JPH09172525A - Image reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To quickly and efficiently perform a scanning operation by performing per-scanning in scanning in one direction and performing main scanning in scanning in the opposite direction in the paper feeding of one time. SOLUTION: In the paper feeding of one time, per-scanning is executed by the forward movement of a carriage and main scanning is executed by the backward movement. In this case, whether or not binarized valid dot data are present inside the respective columns of an 8-dot unit is judged from the data of the 8-dot width of a scanning butter obtained by pre-scanning, it is defined that the data are present when even one dot of the valid data is present, it is defined that the data are not present in the other cases and the map of a scanning area width part (in terms of columns) is prepares and written in a scanning image map buffer which is an area on the RAM-P 315 of a printer/ scanner part 300. Then, in main scanning, the map is retrieved the skipping operation and scanning operation of a blank area are decided and main scanning is executed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image reading device,
In particular, it relates to control of the scan operation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a scanner which performs a serial scan, an original is fed and a scan area is pre-scanned, then the original is fed again, and then a main scan of the scan area is performed. It is configured.

Further, in the scan area designated by the host side, all scan operations are performed regardless of whether or not there is valid data in the area.

FIG. 1 shows the serial scan operation of this conventional example.
1 and FIG. 12 will be described.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a serial scan operation of a conventional example, in which the movement of a carriage (scanner head) on a document and the state of document feeding are schematically represented by arrows with the document as a reference. As shown in this figure (A), first, the pre-scan is executed at the first feeding, and the gradation setting,
Set the brightness. Here, each time the prescan is performed in the main scanning direction once, the carriage is returned to the original position, the document is fed (the scanning operation is not performed during this time), and the next prescan is performed. This operation is repeated for the area, and the prescan is completed. After that, as shown in (B), the sheet is fed again, and then the main scan is performed.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing the change in the speed of the carriage during the main scan operation of the conventional example.
The case of scanning with a dot width is shown. In this example, there is valid data in the center of the scan area, and there are areas without data on both sides. The dotted line part in the middle omits the area without data. Here, the movement of the scanner head (carriage) scans the whole at the same scanning speed regardless of whether or not there is valid data.

[0007]

However, in the above-described conventional example, after the paper is fed once and the prescan is performed, the paper is fed again and the main scan is performed, so that the original document is fed twice for each scan. Since it requires paper feeding and scanning operations, it took a long time to complete scanning. Further, there is a problem that the position designated for scanning is deviated between the prescan and the main scan.

Further, in the scan area, regardless of whether or not there is valid data in the scan area (at a speed far slower than the maximum speed at which the scanner originally can move due to the accumulation of scan data), all of them are uniformly distributed. Since it is configured to perform the scanning operation, there is a drawback that the moving speed of the scanner is slow even if there is no valid data, and it takes a long time to read a scanned document.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, and pre-scan is performed when scanning in one direction and scanning is performed in the opposite direction with one sheet feeding. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image reading apparatus that can perform a scanning operation quickly and efficiently without waste.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an image reading apparatus capable of performing a quicker scan by performing a skip operation for a portion having no valid data during a main scan.

[0011]

The present invention is constructed as follows.

(1) Image reading means for reading an image, moving means for moving the image reading means, storage means for storing image data read by the image reading means, and control for the moving means. An image reading apparatus comprising: a first control unit that performs the image reading; and a second control unit that controls reading of an image by the image reading unit.

(2) The second control means performs a pre-scan when the image reading means moves in one direction, stores the image data in the storage means, and the image reading means operates based on the stored data. The image reading apparatus according to (1) above, which controls to perform a main scan when moving in the opposite direction.

(3) The first control means controls the moving speed of the moving means at the time of the main scan based on the image data stored in the storage means at the time of the prescan. The image reading device described.

(4) As the control mode of the first control means, there is provided a full range mode for controlling the moving speed of the moving means for the entire area of the image and a both end mode for controlling the moving speed of the moving means for both ends of the image. The image reading device described in (3) above.

(5) The setting means for setting the prohibition mode for keeping the moving speed of the moving means constant is provided, and the first control means controls the moving speed of the moving means based on the setting contents of the setting means. The image reading device according to (3) or (4) above.

[0017]

According to the present invention having the above-described structure,
The image reading operation of the image reading means can be controlled.

Further, according to the above configuration (2), both the prescan and the main scan are performed during the reciprocating movement of the image reading means.

Further, according to the configuration of (3) above, the operation of the main scan of the area having no image can be speeded up.

[0020]

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

First, an apparatus to which the present invention is applied will be described. In addition, the device described here is used in Examples 1 to 1 described later.
5 can be used.

FIG. 1 is a personal computer with a built-in printer to which the present invention is applied (hereinafter referred to as "personal computer").
FIG.

The personal computer 1 is composed of an apparatus body 101, a keyboard 102, an upper cover 104 having a display section 103, a built-in printer 12, and the like. The upper cover 104 is rotatably attached to the apparatus main body 101 via hinges 104a provided at both ends of the rear edge. As a result, when the present apparatus is used, the upper cover 104 is rotated to cause the display unit 10 to rotate.
3 can be opened to a position where it can be easily seen, and can be closed to function as a cover when not in use. As the display element of the display section 103, a liquid crystal display element is used because the display section can be made thin. The built-in printer 12 has an opening (not shown) that can be opened and closed by the operator,
The print head or scanner head can be replaced. The host computer (the part of the personal computer 1 excluding the built-in printer) is internally connected. Normally, printing can be performed by mounting an ink jet type print head or the like on a carriage portion (not shown) of the printer 12, and if a scanner head is mounted instead of the print head, it operates as a serial scanner. Reference numeral 3 indicates a recording sheet when the built-in printer 12 is used as a printer, and a scanned document when it is used as a scanner.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of the host computer and the printer (printer / scanner section).

In the host computer, the central processing unit (CPU) 201 controls the main control, and the BIOS 203 instructs the basic control. The BIOS 203 reads the application program via the floppy disk controller 213 or the hard disk controller 215 and executes the program using the system memory. At this time, as a screen display method, a character is displayed on the liquid crystal by using the LCD controller 209, and key input from the keyboard 212 is performed via the keyboard controller 211.

The numerical arithmetic processor 202 supports arithmetic processing for the CPU. The real-time clock 204 indicates the elapsed time at the present time, and the dedicated battery 205 operates even when the power of the entire system is turned off.

The DMA controller 206 is a CPU for high-speed data transfer between the memory and the memory, between the memory and the input / output device, and between the input / output device and the input / output device.
Data transfer is performed without the intervention of 201. The interrupt controller 207 accepts interrupts of each input / output and performs processing according to the priority order.

The timer 217 has a free running timer of several channels and manages various times. In addition, there is a serial interface that connects to the outside, an expansion port, and an LED that reports the operating status to the user.

In addition to the above-mentioned controls of a general personal computer, in the notebook personal computer as in this embodiment, it is necessary to support at least two power sources of an adapter and a battery, and especially power saving when using the battery is required. And has the following configuration.

On-of the EL210b inverter circuit
f, floppy disk drive 214 (hereinafter, "FD
Power supply to "D"), hard disk drive 2
16 (hereinafter referred to as "HDD") power supply, pri
inter-off, RAM 223 and VRAM 224
Control of power supply to devices other than the above, and CPU2
01, etc. CLOCK control, host power management unit (host PM) 219 for instructing power supply control procedure at the time of suspend / resume, RAM 223 and VRAM
A refresh controller 222 for refreshing the contents stored in 224, and a charge controller 2 capable of driving the host side while charging the secondary battery.
It consists of 25.

The printer / scanner unit 300 is connected to the host computer through a general-purpose parallel interface, and data is transmitted / received at the register level of the I / O port. The image of the connection is the same as when it is exchanged with an external printer. Will be equivalent. If a scanner head is attached to the printer instead of the recording head,
Similarly, a general-purpose bidirectional parallel interface is used to connect to the host computer, data is transmitted and received at the register level of the I / O port, and the image of the connection is the same as when it is exchanged with an external scanner.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the construction of the control system of the printer / scanner section, and the main construction is as follows.

Here, the CPU-P 311 is a microprocessor type CP which is the main control of the printer / scanner section.
U and exchanges printer status information and emulation setting information with the PST / IO register 351 accessible from the host side via the PST / IO register 351 of the printer control & status port unit 402, Based on the setting, desired state processing and printing processing are performed on the RO described later according to printer commands and data obtained from the host side via the PIO / IO register 350 of the parallel IF adapter unit 401 described later.
This is performed using the devices, registers, and memories on the CPU-P311 according to the programs and data that are microcoded and stored in the M-P312 in advance.

The ROM-P312 is a ROM (read-only memory) for storing programs corresponding to the recording control procedure, print control procedure, scan control procedure, etc. executed by the CPU-P311, a character generator, other tables, and fixed data of default values. ).

TIMER1-P313 is a timer for obtaining the phase drive time of the paper feed motor (FM), heater, etc. and other time timings, and RTC-P314 is an RTC (real time) for knowing the elapsed time of the print head recovery operation. Clock). Also, uniting control UNIT30
1 is composed of IF transfer control, power saving control, RAM access control, etc. Of these, RAM access control, printer control & status control, power saving control, etc. are C
The CPU-P311 can be stopped independently of the control of the PU-P311 and independent control can be performed even during the default.

The above configuration is connected to the CPU-P bus 360. The RAM-P315 is a work area used as a register, a line buffer for storing print data / scan data for one line, a dot development buffer re-developed into dots, and an INP from the parallel IF.
R with area for UT buffer, scanner mode recording, etc.
Combined control unit with AM (random access memory)
The RAM access control unit 4 is connected to the composite control unit 301 by the RAM bus 361.
08-RAM-P315 CPU-P31 to be described later
It is possible to access from a plurality of control units including the above.

Each printer drive control signal is output from the composite control unit 301, and the FM drive circuit 321, CM /
In the ASFM drive circuit 322, the head driver 323, and the heater driver 324, the FM 331, the CM 33, respectively.
3, each control signal is converted into a drive level of the Bj-Head 334, the heater 335, etc., and the FM (feed motor) 331, the CM (carrier motor) 333, and the inkjet head 334 are driven.

A composite control unit is used as a power saving control signal.
301 to Vcc1p-off, Vcc2P-off,
It has a power control signal of Vpoff, Printer-off as an input signal, printer sensors, an operation panel SW, and an LED drive signal of the operation panel as an output signal. Of these, the power of Vcc1-P is supplied, and the composite control UNIT301, CPU-P311, RA
Power can be supplied only to the M-P315.

Further, Vcc1P-off is Printe
It is possible to turn off the power of Vcc1P at the OFF timing when the r-off signal is changed according to the driving status of the printer. That is, the power is not cut off when the head is in the cap open state, and no fatal trouble is caused.

The CM 333 and ASFM 332 are the CPU 2
The signal from 01 causes the relay 336 to switch connection with the drive circuit. Usually CM33
Connected to 3.

FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of the composite control unit 301.

As functional blocks, an input adapter of RAM-P315 is mainly provided via an IF adapter, a parallel IF adapter, and a parallel IF adapter from the host side.
A parallel IF adapter unit 401 for storing parallel data on the buffer, an IF data fetching control unit 404 for storing serial data mainly from the scanner control unit on the printer (scanner) side to parallel data, and A printer control & status port unit 402 for checking and controlling the printer state directly from the host side, and a RAM-P
A refresh control unit 403 for generating refresh timing of 315, and an IJ-head / scanner for reading the 1-line dot development data on the RAM-P 315 and driving and printing the inkjet (IJ) head while also controlling the phase excitation of the carrier. Head & CM control unit 406
A printer port control unit 405 that drives the FM 331, heater 335, LED 325, etc., IF data acquisition control unit 404, refresh control unit 403, IJ-head / scanner head & CM control unit 406, and CPU-P.
A RAM access control unit 408 that has access rights according to priority for four access requests 311 and a printer PM unit 407 that performs power saving control.

For power saving control, CPU-P311
The return to the normal processing state from the low power consumption mode in which the supply clock is stopped in the fault state of is brought about by various interrupts centrally managed by the PM control unit.
After the condition for returning the PU-P311 is satisfied, the signal is output as an interrupt and the CPU-P311 restarts to perform the processing.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic block diagram of the scanner unit section, the print head section, and the printer section. The main configuration is as follows.

In the scanner unit 500, an LED or the like is used as the light source 502, and the medium to be scanned (original) is irradiated with light. The reflected light of the light emitted from the light source 502 to the characters or the image on the medium to be scanned is detected by the sensor 501 having a photoelectric conversion characteristic. The signal detected by the sensor 501 is converted by the amplifier 503 into the analog-digital converter 504.
The signal is amplified to the optimum level handled in (4) and input to the analog-digital converter 504. Here, the image data converted into digital data is subjected to shading correction, binarization or other correction or image processing by the image processing IC 505, and is transferred to the printer unit 530 as image data via the head connecting unit 520. is there. This transfer is finally sent to the host-side PC 550 through a route opposite to the flow of the recording data at the time of recording.

That is, from the image processing IC 505 to the head connecting section 520, the head connecting line, the composite control unit 532,
RAM-P539, and bidirectional interface 5
The image data is finally sent to the host PC 550 through 37. At this time, the composite control UNIT5
The image data 32 (bit image) received from the image processing IC 505 is in a form that can be easily sent by an interface or a form (byte unit) that can be easily handled by the host-side PC 550, and is transferred under the control of the arithmetic control unit. is there. The image processing IC 505 performs main control of the scanner unit section 500, and exchanges information on the scanner mode setting with the SST / IO register accessible from the printer section 530 and sets a start trigger. The entire scan processing control is based on the programs and data stored in the ROM-P 540 in the form of microcode in advance, and the CPU-P 538 controls the devices, registers, memory on the CPU-P 538, and the scanner unit 50.
0 image processing IC 505, light source 502, sensor 501,
This is performed using the amplifier 503.

Since the print head 510 is actually configured to connect either of the scanner units 500, the CPU-P 538 determines which head is attached, and selects the connection line of the desired circuit in the switching block. Switch over.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a recording / scanning apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

In the figure, a carriage 633 has a recording head 630 and an ink tank 63 which constitute recording means.
A head cartridge 632 that is connected to 1 is mounted. When performing a scanning operation, a scanner head is mounted instead of the head cartridge 632. One end of the carriage 633 on the recording head 630 side is fitted in a lead screw 613 rotatably attached to the chassis 601 so as to be slidable in the axial direction. The carriage 633 is configured to be capable of reciprocating in its axial direction as the lead screw 613 rotates while its posture is always kept constant.

That is, the lead screw 613
6, the lead screw gear 657 fixed to the left end of the screw and the pinion gear 656 fixed to the output shaft of the carrier motor 655 are fitted to each other, and the lead screw 613 is spirally arranged at a predetermined pitch. The lead pin 609 attached to the carriage 633 is fitted in the guide strip 608 formed in (1). Therefore, when the lead screw 613 rotates with the forward rotation and the reverse rotation of the carrier motor 655, the carriage 633 reciprocates. Details of scanning of the carriage 633 will be described later.

The recording head 630 is driven in synchronization with the reciprocating movement of the carriage 633 to eject ink in accordance with a recording signal, thereby recording one line on the recording material 3. That is, the recording head 630 has a fine liquid ejection port (orifice), a liquid passage, and an energy acting portion provided in a part of the liquid passage, and energy for generating droplet forming energy that acts on the liquid in the acting portion. Equipped with generating means.

As the energy generating means for generating such energy, a recording method using an electrothermal converter such as a piezo element, electromagnetic waves such as laser are irradiated to generate heat, and droplets are ejected by the action of the heat generation. There are a recording method using an energy generating means, a recording method using an energy generating means for heating a liquid and discharging the liquid by an electrothermal converter such as a heating element having a heating resistance.

Among them, the recording head used in the ink jet recording method for ejecting a liquid by thermal energy has a high density of liquid ejection ports for ejecting the recording liquid to form ejection droplets. Therefore, it is possible to perform high-resolution recording. Among them, a recording head using an electrothermal transducer as an energy generating means can be easily made compact, and has a remarkable improvement in technology and reliability in recent semiconductor fields.
We can make full use of the advantages of C technology and micromachining technology,
This is advantageous because high-density mounting is easy and the manufacturing cost is low.

When one line is recorded by scanning the carriage 633, the recording material 3 is conveyed by one line by the conveying means and the next line is recorded. The conveyance of the recording material 3 is performed by the conveying roller 604. And a pair of rotations of the pinch roller 608 that presses against it and a pair of discharge rollers 607 and a spur 606 that contacts the discharge roller 607.

The operation when this apparatus operates as a recording apparatus will be described along with the function and configuration of each block. Recording data for recording (or printing) characters or images is transferred under the control of the arithmetic control unit from the host side, the controller receives the recording data, and the recording head 630 records it on the recording material 3. It should be processed as data. Further, the controller sends the print data to the print head 630 through the head connecting line and the head connecting section while receiving the control of the arithmetic control section, and the carriage 63.
The recording head 630 is driven in synchronization with the reciprocating movement of 3 to eject ink in accordance with a recording signal, thereby recording a line of characters or an image on the recording material 3. That is, the recording head 630 has a fine liquid ejection port (orifice), a liquid passage, and an energy acting portion provided in a part of the liquid passage, and energy for generating droplet forming energy that acts on the liquid in the acting portion. Equipped with generating means.

Next, a description will be given of how the present apparatus operates as an image reading apparatus. When operating as an image reading device, a scanner unit (not shown), which is an image reading unit, scans a document with the same movement as the movement of the recording head 630 during recording. A light source 502 in the scanner unit 500 irradiates a document with light, and a sensor 501 having photoelectric conversion characteristics detects reflected light such as characters or images. A signal detected by the sensor 501 is amplified by an amplifier 503 to an optimum level handled by an analog-digital converter 504 and input. Here, the digital data converted is subjected to shading correction, binarization and other corrections or image processing by the image processing IC 505, and is transferred to the main body device as image data. This transfer is sent to the host side through a route opposite to the flow of recording data at the time of recording. That is, the image data is sent from the image processing IC 505 to the host-side PC 550 through the head connecting portion, the head connecting line, the controller and the interface. At this time, the controller can easily send the image data received from the image processing through the interface, or
The host-side PC 550 makes the data easy to handle and transfers it under the control of the arithmetic control unit (see FIG. 5).

The operation of the mechanical section at this time will be described.

The operation is almost the same as the movement of the mechanical section during recording. That is, a document for image reading is attached to the platen, and the platen is rotated by the drive mechanism as in the above-described recording to feed the document and support the document to serve as a document table. Further, the carriage 633 is equipped with a scanner unit and is conveyed along the surface of a document for image reading to read an image. The movement of the carriage 633 is performed by the carriage drive mechanism unit as in recording. Further, the sensor operates in the same manner as the above-mentioned operation.

As described above, even during the image reading operation, the mechanical section operates in the same manner as the recording operation.

Next, each embodiment to which the present invention is applied will be described below.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a serial scan operation of this embodiment, in which the movement of the carriage (scanner head) on the original document and the state of the original document feed are schematically indicated by arrows with the original document as a reference. It is shown in.

As shown in this figure, in this embodiment, the pre-scan is executed by the forward movement of the carriage and the main scan is executed by the backward movement by one sheet feeding. Then, as will be described later, during the main scan, the skip operation is performed based on the data obtained during the pre-scan for an area having no valid data.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing changes in the speed of the carriage during the scanning operation in this embodiment.
The case where the value is 8 dots is shown. In this figure, when there is valid data in the central portion of the scan area and there are no data areas on both sides of the scan area, the change in speed of the operation of the scanner head (carriage) and the scan data Ma during the main scan.
p and scan data buffer image contrast. It should be noted that the dotted line portion in the figure omits the representation of the portion without data.

From the 8-dot width data of the scan buffer obtained by the pre-scan, it is judged whether or not there is binarized effective dot data in each 8-dot column, and even if the effective data is 1 dot, If there is data if there is, and if there is no data otherwise, create a map for the width of the scan area (column unit), and RAM-P31
5 is written in the scan image Map buffer, which is the area on the upper side. Next, search the map during the main scan,
Determine skip and scan operations for blank areas,
Perform the main scan.

Here, the scanning operation starts from 3 dots before the effective data and extends to 3 dots after the effective data.
This is because it is necessary to accelerate / decelerate the carriage to the speed of the scanning operation (when 3 dots are required for acceleration / deceleration). Further, depending on the scan speed, the scan operation may be performed after the vehicle has been idling for a while after the uniform speed operation is started (until the moving speed of the carriage stabilizes after the acceleration is completed).

Further, although there is a 1-dot data-less area in the scan operation area, since a distance of at least 6 dots including acceleration / deceleration is required to perform the skip operation in this embodiment, this section (1 The scan operation is used to move the area without dot data. In this embodiment, even if there is a data-less area of 7 dots or more in the scan operation area, the skip operation in the valid data is not performed, and the movement of this section is performed by the scan operation.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart for explaining the operations of the prescan and the main scan in this embodiment in detail. Hereinafter, description will be given based on this figure.

First, in step S1, by referring to the operation end flag, it is determined whether it is the prescan (in the case of the main scan end flag) or the main scan (in the case of the prescan end flag) that is to be executed. to decide.

If it is determined that the pre-scan is performed, the carriage is driven from the current position by the designated amount and the pre-scan is immediately executed in step S2. Next, in step S3, the scan data on the buffer obtained by the prescan is analyzed to determine whether or not there is data.
Create p and temporarily store it in the buffer. After the end of the prescan, the prescan end flag is set for the next operation in step S4.

If it is determined in step S1 that the main scan is performed, the flow advances to step S5 to check the permission / non-permission mode of the no-data region skip operation. Depending on the document to be scanned, it may happen that the operation is smoother and the scan ends faster if the skip operation is not performed, such as an image with the full document width. The means for selecting is provided. If not permitted, the process directly proceeds to step S6, and the main scan operation is performed from the current position to the final position. After the main scan ends, the main scan end flag is set for the next operation in step S7.

If it is determined in step S5 that the skip operation permission mode is set, it is calculated in step S8 from the above-described Map whether or not there is an area without data. If the area without data is not more than a certain width, the process proceeds to step S6, and the main scan operation is executed from the current position to the final position.

If there is no data area in step S8, it is calculated in step S9 from the aforementioned Map whether or not there is more than a certain width of the data no area. If the non-data area is not larger than a certain width, the skip processing may rather delay the total processing time (acceleration / deceleration for high-speed operation switching, etc.). In that case, do nothing and go to step S6. Then, the main scan operation is performed from the current position to the final position.

In step S9, if the no-data area has a certain width or more, it is further checked in step S10 whether the no-data area includes the start point and end point.
If not included, the process proceeds to step S6, and the main scan operation is executed from the current position to the final position.

If the area without data includes the start point and the end point in step S10, the movement amount before scanning (skipping operation), the main scanning amount, and the movement amount after scanning (skipping operation) are calculated in step S11. The skip operation and the scan operation are performed in the processing of steps S12 to S15 based on the calculated ones. After these processes are completed, the main scan end flag is set for the next operation in step S7.

In the above-described processing, it is necessary to explain the no-data-area skip prohibition / permission mode at the time of scanning as the scanning operation mode, but this can usually be set by the application program on the host side or the scanner driver. Is configured. The set information is transmitted to the printer side as a command through the bidirectional interface between the host and the printer, and the received command sets the operation mode in a predetermined area of the RAM-P315 inside the printer / scanner unit 300. It is stored and referenced during the actual scan to determine the action. Further, the operation end flag described above is also stored in the RAM.
-Set and stored in a predetermined area of P315.

(Embodiment 2) In Embodiment 1, in the returning main scan, when the area including the start point and the end point has no data, the skip operation is performed before, after, or before and after the main scan. In the case, that is, the mode in which the scan image is a continuous block like a picture and operates like the area determination (margin deletion), in the present embodiment, the main scan area (within one line) has a constant amount. When the non-data area is continuous, the skip operation of the non-data area is performed any number of times.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing changes in the speed of the carriage during the scanning operation in this embodiment.
The case of binary 8 dots is shown. This figure shows the scanner head (carriage) during the main scan when valid data is in the center of the scan area, there are no data areas on both sides, and there is no data area in the valid data in the center. ) Movement speed change and scan data M
2 is a comparison of ap and scan data buffer images.

In the first embodiment, the skip operation is performed in the area without data at the scan operation start position and the end position, but in the present embodiment, the skip operation is performed if there is no data even in the valid data. It is something that enters. This is a mode that is effective when the scanned image is a series of sentences and exists as a block around the document, and scans only the document portion in the document.

When this is actually constructed, the first embodiment is used.
In this case, a both-ends mode in which the no-data region skip is set only to the left end / right end, or a whole-region mode in which the entire region is set may be provided and the mode switching may be performed.

In this embodiment, with such a structure, a faster scanning operation than in the first embodiment can be performed depending on the type of original.

(Third Embodiment) In the above-described embodiment, the pre-scan is performed in the forward pass and the main scan is performed in the return pass. On the contrary, the pre-scan is performed in the return pass and the main scan is performed in the forward pass. It is also possible to have a different configuration.

(Embodiment 4) In the above embodiment, the skip operation is performed depending on whether or not there is data at the time of the main scan. However, the skip operation is not performed at all, or the skip operation is performed depending on the type of the document. It is also possible to set a prohibition mode in which no operation is performed so that a pre-scan is performed on the outward path and a main scan of the entire area is performed on the return path.

(Embodiment 5) In the above embodiment, the speed of the carriage is set to 0 at the time of shifting from the skip operation to the main scan and at the time of shifting from the main scan to the skip operation.
It was decelerated to the speed of skip operation or the speed of the main scan and then decelerated from the speed of the skip operation to the speed of the main scan and then performed the main scan, or accelerated from the speed of the main scan. It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which the skip operation is performed simply by

In this case, it is not necessary to decelerate the carriage unnecessarily at the time of shifting from the skip operation to the main scan or at the time of shifting from the main scan to the skip operation, so that a more rapid scan can be performed.

(Embodiment 6) In the above embodiment, 1
The document was fed every time the pre-scan and main scan for a line were performed, and the entire image area was scanned. However, without feeding the document, a means for moving the scanner in the sub-scanning direction was provided, and the scanner was moved. By doing so, the entire image area may be scanned.

[0086]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The image reading speed can be increased.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the prescan and the main scan can be performed by the reciprocating operation, the image can be read at a very high speed, which is twice as fast as the conventional example.

According to the third aspect of the invention, the image reading means is moved faster in the area where there is no image, so that the image reading speed is further increased.

According to the invention of claim 4 or 5,
Since the method of reading the image can be changed, the image can be quickly read according to the image and the operability is also improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a personal computer with a built-in printer to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a host computer and a printer.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a printer / scanner unit

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a composite control unit.

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram of a scanner unit section, a print head section, and a printer section.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a recording / scanning device to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a serial scan operation according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a change in speed of the carriage during a main scan operation according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of the first embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing changes in the speed of the carriage during the main scan operation of the second embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a serial scan operation of a conventional example.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a change in speed of a carriage during a main scan operation of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 311 CPU-P 315 RAM-P 351 Combined control UNIT 500 Scanner unit 633 Carriage

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An image reading unit for reading an image,
Moving means for moving the image reading means, storage means for storing the image data read by the image reading means,
An image reading apparatus comprising: a first control unit that controls the moving unit; and a second control unit that controls reading of an image by the image reading unit. 2. The second control means performs pre-scanning when the image reading means moves in one direction, stores the image data in the storage means, and the image reading means reverses based on the stored data. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image reading apparatus controls to perform a main scan when moving in a direction. 3. The first control means controls the moving speed of the moving means in an image-free area at the time of the main scan by using the image data stored in the storage means at the time of the prescan. Item 2. The image reading device according to item 2. 4. The control mode of the first control means has a full range mode for controlling the moving speed of the moving means for the entire area of the image and a both-end mode for controlling the moving speed of the moving means for both ends of the image. The image reading device according to claim 3, wherein 5. A setting means for setting a prohibition mode for keeping the moving speed of the moving means constant is provided, and the first control means controls the moving speed of the moving means based on the setting contents of the setting means. The image reading device according to claim 3.