GB2246489A

GB2246489A - Image editing apparatus with separate image and command stores.

Info

Publication number: GB2246489A
Application number: GB9110976A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Tomonari Yamauchi
Original assignee: Fuji Xerox Co Ltd
Current assignee: Fujifilm Business Innovation Corp
Priority date: 1990-05-23
Filing date: 1991-05-21
Publication date: 1992-01-29
Anticipated expiration: 2011-05-21
Also published as: GB9110976D0; GB2246489B; DE4116870A1; JPH0433064A; DE4116870C2

Description

IMAGE EDITING APPARATUS

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an image editing apparatus for use with workstations, computers, printing equipments or the like.

In the operation of an image editing apparatus for use with printingequipment, the image of a document is read with an image inputting device such as a TV (television) camera or an image scanner and is converted to digital image data, which is then stored every picture in an image memory unit. The image stored in the image memory unit is subjected to various edit processes including extraction, deletion, transfer, rotation and color conversion. After checking the results of editing on a display unit such as a CRT (cathode-ray tube) display, the edited image is printed by means of the printing equipment.

The image editing apparatus for use with printing equipment requires high resolution but increasing the resolution of the display unit to a level comparable to that of the printing equipment, say, 400 dpi (dots per inch) is extremely difficult for reasons inhere in the display unit such as the limitation on the spot diameter of applicable electron beams. Even if the desired high-resolution display unit could be constructed, its price would be very high. Further, higher resolutions require a huge volume of image data and the speed 1 - 1 i of edit processes will slow down so markedly as to preclude the accomplishment of rapid editing operations.

Under these circumstances, the conventional image editing apparatus perform editing operations in the following manner. The image of a document is read in and stored in the memory unit at a low regolution of the order of 100 dpi which corresponds to the resolution of the display unit. The stored image data of low resolution is subjected to various edit processes and the results of editing are displayed on the display unit. After completion of the editing operations, a train of commands associated with the results of editing are stored in a command storing memory unit for use in printing. In a printing mode, the document image is again read in but, this time, at a high resolution comparable to the resolution of is printing equipment. The input image is subjected to the necessary edit processes in accordance with the stored train of commands and a final image is printed with the printing equipment.

In synthesizing a plurality of document images, the image of a f irst document is read and stored in the image memory unit, and the image of a subsequent document is read and directly stored in the image memory unit. Thereaf ter, the contents of the image memory unit are read out to produce a composite image.

A problem with this conventional approach is that it is time-consuming since the image reading operation has to be i i i i i i 1 1 i 1 i 1 1 J 1 i j carried out twice. Further, the second reading position may potentially vary from the first one, thereby making it impossible to achieve correct editing processes.

In synthesizing a plurality of document images, part of the image data for the first document is replaced by the image data for the subsequent document. Therefore, if the user wants to change the position of synthesis, the operations of reading and writing image data have to be repeated and this has increased the time and labor required for accomplishing the desired editing operations.

In addition, the operation of the conventional image editing apparatus assumes the use of only one kind of image outputting units and no consideration has been made with respect to supplying the edited image data to a plurality of image outputting units that are different in output characteristics such as the resolution of output image or the coefficient of color correction.

SUMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been achieved in order to solve the aforementioned problems and has an object providing an image editing apparatus that is capable of performing rapid editing operations and that is readily adaptive to different kinds of image outputting units.

This object of the present invention can basically be attained by an image editing apparatus that comprises input - 3 1 j image memory means for storing image data from image inputting means without lowering its resolution, command memory means for storing edit commands for the image data from the input image memory means, command executing means for executing the edit commands from the command memory means upon the image data from the input image memory means, output image memory means f or storing the edited image data f rom the command executing means, and image outputting means which is supplied with an output of the output image memory means.

The most important feature of the present invention is that image data is stored separately from commands for editing the image data. In an image outputting mode, a pre-output image, or the result obtained by the command executing means which executes the commands stored in the command memory means upon the image data stored in the input image memory means, is stored in the output image memory means.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the composition of tie image editing apparatus of the present invention; Figs. 2a - 2c are diagrams showing how image data is stored in the input image memory unit; Figs. 2d - 2f are diagrams showing how image data is stored in the output image memory unit; i i 1 i 1 i 1 1 i 1 i i i Figs. 2g - 2i are diagrams showing output images as obtained by synthesis; Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing an embodiment in which the image editing apparatus of the present invention is applied to remote printing means; Fig. 4 is a block diagram showing another embodiment in which the image editing apparatus of the present invention is adapted to perform display at a higher speed during editing; and Fig. 5 is a block diagram illustrating the operation of the image editing apparatus shown in Fig. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED MBODIMENTS

The features of the present invention will be described below in a specif ic way with ref erence to the pref erred embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the composition of the image editing apparatus of the present invention.

Image data from an image inputting means 1 such as a first image inputting unit la or a second image inputting unit lb is supplied into an editing means 2 where it is subjected to predetermined edit processes and thence delivered to an image outputting means 3 such as a first printing unit 3a, a second printing unit 3b or a display unit 3c. The first image inputting unit la may be a flat-bed type image scanner having 1 a resolution of ca. 400 dpi; the second image inputting unit lb may be a TV camera having a resolution of ca. 350 dpi; the first printing unit 3a may be laser printer having a resolution of ca. 400 dpi; the second printing unit 3b may be a thermal printer having a resolution of ca. 200 dip; and the display unit 3c may be a CRT display having a resolution of ca. 100 dpi.

The editing means 2 includes a plurality of input image memory units 4a 4d that store the image data from the image inputting means 1 with its resolution being maintained. In correspondence to the input image memory units 4a 4d, the editing means 2 also includes command memory units 6a 6d that hold commands for processing the respective images from an edit command unit 5. Commands for processing include, for example, resizing such as enlargement or reduction, color conversion, transformation, resolution change and edge emphasis.

The outputs of the input image memory units 4a - 4d and those of the command memory units 6a - 6d are supplied into a command executing unit 7 to generate a pre-output image in accordance with the type of specific input image and commands. For the generation of the pre-output image, information on the characteristics of output media such as the resolution of output image and the coefficient of color correction that differ among the first printing unit 3a, the second printing unit 3b and the display unit 3c is supplied from an output media characteristics memory unit 8 into the command executing i i 1 1 1 i i 1 i i unit 7 so that edit processes are performed in accordance with a specific output medium. The output media characteristics are preliminarily stored in the output media characteristics memory unit 8 and the dashed lines shown between the image outputting means 3 (3a, 3b and 3c) and the output media characteristics memory unit 8 in Fig. 1 -do not represent the f lows of actual signals but the correspondence between stored information on the output media characteristics and a specific output medium.

The pre-output images produced by executing process commands are stored in a plurality of output image memory units 9a - 9d. The pre-output images to be used for display are not the sole date to be stored in the output image memory units 9a - 9d; also stored is layout inf ormation that indicates the positions of images in the media to which the final image is sent, their effective areas, etc.

The pre-output images that are constructed inthe command executing unit 7 and that are stored in the output image memory units 9a - 9d are then supplied to a superposition executing unit 10 where they are subjected to a synthesis process on the basis of the aforementioned layout information stored in the output image memory units 9a - 9d. In the synthesis process, the individual images are superposed one on another with priority levels tagged to indicate which image should lie above or superposed in such a way as to create a translucent state. The superposed images are SU_ )_D14 ed to the image outputting means 3 such as the printing unit 3a or 3b or 7 - 1 1 i 1 i the display unit 3c, whereby they are printed or displayed as appropriate.

The operation of performing edit processes on documents using the image editing apparatus shown in Fig. 1 will be described below with reference to the following case: the images of a first and a second documents are read out of the first image inputting unit la whereas the image of a third document is read out of the second image inputting unit 1b; the images of the three documents are superposed and displayed on the display unit 3c; subsequently, an adjustment is made for transferring the position of synthesis of the second document image; and thereafter the synthesized image is printed by means of the first printing unit 3a.

Suppose here that the user designates the first image inputting unit la as an image inputting means- and the input image memory unit 4a and the output image memory unit 9a as storage means. Also suppose that the display unit 3c is designated as an output medium in an edit operation mode.

If the image of a f irst document is read in by the first image inputting unit la, the image P is written into the input image memory unit 4a as shown in Fig. 2a. In other words, the contents of the input image memory unit 4a are updated. At the same time, default data is written into the command memory unit 6a corresponding to the input image memory unit 4a. The default data consists of resolution data that 1 1 1 i 1 1 i i 1 i 1 i 1. i i is conf orms to the resolution of the first image inputting unit la and data for attaining a color match with the document.

In the command executing unit 7, commands stored in the command memory unit 6a are applied to the image P stored in the input image memory unit 4a, whereby pre-output image P is created and stored in the'output image memory unit 9a (see Fig. 2d). Since the command applied in this case comprise default data, the created output image has the same apparent size, color and other features as the document image.

In the superposition executing unit 10, the pre-output image p stored in the output image memory unit 9a is supplied to the display unit 3c. Since the output medium selected in this case is the display unit 3c exemplified by a CRT display having a relatively low resolution, the output medium characteristics memory unit 8 supplies the command executing unit 7 with information that gives a command for performing a low-resolution process. In the case of a low-resolution process, as an amount of image data to be processed is small, the pre-output image can be created in a short period of time.

As a result of these processes, the display unit 3c has an output image displayed thereon that corresponds to the document image P that has been read in by means of the first image inputting unit la.

In a subsequent step, the edit command unit 5 gives a command for editing the image stored in the input image memory unit 4a, whereupon the contents of the command memory unit 6a 9 - i i 1 i 1 1 1 1 i i 1 1 i i are updated. Thereafter, the command executing unit 7 updates the contents of the output image memory unit 9a in accordance with commands stored in the updated command memory unit 6a, and the superposition executing unit 10 allows an updated preoutput image p to be displayed on the display unit 3c.

In the next place, the image of a second document is read into the first image inputting unit la, whereupon the second document image Q is stored in the input image memory unit 4b (see Fig. 2b) and default data is written into the corresponding command memory unit 6b. As in the case of the first document, the command executing unit 7 updates the contents of the output image memory unit 9b to produce a preoutput image q (see Fig. 2e). Then, the superposition executing unit 10 combines the images of the first and second documents to create a composite image that is displayed on the display unit 3c (see Fig. 2g). Layout information that indicates reference positions and effective areas for synthesis is stored temporarily in the command memory unit 6b in units of, say, millimeters in accordance with an edit command from the edit command unit 5. Subsequently, the command executing unit 7 sends the layout information to the output image memory unit 9b where it is converted to an expression in dot units. In this way, the layout information that indicates reference positions X1 and Y1 as well as effective areas H1 and V1 that delineate the positions in which the second document image Q is combined with the first document image P is converted to the i 0 1 i j i 1 i is number of dots in the medium to which a final image is to be sent and the image Q is superposed in a predetermined position.

When the image of a third document is read into the second image inputting unit lb, the third document image R is stored in the input image memory unit 4c (see Fig. 2c) and default data is written into the corresponding command memory unit 6c. The command executing unit 7 updates the contents of the output image memory unit 9c to produce pre- output image r (see Fig. 2f) and the superposition executing unit 10 superposes the second and third document images on the first document image to create a composite image that is displayed on the display unit 3c (see Fig. 2h). The positions in which the pre-output image r of the third document is to be combined with the first and second pre-output images p and q are determined on the basis of layout information that is stored in the output image memory unit 9c and which corresponds to reference positions of image X2 and Y2 as well as effective areas H2 and V2 in the medium to which a final image is to be sent.

For the second and subsequent documents, the superposition executing unit 10 executes synthesizing operations on a plurality of effective preoutput images. Referring to Figs. 2e and 2f, the hatched areas represent the effective portions of the pre-output images q and r that are designated by the edit command unit 5. As shown, the image of the first document is used as a base on which parz-al images sliced from the second and third documents are successively i 1 1 i is superposed. When the second and third document images overlap, the image of the third document will be displayed on top of the second document image. In a certain case, the third document image may be displayed in a translucent state.

We now describe the case of moving the positions of synthesis for the preoutput image q of the second document. In this case, the edit command unit 5 gives a command f or "transfer", whereupon the layout information stgred in the command memory unit 6c which indicates associated reference positions and effective areas is updated. As a result, the layout information expressed in dot units that concerns the pre-output image q of the second document and that is stored in the output image memory unit 9c is also updated. Then, on the basis of the updated layout information corresponding to reference positions X3 and Y3 as well as effective areas H3 and V3, the superposition executing unit 10 performs another superposing operation. Since the layout information has a smaller amount of data than image data, the updating operations are executed in a shorter period of time and the updated image (see Fig. 2i) will: be immediately displayed on the display unit 3c. Therefore, the user can perform editing operations in an efficient way while checking the results of editing on the screen of the display unit 3c on a real-time basis.

In accordance with the present invention, commands for processing images are executed separately from commands concerning the relationship between images and this offers the i i 1 j 1 1 i i i 1 is f ollowing advantages. First, in the case of changing the positions for synthesizing images, only the layout information which has a small data volume need be changed, so that the necessary operations can be performed at fast speed. Secondly, in the case of re-editing the image Q of the second document, commands need be executed only upon the image data stored in the input image memory unit 4b, so compared to the case of executing commands upon all image data, the necessary operations can be performed in a short period of time.

After the end of editing operations, printing is carried out with the printing unit 3a or 3b. Since the two printing units have different output characteristics, the output media characteristics memory unit 8 supplies the command executing unit 7 with information on the output media characteristics of the printing unit 3a or 3b.. In accordance with the notified output media characteristics, the command executing unit 7 constructs pre-output images that match the printing unit 3a or 3b on the basis of the images stored in the input image memory units 4a - 4d and the commands stored in the command memory units 6a - 6d. At the same time, the unit 7 updates the contents of the output image memory units 9a - 9d. Thereafter, the superposition executing unit 10 performs an operation for superposing the pre-output images to produce a f inal output image that is supplied to the printing unit 3a or 3d.

is When the image is supplied to the printing unit 3a or 3b, a higher resolution is required than in the case of supplying to the display unit 3c. Since the image data supplied from the image inputting units la and 1b is stored in the input image memory units 4a - 4d with their resolution being maintained at maximum levels, the output image to be printed can be created without causing any deterioration in image resolution.

In the case of processing image data to be sent to the printing units, a longer time is required than when image data is processed for supply to the display unit 3c. However, the printing speed itself is slower than the operating speed of the display 3c, so the slow processing rate will not cause any significant problem.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 1, two kinds of image inputting units, two kinds of printing units and one kind of display units are used. It should, however, be noted that this Js not the sole case of the present invention and other numbers may be adopted for each unit. The number of input image memory units and that of output image memory units are each four but this again is not the sole case of the present invention and other numbers may be adopted. If desired, the number of input image memory units may differ from that of output image memory units. In Fig-. 1, the input image memory units are provided in such a way that they correspond to the command memory units in a one to one relationship. Ho- wever, if no change is to be made i 1 1 1 1 i 1 i 1 2 5 to input images as where a plurality of input images of identical nature are used, one and the same input image memory unit may be used for handling more than one input image.

Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing an embodiment in which the image editing apparatus of the present invention is applied to remote printing means such as print servers. In Fig. 3, the components which correspond to those used in the embodiment shown in Fig. 1 are identified by like numerals and will not be described in detail.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 3, the display unit 3c is connected to an editing means 2a that comprises input image memory units 4a and 4b, command memory units 6a and 6b, a command executing unit 7a, an output media characteristics memory unit 8a, output image memory units 9a and 9b, and a superposition executing unit 10a. A remote printing means 11 for the first printing unit 3a is installed at a location remote from the editing means 2a and, like the editing means 2a, the remote printing means 11 accommodates a command executing unit 7b, an output media characteristics memory unit 8b, output image memory units 9e and 9f, and a superposition executing unit 10b.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 3, the images of documents are read in, commands are executed and image superposition is performed in the same manner as in the embodiment shown in Fig. 1, and the results of editing are displayed on the display unit 3c. The superposition executing I 1 1 is unit 10a is supplied with information that signifies output media characteristics that conform to the display unit 3c and a high-speed, lowresolution process is performed in conformity with the characteristics of the display unit 3c. After the end of editing operations printing is started with the image data in the input image memory units 4a and 4b and commands in the command memory units 6a and 6b being supplied into the command executing unit 7b in the remote printing means 11, and processes are performed on the image data in accordance with the supplied commands. At the same time, the command executing unit 7b is supplied with information that signifies output media characteristics that conform to the first printing unit 3a and a high-resolution, low- speed process is performed in a conformity with the characteristics of the first printing unit 3a.

Thus, in the embodiment shown in Fig. 3, processes are performed independently for the two output media, i.e., the display unit 3c and the first printing unit 3a, in conformity with their characteristics such as resolution and the coefficient of c6lor correction, and the results of editing with the edit means 2a only need be sent to the remote printing means 11 to insure that the first printing unit 3a outputs an optimal image that conforms to its characteristics.

Fig. 4 shows another embodiment in which the image editing apparatus of the present invention is adapted to perform display at a higher speed during editing. in Fig. 4, 16 1 1 i 1 i i j i 1 1 i 1 the components which correspond to those used in the embodiment shown in Fig. 1 are identified by like numerals and will not be described in detail.

The embodiment shown in Fig. 4 is characterized by the addition of reduced image memory units 12a and 12b. The purpose of these reduced' image memory units is to reduce or thin out the pre-output images created by applying commands to input images and to hold them together with the train of executed commands.

The operation of the embodiment shown in Fig. 4 will be described below with reference to Fig. 5. In Fig. 5, the input image memory units 4a and 4b are shown collectively as an input image memory unit 4, the command memory units 6a and 6b as a command memory unit 6, and the output image memory units 9a and 9b as an output image memory unit 9.

Initially, the position of an output image switching unit 13 is placed into contact with line a, so that the input image data from the input image memory unit 4 is supplied to the command executing unit 7 and ap redetermined image process is performed in a process executing unit 14 provided within the command executing unit 7, with the processed imaae data being supplied to the output image memory unit 9 via the output image switching unit 13. The processed image data is also supplied to a reduced image generating unit 15 where it is subjected to a reducing process, in which a predetermined number c--" Pixels in the image or a predetermined number of pixel lines are i i 1 i selected while the other pixels are eliminated. The reduced image data of a smaller volume is stored in a reduced image memory unit 12.

When a final image is to be displayed on the display unit 3c, high-speed readout is required, so the volume of image data is desirably small. To meet this need, the position of the output image switching unit 13 is placed into contact with line b, and the reduced image data stored in the reduced image memory unit 12 is supplied to the display unit 3c via the output image switching unit 13 and the output image memory unit 9, whereby high-speed display can be accomplished.

When new commands are applied, they are interpreted in a command interpreting unit 16 on the basis of the set of commands stored in the command memory unit 6 and the information on output media characteristics stored in the output media characteristics memory unit 8. The term "command" as used herein means instructions or other data that can be read by human beings. A plurality of such commands are combined together to form a "command train". The term "interpretation of commands" means that the plurality of commands contained in a command train are rearranged in a predetermined order or otherwise modified so that they are adaptive for actual image processing. For example, if the command train contains two commands each stating "enlarge by a factor of 2", they are equivalent to a single command stating "enlarge by a factor of 4" and will be interpreted accordingly.

18 - i 1 1 i 1 i i i 1 1 i 1 1 1 If the commands contained in the command train can be rearranged in a different order that will eventually bring about the same result, they may be rearranged in such an order that the intended processing can be performed in the most efficient way. In short, the interpretation of commands may be defined as a job in which commands given by human beings are converted to a description that concerns a process to be performed on actual images.

The results of this interpretation of commands are supplied to a comparator unit 17 where they are compared with the commands held in the reduced image memory unit 12 and, if they are found to be identical to each other, the position of output image switching unit 13 will be kept in contact with line b as shown in Fig. 5. In this way, the pre-output image stored in the reduced image memory unit 12 will become an output from the command executing unit 7. Therefore, there is no need to perform another image reduction in the reduced image generating unit 15 and high- speed processing can be accomplished. If it is found by the comparator unit 17 that the pre-output image stored in the reduced image memory unit 12 is not appropriate, the comparator unit 17 connects the output image switching unit 13 to line a and, instead of the preoutput image stored in the reduced image memory unit 12, the image obtained by applying the results of the interpretation of commands to the input image that is stored in the input image memory unit 4 is selected and delivered to the output image i i memory unit 9. Whether the pre-output image stored in the reduced image memory unit 12 is appropriate or not is determined by checking as to whether it can be regarded as identical to the reduced image which is generated by the given command train. If the pre-outputimage stored in the reduced image memory unit 12 is found to be in appropriate, the contents of the unit 12 have to be updated. To meet this need, the results of the interpretation of commands from the command interpreting unit 16 are applied to the input image upon which the commands from the process executing unit 14 have been executed, whereby a new reduced image is generated in the reduced image generating unit 15 and stored in the reduced image memory unit 12. This completes the process of updating the contents of the reduced image memory unit 12. The is generation of reduced image involves the results of interpretation of commands but as for the latter, the results of interpretation that occur in the process of image generation can be used as they are, so there is no possibility that the overall process will become unduly complicated.

As described above, reduced image memory units 12a and 12b are provided in the embodiment shown in Fig. 4, so once pre-output images are generated, they do not have to be generated again unless there is a change in the commands for processing the images stored in the corresponding command memory units 6a and 6b, and this allows a final output to be produced in a shorter period of time. Particularly in the case 1 i j i - r i i 1 i i 1 1 1 i 1 1 1 52 5 of using the same image in more than one document such as catalogs, brochures, leaflets and handbills, frequently used images may be subjected to a reduction process and the resulting reduced images are stored in the reduced image memory units 12a and 12b to form a data base and this is another way to achieve a substantial reduction in the time required for image editing. Further, in the case of editing apparatus that handle many pages, it often occurs that not all output image memory units can be allocated to the main storage because of its limited capacity. In a case like this, the reduced image memory unit 12 may be employed to make the most of the capacity of the main storage.

As described on the foregoing pages, the apparatus of the present invention performs image editing processes in such a way that image data per se is stored with the resolution of input image being maintained whereas commands'for editing that image data are stored separately from the latter. Therefore, if an input image is to be edited to produce an output image, it can be subjected to an edit process in accordance with the resolution of theimage outputting unit used. Furthermore, if a plurality of outputting units having different characteristics are to be used, an optimal process can be performed in accordance with the characteristics of the respective outputting units.

Storing image data with the resolution of -nput image being maintained offers the following two advantages. First, 1 1 1 even in the case of changing the resolution in conformity with the characteristics of a specific outputting unit, there is no need to read in the document once again and the input image already stored can be re- used to perform editing operations in a simple way. Secondly, editing operations adaptive for all kinds of output media can be accomplished without impairing the quality of original images.

i 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 i i i 1 1 1 i 1 j

Claims

Claims:
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 1. An image editing apparatus comprising:

input image memory means for storing image data from image inputting means without lowering its resolution; command memory means f or storing edit commands for the image data from said input image memory means; command executing means f or executing the edit commands f rom. said command memory means upon the image data from said input image memory means; output image memory means for storing the edited image data from said command executing means; and image outputting means which is supplied with an output of said output image memory means.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 1 2. An image editing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said output image memory means includes a plurality of output image memory units, said apparatus further comprising a superposition executing means which combines output images from said plurality of output image memory units into a composite image and which delivers said composite image into said image outputting means.
3. An image editing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said image outputting means includes a plurality of image outputting units, said apparatus further comprising 4 output media characteristics memory means which supplies information on output characteristics of each of said image outputting units into said command executing means.
4. An image editing apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to any one of the accompanying drawings.

- 24 Published 1992 at The Patent Office. Concept House. Cardiff Road, Newport Gwent NP9 I RH Funher cople, mav be oj)tained from Sales Branch, Unit 6. Nine Mile Point. Cwmfelinfach. Cross Keys-Newport. NI'l 7HZ. Printed by 1 vjul-,ple, techniques 110- S! %LITI C 1',Iv- Kent 1 i i j i i 1 i 1 I i 1 i I 1 i 1