JP2001128095A - Image forming device and copying machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prepare digest information for simply overlooking the contents of video image also from a video signal outputted from a various kinds of electronic appliance provided with a video output. SOLUTION: A video input terminal 18 is connected with an electronic appliance provided with a video output and is capable of inputting a video signal outputted by this electronic appliance. A video input processing circuit 5 prepares image data for image-forming the video of the video signal inputted from the terminal 18 by a printer engine 8. Through the use of a timer 11, a microcomputer 10 stores image data outputted by the circuit 5 in a printing memory 6 every fixed period designated by operation of a key input part 13. The engine 8 forms an image on a paper 9 based on the image data stored in the memory 6.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus for forming an image on a sheet, and a copying machine provided with the image forming apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art It is very troublesome to grasp the contents of a television program or the contents of video information once recorded in a home video or the like. Therefore, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-294083 proposes a technique for creating digest information that simply and easily represents the contents of a video image to be recorded.

[0003]

However, the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.
The technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 294083 is to create a digest at the time of recording a television program, and has video output such as already recorded video information, a DVD, a monitoring camera installed in a store, and the like. There is a problem that a digest cannot be created using video signals output from various devices.

[0004] It is an object of the present invention to be able to create digest information that allows a user to easily view the contents of a video image from video signals output from various electronic devices having a video output. It is.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a printer engine for forming an image on a sheet based on image data and an electronic device having a video output are connected. A video input terminal for inputting a video signal to be output by the printer engine, a signal processing circuit for creating image data for forming an image of the input video signal with the printer engine, And an intermittent image forming means for performing the above based on the video signal input from the video input terminal at a plurality of intermittent time points.

Therefore, a video signal can be captured from various external electronic devices having a video output, and images of the video signal at a plurality of intermittent points can be formed on a sheet of paper. Information, DVD,
It is possible to create digest information that allows a user to easily overlook the contents of video images output from various electronic devices having video outputs, such as surveillance cameras installed in stores and the like.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect, the image formation is performed by arranging a plurality of the images with time at the respective time points on a single sheet of paper. An image forming unit is provided.

[0008] Therefore, the contents of the video image can be looked down at a glance, and paper can be saved.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the first or second aspect, a timer for measuring an elapsed time of the input of the video signal, and the elapsed time is associated with the image. Elapsed time display means for forming the image so as to be displayed on paper.

Therefore, it is possible to see at a glance which time zone of a video image includes which image.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects, a clock for measuring a current time, and the current time is associated with the image and the paper Current time display means for forming the image as displayed above.

Therefore, it is possible to see at a glance which time zone of a video image includes which image.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, an electronic device is connected to enable input of image data output from the electronic device. An image data input terminal, which is a terminal for performing image formation, and selectively one of image data output from the signal processing circuit and image data input from the image data input terminal as image data for performing the image formation. And a switching circuit for outputting to

Therefore, it is possible to provide an image forming apparatus that can generate digest information that enables a user to easily look down on the contents of video images output from various electronic devices and that can be used as a general printer.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image reading apparatus for reading an image of a document, and the printer engine is also capable of forming the image based on image data read by the image reading apparatus. 5. A copying machine comprising: the image forming apparatus according to any one of 5.

Accordingly, there is provided a copying machine which can be used as a general copying machine and which can create digest information which allows the contents of video images output from various electronic devices to be easily overlooked. Can be.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS [First Embodiment of the Invention] One embodiment of the present invention will be described as a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a printer according to the first embodiment of the present invention. This printer 1 is one to which the image forming apparatus of the present invention is applied.
As shown in FIG. 1, an external electronic device, for example, a PC (personal computer) is connected, and the printer 1
An image data input terminal 2 is a terminal that enables input of image data to the image data input terminal. This image data input terminal 2
Has a Centronics interface (IEEE-12)
84), interfaces such as USB and SCSI are used. The image data input to the image data input terminal 2 is converted into image data for printing in the print data processing circuit 3 and output to the switching circuit 4. Note that a plurality of types of image data input terminals 2 may be provided. In that case, a print data processing circuit 3 corresponding to each image data input terminal 2 is required.

The printer 1 is connected to an external electronic device having a video output terminal such as a VTR, a home video, or a surveillance camera installed in a store or the like, and a video output from the electronic device. A video input terminal 18, which is a terminal that enables input of a signal to the printer 1, is provided. The video signal input from the video input terminal 18 is sent to the video input processing circuit 5 which is a signal processing circuit, and image data for printing is created from the video signal and output to the switching circuit 4.

In the switching circuit 4, the image data output from the print data processing circuit 3 and the video input processing circuit 5
Can be selectively output to the print memory 6.

The image data output from the switching circuit 4 is stored in a print memory 6 and sent to a printer engine 8 via a print control circuit 7 for controlling the printer engine 8.
The printer engine 8 forms an image on the paper 9 based on the image data. The printing method of the printer engine 8 can use various methods such as an ink-jet method, a sublimation-type thermal transfer method, a silver halide photographic method, a direct thermal recording method, and a fusion-type thermal transfer method, in addition to the electrophotographic method.

The microcomputer 10 operates according to a predetermined program to centrally control each part of the printer 1. The microcomputer 10 is connected to a timer 11 for measuring the elapsed time from a certain point in time and a clock 12 for measuring the current time. A key input unit 13 provided with various keys for receiving various operations on the printer 1 and a liquid crystal display 14 for displaying various messages are connected.

Next, the operation of the printer 1 will be described.

In the printer 1, the printer engine 8
, The digest information of the video image input to the video input terminal 18 can be created. That is, when a predetermined operation is performed on the key input unit 13, the microcomputer 10 controls the switching circuit 4 to selectively output image data based on a video signal input to the video input terminal 18 to the print memory 6. At this time, of the continuous video signals input from the video input terminal 18, only image data based on the video signals at a plurality of intermittent time points is output to the print memory 6. This implements an intermittent image forming unit. Specifically, for example, the timer 11 is used to output image data to the print memory 6 at regular intervals designated by the operation of the key input unit 13. Further, a representative frame is picked up from each cut of the video image by using a technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-11118, and the image data of each frame is stored in the print memory 6. You may do so. Each image data at each time point stored in the print memory 6 is output to the printer engine 8, and based on the image data, one image 15 is formed on each sheet 9 as shown in FIG.

By forming such an image, a video signal can be fetched from various external electronic devices having a video output, and an image of the video signal at each intermittent time can be formed on the paper 9. Therefore, video information that has already been recorded, and digest information that can easily provide a bird's-eye view of the contents of video images output from various electronic devices equipped with video outputs, such as DVDs and surveillance cameras installed in stores and the like, are created. be able to.

When the digest information is created, if a predetermined operation is performed by the key input unit 13, when the image data is accumulated in the print memory 6, each image to be accumulated is reduced to form the image. When performing, a plurality of images stored in the print memory 6 are developed as thumbnails,
A plurality of images can be formed on one sheet 9. FIG. 3 shows a plurality of images 15, 1 on each sheet 9 in this manner.
5 are formed. In this case, the images 15, 15,... Are displayed side by side with time at intermittent times at which the image data is stored in the print memory 6.
Thereby, a parallel image forming unit is realized.

In such a case, the contents of the video image can be looked down at a glance, and the paper 9 can be saved.

Further, in preparing the digest information, if a predetermined operation is performed by the key input unit 13, the elapsed time of the input of the video signal input from the video input terminal 18 is measured by the timer 11, and the print memory When the image data is stored in the printer engine 8, the elapsed time when the video signal based on the image data is input from the video input terminal 18 is stored together with the image data. As shown in FIG. 4, the display of the elapsed time 16 corresponding to the image 15 in association with the image 15 can also be formed on the paper 9. This implements elapsed time display means. In the example shown in FIG. 4, the time elapsed 1 is below each of the images 15, 15,.
6, 16,... Are displayed. In this example, images 15, 15,... Every five minutes are formed.

Thus, it is possible to see at a glance what time zone of the video image is included in what video.

Similarly, when the digest information is created, a predetermined operation is performed by the key input unit 13, the input time of the video signal input from the video input terminal 18 is measured by the clock 12, and the print memory When the image data is stored in the printer engine 8, the time when the video signal based on the image data is input from the video input terminal 18 is stored together with the image data. As shown in FIG. 5, in association with the image 15,
The display of the time 17 corresponding to the image can also be formed on the paper 9. This implements a current time display unit. In the example of FIG. 5, times 17, 17,... Are displayed below the images 15, 15,. In this example, images 15, 15, every 5 minutes
Are image-formed.

Thus, it is possible to see at a glance what time zone of the video image is included in what video.

In the printer 1, if a predetermined operation is performed by the key input unit 13, image data sent from an external PC or the like to be input to the image data input terminal 2 by the switching circuit 4 is stored in the print memory 6. Image formation based on this image data can be performed by the printer engine 8.

Therefore, the printer 1 can be used as a general printer in addition to creating the digest information as described above.

[Second Embodiment of the Invention] Another embodiment of the invention will be described as a second embodiment of the invention. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a copying machine 21 according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. The copying machine 21 includes a printer 1 and an image scanner 22 having a well-known configuration of a flatbed type, which is an image reading device that reads an image of a document.
And The copier 21 can generate the above-described digest information by using the printer 1 and use it as a general printer. In addition, the copier 21 can generate an image based on image data of a document read by the image scanner 22. By performing the formation, it can be used as a copying machine.

[0035]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a video signal is fetched from various external electronic devices having a video output.
Since video images of video signals at multiple intermittent points can be formed on paper, video information already recorded, DVDs, surveillance cameras installed in stores, etc.
It is possible to create digest information that allows the contents of a video image output from various electronic devices having a video output to be easily overlooked.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect, it is possible to overlook the contents of the video image at a glance and to save paper.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the first or second aspect, it is possible to see at a glance which time zone of the video image includes which image.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects, it is possible to see at a glance which time zone of a video image includes which image.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the image forming apparatus according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, wherein the digest information which allows the contents of the video image output from various electronic devices to be easily overlooked. And an image forming apparatus that can be used as a general printer.

The invention described in claim 6 can be used as a general copying machine, and can also create digest information that allows a user to easily view the contents of video images output from various electronic devices. The present invention can provide a copier capable of performing such operations.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a printer according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an example of digest information created by the printer.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing another example of digest information created by the printer.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing another example of digest information created by the printer.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing another example of digest information created by the printer.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a copying machine according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus 4 Switching circuit 5 Signal processing circuit 8 Printer engine 9 Paper 11 Timer 12 Clock 15 Image 16 Elapsed time 17 Time 18 Video input terminal 21 Copy machine 22 Image reading device

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Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A terminal which is connected to a printer engine for forming an image on a sheet based on image data and an electronic device having a video output, and which can input a video signal output from the electronic device. A video input terminal, a signal processing circuit that creates image data for forming an image of the input video signal by the printer engine, and the image formation from the video input terminal at a plurality of intermittent time points. An intermittent image forming unit that performs the operation based on the input video signal. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a parallel image forming means for arranging the plurality of images on a single sheet by arranging the plurality of images with time at the respective times. 3. A timer for measuring an elapsed time of input of the video signal, and an elapsed time display means for forming the image so that the elapsed time is displayed on the paper in association with the image. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: 4. A clock for measuring a current time, and current time display means for forming the image so that the current time is displayed on the paper in association with the image. The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3. 5. An image data input terminal to which an electronic device is connected to enable input of image data output by the electronic device; an image data output by the signal processing circuit; and the image data input terminal. 5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a switching circuit configured to selectively output one of the image data input from the CPU as image data for performing the image formation. Forming equipment. 6. An image reading apparatus for reading an image of a document, and wherein the printer engine is also capable of forming the image based on image data read by the image reading apparatus. A copying machine comprising: the image forming apparatus according to claim 1.