JP2002264420A - Method and apparatus for processing image - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a font break of a text of related information generated at a reduced printing time and simplify processing of a software at an image read time in image processing of printing or reading image data by adding the text as related information. SOLUTION: Image data to be printed which is stored in a page memory 8 is converted to a size in which the data is printed by an image output part 13. At the same time, code data stored in a memory 16 for the text is converted to image data. Both data are synthesized by the image output part 13, whereby printing images are formed. When the image data is read, image data read by a read part 12 and image data obtained by converting code data stored in the memory 16 are synthesized by an image input part 11 and stored in the page memory 8.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing method and apparatus for a facsimile machine and a multifunction digital copier.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an image processing apparatus such as a facsimile apparatus, when printing a received image, a TSI (Transmitting Subscriber Identifier) is used.
Option) information and text such as reception time and output time are added as related information and printed.

In this case, after the received image data is converted into image data and developed on a page memory, a character font such as TSI information and a date is read from a character generator ROM (CGROM) in accordance with a text code and stored in the page memory. Attach. In this way, the image data in which the received image data and the related information are expanded as the image data is output to the recording unit and printed.

[0004]

In this conventional image processing apparatus, if only a recording sheet of a size smaller than the size of the received image is prepared in the recording unit, for example, the received image is a B4 size image. For example, when only the A4 size is set, printing is performed while reducing the pixels of the image data from the page memory by thinning out at a predetermined ratio.

FIG. 8 is a diagram conceptually showing this reduced printing state. FIG. 7A shows a state in which text is added as related information to a page memory in which received image data, for example, B4 size image data is developed as image data. The related information is, for example, TSI information, reception time, ** month **
Day, ## hours ## minutes, output time, ++ month ++
The day is ＄＄ hour ＄＄ minute. B on this page memory
As shown in FIG. 4B, the four-size image data is reduced to a small-size recording paper, for example, A4 size, and printed.

In this case, pixels are thinned out not only for the received image data but also for the character font of the related information attached to the page memory. For this reason, the vertical line and horizontal line of one dot will be erased, and for example, the character of “day” may be broken and become “E” or “F”. In such a state, the related information is difficult to read, and may be read as incorrect information.

On the other hand, when an image of a document is read, the image data is read by a reading unit and temporarily stored in a page memory, and then TTI (transmitter information: Transmit
Processing to add related information such as terminal identifier (ID) and address was required, and the software burden was heavy.

In view of the above, the present invention provides a method for adding text as related information to eliminate the font collapse of the related information text that occurs during reduced printing in image processing for printing or reading image data. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image processing method and apparatus for simplifying the processing of the software.

[0009]

An image processing method according to claim 1, wherein image data to be printed is stored as image data, and information relating to the image data to be printed is stored as code data. The related information stored in the code data is converted into image data, and the stored image data is converted into a size that matches the recording paper size to be printed, and these are combined and recorded. And processing. According to this image processing method, a print image is formed by synthesizing the image data converted into a size that matches the size of the recording paper to be printed and the related information, so that the received image is printed in a variable-size printing mode. As much as possible, the font of the text of the related information is not broken.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing method comprising the steps of storing relevant information of an image to be read as code data;
Reading the image and converting the related information stored in the code data into image data; and combining the read image data of the image with the related information converted into image data and outputting the combined image data. And processing. According to this image processing method, at the time of reading a document image, the related information of this image stored in the code data is converted into image data, and the combined image is output with the read image data. Can be executed simultaneously with the reading of the document image, so that post-processing is not required, and the software processing is simplified.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing apparatus, comprising: an image storage means for storing image data to be printed as image data; and a text storage for storing relevant information of the image data to be printed as code data. Means, text image processing means for converting the relevant information of the text storage means from code data to image data, and converts the image of the image data from the image storage means to a size matching the print size, Reading the relevant information of the image data from the text image processing means,
An image output means for combining these and outputting to the recording means;
It has. According to this image processing apparatus, the image data to be printed stored in the image storage unit is converted into a size to be printed by the image output unit, and the code data stored in the text storage unit is converted into image data. Since the print image is formed by converting the image and combining the two by the image output means, the received image can be printed in a variable size, and the font of the text of the related information does not collapse. Further, by storing text data such as various reports in the text storage means, it is possible to easily create a text-only image without using an image storage means.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the image processing apparatus according to the third aspect.
Wherein the related information of the text storage means is set corresponding to a predetermined print area of a recording sheet to be printed. According to this image processing apparatus, the related information is printed in a predetermined area of the recording paper to be printed without breaking the font of the text, according to the setting in the text storage unit.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing apparatus, comprising: image data reading means; text storage means for storing relevant information of an image to be read as code data; A text image processing unit that converts the image data into image data, an image that combines the image data of the image data from the reading unit, and the related information of the image data from the text image processing unit, and outputs the resultant to the image storage unit And input means. According to this image processing device, at the time of reading image data, the image data read by the reading unit and the image data obtained by converting the code data stored in the text storage unit are combined by the image input unit. Since the image data is stored in the image storage means, the reading of the document image and the processing of the related information are executed at the same time, so that the processing of the related information does not need to be performed in post-processing, and the processing of the software is simplified.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the image processing apparatus according to the fifth aspect.
Wherein the related information of the text storage means is set in a predetermined area that matches the size of the image to be read. According to this image processing apparatus, since the related information is set in a predetermined area corresponding to the size of the image to be read, a desired combined image is obtained by simply combining with the read image data. .

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing apparatus comprising: an image data recording unit; an image data reading unit; and an image storage for storing image data to be printed and / or image data from the reading unit as image data. Means, a text storage means for storing the relevant information of the image data to be printed and / or the relevant information of the image to be read in code data, and converting the relevant information of the text storage means from code data to image data. A text image processing unit to be converted, and an image of the image data from the image storage unit is converted into a size corresponding to a print size, and at the same time, the related information of the image data from the text image processing unit is read out and synthesized. Image output means for outputting the image data to the recording means, and image data from the reading means. And image data, and the related information of the image data from the text image processing means, synthesizing and an image input means for outputting to said image storage means, and has a. According to this image processing apparatus, the image data to be printed stored in the image storage unit is converted into a print size by the image output unit, and the code data stored in the text storage unit is converted into image data. Since both of them are combined by the image output means to form a print image, the received image can be scaled and printed, and the font of the text of the related information does not collapse. Further, by storing text data such as various reports in the text storage means, an image containing only text can be easily created without using an image storage means. Further, at the time of reading the image data, the image data read by the reading unit and the image data obtained by converting the code data stored in the text storage unit are combined by the image input unit and stored in the image storage unit. Therefore, the reading of the document image and the processing of the related information are executed at the same time, so that it is not necessary to perform the processing of the related information in the post-processing, and the processing of the software is simplified.

An image processing apparatus according to claim 8 is an image processing apparatus according to claim 7.
Wherein the related information of the text storage unit is set in a predetermined print area of a recording sheet to be printed or an area that matches the size of the image to be read. . According to this image processing apparatus, the related information is printed in a predetermined area of the recording paper to be printed without breaking the font of the text, according to the setting in the text storage unit. In addition, since the related information is set in a predetermined area corresponding to the size of the image to be read, it is merely combined with the read image data,
Obtain a desired composite image.

According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the image processing apparatus according to the third aspect.
The image processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the related information stored in the text storage unit is:
This is text code data including a character code and its attribute code, and the attribute code is one or more of display on / off, enlargement / reduction, black / white inversion, overwriting / or writing on a received image. . According to this image processing apparatus, a text image can be further emphasized.

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention can be applied to a facsimile machine, a multifunction digital copier, and the like that performs image processing. In the following embodiments, a facsimile machine will be used as an example. It will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
M2, work memory 3, CGROM 4, modem 5, network control unit 6, code memory 7, page memory 8, image compression unit 9, image expansion unit 10, image input unit 11, reading unit 1
2. It has an image output unit 13, a recording unit 14, a text image control unit 15, and a text memory 16, which are interconnected via a bus. It should be noted that description of components not directly related to the present invention, such as the operation display unit, is omitted. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of the text memory 16 as text storage means.

The CPU 1 is a central control unit for controlling the entire facsimile apparatus, the ROM 2 is a read-only memory storing a control program, and the work memory 3 is a work area for controlling and a temporary work area. This is a RAM (random access memory) for a work area in which a recording area is formed.

The CGROM 4 stores a large amount of font data in accordance with a font address, and outputs image data of a corresponding font in accordance with a character code input as a font address.

The modem 5 modulates data to be transmitted to the line via the network control unit 6 and demodulates a signal received from the line via the network control unit 6.

The code memory 7 temporarily stores the received code-compressed image data until it is recorded, or temporarily stores the read and code-compressed image data until it is transmitted. Therefore, the image data subjected to code compression is stored at the time of transmission and at the time of reception.

The page memory 8 serving as image storage means decodes the received code-compressed image data stored in the code memory 7 by the image decompression unit 10 and expands and stores the image data. Also, the page memory 8
Stores the read image data as image data. Therefore, the image data is stored in a state where the image data is expanded at the time of transmission and at the time of reception.

At the time of transmission, the image compression section 9 code-compresses the image data stored in the page memory 8 and stores it in the code memory 7 prior to transmission. Image expansion unit 10
Decodes and expands the code-compressed data stored in the code memory 7 at the time of reception, and stores the data in the page memory 8 before recording.

A reading section 12 serving as image data reading means reads image data of a document by a scanner or the like,
The image data is supplied to the image input unit 11 as image data. The image input unit 11 serving as an image input unit includes a text image control unit 15
And the image data from the reading unit 12 are combined and stored in the page memory 8.

An image output unit 13 serving as an image output means receives received image data expanded and stored as image data from the page memory 8 and combines the received image data with text image data from the text image control unit 15 to record the image data. The recording paper is supplied to the unit 14 and is recorded on a predetermined recording paper. The text image control unit 15 and the CGROM 4 constitute text image processing means.

As shown in FIG. 2 (a), the text memory 16 has a storage area capable of accommodating various recording papers. The scanning direction has n characters and an area of m × n characters, and one character corresponds to one address. As shown in FIG. 2B, the text code data for one character includes a code of the character (for example, JIS code or ASCII code) and attribute data for the character. The attribute data includes display on / off, enlargement /
There are reduction, black-and-white inversion, and overwriting / OR writing on the received image, and any one or a plurality of them can be set.

The storage area used by the text memory is determined according to the size of the recording paper to be printed at that time or the size of the original to be read at that time.
At the time of reception (that is, at the time of recording), TSI information, reception time, output time, and the like are used as text data.
At the time of transmission (that is, at the time of reading), TTI information, address insertion, and the like are used. In any case, the text code data is arranged at a predetermined location of the received image data or the read image data.

Now, with respect to the operation of the facsimile apparatus configured as described above when receiving image data, FIG.
This will be described with reference also to a conceptual diagram of the combining process at the time of receiving and recording of the information.

Assume that the received image data is of B4 size. The received B4 size image data is temporarily stored in the code memory 7 as code data via the network control unit 6 and the modem 5. When printing the received image on recording paper, the image data is converted by the image expansion unit 10 into image data, and the image data is developed and stored in the page memory 8 as image data. .

On the other hand, when text data such as TSI information, reception time, output time and the like is pasted to a received image, text data is not pasted on the page memory 8 as in the prior art, but in the present invention. The text image control unit 15 sets a text area corresponding to the size of the recording paper to be printed in the text memory 16, one address represents one character, and the text code data is written.
The character code such as JIS code or ASCII code,
Set the attribute code for the character. The attribute codes include display on / off, enlargement / reduction, black / white inversion,
Although there is overwriting / OR writing on the received image, here, for example, display ON / OFF is set.

Here, if a B4 size recording paper having the same size as the size of the received image data is set in the recording unit of the facsimile apparatus, the image data is printed on the B4 recording paper. Text image control unit 1
5 to the text memory 16, a character area of B4 matching the size of the recording paper to be printed is set, and related information is set at a predetermined position by text code data.

By the way, in the recording unit of the facsimile machine,
If B4 size recording paper of the same size as B4, which is the size of the received image data, is not set and only A4 size recording paper smaller than that is set,
The image of the B4 size image data is reduced by a thinning process or the like and printed on A4 recording paper. in this case,
The text code of the related information is stored in the text image control unit 15.
In the text memory 16, an A4 character area that matches the size of the A4 recording paper to be actually printed, not the B4 size of the received image data, is set and set at a predetermined position. Become.

The data processing flow at the time of reception set as described above will be described with reference to the flow chart of FIG. When printing is started, the image output unit 13 reads out the received image data expanded in the page memory 8 and performs a reduction process such as a thinning process so as to match the reduction from the B4 size to the A4 size. The image data is transferred to the recording unit 14 while being combined with the text image data of the related information sent from the text image control unit 15 on a pixel basis, thereby performing printing on A4 size recording paper.

The operation of the text image control unit 15 at this time is as follows. From the head address of the text memory 16 set in the character area of A4 matching the size of the A4 recording paper, the text code data is sequentially read out. It is checked whether or not the attribute data of the code is on. If the display is on, the font address on the CGROM 4 is obtained from the character code, and the font data is read from the CGROM 4. The read font data is transferred to the image output unit 13 as text image data.

As shown in FIG. 4, the synthesizing process at the time of the reception recording is performed by storing the B data on the page memory 8 as shown in FIG.
The received image data expanded in 4 sizes is reduced and transferred, while, as shown in FIG.
The text data arranged in the character code in the A4 size area is converted into image data and transferred,
Both are printed on A4 size recording paper. Is related information, for example,
SI information, reception time, ** month ** date, ##
Hour ## minute, output time, ++ month ++ day, ＄＄
Hours and minutes.

As described above, the image data of the B4 size to be printed stored in the page memory 8 is reduced and converted into the size of the A4 recording paper to be printed by the image output unit 13 and the predetermined size of the text memory 16 is stored. Since the text code data set in the area is converted into image data, and both are combined by the image output unit 13 to form a print image, the received image can be reduced and printed.
The text of the related information can be printed on a predetermined area of the recording paper without breaking the font.

The size (B4) of the received image data is the same as the size (B4) of the received image data.
If no recording paper is set, and only recording paper of a larger size (A3) is set, the received image data is enlarged and printed to fit the set recording paper size. It is also possible to print at the same size as it is without enlargement.

Further, as attribute data of the text data as the related information, any one or a plurality of display on / off, enlargement / reduction, black / white inversion, overwriting / or writing on the received image can be specified, so that the text image can be specified. Can be emphasized more.

When outputting various reports such as a communication management report, an error report, and a document accumulation result report in the facsimile apparatus, the reception record function is used, that is, the text information is stored in the text memory 16. Can be arranged in code data, and a report can be output from the image output unit 13 to the recording unit 41 by the operations of the text image control unit 15 and the CGROM 4. In this case, a text-only report image can be easily created without using the page memory 8.

Next, the operation of the facsimile apparatus at the time of transmitting image data will be described with reference to FIG. 5 which shows a data processing flow at the time of reading and transmitting, and FIG. 6 which is a conceptual diagram of the combining processing at the time of reading and transmitting. ,explain.

When setting related information such as the TTI embedding and the address insertion function when transmitting the read image data, the text image control unit 15 is notified of the document size of the image to be read set in the reading unit 12. Is done. The text image control unit 15 sets the text code data of the related information in a predetermined area corresponding to the document size in the text memory 16 corresponding to the document size. The configuration of the text code data, including its attribute data, is the same as that described with reference to FIG. 2 in the description of the operation at the time of reception.

When the reading of the original image is started, the text image control unit 15 reads out the text code data sequentially from the head address of the text memory 16 and determines whether the attribute data of the read text code data is display ON. Find out. If the attribute data is displayed on, the CGR is calculated from the character code of the text code data.
The font address on the OM 4 is obtained, and the font data is read from the CGROM 4. This font data
The data is transferred to the image input unit 11 as text image data.

In the image input unit 11, the image data of the original image from the reading unit 12 and the text image control unit 1
The image data is combined with the text image data from pixel unit 5 on a pixel-by-pixel basis, sequentially stored in page memory 8, and the combined image is stored as image data.

The synthesizing process at the time of reading and transmitting is shown in FIG. 6, in which the input image data from the scanner of the reading unit 12 is read as shown in FIG. As described above, the text data arranged in the same size area as the original image on the text memory 16 by the character code is converted into image data and transferred, and the two are combined, and the original image is combined as shown in FIG. And the text data of the related information are stored in the page memory 8 as a combined image.

Thereafter, the image data on the page memory 8 is encoded and compressed by the image compression section 9, and
And store it. Then, the modem 5, the network control unit 6
Via the transmission destination.

As described above, when reading the original image data, the image data read by the reading unit 12
Since the image data obtained by converting the code data stored in the text memory 16 is combined with the image input unit 11 and stored in the page memory 8, the reading of the document image and the processing of the related information such as the TTI and the address are performed. Since they are executed at the same time, it is not necessary to perform the processing of the related information in the post-processing, and the processing of software is simplified. Further, since the related information is set in a predetermined area corresponding to the size of the image to be read, a desired combined image can be obtained by simply combining with the read image data.

In the above description, the operation at the time of receiving and recording and the operation at the time of reading and transmitting are described individually. However, the facsimile apparatus naturally has both transmitting and receiving functions, and the data processing flow is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. Since the individual operations and the effects to be achieved are the same as those described for the reception and transmission, the description will not be repeated.

[0050]

According to the image processing method of the first aspect,
Since the print image is formed by synthesizing the image data converted to the size that matches the size of the recording paper to be printed and the related information, the received image can be scaled and printed, and the text of the related information Font collapse can be eliminated.

According to the image processing method of the present invention, at the time of reading an original image, the related information of the image stored in the code data is converted into image data, and synthesized with the read image data and output. Therefore, the processing of the related information can be executed simultaneously with the reading of the document image, so that there is no need for post-processing and the processing of software can be simplified.

According to the image processing apparatus of the third aspect, the image data to be printed stored in the image storage means is
The image output means converts the image data to the print size, the code data stored in the text storage means is converted into image data, and both are combined by the image output means to form a print image. In addition to being able to perform variable-size printing, it is possible to eliminate the font collapse of the text of the related information. Further, by storing text data such as various reports in the text storage means, it is possible to easily create a text-only image without using an image storage means.

According to the image processing apparatus of the fourth aspect, the related information can be printed in a predetermined area of the recording paper to be printed without breaking the font of the text, according to the setting in the text storage means.

According to the image processing apparatus of the present invention, when reading the image data, the image data read by the reading means and the image data obtained by converting the code data stored in the text storage means are converted into: Since the image is combined by the image input means and stored in the image storage means, the reading of the document image and the processing of the related information are performed simultaneously, so that the processing of the related information does not need to be performed in post-processing,
Software processing can be simplified.

According to the image processing apparatus of the sixth aspect, since the related information is set in a predetermined area corresponding to the size of the image to be read, it is simply combined with the read image data. Only with this, a desired composite image can be obtained.

According to the image processing apparatus of the seventh aspect, the image data to be printed stored in the image storage means is
The image output means converts the image data into the print size, the code data stored in the text storage means is converted into image data, and both are combined by the image output means to form a print image. In addition to being able to perform variable-size printing, it is possible to eliminate the font collapse of the text of the related information. Further, by storing text data such as various reports in the text storage means, it is possible to easily create a text-only image without using an image storage means. Further, when reading the image data, the image data read by the reading means,
The image data obtained by converting the code data stored in the text storage unit is combined with the image input unit and stored in the image storage unit.
Since the processing of the related information is executed at the same time, the processing of the related information does not need to be performed in the post-processing, and the processing of the software can be simplified.

According to the image processing apparatus of the present invention, the related information is printed in a predetermined area of the recording paper to be printed without the font collapse of the text according to the setting in the text storage means. it can. Further, since the related information is set in a predetermined area corresponding to the size of the image to be read, a desired combined image can be obtained by simply combining with the read image data.

According to the image processing apparatus of the ninth aspect, it is possible to further enhance the text image.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a text memory 16;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a data processing flow during reception recording.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram of a combining process during reception recording.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a data processing flow at the time of reading and transmitting.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram of a combining process at the time of reading and transmitting.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a data processing flow at the time of receiving and recording and at the time of reading and transmitting.

FIG. 8 is a view conceptually showing a state of conventional reduced printing.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 CPU 2 ROM 3 Work memory 4 CGROM 5 Modem 6 Network control unit 7 Code memory 8 Page memory 9 Image compression unit 10 Image decompression unit 11 Image input unit 12 Reading unit 13 Image output unit 14 Recording unit 15 Text image control unit 16 Text Memory

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A process of storing image data to be printed as image data, a process of storing related information of the image data to be printed as code data, and a process of storing related information stored in the code data as an image. Converting the stored image data into a size that matches the size of the recording paper to be printed, and combining and recording the combined data. . 2. A process of storing related information of an image to be read as code data; a process of reading the image and converting the related information stored in the code data into image data; A process of combining image data of the image with the related information converted into image data and outputting the combined information;
Performing an image processing. 3. An image storage means for storing image data to be printed as image data; a text storage means for storing relevant information of the image data to be printed as code data; and a text storage means. Text image processing means for converting the relevant information from code data to image data; and converting an image of the image data from the image storage means to a size matching a print size, and at the same time, an image from the text image processing means. And an image output means for reading out the relevant information of data, synthesizing them, and outputting them to a recording means. 4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the related information in the text storage unit is set corresponding to a predetermined print area of a recording sheet to be printed. 5. An image data reading means, a text storage means for storing relevant information of an image to be read as code data, and a text image for converting the relevant information of the text storage means from code data to image data. Processing means; and image input means for combining the image data of the image data from the reading means and the related information of the image data from the text image processing means, and outputting the combined information to an image storage means. Characteristic image processing device. 6. The image processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the related information in the text storage unit is set in a predetermined area that matches the size of the image to be read. 7. An image data recording unit, an image data reading unit, an image storage unit for storing image data to be printed and / or image data from the reading unit as image data, and an image to be printed. Text-related storage means for storing, as code data, relevant information of data and / or relevant information of an image to be read; text image processing means for converting the relevant information of the text storage means from code data to image data; The image of the image data from the image storage unit is converted into a size that matches the print size, and at the same time, the relevant information of the image data from the text image processing unit is read out, synthesized, and output to the recording unit. Image output means; image data of image data from the reading means; And an image input unit that combines the related information of the image data from the image processing unit and outputs the combined information to the image storage unit. 8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the related information in the text storage unit is set in a predetermined print area of a recording sheet to be printed or an area that matches the size of the image to be read. Item 8. The image processing device according to Item 7. 9. The related information stored in the text storage means is text code data including a character code and an attribute code thereof. The attribute code includes display on / off, enlargement / reduction, black / white inversion, The image processing apparatus according to any one of claims 3 to 8, wherein one or a plurality of overwriting / OR writing on a received image is performed.