Color converted L,
The C and H signals are again converted into L ^* , a ^* , and b ^* by the LUT 31b, converted into 24-bit data, and sent to the selector 33.

Marker color from color conversion & palette 32 (3
The 4-bit signal including the color) and the closed region signal is sent to the density conversion / region generation circuit 34. At this time, the FIFO 35a, 35
Using b and 35c, in a 4 × 4 window, if there are a predetermined number or more of black pixels in 16 pixels, binarization processing is performed to set to “1”, and density conversion from 400 spi to 100 spi is performed. The density conversion / region generation circuit 34 writes the marker signal (closed loop and marker dot) generated in this way into the plane memory 36, and does not detect a marker dust signal as a marker so as not to erroneously detect small dust as a marker. The marker 37 is delayed by 9 lines by the FIFO 37 to detect the marker dots in the 9 × 9 window, and the coordinate value generation circuit 38 generates the coordinate values of the marker dots to generate R.
Store in AM39. Although the marker dot is also stored in the plane memory 36, this processing is performed to prevent erroneous detection.

The plane memory 36 is a memory for generating an area for color editing, and the area can be written from, for example, an edit pad. That is, the coordinate data specified by the edit pad is the CPU
The data is transferred to the graphic controller 40 through the bus, and an area is written in the plane memory 36 via the DRAM controller 41 by the address signal from the graphic controller 40. 4 for plain memory 36
Areas are read from the plane memory 36, and four kinds of areas can be simultaneously generated to generate 16 kinds of areas 0 to 15. When reading from the plane memory 36, the density conversion / region generation circuit 34 performs the F conversion so that the closed loop curve does not become jagged.
The IFOs 42a and 42b delay the data by four lines, perform data interpolation, and perform density conversion from 100 spi to 400 spi. The color edited data is sent to the delay circuit 43.
The timing adjustment is performed by the a, 43b and IMFIFO 44 so that the timing is matched with the image data read by the image input apparatus 1.

The image data processed by the edit processing device 3 is input to the page memory system shown in FIG. In this page memory system, the interface 5
The image data input from the editing processing device 3 is compressed by the compression processing unit 52, and the repeat function,
It is recorded in a memory (DRAM) 54 via an image edit processor 53 having a copy function, a rotation function, a writing position moving function, and the like. After recording, memory 5
After reading the data from 4, the decompression processing unit 55 decompresses the data, the SFC / TRC 56 performs digital filter processing associated with the compression / decompression, and performs tone adjustment according to the characteristics of the image output device (IOT), and then to the IOT side. Is output.

Next, the repeat editing process executed in the digital color copying machine having the above-mentioned structure will be described. FIG. 5 shows an output result obtained by the repeat editing of this embodiment. In the repeat editing of this example, one image is output at six different expansion / reduction rates. Less than,
This repeat editing will be referred to as reduced / enlarged repeat editing in order to distinguish it from normal repeat editing. Edit 1 is an example of the case where only one image having the same scaling ratio is output.
The edit 2 is an example in which a plurality of images having the same reduction ratio is output.

Next, a processing procedure of an example of reduced / enlarged repeat editing will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, the user selects whether or not repeat editing is to be performed (step S11), and when performing repeat editing, the region to be repeated is designated and input from the edit pad 5 (step S12), and then expanded and expanded. It is selected whether or not repeat editing is performed (step S13). Next, the parameters required for the reduced / enlarged repeat editing are set (step S14). As a parameter, how many different scaling factors to copy together with the number of that type,
Set the scaling factor for each. The parameter such as the reduction ratio is set and input by the user from the operation panel 4.
In addition, the position of the image to be arranged on the paper at the time of outputting the image is calculated and the position information is also set. At this time, if inappropriate position information is set, a message to that effect is output and the setting is prompted again. A specific method of the layout calculation for obtaining the position information of the image will be described later.

When these processes are completed, the start button of the copying machine is pressed (step S15). As a result, the image input device (IIT) 1 of the copying machine reads the original image (step S16). At this time, the reduction / enlargement in the sub-scanning direction is performed by controlling the reading speed of the image input device 1. The image data input from the image input device 1 is reduced / enlarged in the main scanning direction at a reduction ratio specified by the image processing device 2, and further moved in the main scanning direction in the direction obtained by the layout calculation (step S17). . Here, when editing 2 in FIG. 5 is performed, repeat processing is performed in the main scanning direction. That is, repeat editing is performed at the same reduction ratio.

Then, the image data subjected to this processing is written in the page memory 5 (step S18). At this time, in the sub-scanning direction, writing is performed by moving in the direction obtained by the layout calculation. This completes the first processing. Then, it is determined whether or not this series of processing has been performed for different reduction / enlargement ratios (step S19). If not, the processing returns to step S16 and the same processing is repeatedly executed. Finally, if only the different scaling factors have been imported,
The image output device 6 prints out the image obtained by the reduction / enlargement repeat editing (step S20).

That is, to summarize the above-described reduction / enlargement repeat editing processing, image data is fetched from the image input apparatus 1, and the image data is reduced / enlarged / moved in the image processing apparatus 2 to obtain the paper in advance. One image output above is created and written in the page memory 6. At this time,
Image data is compressed and recorded in the page memory. Then, this process is performed with different reduction ratios, and finally when the image to be output on the paper is formed on the page memory 6,
This image data is read out and printed out by the image output device 7.

Next, the processing procedure of another example of reduction / enlargement repeat editing will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In FIG. 7, the processing until the image input device 1 reads the original image (steps S21 to S26) is exactly the same as the processing from steps S11 to S16 in FIG. However, at this time, the enlargement / reduction ratio in the sub-scanning direction is performed by using the maximum value of the enlargement / reduction ratios designated by the user and controlling the reading speed of the image input apparatus 1. In the image processing apparatus 2, the input image data is reduced / enlarged in the main scanning direction using the maximum value of the designated reduction / enlargement ratios, and further moved in the main scanning direction in the direction obtained by the layout calculation. Yes (step S27). And this is page memory 5
(Step S28). At this time, in the sub-scanning direction, writing is performed by moving in the direction obtained by the layout calculation.

Through the above processing, only the image having the maximum value of the scaling factors to be processed is stored in the page memory 5. Here, the reason why the maximum value is used is that the enlargement causes image deterioration when the reduction and the enlargement are compared. For this reason, only reduction is performed in the page memory 5. Next, the image data is developed in the page memory 5 (step S29). As a method of deployment,
Reduce the image data of the maximum reduction ratio by the specified reduction ratio,
Copy to the position calculated by the placement calculation. This is performed for both main scanning and sub scanning. When all development is completed,
The image data in the page memory 5 is read and output to the image output device 6, and the image is printed out on the paper (step S30).

That is, to summarize the above-described reduction / enlargement repeat editing processing, image data is fetched from the image input apparatus 1, and reduction / enlargement and movement processing is performed on the image data in the image processing apparatus 2 and this processing is performed. Write to page memory 6. The scaling ratio at this time is the maximum scaling ratio among the different scaling ratios of the final output results. Based on the image data written in the page memory 6, reduction and movement expansion processing is performed to arrange the images, and if an image to be finally output on the paper is created in the page memory 6, this image data is The image is read out and printed out by the image output device 7. In addition,
When writing image data into the page memory 6, if the image data is compressed, the data is encoded, and the encoded image data cannot be reduced or enlarged. For this reason, in the case of this example, the image data is not compressed, but after the recording in the page memory 6, the process of moving and reducing / enlarging the image data is performed.

Next, a specific method for calculating the image layout will be described. FIG. 8 shows a simple image arrangement example. In this example, the extraction area (100 mm × 15
0 mm) is repeatedly edited. At this time, the respective expansion / contraction ratios are 90%, 60%, 40%, and 25%. In the arrangement in the same scaling ratio direction, first, how many repeats can be made is calculated. The number of repeats is calculated by the formula: number of repeats = paper size / (area size × reduction / expansion ratio). At this time, the fractional part is truncated. For example, in the case of 25%, 297 ÷ (100 × 0.25) = 1
It becomes 1.88, and 11 pieces will be repeated. Next, the amount of blank space is calculated in order to arrange at equal intervals. This margin amount is
Margin amount = (sheet size−number of repeats × region size × reduction / expansion ratio) ÷ (number of repeats + 1)
For example, in the case of 25%, (297-11 × 100 × 0.2
5) ÷ (11 + 1) = 1.8 mm. Based on this, they are arranged at equal intervals.

Next, a method of calculating different reduction / magnification directions will be described. In this case, the margin amount is first obtained. The amount of blank space is the amount of blank space = (paper size−area size × first reduction / expansion rate−area size × second reduction / expansion rate −... ......− area size × (n−1) th reduction) Expansion rate−area size × nth expansion / reduction rate) ÷ different expansion / reduction number + 1. Here, when the margin amount has a negative value, the paper cannot be completely filled, and thus error processing is performed. For example, in the case of FIG. 8, (420-150 × 0.9-150 × 0.6-15
0 × 0.4-150 × 0.25) ÷ 4 + 1 = 19.5m
m. Based on this, they are arranged at equal intervals.

[0027]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Reduce / reduce input image based on different scaling factors
A configuration in which enlargement and movement processing is performed, the processed image data is stored in a storage unit, and a plurality of identical images with different reduction ratios are output on one sheet based on the stored image data. By doing so, it is possible to obtain repeats with several types of scaling factors with a single image output, so it is possible to easily obtain repeats of the desired size and realize repeat editing that is easy for the user to use. You can do it.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention applied to a digital color copying machine.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a specific configuration of an image processing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of a specific configuration of the image editing apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a page memory system.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an output result of reduction / enlargement repeat editing.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of an example of reduction / enlargement repeat editing.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing of another example of reduction / enlargement repeat editing.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an arrangement example of images at the time of reduction / enlargement repeat editing.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Image Input Device (IIT) 2 Image Processing Device (IPS-A) 3 Image Editing Device (IPS-B) 4 Operation Panel 5 Edit Pad 6 Page Memory 7 Image Output Device (IOT)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A storage unit for storing image data, a setting input unit capable of setting and inputting a plurality of different reduction ratios, and an input based on a plurality of different reduction ratios set and input by the setting input unit. An image processing unit that performs reduction / enlargement and movement processing on an image and stores the processed image data in the storage unit; and on one sheet based on the image data stored in the storage unit. An image forming apparatus comprising: an image output unit that outputs a plurality of identical images with different reduction and expansion ratios.